After PR approval, how much time before you have to land?

[Lemondrop78]

After my spouse gets his approval for permanent residency, how much time do they give you before you have to land? I just want to make sure we can land in the summer of 2013 if we are approved before, because I want my son to finish school for the year before we move. I heard they give you 6 months, sometimes up to a year before you have to land, is that true? did anyone get only a month or two before they had to land? thanks.

 

[Deficient]

One year from the date of the medical.

Or the expiry date of his passport, if that is earlier (so make sure it doesn't expire soon), but I'm not sure how that applies now in visa exempt cases where you don't submit the passport to have a visa inserted.

 

[nicholas30]

Deficient is right

 

[essex0227]

As i see from your timeline you had your medicals done Feb 10th so unless it takes a long time and your asked for another medical you will have to land about the beginning of Feb 2013. I dont think you will make it to the summer, unless you land and then come back to finish everything off.
Hope you have a smooth process

 

[Fencesitter]

I think what Lemondrop is asking is how soon before the medical expires will the VO issue the visa. I'm guessing that she wants to make sure it's not like a day before or something ridiculous like that. I think the VO will issue the visa (actually have it in your passport and returned to you) with at least a month left before the medical expires. They can't expect people to be able to find flights and make the necessary arrangements without enough preparation time.

There is no such thing as 6-months or 1-year...like others posted, it's tied to the expiry date of the medical exam.

FS

 

[CharlieD10]

Also, bear in mind that as it's only your spouse that's being sponsored, he's the only one that need travel to Canada to complete landing procedures. Whatever the expiration date of his medical, if you aren't able to settle immediately on arrival, it is acceptable for him to complete the procedures, then return to the US to wrap up matters and then you can all move to Canada together later on. Ensure that whatever address you have as the one you are moving to in Canada there is someone there who can receive his PR card and mail it out to you so he returns as a PR.

 

[missmini]

I think what Lemondrop is asking is how soon before the medical expires will the VO issue the visa. I'm guessing that she wants to make sure it's not like a day before or something ridiculous like that. I think the VO will issue the visa (actually have it in your passport and returned to you) with at least a month left before the medical expires. They can't expect people to be able to find flights and make the necessary arrangements without enough preparation time.

There is no such thing as 6-months or 1-year...like others posted, it's tied to the expiry date of the medical exam.

FS

usually if there is 1-2 months left until the medical expires they will ask u to re-do the medicals (which will give u one fresh year time considering the validity of the passport too) and then they will put u the visa...but if let's say they will issue the visa 2 months before the expiry of ur medicals and u sent the passport by courier and all that takes 6 weeks then u maybe have 2 weeks to land....as Charlie said landing is just a procedure does not necessarily imply moving at that time also

i did read of an unfortunate case from Paris office some time ago....her visa arrived expired already since it was the embassy's fault she redid the medicals and they replaced it her visa but after a lot of stress, calls, mp involved, etc...but if it is the applicant's fault they will ask to start the process from scratch

 

[Fencesitter]

Whatever happens, when you have the visa, and let's say you only have a couple of weeks before you must land, drop everything and book tickets so you can land before the visa expires. After going through all these hoops, the last thing you want is to delay...just put everything else aside and hop on a plane to get to the nearest port of entry...

By the way, is it common for the VO to ask for medicals to be done again? Is this some kind of money making scheme? I mean, if the medical and visa are tied together, but the average processing time is greater than 1 year, what's the point? They know you'll have to redo the medical...seems like a strange way to conduct business...and it only causes applicants to spend more of their hard earned money!

FS

 

[Deficient]

I suspect the DMPs probably have to pay some sort of annual fee to remain registered as DMPs but I wouldn't have thought it would be per medical carried out, so I doubt it is to CIC's financial benefit to request more than one medical from a person. Maybe I'm wrong.

In family class cases, the medicals go elsewhere for initial review separately while the application you sent awaits sponsorship approval in Mississauga. My app arrived in Mississauga on Feb 27th and I did my medical on Feb 10th - I have a letter dated March 9th that originated in Nairobi and was sent to me from the London VO requesting further medical testing. I still have at least 3 weeks before I can expect sponsorship approval. The medical gets matched up to the app later when the app is transferred to the local VO, your medical doesn't hang around in Mississauga gathering dust with the rest of your app. So meantime for me, while I await sponsorship approval from Mississauga, I am able to sort out my additional medical requirements. This works out enormously to my benefit because it should mean that my app doesn't get delayed for months later in London.

So for someone whose VO takes more than a year to process, the applicant will at least have been able to progress the medical side of things during that time if any further testing needs to take place. I think that's why they have your medicals done upfront. It works out quicker in most cases since the medical stuff happens simultaneously while everything else is going on (or not going on, as the case may be )

I think in the case of skilled workers, they request the medicals at the end of the process only but for those immigrants, timing is supposed to be less of a factor. In theory, spouses are supposed to be reunited quicksharp, so I guess that'll be why they insist on the medicals earlier.

