Newbie Questions - The Process & Steps, Outland.

[ComingHome]

Guys, I want to being this post with a three part apology and acknowledge that you're all kind, knowledgeable and most importantly patient people.

One, I know these newbie questions probably suck and answering them for the 487th time probably sucks as much. Two, I appreciate your patience and three, well, I'm sorry.

Anyways, I just sort of wanted to feel out the process in the outland Family app. This is, as (I think) I understand the process to go. Please feel free to correct me, add your two cents or a full toonie to this thread. My OCD won't let me not know the entire process and what happens.

Here we go.

Lodge outland app by post.
Application is received.
AOR1 - You receive an email (if you put an email address down) acknowledging the receipt of your app.
SA - You're notified if your sponsorship is approved.

Is your application being processed after the SA or when you receive AOR1?

*e-CAS* - Is your application linked and visible online prior to the SA or only after SA?

Biometrics Request - I understand that biometrics are paid upfront with the initial lodging of the application, but typically when would you see a request to have them done? The reason I ask that is I've noticed (from the data available here) that some people are asked to do biometrics the same day they have their SA, or in some cases a few days, weeks and oddly enough in a few cases before they receive their SA.

Medical Request - Is the medical request typically after the biometrics, before or can it be called at anytime?

AOR2 - What is the purpose of AOR2?

Background Check - I'm not entirely sure what this is as the PA submits a police check with the initial application. What steps does one have to do or be aware of when it comes to a background check? FYI - Not asking because I have a criminal past. Shoot, I've never ran a red light. Just curious as to the step of the background check.

Decision Made - Probably stupid of me to ask, but does this mean that a decision has been made on the application? (Approval or Rejection).

PPR - Your requested to send your passport to a processing office in order to have your PR attached to it?

COPR - Is this something you receive prior to landing in Canada or as you land in Canada?

Finally, as I've somewhat laid it out and don't really quite understand, the process is somewhat like:

AR
AOR
SA
e-CAS
Biometrics/Medical (??)
AOR2
Background Check
Decision Made
PPR
COPR


I think that's it...yeah, it is. Thanks for reading and thanks for answering what you can. I promise in the future, these types of threads (from me at least) will become few and far between.

If I missed anything please feel free to fill it in.

Thanks again everyone. We really appreciate it.

 

[ComingHome]

Bump?

 

[Louman64]

Everyone comes on different stages and time...

 

[Krissh2179]

Guys, I want to being this post with a three part apology and acknowledge that you're all kind, knowledgeable and most importantly patient people.

One, I know these newbie questions probably suck and answering them for the 487th time probably sucks as much. Two, I appreciate your patience and three, well, I'm sorry.

Anyways, I just sort of wanted to feel out the process in the outland Family app. This is, as (I think) I understand the process to go. Please feel free to correct me, add your two cents or a full toonie to this thread. My OCD won't let me not know the entire process and what happens.

Here we go.

Lodge outland app by post.
Application is received.
AOR1 - You receive an email (if you put an email address down) acknowledging the receipt of your app.
SA - You're notified if your sponsorship is approved.

Is your application being processed after the SA or when you receive AOR1?

*e-CAS* - Is your application linked and visible online prior to the SA or only after SA?

Biometrics Request - I understand that biometrics are paid upfront with the initial lodging of the application, but typically when would you see a request to have them done? The reason I ask that is I've noticed (from the data available here) that some people are asked to do biometrics the same day they have their SA, or in some cases a few days, weeks and oddly enough in a few cases before they receive their SA.

Medical Request - Is the medical request typically after the biometrics, before or can it be called at anytime?

AOR2 - What is the purpose of AOR2?

Background Check - I'm not entirely sure what this is as the PA submits a police check with the initial application. What steps does one have to do or be aware of when it comes to a background check? FYI - Not asking because I have a criminal past. Shoot, I've never ran a red light. Just curious as to the step of the background check.

Decision Made - Probably stupid of me to ask, but does this mean that a decision has been made on the application? (Approval or Rejection).

PPR - Your requested to send your passport to a processing office in order to have your PR attached to it?

