Accra, GHANA

[concrete]

Copies of the phone bills showing the numbers the texts are made to?

i use pay as you go so i don't get phone bills. hmmmm. i wonder if i can request this ???

 

[canadianwoman]

I wanted to update this thread with my progress.

Our app started processing just a week after sponsorship approval, and now, a week later, we have already received the date for the interview, which will be August 24.

This is great news! Congratulations!
One forum member got a visa in 6 months from Accra, another has just gotten an interview date after 2 months of processing, and now you have your interview date so quickly. It sounds like Accra is getting a lot faster. Maybe enough people complained that CIC sent more visa officers to work there.

 

[justina]

Take screen prints of significant facebook stuff and insert them into word documents... we submitted around 12 pages of status updates, photos and comments.

 

[bobshynoswife]

concrete...usually your phone will come with software and a usb cable so you can connect the phone to your computer. I just loaded all the messages and did screen caps, so they could see the message along with the date/time sent.

canadianwoman - where have you been? I've missed you! Yes, I'm thrilled that things have moved so quickly, but I'd be happy to push it back a few months if it meant your husband could get his PR. Things are so unfair sometimes. Did you see the post by mogreen? Accra started processing the app on May 27, she was interviewed on June 29 and got her visa the same day! Total time from sending it in to CIC-M to visa in hand was 2 months and 22 days. Amazing!

My brother-in-law works for the British Home Office in Abuja, Nigeria, and he said he has heard that several new IOs were added to Accra to improve processing times. Nairobi too. Right now I'm glad my husband left London, as they don't approve foreigners quickly there, and the queue for an interview can take 8-10 months!

Hope all is well with you in Malaysia. I think of you often.

 

[concrete]

Take screen prints of significant facebook stuff and insert them into word documents... we submitted around 12 pages of status updates, photos and comments.

thanks!!!! this sounds great!

as for letters from family, friends and the like confirming/supporting our relationship, what is the general content of the letters suppose to be? in other words, if i get one or two priests to write and sign notarized letters, what should be the content?

your input would be appreciated

 

[concrete]

concrete...usually your phone will come with software and a usb cable so you can connect the phone to your computer. I just loaded all the messages and did screen caps, so they could see the message along with the date/time sent.

canadianwoman - where have you been? I've missed you! Yes, I'm thrilled that things have moved so quickly, but I'd be happy to push it back a few months if it meant your husband could get his PR. Things are so unfair sometimes. Did you see the post by mogreen? Accra started processing the app on May 27, she was interviewed on June 29 and got her visa the same day! Total time from sending it in to CIC-M to visa in hand was 2 months and 22 days. Amazing!

My brother-in-law works for the British Home Office in Abuja, Nigeria, and he said he has heard that several new IOs were added to Accra to improve processing times. Nairobi too. Right now I'm glad my husband left London, as they don't approve foreigners quickly there, and the queue for an interview can take 8-10 months!

Hope all is well with you in Malaysia. I think of you often.

ok thanks i'm so tech illiterate, lol

 

[justina]

concrete....

letters should be written by people who know you well and observe your relationship. If you are close to your priest that makes sense, but if not then you would be better off getting people who know you well. We did not ask the priest because we don't really know him. I am quite sure he doesn't know our names as we attend a big church and have only been going since last fall.

Apparently letters should be notarized, we didn't get ours notarized so may need to resend them later, notarized. Check the CIC website.....

We had friends and family contribute letters. I was almost in tears by how wonderful one of my friend's letters was...she has known me for a long time, so saw the incompatible jerks I dated before and knows just how special our relationship is and how happy we are to be together.

We sent a general email asking if people would write something for us, but gave them an option to do it or not. We asked them to write how they knew us, when they met us, when they met the spouse( so when my friends and family heard about or met my husband, and when his friends and family heard about or met me), how they observe us interacting, and what sort of activities we do together. For example, my mom wrote about family functions we attended. If they have pictures they could always include those. We didn't ask anyone to, but some did. Every letter we got back was very different, even though everyone had the same guidelines.

Hope that helps!

 

[canadianwoman]

canadianwoman - where have you been? I've missed you! Yes, I'm thrilled that things have moved so quickly, but I'd be happy to push it back a few months if it meant your husband could get his PR. Things are so unfair sometimes. Did you see the post by mogreen? Accra started processing the app on May 27, she was interviewed on June 29 and got her visa the same day! Total time from sending it in to CIC-M to visa in hand was 2 months and 22 days. Amazing!

