PRTD from DUBAI. Help.

[mini87]

Hi,
I more than meet my residency obligation and traveled to Dubai on the 20th of April with a valid PR card. However my PR card expired two days after I landed. I had already applied for my PR card renewal before leaving Canada but had to travel on an urgent basis. Applied for PRTD 1st May and today is June 19th. So far still under process. I mentioned its urgent, attached my return ticket also but VFS helpline is useless and no one can be contacted at the Canadian embassy Abu Dhabi. I have also applied for Citizenship in December 2017 which is under process right now. I am starting to panic as it's not looking like my PRTD will be here in time for my flight which is on the 3rd of July 2018. I have two kids with me who are Canadian passport holders. I am a Pakistani passport holder. Can someone please give me some advice as to what I should do if the PRTD is not issued in time for my flight? I am reading horror stories online of people that got it after 4 months. I must mention I am here in Dubai on a visit visa and my kids have 30 days visa stamped on arrival. Which means if the PRTD doesn't come in time I will have to pay for tickets for three people to exit and re enter and pay for another visit visa for myself and pay for changing my flight back to canada for three people. I believe Etihad charges $200 per ticket and whatever the fare difference is for the new flight date. And all this without knowing if the PRTD will even come in another month. What if my case also ends up taking 4-5 months. How many times will I exit re enter 3 people and change my flight. I think I will most likely go bankrupt. My son also starts school in September. Any advice from experienced people or someone that applied around the same time as me and got their PRTD? Like I mentioned I MORE than meet the residency requirement.

 

[canuck78]

Hi,
I more than meet my residency obligation and traveled to Dubai on the 20th of April with a valid PR card. However my PR card expired two days after I landed. I had already applied for my PR card renewal before leaving Canada but had to travel on an urgent basis. Applied for PRTD 1st May and today is June 19th. So far still under process. I mentioned its urgent, attached my return ticket also but VFS helpline is useless and no one can be contacted at the Canadian embassy Abu Dhabi. I have also applied for Citizenship in December 2017 which is under process right now. I am starting to panic as it's not looking like my PRTD will be here in time for my flight which is on the 3rd of July 2018. I have two kids with me who are Canadian passport holders. I am a Pakistani passport holder. Can someone please give me some advice as to what I should do if the PRTD is not issued in time for my flight? I am reading horror stories online of people that got it after 4 months. I must mention I am here in Dubai on a visit visa and my kids have 30 days visa stamped on arrival. Which means if the PRTD doesn't come in time I will have to pay for tickets for three people to exit and re enter and pay for another visit visa for myself and pay for changing my flight back to canada for three people. I believe Etihad charges $200 per ticket and whatever the fare difference is for the new flight date. And all this without knowing if the PRTD will even come in another month. What if my case also ends up taking 4-5 months. How many times will I exit re enter 3 people and change my flight. I think I will most likely go bankrupt. My son also starts school in September. Any advice from experienced people or someone that applied around the same time as me and got their PRTD? Like I mentioned I MORE than meet the residency requirement.

]

Do you have a US visa? You have the option to fly to the US and go through the Canadian border by private car. Also you could send your children as unaccompanied minors back to Canada. Obviously both are not ideal but they are options.

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi,
I more than meet my residency obligation and traveled to Dubai on the 20th of April with a valid PR card. However my PR card expired two days after I landed. I had already applied for my PR card renewal before leaving Canada but had to travel on an urgent basis. Applied for PRTD 1st May and today is June 19th. So far still under process. I mentioned its urgent, attached my return ticket also but VFS helpline is useless and no one can be contacted at the Canadian embassy Abu Dhabi. I have also applied for Citizenship in December 2017 which is under process right now. I am starting to panic as it's not looking like my PRTD will be here in time for my flight which is on the 3rd of July 2018. I have two kids with me who are Canadian passport holders. I am a Pakistani passport holder. Can someone please give me some advice as to what I should do if the PRTD is not issued in time for my flight? I am reading horror stories online of people that got it after 4 months. I must mention I am here in Dubai on a visit visa and my kids have 30 days visa stamped on arrival. Which means if the PRTD doesn't come in time I will have to pay for tickets for three people to exit and re enter and pay for another visit visa for myself and pay for changing my flight back to canada for three people. I believe Etihad charges $200 per ticket and whatever the fare difference is for the new flight date. And all this without knowing if the PRTD will even come in another month. What if my case also ends up taking 4-5 months. How many times will I exit re enter 3 people and change my flight. I think I will most likely go bankrupt. My son also starts school in September. Any advice from experienced people or someone that applied around the same time as me and got their PRTD? Like I mentioned I MORE than meet the residency requirement.

As mentioned, crossing via USA land border does not require PR TD.

