Dear forumers,
I am writing about our visa experience with the hope that it will benefit somebody and as a way to pay back because the comments, suggestions and information available on this forum helped me a lot when I was preparing my application.
We are Syrians living in Malaysia for the last 6 years. I got admission to the University of Regina in February, at that time we were having a long visit to Syria. So, I applied online from there with my husband and son. I applied for a study permit, my husband for an open work permit and my son for a visit. We submitted our application online on the 22nd of April, 2018 and got approved on 6th of August, it took exactly 15 weeks.
Immediately after submitting the application we got the biometrics request letter, and we did them on 24th of April in Beirut, Lebanon. We were told that our application will be processed in Ankara. At that time, the CIC website showed that processing time in Ankara is 6 weeks. During this wait, and since we were not sure we will be approved for the visa, my husband accepted a work offer that he got in Malaysia, so we all traveled back to Kuala Lumpur. I updated our address of residence in the system and explained why the change happened.
During this time, I was checking the system regularly, and I noticed some changes, although I do not remember the exact dates. The first one was the biometrics, it changed into complete within a few days after submitting. Later, the system showed that they do not need any additional documents and that the application is complete. After that, the review of eligibility and background check started and this took forever. In June, not sure what day that was, I signed in my account and next to my husband’s name, under current status, it was saying “Application/Profile updated” but when I clicked to get the details, there was no change at all. On 30th of July, this happened again, but this time it was next to my name. Exactly one week later I got the same thing, but this time for the three of us, and in the evening, we got the approval. The strange thing is that both I and my husband got the approval and passport submission letters, but my son, who is now 5 months old, did not get the approval and the system kept on saying that the application is under process. I waited till the next day and then sent an email to Ankara telling them about the situation with my son’s application, I don’t know if the email helped, or they were going to send it anyway, but on 7th of August my son got his approval and passport submission letter.
Now there are some things that I want to mention.
After waiting for over 2 months, I tried to talk with the IRCC toll free number and after around half an hour of wait I was transferred to a person, who was very nice, but could not help at all, because he is in charge of the applications that are submitted inside Canada, and he suggested that I contact Ankara, which I did, I sent them an email and explained that I have been waiting for way beyond the normal processing time and that my studies start early September. Again, I am not sure this helped, but soon after that, I got the approval.
The other thing is that, when we applied, we were in Syria, but when we got the approval, we were in Malaysia, and I was very worried that I will have to either travel to Lebanon to submit the passports, or send them to somebody there so that s/he can submit them on our behalf. When I asked the VAC in Kuala Lumpur, they said that it does not matter and that I can submit the passports anywhere in the world. I submitted them in VAC in Kuala Lumpur, they were sent to Singapore, processed there and back within 7 working days.
Also, we did not get the “Introduction Letters” immediately after approval, we only got them when our passports were done processing in Singapore. I got an email that there is a change in the system, and when I checked, I found that the visa information was added and a message was sent. Again, we got only two letters, for me and my husband, not sure if my son needs one or not, I will send an email to enquire, meanwhile, if anyone has information about this, kindly let me know.
As for the documents that we submitted. We submitted all the mandatory forms and documents including proof of fund ( I got my first year funded by the university, we also provided our bank statements which include sufficient fund). In addition, we submitted educational documents for me and my husband, IELTS certificates (band 8 academic for me and band 8 general for my husband with no less than 7 for both of us), certificate of good conduct from Syria and Malaysia for both of us, and documents proving the residency of our parents in Syria. Each of us also wrote an SOP.
I would advise you to provide the extra documents, to write a good SOP and to BE HONEST. Be honest, be honest, be honest, I just cannot stress this enough. We had this problem where we were denied entry to a certain country around two years ago. We were very afraid that this will affect our visa application, however, we did not hide it, we did not lie about it, we talked in our application about what happened and explained it in details. Being honest helps because it makes them feel that they can trust the information provided in your application.
I hope this helps somebody and best of luck to everyone.
