CAIRO VISA OFFICE
- Thread starter lapula
- Start date
Canada Wolf
Star Member
- Apr 27, 2012
- 2
- Category........
- Job Offer........
- Pre-Assessed..
- App. Filed.......
- 6/3/2012
- File Transfer...
- 30/6/2012
OHHH Dear lord... 5 month!!!!!!!!!wargo said:
I was hoping for maximum three month...does your e-case says medical received anywhere or nothing???
it feels that this process will never end and this is my life for ever....
I dun understand how this can be good if it's ruining our life even before arriving there yet....
I just wanted to share with everyone my experience with contacting my local MP, in case anyone will be doing so in the future.
I can't exactly say it was fruitful, but at the same time it wasn't useless. The guy who talked to me from the MP's office was very nice and understanding. He handled immigration issues so he's seen such situations many times before. He of course explained to me that waiting times are long given the strike happening with officers and also the situation in Egypt, plus they are receiving huge amounts of immigration applications from people wanting to leave Egypt. He claimed that the visa office in Egypt is still closed, but I argued that it reopened to business as usual following the downfall of the president. Then he said he was on vacation for the last 2 weeks so maybe things have changed. So I couldn't completely trust that piece of information. Those living in Egypt can probably give us more accurate info.
When I explained to him how the Cairo office asks us to refrain from sending in inquiries, he explained that for them to reply to each email it'll cost them resources that they're not willing to expend. But he did recommend to send them in some information to update our case with just to show continuity and genuinity of relationship. Although that will not change how fast they'll look at the application, but they can decide to waive the interview requirement which will save time on the application processing provided of course that your application has no red flags.
He was also quite surprised that applications received later were processed before our application. He kept reassuring me that there's a queue system and applications are processed as they are received. I have to say I'm still skeptical of that.
Nonetheless he offered to help by sending in a status report on my husband's application from the MP's office. It'll take a couple of days but we'll see the result of that. I'm not really hopeful that he'll give me any kind of helpful information, but as I mentioned before, I'm exhausting all my resources.
So for Canadians living in Canada waiting for their spouse's application to go through, if you've ever contemplated contacting your MP's office, go ahead. If it doesn't help, it won't hurt either
And maybe, just maybe, if the MP's in Canada keep getting complaints from sponsors, CIC might do something about processing times.
Good luck to us all.
I can't exactly say it was fruitful, but at the same time it wasn't useless. The guy who talked to me from the MP's office was very nice and understanding. He handled immigration issues so he's seen such situations many times before. He of course explained to me that waiting times are long given the strike happening with officers and also the situation in Egypt, plus they are receiving huge amounts of immigration applications from people wanting to leave Egypt. He claimed that the visa office in Egypt is still closed, but I argued that it reopened to business as usual following the downfall of the president. Then he said he was on vacation for the last 2 weeks so maybe things have changed. So I couldn't completely trust that piece of information. Those living in Egypt can probably give us more accurate info.
When I explained to him how the Cairo office asks us to refrain from sending in inquiries, he explained that for them to reply to each email it'll cost them resources that they're not willing to expend. But he did recommend to send them in some information to update our case with just to show continuity and genuinity of relationship. Although that will not change how fast they'll look at the application, but they can decide to waive the interview requirement which will save time on the application processing provided of course that your application has no red flags.
He was also quite surprised that applications received later were processed before our application. He kept reassuring me that there's a queue system and applications are processed as they are received. I have to say I'm still skeptical of that.
Nonetheless he offered to help by sending in a status report on my husband's application from the MP's office. It'll take a couple of days but we'll see the result of that. I'm not really hopeful that he'll give me any kind of helpful information, but as I mentioned before, I'm exhausting all my resources.
So for Canadians living in Canada waiting for their spouse's application to go through, if you've ever contemplated contacting your MP's office, go ahead. If it doesn't help, it won't hurt either
And maybe, just maybe, if the MP's in Canada keep getting complaints from sponsors, CIC might do something about processing times.Good luck to us all.
Mrs Ayman
Member
- Jun 30, 2013
- 0
- Category........
- Visa Office......
- cairo
- Job Offer........
- Pre-Assessed..
- App. Filed.......
- 18 september, 2013
- AOR Received.
- 28 september, 2013
- File Transfer...
- 5 february, 2014
- Med's Done....
- 22 july, 2013
- Interview........
- none
- Passport Req..
- 5 february, 2014
- VISA ISSUED...
- 16 february, 2014
- LANDED..........
- insha'Allah 7 April, 2014
PAFSO:
Effective Monday, in order to persuade the Government that binding arbitration remains the responsible way forward to resolve our dispute, PAFSO members will withdraw all services until further notice at Canada’s fifteen largest visa processing centres abroad: Abu Dhabi, Ankara, Beijing, Cairo, Delhi/Chandigarh, Hong Kong, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Riyadh, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai.
