Application has been sent in! But now what?

[JerseyGirl1985]

I have sent in my application for permanent residency (I am in british columbia) and I applied inland. I am from New Jersey, USA and am considering a visit home next month for two weeks. I understand it is suggested to not leave Canada (risking starting over with application) if I have applied inland for PR but after speaking with an immigration consultant I was told she has never seen someone denied entry back into the country or anyone who had to start their process over again because of leaving Canada. Has anyone had a personal experience with this kind of situation? Or, does anyone think it is not a good choice to leave the country at all while this process is going on? Also, after I have sent my application what is next? Am I waiting for a letter or email from the government now to tell me the status of my application? Thanks everyone!

 

[chipolopolo]

I have sent in my application for permanent residency (I am in british columbia) and I applied inland. I am from New Jersey, USA and am considering a visit home next month for two weeks. I understand it is suggested to not leave Canada (risking starting over with application) if I have applied inland for PR but after speaking with an immigration consultant I was told she has never seen someone denied entry back into the country or anyone who had to start their process over again because of leaving Canada. Has anyone had a personal experience with this kind of situation? Or, does anyone think it is not a good choice to leave the country at all while this process is going on? Also, after I have sent my application what is next? Am I waiting for a letter or email from the government now to tell me the status of my application? Thanks everyone!

It is strongly advisable to stay in canada during inland applications. Any denial of entry and case is dismissed. She may say she has not seen it happen, but fact is it does happen. Do u want to take the risk? I would also advise you to withdraw inland and go for outland. Usa applicants are taking about 6-8 months outland, where as inland is now 2-3 years.

The next step in your application will be sponsor approval(stage 1) which with inland can take upto 1 and a half years. Another reason to apply outland because outland will only take about 60-80 days for stage 1, and and another few months for stage 2. Also if by any chance application is denied, you can only appeal if it is outland. NO APPEAL for inland.

AS for communication, CIC will contact you through email you provided in application to let you know about decisions, and if they require anything from you

 

[brucem]

I agree there isn't any logical reason for someone from the US to apply inland, even with the new work permit pilot. US citizens are being processed through Ottawa in about 6 months outland, sometimes even quicker compared to 2-3 year inland.

You can still remain in Canada and submit and outland application. This allows you to come and go between the US and Canada without the threat of your application being cancelled if you are refused entry into Canada.

There is a lot of debate on the forum about the risks of leaving the country with an inland application, however the fact is that if you decide to leave Canada you could potentially be refused entry and would have to start from scratch. Given PR apps are taking 2-3 years this is a long time to either be stuck in Canada or be taking risky trips back to the US.

If you have looked through a few threads you will probably note that immigration consultants are notorious for giving people bad advice. Basically the longer you need them, the more money you end of paying them. Every letter, contact etc etc = $$$$. Now with a 2-3 year inland application that could end up being a lot of cash. The forum is free!

Anyway I wish you all the best with whatever you decide.

 

[blueangel371115]

I have sent in my application for permanent residency (I am in british columbia) and I applied inland. I am from New Jersey, USA and am considering a visit home next month for two weeks. I understand it is suggested to not leave Canada (risking starting over with application) if I have applied inland for PR but after speaking with an immigration consultant I was told she has never seen someone denied entry back into the country or anyone who had to start their process over again because of leaving Canada. Has anyone had a personal experience with this kind of situation? Or, does anyone think it is not a good choice to leave the country at all while this process is going on? Also, after I have sent my application what is next? Am I waiting for a letter or email from the government now to tell me the status of my application? Thanks everyone!

I agree with the previous posters. You will likely be completely done and landed with an outland application before an inland stage one is even done yet. So you won't hear anything, unless your application is missing documents or rejected outright for AT LEAST a year. Personally, I'd withdraw your inland application and not keep the consultant and they are usually wrong and tend to push everyone to do inland when, especially in your case, you're better off not doing it. Honestly, you probably can get the same and/or more accurate info from a site like this as many of the folks on here have landed already so they are educated in it even more than some consultants and this one is free. In my opinion, all they do is troll the CIC website and ones like this one. I've heard nothing good about them. Plus you basically , as the other posters have said, can't leave the country through the whole process because people have been denied. I've been scrutinized heavily because I cross a lot. As have others. So again ( example of misinformation) if the applicant leaves Canada, you NEVER assume they are allowed reentry. So I'd fire her IMMEDIATELY. Just because she's never seen it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Sorry to sound harsh but I feel very strongly about this as I think she is making dangerous assumptions and I'd hate to see your family pay for it, literally and figuratively. But this is my opinion based on the countless threads I've read.

 

[keesio]

I have sent in my application for permanent residency (I am in british columbia) and I applied inland. I am from New Jersey, USA and am considering a visit home next month for two weeks. I understand it is suggested to not leave Canada (risking starting over with application) if I have applied inland for PR but after speaking with an immigration consultant I was told she has never seen someone denied entry back into the country or anyone who had to start their process over again because of leaving Canada. Has anyone had a personal experience with this kind of situation? Or, does anyone think it is not a good choice to leave the country at all while this process is going on? Also, after I have sent my application what is next? Am I waiting for a letter or email from the government now to tell me the status of my application? Thanks everyone!