COPR - Is this something you receive prior to landing in Canada or as you land in Canada?

Finally, as I've somewhat laid it out and don't really quite understand, the process is somewhat like:

AR
AOR
SA
e-CAS
Biometrics/Medical (??)
AOR2
Background Check
Decision Made
PPR
COPR


I think that's it...yeah, it is. Thanks for reading and thanks for answering what you can. I promise in the future, these types of threads (from me at least) will become few and far between.

If I missed anything please feel free to fill it in.

Thanks again everyone. We really appreciate it.

Hey there. This forum is to help out so don’t apologise. People here are happy to help. I’ll try to answer most of what I can. Others can chime in.
After your application is received you will have to wait for a length of time (which depends on the current processing trend of IRCC) before you get your AOR. When you get this, this means that your file is complete with the right documents and that they can start processing your application further.
Right after you get your AOR ( and sometimes a few days before) you can check your application on ECAS (which shows information about the process of both the sponsor and Principal Applicant (PA) ) You need to log in using your Sponsor’s credentials on ECAS to see both sides. ECAS shows things like when a sponsor is approved, (Sponsor Side on ECAS) as well as when you receive medical instructions, biometrics request and when they start processing your application (PA’s side on ECAS).
The next way to keep a track of your application is by making a MyCIC account using GCKey (which is a fancy way to say username and password) and then linking your application using (in this case PA’s info only) to your account. Here you can keep better track of the PA’s side of when biometrics is completed, when the PA passes medicals, as well as when the background check and eligibility of your PA begins. Its always better to have this account since all the request letters (biometrics, medicals) will come directly to this account and is generally faster than receiving those letters in the email you provided.

Is your application being processed after the SA or when you receive AOR1?
Your application has started processing the day before you get your AOR.

When you get your medical request, biometric request and Sponsor Approval letter is totally at the discretion of the officer processing your file and it does not follow a fixed order. Some get Bio and Medicals first then SA, some get SA first then the other 2 while some don’t get it until file transfer.

AOR2 - What is the purpose of AOR2?
So as you may already know, you send your application to Sydney. This is where the initial part of your application is complete (bio medicals and SA at most times). After all this is done, in order to process the file further the office in sydney forwards your file to another Visa Office and when that visa office starts processing your application, they send you an email stating they have started processing your application which is called AOR2.

Now there are certain exceptions to this. For one, if your file if found simple enough to process will be sent to a Visa Office within the country itself which is in Mississauga and called (CPC-M). If the file needs extensive review, they send it to the Principal Applicant’s Local Visa Office in the country they reside. Now coming back to AOR2, CPC-M does not give out AOR2. So you will not know right until the end when they start processing your application there. Other Visa Offices (VO) do send the email but sometimes they don’t. So in that case you open your ECAS and on the PA’s side of ECAS, there are numbered list of all the steps that have been completed for the PA (like when biometrics letter was sent, when they asked to give Medicals, and when the medical results were received by them) Each line has 1. 2. 3. written at the start so we call it line 1, line 2, line 3 etc. So if you want to check when they started processing your file it would be when ‘line 2’ will say ‘we started processing your application on (specified date)’.

Background Check.
Now this stage comprises of 2 steps. Criminality and Security. The police checks you send is part of criminality. They validate the police checks you send and have to get your info from every country you lived for more than 6 months.
Security is when they approach outside agency like CSIS (Security agency) to conduct security checks on their behalf. (Biometrics is a part of this). Basically seeing if your PA could be a terrorist threat or has been linked to a shady organisation or been to a country that harbours terrorists to name a few. They then make a report of the same and send it back to Immigration who assess the Security and pass or fail you based on the report. In some cases, due to many factors (its a huge list), a file can be selected for what is called as security screening which is extensive than normal security checks and goes on for months. (Your file sits in limbo with no updates for the duration of security screening).
Thus for some, Background Checks runs the longest but its all on a case by case basis.

