Got my notes last night. Here's my analysis and opinion.
My application was assigned to different agents, analysts, officers and I can see their ' reference numbers'. I only saw the Ottawa office reference number at the initial period when my application was transferred there from CIO. (will take time to look through that again). (Ottawa was my primary office until 4th December when my application was transferred from CPC Ottawa to CIO).
My IP2 date was actually October 31st (when criminality was passed) not November 2nd and file was approved on the 11th of December not 13th of December. I was consistently 2 days late in seeing ghost updates.
I believe it's actually true that the final review by the officer is what is holding a lot of people up because I believe that security may have been done for most people but till an officer passes the eligibility there will be no final approval.
Because from my notes, it was the same day that the officer reviewed my application that it was approved and that was the same day I got the ghost update (although I didn't see it till 2 days later). So I believe security was already done and dusted by then and it was just awaiting a final review by the officer.
We're never told security is passed. we're always told security isn't started even though it may be done, it's only those who may be in security screening that are sometimes told their security is in progress (that also depends on the call agent, who may say in progress instead of the usual 'not started').
Basically, the generic CSE response that says "awaiting final review" is beginning to sound like the truth. I strongly believe that what differentiates those who get PPR in 2 months and those who have to wait 7-8 months to get theirs is just the luck of having an officer review the application as soon as eligibility is met and criminality passed.
The agent who considered my eligibility Met (CIO) is different from the agent who passed my criminality (Ottawa).
Last thing is, I paid my RPRF upfront after I found out my eligibility was Met and I got tired of waiting for the RPRF request. It shows in my GCMS note that the payment was received and allocated a week after I paid (October 18th). This shows that those extra supporting documents we send via CSE are usually received.
Here's a screen shot of my 4th paragraph.
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Edit: Edited to include that the officer who approved my application was at CIO not CPC Ottawa.The application was transferred first to Ottawa on the 9th of August from CIO (after eligibility was met) and was transferred back to CIO from Ottawa on the 4th of December (1 week before approval).
It still don't know if security was initiated at Ottawa or CIO.