Hi all,
I've been reading through this very useful post and now I'd like to add another data point.
Application submitted to Vegreville: November 23, 2012
Application received: November 26, 2012
Received email stating that application had been received: January 16, 2013
Received request for CSQ: February 6, 2013
I'll take the application in to the MICC in person later today.
For background information, I'm a Canadian citizen sponsoring my Croatian husband. I'd lived away from Canada for a long time, but in February 2011, he received a job offer in Montreal and so we got married in July 2011 and moved here. (He is here on a work permit.) We had been dating for several years but had not married because our jobs had always been in different cities. So his application includes about twenty photos which cover the period of our dating and documents from our fifteen months of living together in Montreal. Hopefully there won't be any trouble about our getting married right before coming to Canada.
Thanks to all of you who have put together the helpful timelines and shared their stories. It really makes the process easier.
kanadskazena