 

[Krissh2179]

PART 2

Eligibility
I know you did not ask for this but may as well inform you about it. There is something called Eligibility of PA (different from Sponsor Eligibility). After file transfer, the officer handling your file checks, based on the documents you sent if the relationship is genuine or not. If they find it genuine they pass your eligibility and if not they ask for additional documents to continue processing and make a decision. Sometimes if your eligibility passes before your BGC is complete, you get what is called a pre arrival services letter (its info helping out PA to start life in Canada). If your BGC was complete and eligibility was the last thing you needed to clear then this pre arrival will come attached with your PPR.

Decision Made
Like I said, ECAS has 2 sides both for Sponsor and PA. When Sponsor’s side shows Decision Made it means they have been found eligible to sponsor (this changes before or after you get your SA letter). When Decision Made is on the PA’s side of ECAS it means they have approved your application and that Passport Request will follow next. Very very very rarely will decision made be a negative outcome. CIC usually gives ample notice through email etc if they feel the need to reject your application.

PPR
Passport request is the final letter you will get from CIC indicating your application is complete (People call it the Golden Email). If your PA is from a country that does not need a visa to enter Canada, you only send a copy of your passport and other things like photos and a return envelope (will all be mentioned in the letter) to the embassy in your PA’s country where they will return it with COPR. If your PA is from a country that needs a visa to enter Canada, there will be Instructions on submitting your Passport itself for stamping of Visa and return your passport with the COPR. (Done through VFS, same place you submit your biometrics at).

COPR
Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) is a letter stating that your PA was approved as a PR and with details of their marital status and personal info. It does not mean your PA is a permanent resident yet. You get 2 copies of the COPR. When you make your first landing in Canada, you tell the immigration officer that you are landing as a new resident and hand them these copies of COPR. They will process and verify everything and then let you enter the country as a new resident. They will keep one copy of COPR and return one to you. Keeping that copy safe is very important as thats the only proof you have of your PA’s status in Canada as a resident until your PA gets their permanent resident card that takes 30-45 days on average.

So to summarise, the process goes like
AOR (Ecas & Gckey link same time)
Bio
Med
SA (order is interchangeable)
File transfer (Sponsor will be notified of this and where the file is going through email).
If no additional docs, then DM on PA’s Ecas
PPR
Visa and COPR (non visa exempt countries. Only COPR for visa exempt).

The length of time to complete all of this totally depends on how complex or simple your case is and how quickly they can come to a decision on everything BGC, eligibility, medicals etc.

I hope this makes sense to you and feel free to ask if you are not clear about anything. All the best.

 

[ComingHome]

Krissh, you're a legend. Thank you for taking the time out to explain all of this. Naturally, I do have a few more questions. Haha. I think our application is quite simple, to be honest with you. This isn't our first go around with immigration. My wife has lived in Canada on a WHV and extended her stay in Canada on a TRV while my PR for Australia was processing.

Anyways, like I said, I have a few more questions, some in relation to the my original questions and a couple of new odds and ends.

Here goes

For the ECAS - do both of us, the PA and sponsor need a CIC account? My wife already has one, but I don't. Is that required?

When you get your medical request, biometric request and Sponsor Approval letter is totally at the discretion of the officer processing your file and it does not follow a fixed order. Some get Bio and Medicals first then SA, some get SA first then the other 2 while some don’t get it until file transfer.

So there is no way to do your biometrics and medical ahead of time and include it with your initial lodging? I know with my PR application to Australia, they also tell you not to do it, but I did them anyways (after lodging online) and then submitted them after the fact.

Background Check.
Now this stage comprises of 2 steps. Criminality and Security. The police checks you send is part of criminality. They validate the police checks you send and have to get your info from every country you lived for more than 6 months.

Is it just the PA who needs police checks or will I, the sponsor need to do it as well? For contact other agencies, does that mean we do not have to submit RCMP checks as we are both currently in Australia?

I feel like this all makes sense to me. I think the questions I will have moving forward are questions on the actual application itself.

Thank you so much for painting a really clear picture of this. I've said it before, but with each post I feel much more confident in our ability to do this.