My brother-in-law works for the British Home Office in Abuja, Nigeria, and he said he has heard that several new IOs were added to Accra to improve processing times. Nairobi too. Right now I'm glad my husband left London, as they don't approve foreigners quickly there, and the queue for an interview can take 8-10 months!

Hope all is well with you in Malaysia. I think of you often.

Thanks, bobshynoswife. I had a very long and tiring trip back from Malaysia to Canada for the appeal, so didn't post for a few days.
I'm so glad the Accra office seems to have improved. To get refused is bad enough, but to have to wait more than a year for an interview is absurd. Two or three months seems reasonable.
Your application sounds perfect, and I'm sure your husband will do well in the interview. Good luck!

 

[bobshynoswife]

Thanks canadianwoman!

We are worried about a couple things...

- my divorce and 3 children. We assume they will be asking why he married me, but hopefully our evidence is strong enough to overcome that

- he applied for a TRV in 2007 to visit his uncle. He had just finished his B.Sc. in England and was looking at schools to do his Masters. His uncle suggested he come and check out some Canadian schools. Of course, the TRV was denied. It was just a whim, and he now regrets applying, as we are worried it will look as if he has had intent to move to Canada, and therefore persued a relationship with me.

We are hoping that because he was in UK at the time and not Nigeria, and also because I contacted him on a UK dating site instead of him contacting a Canadian specifically, it will be okay. But I'm worried.

Actually, I'm terrified. I don't have the option of moving to be with him (because of the kids) and can't imagine what we will do if he is refused...right now even the thought of an appeal is more than I can handle, and knowing how yours went doesn't help!

You're a strong woman...I very much admire you.

 

[canadianwoman]

We are worried about a couple things...

- my divorce and 3 children. We assume they will be asking why he married me, but hopefully our evidence is strong enough to overcome that

If you included a lot of evidence that he interacts with the children, and that they and he like each other, it should be OK. He can stress at the interview that he already loves his new step-children, and can't wait to be a father. (I've gathered from other posts that that is how he feels.)

- he applied for a TRV in 2007 to visit his uncle. He had just finished his B.Sc. in England and was looking at schools to do his Masters. His uncle suggested he come and check out some Canadian schools. Of course, the TRV was denied. It was just a whim, and he now regrets applying, as we are worried it will look as if he has had intent to move to Canada, and therefore persued a relationship with me.

We are hoping that because he was in UK at the time and not Nigeria, and also because I contacted him on a UK dating site instead of him contacting a Canadian specifically, it will be okay. But I'm worried.

Just make sure at the interview that the visa officer knows this. If he did not specifically search out a Canadian wife, that is evidence he is not just in a marriage of convenience. Because he was in the UK when you met, it implies that he could have married someone from the UK if all he wanted was a ticket out of Nigeria.

Actually, I'm terrified. I don't have the option of moving to be with him (because of the kids) and can't imagine what we will do if he is refused...right now even the thought of an appeal is more than I can handle, and knowing how yours went doesn't help!

You're a strong woman...I very much admire you.

Thank you, but I don't know that I'm handling this very well.
Try not to worry. It seems the Accra office has improved a lot lately, and your application was so thorough and well-organized. Your husband is well-educated, so I'm sure he will make a good impression.

 

[bobshynoswife]

We put screen-caps of him skyping with the kids, and all three wrote letters about how much they want their step-dad to come live here soon. My littlest one, age 6, wrote that she will teach him to swim. My 12 year old daugther said he is always there to listen to her and she loves him. My 9 year old son said he will teach him to skate and play hockey. He wrote his 'story' and said he loves them like he is their father, and cannot wait to be with them and help raise them.

He is well educated and speaks excellent English with a more American/British than African accent. I just hope they will give him time to explain, because he is very sincere and will do well at the interview if the IO has not already made up their mind, which I fear happens to often.

Thank you for your always encouraging posts to me!

 

[kwabena kwabena]

I am sure he will do well and trust me he will be approved come august 24 . fingers cross ok

 

[NAKEQubita]

Hey everyone! I recently ordered GCMS notes for my husbands PR app and it looks like the application has been sent to Accra Visa Office to finish up. According to the notes looks like it was sent in Oct 2021. Anyone know what kind of timeline we might be working with before we finally get the update for him to drop off his passport? Anyone else doing out of Canada spousal sponsorship? I also was reading thru the thread (granted they’re old posts) but looks like everyone was required to do an interview. With those who have experience with Accra office do you know if it’s inevitable to be interviewed?