Hi guys,
I received my GCMS notes on Friday---and they were actually extremely useful for understanding what was going on with my file and how immigration officers work. Now I want to share my story with you.
As you may know, I was rejected on March 29, 2012 because I relied on adaptability points for previous PhD studies. When I wrote to CIO pointing out the specific paragraphs of the IRPA and OP6, they put my application back into processing. What my GCMS notes say, is that the decision has not been reverted, it has been transferred to the visa officer (in CPP-Ottawa). In other words, there is no duality in how CIO and CPP-Ottawa personnel treats the adaptability points---CIO officer who processed my file simply "washed his/her hands" and delegated the decision to somebody else. But thanks to that, I was able to finish my PhD in the meantime and get both adaptability points and the points for the doctoral degree.
On April 26, the CPP-Ottawa (RK6165) requested the POF from me and placed my file for the review by FA01772 with the due date on May 26. RK6165 also initiated my criminality check. 3 days later, my file was looked at by another officer (SL01732) who did preliminary evaluation. His/her recommendation was to reject my application:
I hope this information will help other applicants. Remember that anything you send to the CPP-Ottawa office will be considered, but you have to make sure your additional information is received before the rejection and is attached to your file. (Because sometimes it doesn't, as aidina and I now know.) Also, I am now convinced that CIO is not a real decision-maker, so never assume if you received PER, it means you're almost there.
P.S. By the way, if you want to study your GCMS notes in detail, it makes sense to start reading them from the end---this is where the officers put their notes. Then proceed backwards and read about all the movement of your file between officers and offices. If you don't want to study the notes in detail, then first 1--5 pages contain the summary of your file and should be enough to get a general idea of where you stand. Though, as I said, I found it extremely useful to invest the time and carefully study my notes.
I received my GCMS notes on Friday---and they were actually extremely useful for understanding what was going on with my file and how immigration officers work. Now I want to share my story with you.
As you may know, I was rejected on March 29, 2012 because I relied on adaptability points for previous PhD studies. When I wrote to CIO pointing out the specific paragraphs of the IRPA and OP6, they put my application back into processing. What my GCMS notes say, is that the decision has not been reverted, it has been transferred to the visa officer (in CPP-Ottawa). In other words, there is no duality in how CIO and CPP-Ottawa personnel treats the adaptability points---CIO officer who processed my file simply "washed his/her hands" and delegated the decision to somebody else. But thanks to that, I was able to finish my PhD in the meantime and get both adaptability points and the points for the doctoral degree.
On April 26, the CPP-Ottawa (RK6165) requested the POF from me and placed my file for the review by FA01772 with the due date on May 26. RK6165 also initiated my criminality check. 3 days later, my file was looked at by another officer (SL01732) who did preliminary evaluation. His/her recommendation was to reject my application:
Needless to say, my duties were very carefully crafted (me and my adviser spent hours polishing the letter) but the leading statements were missing---simply because "As a Research Assistant, Mr. Kg.Jadu was assisting Prof. AAA in the research in solid-state physics" sounded kind of silly to us. (WRONG---immigration officers don't think so.) Luckily for me, on April 30, RK6165 attached to my file an updated letter of reference for my RA/TA. (Asbereth knows that I prepared it in April in response to the many rejections we saw on this forum, but for some reason the letter was not attached to my file, so I had to send it once again on April 30.) Then, on May 24, the file was reviewed again (I assume, by FA01772), and I received an email advising that I passed eligibility and was asked to pay the RPRF. The email was from GG06553, not from FA01772. And on May 25, I received a medical request. My assumption is (fingers crossed) that the officer who reviewed my application on May 24 considered the updated letter of reference and did not take into account SL01732's recommendation to reject my application. I ordered new GCMS report immediately after receiving the old one to see what exactly happened to my file. I hope I'm not missing anything at this point because I just did my medical exam and paid $450 in cash, so it would suck to be rejected at this point.
I hope this information will help other applicants. Remember that anything you send to the CPP-Ottawa office will be considered, but you have to make sure your additional information is received before the rejection and is attached to your file. (Because sometimes it doesn't, as aidina and I now know.) Also, I am now convinced that CIO is not a real decision-maker, so never assume if you received PER, it means you're almost there.
P.S. By the way, if you want to study your GCMS notes in detail, it makes sense to start reading them from the end---this is where the officers put their notes. Then proceed backwards and read about all the movement of your file between officers and offices. If you don't want to study the notes in detail, then first 1--5 pages contain the summary of your file and should be enough to get a general idea of where you stand. Though, as I said, I found it extremely useful to invest the time and carefully study my notes.
