Hi All- I've been a silent reader of this thread for years; can't thank you enough for sharing your valuable experience and insight which helped me enormously during the long sponsorship process. Now I'd like to share my timeline, in case it would benefit someone in the same boat.
Application for parents sponsorship filed: September 2010
Additional documents requested (snail mail & email): July 2014
Requested documents sent: October 2014
Acknowledgement of Receipt (snail mail): January 2015 [Online status on both sides remained as Application Received]
Sponsorship Approval, file transfer to CPC Ottawa and upfront medical request (email): October 2015 [Sponsorship Application Status changed to 'In Process'. "We started processing your application on March 2015" was added]
Medical Done: November 2015- We sent eMedical receipts to CPC Ottawa via email
["Medical Results have been received" was added 2 weeks later; Permanent Residence Application Status changed to 'In Process']
Passport Request (email): January 2016 [Permanent Residence Application Status changed to "Decision Made" 2 days before the Passport Request email arrived; Sponsorship Application Status remains as "In Process" which of course is irrelevant]
Passport Request mail provides the option to send passports to either Ottawa- in case parents are already here and plan to stay for another 3 months in Canada- or send it to the regional Visa office. We chose the latter as my parents are still in the home country. A copy of the request, 2 photos of each parent and original copies are required to issue the visa.
Cheers!