 

[Krissh2179]

Krissh, you're a legend. Thank you for taking the time out to explain all of this. Naturally, I do have a few more questions. Haha. I think our application is quite simple, to be honest with you. This isn't our first go around with immigration. My wife has lived in Canada on a WHV and extended her stay in Canada on a TRV while my PR for Australia was processing.

Anyways, like I said, I have a few more questions, some in relation to the my original questions and a couple of new odds and ends.



For the ECAS - do both of us, the PA and sponsor need a CIC account? My wife already has one, but I don't. Is that required?



So there is no way to do your biometrics and medical ahead of time and include it with your initial lodging? I know with my PR application to Australia, they also tell you not to do it, but I did them anyways (after lodging online) and then submitted them after the fact.



Is it just the PA who needs police checks or will I, the sponsor need to do it as well? For contact other agencies, does that mean we do not have to submit RCMP checks as we are both currently in Australia?

I feel like this all makes sense to me. I think the questions I will have moving forward are questions on the actual application itself.

Thank you so much for painting a really clear picture of this. I've said it before, but with each post I feel much more confident in our ability to do this.

For the ECAS - do both of us, the PA and sponsor need a CIC account? My wife already has one, but I don't. Is that required?

ECAS is not really an account. Anyone who has the Sponsor’s info as well as the application number or UCI (all types of number associated with your file) can open ECAS and see your status. For GCKey (which is an username password based system) you can link your application to either the sponsor or principal applicant’s account. However, for you to be able to link it on your account (you need to be your PA’s representative which is another form you send if you want all communication from CIC directed to your account and email.

So there is no way to do your biometrics and medical ahead of time and include it with your initial lodging? I know with my PR application to Australia, they also tell you not to do it, but I did them anyways (after lodging online) and then submitted them after the fact.
No you cant do it ahead of time as the places you do it will ask you for the official letter that CIC sends.

Is it just the PA who needs police checks or will I, the sponsor need to do it as well? For contact other agencies, does that mean we do not have to submit RCMP checks as we are both currently in Australia?

Only the PA needs police checks not the sponsor. Usually if you look at the checklist under Police Certificates, it mentions current country of residence as well as any country you lived 6 months or more (if you lived there most of your life). So if it applies to you send all otherwise just the current country of residence. For countries that Canada finds it strenuous to approach and get details from, its best to send the PCC of all those countries with the application. No problem if you don’t since they will ask for it anyways later but might delay processing of your application. Like in my own case I lived 2 and a half years in NZ but not most of my life since I turned 18, so they did not ask me for a police check, they would have approached Nz on their own accord since NZ and Canada have an info share deal between them (all info about security and criminality shared through a single database). Same goes for countries like Australia, UK etc. In your case since you mentioned your PA lives in OZ, you have to submit the police check for that country. (Current country of residence). If she lived most of her life in Canada since 18 she will have to submit an RCMP check or will be requested for the same later. Its better to send it with the application though because you never know what kind of officer you will get and they may return the application for this.

 

[Krissh2179]

Sorry, for some reason I missed replying to the rest but there you go.

 

[ComingHome]

Hey Krissh,

Thanks again for the info! I feel much more at ease about this all. Still lots of work to do, but we are on the right track.

So, just as a follow up - my wife lived with me in Canada for 26 months, we will not need to send a police certificate from Canada for her, because AU, NZ and Canada all have a shared database in regards to that? Did I read and say that right?

 

[Krissh2179]

Hey Krissh,

Thanks again for the info! I feel much more at ease about this all. Still lots of work to do, but we are on the right track.

So, just as a follow up - my wife lived with me in Canada for 26 months, we will not need to send a police certificate from Canada for her, because AU, NZ and Canada all have a shared database in regards to that? Did I read and say that right?

You are correct in understanding it but this thing I mentioned is totally an internal process. So assess your PA’s living situation based on the check list that specifies PCC.
You need to provide PCC of country she currently resides in if she lived there for 6 months or more so yes she needs to send Australia’s check. They wont do it for you as she is currently living there. When I said they have a shared data base its that after you send your PCC its easier for them to obtain that info from this database. Not saying it allows you to skip PCC. Thats important.
Second part says send checks for any country where you have lived most of your life since 18 (PA) so if Canada is where the PA lived most life since 18 then an RCMP check will be needed too.

