Thread for Outland LONDON, UK Applications!

[SchnookoLoly]

May I add that I am disillusioned with CIC. Applying for Canadian permanent residency is not something that you take likely. We all spend months preparing to submit our application, and of course we all want a quick decision, but at the end of the day, no matter how strong an application is, how genuine the relationship is, how long you have been with your common law or spouse, it comes down to where your application is sent. I mean really? This is a government process and as such I feel it should be standardized in a way that applicants across the world get processed in around about the same timeline. How can people receive PR when they only applied in September 2014, while there are people who applied in January 2014 or even in 2013 still waiting?

What's worse is it is very clear that Mississauga and Ottawa are going a lot faster than London, and yet there are still applications being sent to London albeit few and far between. The only comfort that is told to London based applicants? "Oh that is weird, most UK based applications stay in Mississauga." Yeah thanks for that.

Anyway, that is my opinion,

From a disillusioned London applicant.

Second part first... I get that you're frustrated that your application went to London instead of being held in Mississauga or Ottawa... but we aren't privy to the inner workings of CIC. Even those who have their applications held in Canada are told that their applications may still be transferred to London, which is what happened to tatters86. So while it is frustrating, there is clearly some reason that they need to have the application be in London and not in Canada.

As for the bit about different countries being processed at the same time... it's just never going to happen. Applications from western developed countries (UK, western Europe, Australia, NZ, USA, etc) have much faster processing times because the likelihood of fraud in applications from those countries is significantly lower than the fraud rates for less developed countries. I don't mean that to sound racist or anything, it's a simple fact. Applicants from other countries have much higher rates of fraud, and as a result, those applications take much longer to process.

Here's an example. A friend of my mom's went to the Dominican Republic a few years ago on holiday, and met a waiter at a bar and they fell in love. They spent the week together, then over the next year she went to the DR a bunch of times to visit him. About a year later, they got married in the DR, and when she got back to Canada, they filed an application for sponsorship. There were tons of red flags in their application, as you can imagine. CIC needed to make absolutely sure that their application was genuine and that he wasn't just wooing her in order to get himself into Canada.

It took them 3 years to have his PR approved. He couldn't even get a visitor visa for Canada during that time as they didn't think he would leave. Once his PR was granted he came to Canada, and stayed for about a year. He then went back to the DR to take care of a sick grandmother (who we are pretty sure has been sick and died quite a few times....) and never particularly went back. He hasn't had his PR revoked, but Mom is pretty sure he hasn't been in Canada long enough to maintain his PR.

Compare that meeting to a British/Canadian couple, where the Canadian is, say, working in the UK, meets a BRit, they are together for a few years, live together, get married, and then apply for PR.

Whose application do you think is going to be processed faster?

Honestly, just go read the appeals cases on CANLII. For example, read this one: https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/irb/doc/2014/2014canlii60286/2014canlii60286.html do you really think that case was ever going to be processed in a matter of months?

The reality of it is that people from the developed countries have it WAY easier for Canada than a lot of other countries.

 

[EricandLinda]

Finally received COPR in our mail yesterday on the 13th. We received PPR request on Oct 9th,but had sent all the info to CPC-Ottawa on the 22nd.

What a long journey it has been (6 months seemed like an eternity). Thanks to everyone for your help.

 

[Aniabella]

Well, I for one, am from a western developed country with 0 red flags (at least none I can think of) with a 6 year marriage. I'm still waiting since January and nothing has even been requested. Well, except they asked just in case for my CSQ and I never got this request (I suspect very much their mistake, because I don't even have a trash box in my email). When I later on asked them about the request after seeing my GCMS notes, they let me know that MIDI had provided them the CSQ in March hence I can't think of any reason why they opened my file only in August. Yeah, there are several things that can impact, but it still doesn't make sense when others get theirs in 50 days. Kind of unfair that it really doesn't get handled in order, but seems to be quite the wheel of fortune when you get your permit.

I understand that they need to screen people and that Canada is a very wanted country. In Finland spouses always get first only 1 year permit, after which they get a 4 year permit and only after 4 years of living in Finland you can get a permanent residence. This way, if the marriage is MOC, it really often falls apart already in those 4 first years, hence the person cannot get a PR and will be deported in many cases. In a way I was kind of surprised Canada gives a permanent residence right away. I would be totally happy with a 1-year permit, if I could get it sooner. It was really impossible to plan when to submit your application (I had to work until August and my spouse graduated in June) and I thought January would be perfectly soon enough, looking at the spreadsheets. Submitting 11 months before also is kind of impossible, since it leaves less than a month of landing with good luck. Now I'm just here in Canada, absolutely useless and can't work, which totally wrecks our life at the moment with our savings starting to slowly fade. My spouse has to be here and we can't anymore be separated, because we already had to live through that in the beginning of our relationship.

 

[murphn24]

Finally received COPR in our mail yesterday on the 13th. We received PPR request on Oct 9th,but had sent all the info to CPC-Ottawa on the 22nd.