Unfortunately there is no processing standard for PR TDs. Each office works on their own schedule, and some are much slower than others. The only thing you can do is to keep contacting them to stress the urgency.

Or, perhaps try contacting your local MP from Canada to explain your situation. They can sometimes get involved by contacting visa offices abroad to push the process along for their constituents.Not sure if they can do for PR TDs but doesn't hurt to ask them.

 

[steaky]

Can your children travel on their own?

 

[mini87]

]

Do you have a US visa? You have the option to fly to the US and go through the Canadian border by private car. Also you could send your children as unaccompanied minors back to Canada. Obviously both are not ideal but they are options.

I don’t have a valid us visit visa. And since I am a visitor I can’t apply from dubai either. I used to visit the US all the time as a single woman so I do have old visit visas on my passport. I dont know if that would persuade them to give me a visit visa for the US. My fear is I get to the Canadian border and get denied entry. I will be in an even worse situation than i am now.

 

[mini87]

Can your children travel on their own?

One if 4 and the other is 2 1/2. They could probably travel as unaccompanied minors but I would really rather not separate them from me as they are very young.

 

[mini87]

As mentioned, crossing via USA land border does not require PR TD.

Unfortunately there is no processing standard for PR TDs. Each office works on their own schedule, and some are much slower than others. The only thing you can do is to keep contacting them to stress the urgency.

Or, perhaps try contacting your local MP from Canada to explain your situation. They can sometimes get involved by contacting visa offices abroad to push the process along for their constituents.Not sure if they can do for PR TDs but doesn't hurt to ask them.

Thanks for the response. Yes I am contacting them regularly for an update but I was planning to contact IRCC in Canada and plead my case with them and see if they can get involved. Contacting an MP is also a really good idea. My husband is in Canada so I could ask him to see if he can get in touch with someone in office.

 

[Rob_TO]

Thanks for the response. Yes I am contacting them regularly for an update but I was planning to contact IRCC in Canada and plead my case with them and see if they can get involved. Contacting an MP is also a really good idea. My husband is in Canada so I could ask him to see if he can get in touch with someone in office.

Who exactly at IRCC were you planning to contact? Simply calling the customer service number will be a complete waste of time since the customer service reps aren't able to do anything when it comes to visa offices abroad.

The inconvenience PR TD apps often cause people is a well known problem, especially from certain countries. IRCC is well aware of the problem, but I don't think they really care. Your MP is probably your best option.

 

[mini87]

Who exactly at IRCC were you planning to contact? Simply calling the customer service number will be a complete waste of time since the customer service reps aren't able to do anything when it comes to visa offices abroad.

The inconvenience PR TD apps often cause people is a well known problem, especially from certain countries. IRCC is well aware of the problem, but I don't think they really care. Your MP is probably your best option.

Yes trying to get in touch with the MP now. Wish me luck!

 

[qureishi]

Hi Mini87 ,

What happened to your case ? Did you get the PRTD ?

Best of luck !

 

[mini87]

Hi Mini87 ,

What happened to your case ? Did you get the PRTD ?

Best of luck !

Nothing yet Its been over 60 days. I had to exit and re enter with both kids. Cost me close to Aed 2800/- Trying to get answers from the embassy or Vfs. But apparently its under process and I need to wait. No timeline in sight.

 

[qureishi]

Nothing yet Its been over 60 days. I had to exit and re enter with both kids. Cost me close to Aed 2800/- Trying to get answers from the embassy or Vfs. But apparently its under process and I need to wait. No timeline in sight.

Its really not a good news ! Best of Luck dear and Insha Allah you will get your PRTD soon

 

[mini87]

So I wanted to post an update incase it helps someone else. I got my passport back with the attached PRTD this Sunday, which was 29/07/2018.

Here is my timeline:

20/04/2018 - Landed in Dubai
01/05/2018 - Applied for PRTD from VFS in wafi mall
02/05/2018 - Got an email with my tracking number, informing me that my documents were under process.
19/06/2018 - Called VFS and was told they don't have any info regarding when my PRTD will be issued. All they know is that it's under process. The lady emailed me a case specific enquiry link which can be used to send an email to the embassy to get a more direct update from them. I sent an enquiry and got a reply the same day stating that my application was in a queue waiting to be reviewed by an officer. Basically they hadn't even started processing it.
21/06/2018 - Drove to the embassy in Abu Dhabi to try and meet someone to plead my case and ask for urgent processing. Never got past security. NO ONE in the building will meet you. There are signs put up saying embassy is not open for the general public. It is just a processing center. I repeat NO ONE will meet with you and you will not be let past security. I went there with the excuse that I want to add a medical letter to my file so I need to see someone for that. I was told everything is online and that I should email them. After much negotiating, I was told to enclose the medical letter with another letter explaining why I need urgent processing and to leave that at the security desk. They will then pass it on. Luckily I had had a consultation with a doctor in the UAE and he had given us a letter confirming that I had a minor health issue that he had treated for a short time. As instructed, I left an envelope with the doctors note and a hand written letter explaining why I needed urgent processing.
24/06/2018 - Arranged a doctor's note from my doctor in Canada confirming that I had been diagnosed with a medical issue recently. Emailed that to the embassy through the case specific enquiry link along with letter detailing why I needed my case to be processed urgently. Also attached my ticket and travel details. Got an automated response email. Didn't hear from them again.
22/07/2018 - Got an emailing asking to submit my passport. Did so the very next morning.
26/07/2018 - Got an email asking to collect my passport. This was on Thursday evening so had to wait for the weekend to be over to collect my passport.
29/07/2018 - Collected passport with PRTD attached

