Australian or NZ applicants - share timeline here !!

[Canstralian/Oznadian]

That's right, you have to write 10 posts before it lets you update the sidebar.

 

[misskay]

I received a letter from the Sydney office today, stating that my initial assessment has been completed and my selection interview has been waived. The letter also requested payment of the Right of Permanent Residence Fee, but did not request any further information.

The letter was dated August 13th, only a few days after my file began processing. It took awhile to reach me as I've recently moved and it went through a mail redirect. Personally, I am quite pleasantly surprised by the speed of the Sydney office thus far!

 

[freezing_aussie]

Congratulations misskay, that's great news! It sounds like you are almost there. I didn't think they requested the PR fee until they were about to ask for your passport.

 

[miniejungle]

guys, i have a question to ask, not sure i should put it here or at the stickie thread, but still, hope someone could enlighten me:

I am actually singaporean and Australian PR applying for Canadian PR (spouse). I've been living in Sydney for the past 4 year so naturally i put Sydney office for my stage 2 application.
I read the Sydney office thread and realised someone there who was an Indian citizen and Australian PR, also initially putting Sydney office had his application transferred to New Dehli office because of his citizenship.
Now if my application gets transferred to Singapore office the wait would be 21 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I certainly don't want that happen, but what can i do if that happens?
And at the meantime, I have been approved for Australian citizenship. Since Singapore doesn't allow dual citizenship it means I will have to give up my S'pore passport once my Australian citizenship takes place - i'm still waiting for DIAC to schedule my citizenship ceremony but it hasn't been scheduled. Should I write to Sydney visa office once my stage 1 is approved to hold on to my files in Sydney because I will give up my S'pore passport very soon? will it work that way?

any thoughts/insights are welcome!

 

[bagelbagel81]

guys, i have a question to ask, not sure i should put it here or at the stickie thread, but still, hope someone could enlighten me:

I am actually singaporean and Australian PR applying for Canadian PR (spouse). I've been living in Sydney for the past 4 year so naturally i put Sydney office for my stage 2 application.
I read the Sydney office thread and realised someone there who was an Indian citizen and Australian PR, also initially putting Sydney office had his application transferred to New Dehli office because of his citizenship.
Now if my application gets transferred to Singapore office the wait would be 21 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I certainly don't want that happen, but what can i do if that happens?
And at the meantime, I have been approved for Australian citizenship. Since Singapore doesn't allow dual citizenship it means I will have to give up my S'pore passport once my Australian citizenship takes place - i'm still waiting for DIAC to schedule my citizenship ceremony but it hasn't been scheduled. Should I write to Sydney visa office once my stage 1 is approved to hold on to my files in Sydney because I will give up my S'pore passport very soon? will it work that way?

any thoughts/insights are welcome!

Hey minijungle I think Leon would be the best person to answer your questions, however I think your application might be sent directly to the Singapore VO if indeed you are a citizen from there. You may be better off withdrawing your application altogether until you become an Australian citizen, so you can then reapply via the Sydney office (Seeing as you are getting your Australian citizenship anyway, and the processing time there is much quicker).

I would Contact CIC via email with all your details and stating this fact (if you intend to go ahead with that option). They process withdrawals of applications as a priority- and if your file has already been transferred, it might not hurt to contact the Sydney VO as well as the Singapore VO (in the event it has already been sent to either one of those).

Hopefully someone else can verify this is the best course of action for you. Good-luck!

 

[BCRain]

Thanks for the info..I guess I have a few more posts to go

To add to the spreadsheet - the application was received on Aug 21/12 - To clarify, they don't send you any confirmation of this right? This is just by tracking. I sent it via Purolator. Paid for the 4 day ground shipping instead of the express next day shipping (I thought: what's 3 more days at this point...), but it arrived the next day anyway!

 

[miniejungle]

Hey minijungle I think Leon would be the best person to answer your questions, however I think your application might be sent directly to the Singapore VO if indeed you are a citizen from there. You may be better off withdrawing your application altogether until you become an Australian citizen, so you can then reapply via the Sydney office (Seeing as you are getting your Australian citizenship anyway, and the processing time there is much quicker).

I would Contact CIC via email with all your details and stating this fact (if you intend to go ahead with that option). They process withdrawals of applications as a priority- and if your file has already been transferred, it might not hurt to contact the Sydney VO as well as the Singapore VO (in the event it has already been sent to either one of those).

Hopefully someone else can verify this is the best course of action for you. Good-luck!

thanks, i don't want to withdraw my application, but i will wait for them to get back with the AOR and then I will contact them. I continued reading that thread and found out that there were Australian PRs whose applications were assessed by Sydney office alright - guess that one was just a one-off, or because New Dehli at that time had a shorter processing time than Syndey office, that's why they sent it over.Singapore's average wait is 21 months, no way I will want my file to be stuck there for that long! life is so short, waiting for 2 years... will definitely drive you insane!

 

[freezing_aussie]

We sent off our application yesterday via Canada Post, express with signature confirmation. Hopefully it will get to Mississauga early next week. I'll add to the timeline when it arrives.

After all the stress and another mini-panic at the post office (where are those printouts?!) hubby and moi both needed a couple of stiff drinks. Now all we have to is sit back and wait, and hope that we have filled everything out correctly and provided enough evidence. Eeeek!

 

[dawndarkharp]

We sent off our application yesterday via Canada Post, express with signature confirmation. Hopefully it will get to Mississauga early next week. I'll add to the timeline when it arrives.

After all the stress and another mini-panic at the post office (where are those printouts?!) hubby and moi both needed a couple of stiff drinks. Now all we have to is sit back and wait, and hope that we have filled everything out correctly and provided enough evidence. Eeeek!

