Read a lot of useful info on the forum; decided to share the information which may be useful to some.
This was a PR card renewal for a EU citizen with only a handful of short absences from Canada, but with a lot of US border stamps (we go shopping to Buffalo often, and for visitors from a visa-exempt country they issue I-94s only for 90 days, and it's a new stamp every time).
Done everything by the book, translated non-English passport stamps with a certified translator. The applicant did not work all this time, so supplied her tax assessment notices and ON identification cards.
Applied for urgent processing because of upcoming 3-day trip to US (in approximately 5 weeks from date of application).
ecas:
We received your application for a permanent resident card on March 28, 2013.
We started processing your application on April 2, 2013.
Your request for a permanent resident card was approved on April 15, 2013. You will be notified by mail within four weeks and invited to pick up your card at the CIC office closest to you.
Received a blue letter from the St Clair office on April 20, requesting a visit on May 8 (5 days after the travel date!). Decided to go in earlier, brought a bunch of tax forms, bank/mortgage statements, etc. to confirm residency obligations. Empty office, only one counter worked at 8-30 am, and one person before us. The officer took the passport, checked the name page, asked how much time was spent outside Canada (we provided a travel history list), did not look at any other documents or passport stamps, gave us the card and off we went.
So from our mailing of the application to getting the card the timeline was exactly 1 month. This is vs. currently posted 78 days for routine applications.
This was a PR card renewal for a EU citizen with only a handful of short absences from Canada, but with a lot of US border stamps (we go shopping to Buffalo often, and for visitors from a visa-exempt country they issue I-94s only for 90 days, and it's a new stamp every time).
Done everything by the book, translated non-English passport stamps with a certified translator. The applicant did not work all this time, so supplied her tax assessment notices and ON identification cards.
Applied for urgent processing because of upcoming 3-day trip to US (in approximately 5 weeks from date of application).
ecas:
We received your application for a permanent resident card on March 28, 2013.
We started processing your application on April 2, 2013.
Your request for a permanent resident card was approved on April 15, 2013. You will be notified by mail within four weeks and invited to pick up your card at the CIC office closest to you.
Received a blue letter from the St Clair office on April 20, requesting a visit on May 8 (5 days after the travel date!). Decided to go in earlier, brought a bunch of tax forms, bank/mortgage statements, etc. to confirm residency obligations. Empty office, only one counter worked at 8-30 am, and one person before us. The officer took the passport, checked the name page, asked how much time was spent outside Canada (we provided a travel history list), did not look at any other documents or passport stamps, gave us the card and off we went.
So from our mailing of the application to getting the card the timeline was exactly 1 month. This is vs. currently posted 78 days for routine applications.