That doesn't make a lot of sense. It DOES NOT work like a queue at all. Back when i was waiting for my PR status, the processing time was also 12 months, I contacted them at 10 months and they said everything is still within processing time. Then 14 months went by and i called again, the agent's response was, and i still remember it word for word, "Your file has been complete for quite some time but no one has updated it yet". This means that files to tend to be forgotten even though they are complete. If you read comments from this forum, there are countless examples of people going over the 12 months limit and then as soon as they contact them, they move to the next step within 2-3 weeks.
On second thoughts, i guess u can compare this to a queue at the cash, if the cashier took a break with an indefinite time of return.
I am not mad at all, i am happy that my file is complete and there are no issues as im sure a lot of other people cannot say the same, all im saying is, this can be done in a more efficient way.
"Your file has been complete for quite some time but no one has updated it yet". This means that files to tend to be forgotten even though they are complete.
The context was the PR visa application process. I have not followed those processes in nearly a decade.
The first sentence could easily arise in the context of a citizenship application. Because the file is sitting in a queue waiting for the responsible processing agent or Citizenship Officer to take the next step. It is not "forgotten." Not remembered either. Just one more file in the system, in a stream of nearly a quarter million overall, one more file among hundreds or thousands in the particular local office system.
Just because the applicant cannot physically see the files/applicants in line in front of his or her application does not mean the cashier is on an extended break.
If you read comments from this forum, there are countless examples of people going over the 12 months limit and then as soon as they contact them, they move to the next step within 2-3 weeks.
Actually there is a finite number which can be counted. And not that many actually. Many, yes, perhaps scores. But the number who report contact after contact, and still no imminent action, far outnumber the number reporting action taken sometime soon after making contact. Most of the latter, a few dozens among THOUSANDS of applications concurrently moving to the next step (such as being scheduled for the oath), are probably coincidental and the same action was likely going to happen on the same schedule regardless the contact.
Yes, IRCC is a bureaucracy, a big bureaucracy, one of Canada's biggest bureaucracies. And, of course,
bureaucracy is what bureaucracy does. It is indeed quite likely SOME applications, a very small percentage (which can add up to a fairly large number of individuals considering it is a small percentage of nearly a quarter million or so at any given time), get hung up in-between actions and are not in a queue a processing agent will deal with in due course, and for which intervention can trigger action. BUT the main thing is that even when it goes beyond a year (or significantly more this year given the late 2017 surge and likely longer processing times now), the
VAST MAJORITY of applicants have NO NEED to WORRY, NONE. IRCC will get to the next step in the process in due course. No need to worry the application has been forgotten, or shelved, or has fallen into a crack in the system. Odds are very high all is well and all the applicant needs to do is WAIT, WAIT and WATCH for communication from IRCC, and respond accordingly.
Problem for many is they cannot see where in the queue they are. Conversations in this forum tend to incite unrealistic expectations. At any given time the applicant could be the next in line or, in the particular local office, still have a hundred or so in line in front of him or her. The call centre agents cannot see where in the queue a particular applicant is any better than the fortune tellers on West Dundas. Even the processing agent handling the files does not actually see the queue. The agent opens a file, spends fifteen or forty minutes on it (I do not know what the standard time is for processing any particular step . . . less than an hour and perhaps well less than an hour for most steps, I'm guessing), takes that step (including actions taken to notify the applicant, as appropriate), and then opens the next file in the queue, whichever one it is.
THE MAIN REASON THIS IS IMPORTANT IS TO AVOID FEEDING THE FRENZY OF UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS RIFE IN THIS FORUM.
Again, the vast majority of qualified applicants have no need to do anything other than
WAIT, WAIT and WATCH for communication from IRCC, and respond accordingly. That is it. No need to worry their application will take longer if they do not contact IRCC.
Your emotions, mad or not, aside, my observations are not really much for you. They are an effort to emphasize how things work, that the process is working, and thus to calm the anxiety of scores of other applicants, to assure them all is well (almost everyone for whom all is not well knows it, and at least roughly knows why), no need to be worried, no need to fret about getting through to the call centre. All they need to do is relax and wait and watch for notice from IRCC.
This is particularly important to understand this year, since it appears quite likely a lot of applicants will indeed see longer processing timelines than those seen since 2015 or so (going back to when TWO years was rather common).