That's the scariest bit, isn't it? Will it be enough?? I'm still having nightmares! Hahaha

 

[bagelbagel81]

That's the scariest bit, isn't it? Will it be enough?? I'm still having nightmares! Hahaha

Yeah I know the feeling- and believe me- the more you read on the forum the more you start to worry, as there will always be someone that has added something extra that makes you then second-guess what you have sent.

On the bright side, every case is different, and in some cases I think it's quality over quantity! (That's what I am trying to tell myself!)

 

[freezing_aussie]

You've hit the nail on the head bagelbagel81. If I hadn't read about / seen pics on this forum about how much other people have included, and how insanely well-organised others were, I might not be as stressed now! I could have printed out and included all our facebook chats while we were apart (400+ pages) but it was bad enough having to provide a sample of what I consider very private conversations. Also, I didn't want to include chats where we joke about / curse the immigration process...

Yeah I know the feeling- and believe me- the more you read on the forum the more you start to worry, as there will always be someone that has added something extra that makes you then second-guess what you have sent.

On the bright side, every case is different, and in some cases I think it's quality over quantity! (That's what I am trying to tell myself!)

 

[bagelbagel81]

You've hit the nail on the head bagelbagel81. If I hadn't read about / seen pics on this forum about how much other people have included, and how insanely well-organised others were, I might not be as stressed now! I could have printed out and included all our facebook chats while we were apart (400+ pages) but it was bad enough having to provide a sample of what I consider very private conversations. Also, I didn't want to include chats where we joke about / curse the immigration process...

Haha true!
I think the people who did include an excessive amount of pages were really reliant on those as their only form of contact, being conjugal partners- so I guess if I were in that situation I would err on the side of caution and include more. I think if you have been living together it's much easier to prove you have utilities/leases/bank accounts or what-not in joint names.

I also got stressed at the way people present their application. From what I have read on all documentation it requests as little in the form of bindings/envelopes/staples as possible- so I pretty much just had mine in a big pile on top of each other. there were a couple of paperclips, but that was about it. I also didn't put a "table of contents", as I figured that's what the document checklist was for. I only included 3 documents for intent to move to Canada (a letter from a family member stating we would be living with her, a quote for our cat to be flown over, and a print out of an email for job offers) - so I am thinking about adding extra stuff (I don't know what though?!)
And lastly - I didn't think it was necessary to double-up on a big convoluted novel of the evolution of our relationship, as it was already described once (and not in THAT much detail, as I figured the photos and other evidence spoke for themselves). So yeah- I guess it will be a good chance to see whether I will be successful or not in the way my application was presented! Probably a total of 30 additional pages of ALL evidence on top of forms all up.... hmm!!!

 

[freezing_aussie]

That sounds completely reasonable to me bagelbagel81 in terms of documentation, but what do I know! We been living together in Canada since last year, but as I'm still officially a visitor here he couldn't add me to anything. So no joint bank accounts etc, although we tried to set all that stuff up. It's actually annoying not to be able to have access to a local account. I'm using lots of cash or paying with my Australian cards.

My hubby has been making lots of jokes about how the people reviewing these applications at CIC must be Mills & Boon types who enjoy reading the lovey dovey details of other people's relationships I don't know, but you do wonder what it must be like to be reading this stuff day in and day out...

 

[bagelbagel81]

That sounds completely reasonable to me bagelbagel81 in terms of documentation, but what do I know! We been living together in Canada since last year, but as I'm still officially a visitor here he couldn't add me to anything. So no joint bank accounts etc, although we tried to set all that stuff up. It's actually annoying not to be able to have access to a local account. I'm using lots of cash or paying with my Australian cards.

My hubby has been making lots of jokes about how the people reviewing these applications at CIC must be Mills & Boon types who enjoy reading the lovey dovey details of other people's relationships I don't know, but you do wonder what it must be like to be reading this stuff day in and day out...

Haha totally! I wonder if they go through every page or just skim read for the juicy parts. Oh yeah, don't worry about no joined names on things - I am sure you had plenty of other evidence to show you have been living together. I kind of assumed the people working at CIC weren't silly and would look at the entire picture rather than focus on one little element.
Even though it's stressful for all, I am glad there are other people who feel the same way... Being on a computer all day it's hard not to focus on the forum and the application process - and reading everyone else's stories and input is great, but can also be a little overwhelming. Especially when you hear about missing or delayed applications for absolutely no reason. I am happy to wait- just hope mine doesn't go floating around in limbo for 12 months only to need to be resubmitted!!

 

[dawndarkharp]

That sounds completely reasonable to me bagelbagel81 in terms of documentation, but what do I know! We been living together in Canada since last year, but as I'm still officially a visitor here he couldn't add me to anything. So no joint bank accounts etc, although we tried to set all that stuff up. It's actually annoying not to be able to have access to a local account. I'm using lots of cash or paying with my Australian cards.

My hubby has been making lots of jokes about how the people reviewing these applications at CIC must be Mills & Boon types who enjoy reading the lovey dovey details of other people's relationships I don't know, but you do wonder what it must be like to be reading this stuff day in and day out...

I was in the same situation! My hubby was only a temporary worker, so he couldn't join on my account and basically had to BEG my bank to let him have an account and a SIN card. But the card was registered to our address. We just have a lot of joint mail. Nothing too official, bank statements, phone bills, etc. mailed to our address. I don't think I included much but a joint rental agreement! My hubby added me on his account when I was a temporary worker in NZ, so that is our only joint account - but they do not allow joint anything! And in Vancouver - there is no way I could even make a down payment on a house, let alone have a joint mortgage!!! I'm only 25, so my evidence is very limited! I'm so worried about it all :/