I had my TRV stamped. The TRV process was a long and tiresome journey from online submission to stamping. Hope you all will find the whole timeline insightful.
Jan 12, 2021: TRV application raised online from Canada
Mar 02, 2021: Raised webform #1 for emergency processing due to medical emergency back in India
Mar 04, 2021: Flew from Canada to India
Mar 18, 2021: Webform #1 acknowledged as received. No action taken.
Mar 24, 2021: Raised webform #2 for emergency processing with more set of documents
Apr 09, 2021: Mailed
IRCC.COVID-TravelExemptions-Exemptionsdevoyage-COVID.IRCC@cic.gc.ca citing reasons why the application should be expedited
Apr 10, 2021: Webform #2 acknowledged as received. No action taken.
Apr 12, 2021: TRV application transferred to IRCC New Delhi for further processing
Apr 14, 2021: Emailed
delhiimmigration@international.gc.ca requesting to expedite process the application and citing reasons/documents that family and active job are back in Canada.
Apr 15, 2021: General reply back from IRCC New Delhi. No action taken. In the meantime regularly used Twitter and Facebook for communicating with New Delhi IRCC. Nothing happened. Some poor fellow on the other end just copy-pastes general reply every time.
Apr 19, 2021: Delhi IRCC and VACs declared closed for indefinite time due to ongoing Covid and curfew in Delhi. At this time, I was losing all hope to get back to Canada.
Apr 20, 2021: Passport request received. Probably mailing IRCC.COVID-TravelExemptions worked.
Apr 22, 2021: Canada declared all direct flight cancellations from India. Emirates suspended all flights from India.
Apr 23, 2021: Decided to travel to United States for Visa stamping. Had previous chats/emails with LA IRCC and NYC IRCC and both confirmed that visa stamping can be done in any consulate around the world irrespective of where it has been processed/approved. Just that you have to be legally present in that country.
Apr 26, 2021: Reached USA and emailed for passport submission formalities. Payment link sent immediately by VFS. After the Payment was made by me, VFS emailed back 2-way FedEx courier label. Process was super fast.
Apr 28, 2021: Mailed passport and other required documents to Los Angeles VAC
Apr 29, 2021: Package reached Los Angeles VAC
Apr 30, 2021: Passport sent to IRCC Los Angeles. Counterfoil generated. Stamped. And passport is sent back to VAC on the same day.
May 03, 2021: Passport sent back by Los Angeles VAC to my USA address
May 04, 2021: Stamped Passport received. The end to end process in USA took 1 week.