It is not recommended to leave, though I'd say the risk of getting denied entry is fairly low for a visa-exempt national like a US citizen (as long as you don't draw any unnecessary attention to yourself). Really it comes down to how risk adverse your are.

Also... I thought we convinced you to apply outland. Why did you change your mind back to inland?

 

[JerseyGirl1985]

Thank you all for your replies! I was going to go for outland but when I looked at the processing times neither one seemed very quick at all on the wesbite but I know those are just estimated times. From what I heard from our consultant it seemed it didn't matter either way but what do I know. The consultant seemed to think applying outland wasn't a good option for me so I went with her advice which may or may not have been wise. I would not even know how to change the status from inland to outland since it has been sent in almost a month ago now! Wouldn't changing it to outland re-start the process? It's crazy to me that this is so difficult for Canadian spouses to join as PR's! I understand they are just making sure people aren't just trying to get into the country for free healthcare or anything crazy like that but for legitimate couples like my husband and I, it really is unfortunate.

 

[keesio]

oh.. ok. unfortunately inland processing times are slow right now so you may have a long wait to get PR. But after a year you should be able to work at least (stage 1 approval). And if they overhaul the inland processing issues (which they promise to look into (for whatever that is worth)), there could be improvements in timelines and also a pilot program to allow people to work much quicker (though it is uncertain if and when this will happen).

as for leaving to make visits to the US - again it is all up to your risk tolerance. Some people have a really low risk tolerance and choose to never leave. All it takes is one border official having a bad day who decides to take it out on you to ruin your inland application. You may want to apply for Nexus, though the wait times for it these days is pretty long.

 

[JerseyGirl1985]

Well thank you for the advice, I regret listening to the immigration consultant now. It's hard because my husband and I have never gone through this and she assured us on her knowledge when we were asking these questions. I even brought up about being told Outland is better but she told us the exact opposite so I guess I got worried and just believed what she said. Since we are due to have our first baby this coming June I probably won't feel up for much travel but I don't think I can stay away from my family for over a year so I don't know what I will do. I hope something changes because this is just awful, this waiting game! Thank you all again though, I really do appreciate your feedback!

 

[brucem]

Well thank you for the advice, I regret listening to the immigration consultant now. It's hard because my husband and I have never gone through this and she assured us on her knowledge when we were asking these questions. I even brought up about being told Outland is better but she told us the exact opposite so I guess I got worried and just believed what she said. Since we are due to have our first baby this coming June I probably won't feel up for much travel but I don't think I can stay away from my family for over a year so I don't know what I will do. I hope something changes because this is just awful, this waiting game! Thank you all again though, I really do appreciate your feedback!

Congrats on the baby! I get frustrated when I hear stories like yours about immigration consultants. I often think that consultants deliberately tell people to choose inland becuase it means 2-3 years worth of income for them at the moment as opposed to 6-9 months if it were outland. Anyway you'll have your hands full when the wee one arrives so hopefully it will take your mind of the process!

 

[blueangel371115]

Congrats on the baby! I get frustrated when I hear stories like yours about immigration consultants. I often think that consultants deliberately tell people to choose inland becuase it means 2-3 years worth of income for them at the moment as opposed to 6-9 months if it were outland. Anyway you'll have your hands full when the wee one arrives so hopefully it will take your mind of the process!

I totally agree. you get better advice on here and it's free. I cringe when I hear someone say they've used one as half of them seem to have no idea what they're talking about or their info is completely wrong altogether. It seems like all they do is look it up on the interne or sites like these, which can have incorrect info. So personally, I'd advise against hiring one, strongly. There is a way to switch but it would move you to the end of the outland queue but in all honesty, you'd still probably get done faster than inland. But go with what works for you and your family.

 

[JerseyGirl1985]

Thank you! I have noticed my best advice or guidance has come from this forum which I am very thankful for. The only reason my husband and I went with this consultant is because a friend of ours used this same woman to help them and they said she was very helpful. I assumed she was legitimate since a friend trusted her also. We don't really plan on going back to her, she said we can email her (for free of course) any questions we may have while we are waiting out the process. We only had her look over our application to make sure we did not miss anything and also to ask any questions we might have. Anyway, I'll see what will happen from here and you're right, I'll be plenty busy with a newborn very soon and I'm really hoping it is a distraction for me. I hate not working!! :-( :-(

 

[lauriz]

Hello, quick question guys.. so when we submit Inland spousal sponsorship the documents goes to
In-Canada sponsorship
CPC ― Mississauga
P. O. Box 5040, Station B
Mississauga, Ontario
L5A 3A4

and with the open work permit application goes to:
CPC – Vegreville
WP - Unit 777
6212-55 Avenue
Vegreville, AB
T9C 1X6
So both docs goes to different processing center? or should i put it in one envelope and send it to CPC Mississauga?? kinda confused.. thanks