waiting for the decision longer than the average processing times

[ilirkola]

Hello,

I have applied for a visitor visa to Canada in June 2022, and my status is still 'in progress', I haven't even gotten a message that they have started reviewing my eligibility. I have applied from the Netherlands, and am an Albanian citizen. The expected waiting time for the Netherlands currently says 180 days, and I've waited for about 220 so far. The 'justification' they give is that they are prioritizing applications from Ukrainian citizens, but last week I went to the VFS office to ask for an update and met a person (not from Ukraine) who had applied for a visitor visa a month ago and it was already approved. People at the VFS office just said 'oh we don't know anything about how things are processed just send a webform', but I've never gotten a proper answer from those. I have a permanent job in the Netherlands and have applied for a Dutch passport, which I think proves strong ties (I have been living her for over 5 years and have a PhD in a technical field from a Dutch university). My common law partner is Canadian and she lives & works in the Netherlands (she has a partner visa through me), and I want to visit Canada to attend her sister's wedding. We've been waiting for 10 months now so I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion how to 'catch their attention', because it seems like they haven't even opened my application and have moved on to more recent ones.

Any advice is highly appreciated, thanks!

 

[Naturgrl]

Hello,

I have applied for a visitor visa to Canada in June 2022, and my status is still 'in progress', I haven't even gotten a message that they have started reviewing my eligibility. I have applied from the Netherlands, and am an Albanian citizen. The expected waiting time for the Netherlands currently says 180 days, and I've waited for about 220 so far. The 'justification' they give is that they are prioritizing applications from Ukrainian citizens, but last week I went to the VFS office to ask for an update and met a person (not from Ukraine) who had applied for a visitor visa a month ago and it was already approved. People at the VFS office just said 'oh we don't know anything about how things are processed just send a webform', but I've never gotten a proper answer from those. I have a permanent job in the Netherlands and have applied for a Dutch passport, which I think proves strong ties (I have been living her for over 5 years and have a PhD in a technical field from a Dutch university). My common law partner is Canadian and she lives & works in the Netherlands (she has a partner visa through me), and I want to visit Canada to attend her sister's wedding. We've been waiting for 10 months now so I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion how to 'catch their attention', because it seems like they haven't even opened my application and have moved on to more recent ones.

Any advice is highly appreciated, thanks!

Did you say you had a common law Canadian partner? Reapply.

 

[ilirkola]

Did you say you had a common law Canadian partner? Reapply.

Thanks a lot for your answer! When I applied in June 2022 we did not qualify yet as common law partners (we had been living together only for 11 months), but I had included all the information about my relationship to her. Since then now we have been living together for over 1.5 years so we qualify as common law partners. I have sent an update through the webform with the information. I was afraid to reapply since I was worried I would go to the bottom of the queue and have to wait the whole waiting period again. you would suggest to send a new application what would be the motivation/advantage of doing this? thanks!

 

[Naturgrl]

Thanks a lot for your answer! When I applied in June 2022 we did not qualify yet as common law partners (we had been living together only for 11 months), but I had included all the information about my relationship to her. Since then now we have been living together for over 1.5 years so we qualify as common law partners. I have sent an update through the webform with the information. I was afraid to reapply since I was worried I would go to the bottom of the queue and have to wait the whole waiting period again. you would suggest to send a new application what would be the motivation/advantage of doing this? thanks!

So you updated your information to say you are common law with a Canadian citizen? That was not a good move because now IRCC expects your partner to file for spousal sponsorship even if you have no plans to do so. IRCC will now be concerned that you are coming to live in Canada, and file for sponsorship inland. So you have two options 1) just wait. or 2) reapply. Has your file even started eligibility review?

If refused, it is because IRCC expects that you will be moving to Canada to live and work at some point so should be following the process for sponsorship, not TRV.

 

[ilirkola]

So you updated your information to say you are common law with a Canadian citizen? That was not a good move because now IRCC expects your partner to file for spousal sponsorship even if you have no plans to do so. IRCC will now be concerned that you are coming to live in Canada, and file for sponsorship inland. So you have two options 1) just wait. or 2) reapply. Has your file even started eligibility review?

If refused, it is because IRCC expects that you will be moving to Canada to live and work at some point so should be following the process for sponsorship, not TRV.

they have not started reviewing my eligibility. My partner has been living outside of Canada for 10 years and we both have jobs in the Netherlands and are becoming Dutch citizens, and we have no interest to move to Canada, so just because she's Canadian it's more difficult for me to spend holidays there? I still don't fully understand what would be the purpose of reapplying in this case, what could that change? thanks for answering!

 

[Naturgrl]

they have not started reviewing my eligibility. My partner has been living outside of Canada for 10 years and we both have jobs in the Netherlands and are becoming Dutch citizens, and we have no interest to move to Canada, so just because she's Canadian it's more difficult for me to spend holidays there? I still don't fully understand what would be the purpose of reapplying in this case, what could that change? thanks for answering!

Then wait as it is your choice. Once you have a Canadian partner or spouse, IRCC expects (even though you do not) to file for spousal sponsorship. IRCC takes the view that at some point, you will file to move to Canada not as a visitor but as a permanent resident.

 

[ilirkola]

Then wait as it is your choice. Once you have a Canadian partner or spouse, IRCC expects (even though you do not) to file for spousal sponsorship. IRCC takes the view that at some point, you will file to move to Canada not as a visitor but as a permanent resident.

I was just trying to clarify what should I do differently if I reapply. Not tell them that I have a Canadian partner? In that case I wouldn't know what to put as a reason for visiting, since the reason is that I'm going to attend the wedding of my girlfriend's sister.

 

[Naturgrl]

I was just trying to clarify what should I do differently if I reapply. Not tell them that I have a Canadian partner? In that case I wouldn't know what to put as a reason for visiting, since the reason is that I'm going to attend the wedding of my girlfriend's sister.

Just reapplying with the same information sometimes will get your application completed quicker. Your file may be stuck somewhere in the system. IRCC now knows you have a Canadian partner because you sent them information on it. When you reapply they have access to your first application and web forms.

 

[ilirkola]

Just reapplying with the same information sometimes will get your application completed quicker. Your file may be stuck somewhere in the system. IRCC now knows you have a Canadian partner because you sent them information on it. When you reapply they have access to your first application and web forms.

thanks for the suggestion! would I have to 'cancel' the existing application? or is it possible to have two active ones at the same time?

 

[ilirkola]

thanks for the suggestion. if anyone else has had a similar experience I would be happy to hear from them!