For example and to help you understand, If suppose she lived in Nz for a year long ago and it does not fall in either category (current country of residence or lived most of life since 18) you dont need to send the pcc for NZ and if they need info they will use that data base. But replace that country with say IRAN or Saudi Arabia and that makes it hard for them to gain info on your criminality, they will request you to send a PCC for those countries at a later date even though that doesnt fall in either of the categories I mentioned above (currently live in or most life). Hence if you feel your PA lived in a country where access to info is tougher, its better to send the PCC for those countries with the application to avoid delays.

 

[ComingHome]

Ah yes, I understand now and makes total sense!

Thanks for that! I appreciate it. This weekend will be about gathering documents - Monday about asking more questions haha.

Thanks again!

 

[Krissh2179]

Ah yes, I understand now and makes total sense!

Thanks for that! I appreciate it. This weekend will be about gathering documents - Monday about asking more questions haha.

Thanks again!

No worries. Good luck and you are always free to directly message if you need help with something. I’ll try my best to answer as much as I know.

 

[Rajnavi]

PART 2

Eligibility
I know you did not ask for this but may as well inform you about it. There is something called Eligibility of PA (different from Sponsor Eligibility). After file transfer, the officer handling your file checks, based on the documents you sent if the relationship is genuine or not. If they find it genuine they pass your eligibility and if not they ask for additional documents to continue processing and make a decision. Sometimes if your eligibility passes before your BGC is complete, you get what is called a pre arrival services letter (its info helping out PA to start life in Canada). If your BGC was complete and eligibility was the last thing you needed to clear then this pre arrival will come attached with your PPR.

Decision Made
Like I said, ECAS has 2 sides both for Sponsor and PA. When Sponsor’s side shows Decision Made it means they have been found eligible to sponsor (this changes before or after you get your SA letter). When Decision Made is on the PA’s side of ECAS it means they have approved your application and that Passport Request will follow next. Very very very rarely will decision made be a negative outcome. CIC usually gives ample notice through email etc if they feel the need to reject your application.

PPR
Passport request is the final letter you will get from CIC indicating your application is complete (People call it the Golden Email). If your PA is from a country that does not need a visa to enter Canada, you only send a copy of your passport and other things like photos and a return envelope (will all be mentioned in the letter) to the embassy in your PA’s country where they will return it with COPR. If your PA is from a country that needs a visa to enter Canada, there will be Instructions on submitting your Passport itself for stamping of Visa and return your passport with the COPR. (Done through VFS, same place you submit your biometrics at).

COPR
Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) is a letter stating that your PA was approved as a PR and with details of their marital status and personal info. It does not mean your PA is a permanent resident yet. You get 2 copies of the COPR. When you make your first landing in Canada, you tell the immigration officer that you are landing as a new resident and hand them these copies of COPR. They will process and verify everything and then let you enter the country as a new resident. They will keep one copy of COPR and return one to you. Keeping that copy safe is very important as thats the only proof you have of your PA’s status in Canada as a resident until your PA gets their permanent resident card that takes 30-45 days on average.

So to summarise, the process goes like
AOR (Ecas & Gckey link same time)
Bio
Med
SA (order is interchangeable)
File transfer (Sponsor will be notified of this and where the file is going through email).
If no additional docs, then DM on PA’s Ecas
PPR
Visa and COPR (non visa exempt countries. Only COPR for visa exempt).

The length of time to complete all of this totally depends on how complex or simple your case is and how quickly they can come to a decision on everything BGC, eligibility, medicals etc.

I hope this makes sense to you and feel free to ask if you are not clear about anything. All the best.

Thank you so much for all the info you provide on all posts

 

[Krissh2179]

Thank you so much for all the info you provide on all posts

My pleasure. I was helped out by a lot of people on this forum during my application. Its only fair I give back to the forum.

 

[Rajnavi]

My pleasure. I was helped out by a lot of people on this forum during my application. Its only fair I give back to the forum.

Hahaha sounds good