US outland applicants' thread :)

[OhCanadiana]

Welcome to the thread for US family class applicants

Now that Buffalo, the prior regional program centre for the US (which also processed ~50% of the applications) is closing and transferring functions to New York I thought it would make sense to start a new thread and use the opportunity to kick-us off with a list of posts that address FAQs –

Application and processing times
The family class application (from CIC with links to each form and instructions that walk you through each question)
Processing times (from CIC)
Spreadsheet of Buffalo applicants (managed by GOGOGO)

Visiting your spouse in Canada
GOGOGO's experience
What is working vs. volunteering? (from CIC)

Landing
What documents you need (by OhCanadiana)
Landing walking across the Rainbow Bridge (by bbiery)

Importing goods duty free
How to import your goods duty free as a settler (or returning Canadian): The B4/B4A story (OhCanadiana's post). You'll need a B4 and likely at least one B4A form and one or more B4A forms.
Detailed instructions on the B4/B4A from CBSA are at BSF5113 and at BSF5087 .

Importing your vehicle – step by step guide
Process to importing your car (by OhCanadiana)
Items to consider as you decide when to import your car (by OhCanadiana)

The prior Buffalo thread has a wealth of information ... let's keep the tradition going in here!

Welcome and good luck!

*** Folks – please chime in with additional posts that should get added in either here, in the Buffalo thread or via PM. Thanks ***

 

[parker24]

Perfect! Also there are links to each month as well here on the forums!

 

[Hnhkrk]

Do you think this will add a lot of processing time to the apps?

 

[parker24]

Do you think this will add a lot of processing time to the apps?

Not sure what you're referring to in this thread in particular?

 

[Hnhkrk]

Not sure what you're referring to in this thread in particular?

I had 'How much will Buffalo's closing affect processing times' written, but am I tired and must of missed a few words.

 

[OhCanadiana]

Welcome to the thread for US family class applicants

Now that Buffalo, the prior regional program centre for the US (which also processed ~50% of the applications) is closing and transferring functions to New York I thought it would make sense to start a new thread and kick-us off with a list of posts that address FAQs –

Application and processing times
The family class application (from CIC with links to each form and instructions that walk you through each question)
The courier address for CPC-M is available here.
Take a look at examples of applications in BCgirl2012's thread, Pelipeli's thread, and Steph C's thread.
Processing times (from CIC)
Spreadsheet of Buffalo applicants
You can check the status of your application on CIC's website once it's past step 1 and you get an AOR (acknowledgement of receipt) with your client (UCI) number and/or application number (don't rely too much on what e-case indicates, though, since folks find that the updates aren't always timely!)

Contacting CIC
You can contact the visa office send a case specific enquiry via the link for your visa office off of the list of countries and their corresponding visa office

Visiting your spouse in Canada
GOGOGO's experience
What is working vs. volunteering? (from CIC)

Interview questions and experiences
There's a list of potential interview questions that floats around the forum.
You can read some first-hand experiences at west2east's post, jmni1's post, and wmaitner's posts.
It can help to order CAIPS/GCSM notes of your record ahead of time to understand the concerns the visa officer has to double-check and ensure you cover as you collect the evidence you'll take to your interview. Use IMM5563E - it's faster to request the electronic files only.



(continued on next post ... hit the limit for number of links!)

 

[OhCanadiana]

(FAQs continued from prior post...)



Landing
What documents you need (by OhCanadiana)
Landing walking across the Rainbow Bridge (by bbiery)

Importing goods duty free
How to import your goods duty free as a settler (or returning Canadian): The B4/B4A story (by OhCanadiana). You'll need a B4 and likely at least one B4A form and one or more B4A forms.
Detailed instructions on the B4/B4A from CBSA are at BSF5113 and at BSF5087 .

Importing your vehicle – step by step guide
Process to importing your car (by OhCanadiana)
Items to consider as you decide when to import your car (by OhCanadiana)

The prior Buffalo thread has a wealth of information ... let's keep the tradition going in here!

Welcome and good luck!



(updated here since the first post is uneditable - I'll reach out to the moderators in a couple days)

 

[OhCanadiana]

I had 'How much will Buffalo's closing affect processing times' written, but am I tired and must of missed a few words.

Buffalo acted as the US regional processing centre, performing security and background checks for all US applicants, and distributing about half of the family class applications to other visa offices for them to process. Sounds like they'll be moving this function to NYC so there's bound to be a bit of an adjustment as new folks take over (or existing personnel moves ... we all know moving isn't easy!)

A few thoughts:
- There are 6 Canadian hires in Buffalo and 45 or so local hires (covering all visas). It is unlikely that CIC would relocate local hires and hiring new folks in NYC is likely much more expensive than in Buffalo.
- Therefore, it is likely that US applications will be facing a learning curve for the management of applications and distribution to other visa offices. However, other visa offices have been training up to process applications already.
- Depending on how many of the 45 local hires they replace (or not) and whether they leverage other processing centers (e.g., Ottawa), given that Buffalo processes 50% of the outland US applications, eliminating Buffalo could have a major impact on timing.
- The other visa offices have been pretty quick in processing applications ... the question is will their workload double as the 50% of apps that Buffalo handled are distributed across visa offices, will NY handle them all (in addition to being the US outland app clearinghouse), or will there be a different approach to handle the 50% of apps that Buffalo handled (and with which staff? solely existing or not? will they leverage Ottawa CPC further?)

The folks that are already in process in Buffalo will retain their priority intact by date order. The higher you are in the queue the better off you are since fewer applications may slip in above you. In all likelihood, going forward, however, the timing is bound to increase (sadly, enough). How much is unclear.

 

[Occasita]

I'm somewhat glad that the first half (sponsor part) takes 90 days...
I'm guessing in 3 months, most of the kinks will be ironed out at NYC, where it will be transferred for the other half.

 

[OhCanadiana]

I'm somewhat glad that the first half (sponsor part) takes 90 days...
I'm guessing in 3 months, most of the kinks will be ironed out at NYC, where it will be transferred for the other half.

I like the optimism 8)

 

[g-man]

FYI to anyone needing spreadsheet updates -- PM me or drop a line on this thread as I'll be watching the spreadsheet myself until GOGOGO has more free time (I don't think ddobro2 is active any more)!

 

[Amoss]

This thread is a great idea and useful! Thanks for taking the initiative, OhCanadiana!!

 

[Amoss]

By the way, if I can put in my two cents.. I think that, although CIC seems disorganized and random at best sometimes, they will have this closure/transfer under some control. If it does increase the processing times that will be unfortunate, but I would place my money on it being either the same or, in any case, much less than 25 months. It's easy to think doom and gloom thoughts when you've got your file to worry about... it's just not good for us to think such doom and gloom thoughts until we know more.

 

[OhCanadiana]

This thread is a great idea and useful! Thanks for taking the initiative, OhCanadiana!!

Thanks! My pleasure

Now we all need to work to make it homey too!


Hopefully they issue a Bulletin today to give clarity going forward...

 

[cgagnon]

Thanks! My pleasure

Now we all need to work to make it homey too!

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2011/ob305.asp
We also forgot about this...they can process the whole application in ottawa without transfering our apps to visa offices.