Hello, We applied for a spousal pr in December 2020, and we got notified yesterday of the approval and asked to send the passport to Singapore for the pr visa. However, we are already in Canada and I am on a visitors visa here. We came in July. I would prefer to just stay in Canada. Do I need to send my passport to Singapore for a pr visa? Or can I just send it to the case processing center in Ottawa? If so, do I need to do a change of address as well? Many thanks in advance for any advice? I tried to get through on the help line today but was unable to speak with anyone.
Applied from Thailand, now family class pr is approved but I am already in Canada on visitors visa. Do I send passport to Singapore?
- Thread starter johncm
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Yes there are, thank you. Do you know if it is necessary for me to submit a change of address via the webform as well? Or can I just send the documents to the case processing center in Canada with a prepaid return express post envelope to my current (Canadian address)?
We were in the same boat as you - wife was in Canada on visitor visa - we just followed the instructions, as @armoured also mentioned. We let them know of the change in address, and did the same on ECAS ( although I did this as soon as she landed in Canada ). They then sent us a separate email with instructions.
As far as I can tell, you haven't shared here what the relevant part of the instructions say.
If you don't share that,unlikely anyone can provide useful advice beyond saying ... Read the instructions.
Thanks for replying. Glad to hear that things worked out for you!
We probably should have notified of our change in address as soon as we arrived in July, but we weren't sure if the pr would be finalized and approved before we were scheduled to return to Thailand, so we didn't. Now that it has been, it makes more sense to stay put here. So now that we have been approved, the email message instructs us to send the passport to Singapore for a visa stamp. However, in the appendix A of the document "how to submit your passport, photos and appendix b' there are instructions for both people residing inside of Canada and outside of Canada.
I guess the crux of the matter is that while we are residing inside of Canada, because we haven't notified, they believe us to be residing outside of Canada, so I am just uncertain of whether or not there will be a problem with us just using the instructions for applicants residing in Canada.
I did send an email to Singapore explaining this situation, but received a form email in reply, indicating that I might not get a response.
I think what I should probably do is notify of the change of address now, and then use the instructions for applicants residing in Canada.
To clarify:
The instructions from the email I received indicate that I should send my documents to Singapore for a visa. In the appendix A of the document that accompanied the email, "how to submit your passport, photos and appendix b' there are instructions on submitting your pasport for both people residing inside of Canada and outside of Canada.
Since we are here on an extended trip, and were not sure the pr would be approved before our scheduled return to Thailand, we did not do a change of address notification to notify of our address in Canada.
However, since we are now in Canada, it would make more sense for us to stay and use these instructions for residents of Canada, but since I have not notified officially of a change of address to Canada, I am unsure about whether or not I can.
I did send an email explaining this to the Singapore High Commission, but am not sure if I will get a response.
You are resident in Canada for these purposes. You can both follow those instructions and effect a change of address (just in case).
You still haven't said what those instructions for those resident in Canada are. Most now are getting instructions to advise and not send any documents and they will get virtual landing arranged.
It would be odd right now if you got instructions to send to Ottawa (that seems to be old approach).
Thank you for your reply.
We did hear back from Singapore. They are going to transfer our file to IRCC and we will be contacted from them about a virtual landing. It seems like the instructions on the document that came with the request to send the passports to Singapore (for residents of Canada) are not the current practice.
Anyway, this all seems to be resolved for now. Thanks to everyone who offered information.
Did you update your address on your sponsorship application when you entered Canada in July?
The big issue was that you didn’t update your address so processing kept being done in Singapore. They will need to send your dossier to Canada. It is very important that people update their address if they relocate. There are lot of examples on the forum facing delays as their files are transferred back to Canada or getting stuck outside Canada because they were landed virtually incorrectly because there file indicated they were in Canada.
We didn't. We really were not sure how long it would take to get a finalized approval. We are here visiting but if we had not received approval by October we had planned to return to Thailand to wait there. Now that we have approval, we will just stay here. Since we didn't know if we would be staying, we didn't notify to update the address. Maybe in retrospect this was a mistake! Are delays very common? do you know how long it typically takes to transfer the file to Canada? Thanks very much for any information.
In general you must update your address if there are any changes more than a short vacation. Impossible to say what kind of delay. Seems to depend on the visa office. Some are faster than others.