What a long journey it has been (6 months seemed like an eternity). Thanks to everyone for your help.

Are you in Canada currently? It seems to take so long for the COPR to be received! I had a Decision Made on October 30th so I will have to wait a few weeks yet in all likelihood..

 

[SchnookoLoly]

Finally received COPR in our mail yesterday on the 13th. We received PPR request on Oct 9th,but had sent all the info to CPC-Ottawa on the 22nd.

What a long journey it has been (6 months seemed like an eternity). Thanks to everyone for your help.

Congrats! I don't have a location for you on the spreadsheet, though! Where are you located?

 

[brucem]

Quick question....I've seen people talking about logging onto check their application under the sponsor and sponsored person. I can log on using our UCI number under my wife (sponsor) but nothing using my name. Will I only be able to log on Once they start processing my bit or is it just another CIC quirk depending on whether they bother to update your status?

 

[andrew-brit]

Quick question....I've seen people talking about logging onto check their application under the sponsor and sponsored person. I can log on using our UCI number under my wife (sponsor) but nothing using my name. Will I only be able to log on Once they start processing my bit or is it just another CIC quirk depending on whether they bother to update your status?

How did you find out your UCI number?

In my case, I (principal applicant) have a UCI number from when I had a working holiday visa. My wife (sponsor) has a UCI from when she became a citizen (naturalized).

With ECAS, I can check with my wife's details (her UCI, her name, dob etc) and with my details (my UCI, etc).

The only difference is when I check with my wife's details I can see the state of her application to sponsor (decision made as we have sponsor approval) and the state of my PR application (application received). When I check with my details I only see my status.

 

[rhcohen2014]

Quick question....I've seen people talking about logging onto check their application under the sponsor and sponsored person. I can log on using our UCI number under my wife (sponsor) but nothing using my name. Will I only be able to log on Once they start processing my bit or is it just another CIC quirk depending on whether they bother to update your status?

the sponsor and the applicant have different UCI numbers. only the file number is shared. the sponsor would have received their UCI in the sponsor eligibility letter, and you will only be able to sign into ecas with that number and her personal info. you will not be able to use your info with that number. generally, applicants are only able to log into ecas when they receive a uci (either from a previous application or when they receive correspondence from CIC). You may not be able to sign into ecas using your information until after that point. as an applicant, I was unable to use my personal info with the file number to sign in at all during the process. it wasn't until AFTER PPR, that I was able to sign into the system with my UCI(which was provided in my PPR) or the file number. for most applicants, they will only be able to sign in using the sponsor's information for most of the process. The sponsor's ECAS will be linked to the applicant's.

 

[brucem]

Ah thanks Andrew & Rhcohen that makes sense. We got the UCI number from the SA email. I was clutching at straws thinking logging in under my name would give me more detail about where my app was at!

 

[rhcohen2014]

Ah thanks Andrew & Rhcohen that makes sense. We got the UCI number from the SA email. I was clutching at straws thinking logging in under my name would give me more detail about where my app was at!

no it won't. you'll basically see the same information about your application that you can see when signing in with the sponsor's info.

 

[brucem]

no it won't. you'll basically see the same information about your application that you can see when signing in with the sponsor's info.

Gotcha.....back to checking hers like a man possessed it is then!

 

[EricandLinda]

Are you in Canada currently? It seems to take so long for the COPR to be received! I had a Decision Made on October 30th so I will have to wait a few weeks yet in all likelihood..

Yes, we are both in Canada. Yeah we were starting to get worried if they received our info or not for the passport request. A tip for others: request tracking for your package so that you know they received it.

 

[canuknz]

As we approach the one year mark since we filled our application, I'm feeling quite disappointed. My husband's medical will expire next week and even though we asked for an extension a month ago, we haven't heard a peep since sponsor approval in January. Our case notes from a couple of months seemed like things were progressing fine.

The good news is we're in Canada and my husband is working on a working holiday visa. The bad news is we can't put him on our mortgage application, he can't get a Canadian drivers license and overall he's not feeling very welcome. Oh and it's -20C. But I guess I can't blame CIC for that

 

[rhcohen2014]

The good news is we're in Canada and my husband is working on a working holiday visa. The bad news is we can't put him on our mortgage application, he can't get a Canadian drivers license and overall he's not feeling very welcome. Oh and it's -20C. But I guess I can't blame CIC for that

what's keeping him from getting a canadian license?

 

[taffy7]

Quick question....I've seen people talking about logging onto check their application under the sponsor and sponsored person. I can log on using our UCI number under my wife (sponsor) but nothing using my name. Will I only be able to log on Once they start processing my bit or is it just another CIC quirk depending on whether they bother to update your status?

I am the sponsor and for me i have never been able to log into ecas with my UCI # However i use the application file Number F00 and insert all my husbands information into it ( the applicant ) and i am able to see when the application was received and medicals received . My husband has not yet received a UCI #.