During this time my husband also made a trip to the local member of parliament's office and submitted the doctor's note and other documents for them to email the embassy directly in the hope that they might get a response other than 'just wait, it's being processed'. The case worker from the MP's office did email the embassy in Abu Dhabi but also never got a response.

I have rebooked my flight for next week and had to pay $1800 for one adult two kids. This is in addition to the $3500 I already paid when I booked the flight back in April. Etihad very kindly waived off their change fee with is about $275 per head, because my return date had to be changed for genuine reasons.

In all honesty, I don't know if my case was processed regularly or urgently because they don't tell you anything. These few months have easily been the most stressful of my life, not knowing if my citizenship will be delayed because I can't physically be there for the test, not knowing if the PRTD will come in time for my son to start school or will he miss his first day/first week/first month of school. I am grateful that this process is behind me and that I can finally go home after over three months. Good luck to anyone still waiting for their PRTD.

 

[qureishi]

So I wanted to post an update incase it helps someone else. I got my passport back with the attached PRTD this Sunday, which was 29/07/2018.

Here is my timeline:

20/04/2018 - Landed in Dubai
01/05/2018 - Applied for PRTD from VFS in wafi mall
02/05/2018 - Got an email with my tracking number, informing me that my documents were under process.
19/06/2018 - Called VFS and was told they don't have any info regarding when my PRTD will be issued. All they know is that it's under process. The lady emailed me a case specific enquiry link which can be used to send an email to the embassy to get a more direct update from them. I sent an enquiry and got a reply the same day stating that my application was in a queue waiting to be reviewed by an officer. Basically they hadn't even started processing it.
21/06/2018 - Drove to the embassy in Abu Dhabi to try and meet someone to plead my case and ask for urgent processing. Never got past security. NO ONE in the building will meet you. There are signs put up saying embassy is not open for the general public. It is just a processing center. I repeat NO ONE will meet with you and you will not be let past security. I went there with the excuse that I want to add a medical letter to my file so I need to see someone for that. I was told everything is online and that I should email them. After much negotiating, I was told to enclose the medical letter with another letter explaining why I need urgent processing and to leave that at the security desk. They will then pass it on. Luckily I had had a consultation with a doctor in the UAE and he had given us a letter confirming that I had a minor health issue that he had treated for a short time. As instructed, I left an envelope with the doctors note and a hand written letter explaining why I needed urgent processing.
24/06/2018 - Arranged a doctor's note from my doctor in Canada confirming that I had been diagnosed with a medical issue recently. Emailed that to the embassy through the case specific enquiry link along with letter detailing why I needed my case to be processed urgently. Also attached my ticket and travel details. Got an automated response email. Didn't hear from them again.
22/07/2018 - Got an emailing asking to submit my passport. Did so the very next morning.
26/07/2018 - Got an email asking to collect my passport. This was on Thursday evening so had to wait for the weekend to be over to collect my passport.
29/07/2018 - Collected passport with PRTD attached

During this time my husband also made a trip to the local member of parliament's office and submitted the doctor's note and other documents for them to email the embassy directly in the hope that they might get a response other than 'just wait, it's being processed'. The case worker from the MP's office did email the embassy in Abu Dhabi but also never got a response.

I have rebooked my flight for next week and had to pay $1800 for one adult two kids. This is in addition to the $3500 I already paid when I booked the flight back in April. Etihad very kindly waived off their change fee with is about $275 per head, because my return date had to be changed for genuine reasons.

In all honesty, I don't know if my case was processed regularly or urgently because they don't tell you anything. These few months have easily been the most stressful of my life, not knowing if my citizenship will be delayed because I can't physically be there for the test, not knowing if the PRTD will come in time for my son to start school or will he miss his first day/first week/first month of school. I am grateful that this process is behind me and that I can finally go home after over three months. Good luck to anyone still waiting for their PRTD.

Best of Luck dear !

 

[almehdi]

Hi

Just to check, did you not include your passport while applying for PRTD? If so, how did you travel out of UAE and re-enter when your UAE visa expired?