I am writing about our visa experience with the hope that it will benefit somebody and as a way to pay back because the comments, suggestions and information available on this forum helped me a lot when I was preparing my application.
We are Syrians living in Malaysia for the last 6 years. I got admission to the University of Regina in February, at that time we were having a long visit to Syria. So, I applied online from there with my husband and son. I applied for a study permit, my husband for an open work permit and my son for a visit. We submitted our application online on the 22nd of April, 2018 and got approved on 6th of August, it took exactly 15 weeks.
Immediately after submitting the application we got the biometrics request letter, and we did them on 24th of April in Beirut, Lebanon. We were told that our application will be processed in Ankara. At that time, the CIC website showed that processing time in Ankara is 6 weeks. During this wait, and since we were not sure we will be approved for the visa, my husband accepted a work offer that he got in Malaysia, so we all traveled back to Kuala Lumpur. I updated our address of residence in the system and explained why the change happened.
During this time, I was checking the system regularly, and I noticed some changes, although I do not remember the exact dates. The first one was the biometrics, it changed into complete within a few days after submitting. Later, the system showed that they do not need any additional documents and that the application is complete. After that, the review of eligibility and background check started and this took forever. In June, not sure what day that was, I signed in my account and next to my husband’s name, under current status, it was saying “Application/Profile updated” but when I clicked to get the details, there was no change at all. On 30th of July, this happened again, but this time it was next to my name. Exactly one week later I got the same thing, but this time for the three of us, and in the evening, we got the approval. The strange thing is that both I and my husband got the approval and passport submission letters, but my son, who is now 5 months old, did not get the approval and the system kept on saying that the application is under process. I waited till the next day and then sent an email to Ankara telling them about the situation with my son’s application, I don’t know if the email helped, or they were going to send it anyway, but on 7th of August my son got his approval and passport submission letter.
Now there are some things that I want to mention.
After waiting for over 2 months, I tried to talk with the IRCC toll free number and after around half an hour of wait I was transferred to a person, who was very nice, but could not help at all, because he is in charge of the applications that are submitted inside Canada, and he suggested that I contact Ankara, which I did, I sent them an email and explained that I have been waiting for way beyond the normal processing time and that my studies start early September. Again, I am not sure this helped, but soon after that, I got the approval.
The other thing is that, when we applied, we were in Syria, but when we got the approval, we were in Malaysia, and I was very worried that I will have to either travel to Lebanon to submit the passports, or send them to somebody there so that s/he can submit them on our behalf. When I asked the VAC in Kuala Lumpur, they said that it does not matter and that I can submit the passports anywhere in the world. I submitted them in VAC in Kuala Lumpur, they were sent to Singapore, processed there and back within 7 working days.
Also, we did not get the “Introduction Letters” immediately after approval, we only got them when our passports were done processing in Singapore. I got an email that there is a change in the system, and when I checked, I found that the visa information was added and a message was sent. Again, we got only two letters, for me and my husband, not sure if my son needs one or not, I will send an email to enquire, meanwhile, if anyone has information about this, kindly let me know.
As for the documents that we submitted. We submitted all the mandatory forms and documents including proof of fund ( I got my first year funded by the university, we also provided our bank statements which include sufficient fund). In addition, we submitted educational documents for me and my husband, IELTS certificates (band 8 academic for me and band 8 general for my husband with no less than 7 for both of us), certificate of good conduct from Syria and Malaysia for both of us, and documents proving the residency of our parents in Syria. Each of us also wrote an SOP.
I would advise you to provide the extra documents, to write a good SOP and to BE HONEST. Be honest, be honest, be honest, I just cannot stress this enough. We had this problem where we were denied entry to a certain country around two years ago. We were very afraid that this will affect our visa application, however, we did not hide it, we did not lie about it, we talked in our application about what happened and explained it in details. Being honest helps because it makes them feel that they can trust the information provided in your application.
I hope this helps somebody and best of luck to everyone.