 

[Lemondrop78]

Oh my gosh, that changes everything for us if that's the case. My spouse did his medical in Feb and sent it off in April. I'm assuming we may have to redo the medical. If we redo the medical...do I actually need to mail anything out or will the dr. be sending it off like last time...and will there be a long wait to hear anything back from immigration after redoing the medical? We are hoping to land in July or Aug of 2013 for my son mainly to finish the school year. We also plan to drive to Toronto from Oregon which will be 4 1/2 days for the big move, so we want to do this in the spring or summer when there won't be any snow...thinking how dangerous it can be driving towing a uhaul trailer behind also. When Aug or Sept comes around...should I just request to redo the medical for time extension purposes? or just wait for them to tell me to redo? If we don't do that route, can my husband land in Vancouver, BC, eventhough we plan to settle in Toronto, ON to complete the landing procedure and I heard that I as the sponsor have to be in Canada before he lands though....can we both go the same time for him to complete the procedure? I honestly had no idea...I just kept thinking this whole time that I would have about half year to a year to land after approval...I should look up that old post and show you guys the link if I find it. Or maybe I just misunderstood. I wouldn't mind landing in Feb if we had to but then there is no way we could drive there...normally alot of snow along unpaved roads and mountainous paths. Thanks for everyone's responses.

 

[Lemondrop78]

Ok, I looked through some of my old posts and I found this...
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/whats-the-time-frame-before-you-have-to-move-to-canada-after-granted-residency-t89484.0.html;msg1133985#msg1133985
but I didn't see anything about the 6 months to 1 year after to land after approved...I don't know where I got that from!?! lol...well, it seemed like it was pretty clear in these posts what the answer was. Now my biggest question is, if we redo our medical from their request, how long would it normally be to hear back from them...would I be sitting here another half year, etc. to hear something back after the redo? or should I just request to redo and tell them our reason why?

 

[Fencesitter]

I don't think it will delay you for more than 2-3 weeks, but it also depends on the DMP and the regional medical office. However, I suspect that once they have approved the applicant, if all that is required is a new medical, they will expedite and the VO will quickly request the results from the regional medical office so as to issue the visa and close the case...then on to the next one...etc...

If the VO has a processing time of 19 months, it seems odd that the medical is tied to the visa in the way it currently is...if you are unlucky and need to wait longer than 12 months, you're forced to redo the medical...it's not fair and it is a poor way of doing things...

FS

 

[mobeyk]

We are in same situation. We did the medical mid November 2011 but sent our Application in April 9th. We certainly need a new medical. I think we just redo it mid November not waiting around for them to tell us as to not delay things further.Yes, it costs money but not having to wait is worth it.
When I came over from Germany in 2000, I had 3 months to land. We landed and returned. You have your Visa in your Passport and you can return back to Canada. Its easier for Visa exempt countries and you can ask at the time of landing the Officers of time frames that you can stay out of country. You need a address in Canada to receive your PR Card which would make the reentry easier. We reentered back in 2000 without the PR Card and were ok. Unless things changed it should be ok with the PR Visa in your Passport.

 

[CharlieD10]

It took exactly 3 weeks following my new medical for my VO to request my passport to issue my visa.

The legislation is written in such a way that you cannot enter Canada without proof of a valid medical examination. With countries where the processing time exceeds a year and the applicant must re-do their examination, unfortunately, those are the breaks. Remember that although spouses are excessive-medical-demand exempt, CIC requires the medical information upfront even though the applicants may have to re-do it because it forms part of the admissibility assessment, and if, for example, a spouse has a condition that requires medical surveillance, they would need to be apprised of this at the start, not the end of the process, so that the proper procedures may be enacted.

 

[Deficient]

CharlieD10 said what I really wanted to get across but in fewer words.

Also, certain illnesses will actually cause a delay in the issuance of your visa as CIC may require you to undergo a specific course of treatment. In the example of active TB (this being the only one I have familiarised myself with, since they are asking me to take tests to rule this out for my visa) they can require you to undergo 6 months of treatment, and this would likely follow the 3 months of testing and redoing xrays that they request initially in order to determine whether you even have TB.

I don't know about you guys, but I sure as heck wouldn't like to get to the end of 19 months of processing, to be instructed to do the medical, and to then discover I have another three months of additional testing to undergo and then six months of treatment on top of that. I would very much be wondering why they couldn't have required the medical sooner in the process, so I could have been working towards meeting any additional medical requirements while my application went through its long 19 months of processing. Then the final medical would be a formality more than anything, rather than something that can hold up the visa even longer.

Like I say, it absolutely works out more quickly this way. It just costs more for some, and that sucks but it's an expensive process and I think you have to accept that you're throwing a ton of money at the situation and find a way to live with it. I've racked up hundreds already to prove I don't have TB and I have hundreds more to complete that requirement... I'm not trying to make a contest out of it, just saying I know very well how frustrating to see your money go away for what seems like no reason at all. I think we just have to grit our teeth and remember what we're striving for and how important that is to us. Without wanting to sound too happy-clappy or pep-talky about it.