Effective Monday, in order to persuade the Government that binding arbitration remains the responsible way forward to resolve our dispute, PAFSO members will withdraw all services until further notice at Canada’s fifteen largest visa processing centres abroad: Abu Dhabi, Ankara, Beijing, Cairo, Delhi/Chandigarh, Hong Kong, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Riyadh, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai.
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad news for all of us
News
26 July 2013 - Statement by the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers: PAFSO Responds to Government's Rejection of Arbitration
Shortly before noon today, PAFSO received a letter from the President of the Treasury Board in which he rejected our offer of binding arbitration. Minister Clement’s decision was based on the grounds that PAFSO would not accept all six of the preconditions he wanted to impose on the arbitration process.
The Canadian public must understand two key facts:
Two of Treasury Board’s preconditions were so paralyzing that their acceptance would have predetermined the outcome of arbitration in the Government’s favour and negated the purpose and integrity of the process. Specifically, they wanted to exclude from consideration any mention of other professional groups in government who perform the same work as us – often in neighbouring offices – which has been at the heart of our position since day one.
PAFSO made a reasonable and responsible effort at finding common ground by accepting two of the six preconditions, and committing to a goodwill gesture – a suspension of service withdrawals while arbitration is ongoing – which would have satisfied a third.
Let us be clear: PAFSO has not rejected binding arbitration. We offered it in the first place. We agreed to pursue it even with three of Treasury Board’s preconditions. This offer still stands.
If Minister Clement truly believes his offer is “fair and reasonable”, he would not have shied away from arbitration without preconditions. Rather, he would have welcomed the opportunity to submit his offer to independent scrutiny. Instead, he sought to stack the deck in his favour by cherry-picking criteria which would have favoured Treasury Board’s position. He is trying to tilt the playing field to the Government’s advantage, and is clearly uninterested in a fair contest.
The Government has reached tentative agreements in two other long-outstanding contract negotiations during the last month, and will return to the table on Monday to address a third. PAFSO is one of the smallest unions in the federal government. Equal pay for our members could be achieved for $4.2 million – 1.5% of the impact this strike is having on the tourism sector alone. PAFSO can only conclude that the Government is behaving prejudicially toward the Foreign Service and is therefore negotiating in bad faith. This should be of serious concern to all Canadians.
Effective Monday, in order to persuade the Government that binding arbitration remains the responsible way forward to resolve our dispute, PAFSO members will withdraw all services until further notice at Canada’s fifteen largest visa processing centres abroad: Abu Dhabi, Ankara, Beijing, Cairo, Delhi/Chandigarh, Hong Kong, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Riyadh, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai.
We take no pleasure whatsoever in these strike actions and their real, severe, and mounting effects on the Canadian economy. But it should now be evident to all Canadians that from this point forward the Government of Canada bears sole and complete responsibility for these impacts. PAFSO has made every reasonable effort to resolve this situation; the Government has not. PAFSO encourages all individuals, businesses, and industry associations with a stake in the outcome of our dispute to intervene with the Government and urge them to bargain freely and flexibly with their own employees.
PAFSO’s recent exchanges with Treasury Board are below for background.
For more information, contact: media@pafso-apase.com
News
26 July 2013 - Statement by the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers: PAFSO Responds to Government's Rejection of Arbitration
Shortly before noon today, PAFSO received a letter from the President of the Treasury Board in which he rejected our offer of binding arbitration. Minister Clement’s decision was based on the grounds that PAFSO would not accept all six of the preconditions he wanted to impose on the arbitration process.
The Canadian public must understand two key facts:
Two of Treasury Board’s preconditions were so paralyzing that their acceptance would have predetermined the outcome of arbitration in the Government’s favour and negated the purpose and integrity of the process. Specifically, they wanted to exclude from consideration any mention of other professional groups in government who perform the same work as us – often in neighbouring offices – which has been at the heart of our position since day one.
PAFSO made a reasonable and responsible effort at finding common ground by accepting two of the six preconditions, and committing to a goodwill gesture – a suspension of service withdrawals while arbitration is ongoing – which would have satisfied a third.
Let us be clear: PAFSO has not rejected binding arbitration. We offered it in the first place. We agreed to pursue it even with three of Treasury Board’s preconditions. This offer still stands.
If Minister Clement truly believes his offer is “fair and reasonable”, he would not have shied away from arbitration without preconditions. Rather, he would have welcomed the opportunity to submit his offer to independent scrutiny. Instead, he sought to stack the deck in his favour by cherry-picking criteria which would have favoured Treasury Board’s position. He is trying to tilt the playing field to the Government’s advantage, and is clearly uninterested in a fair contest.
The Government has reached tentative agreements in two other long-outstanding contract negotiations during the last month, and will return to the table on Monday to address a third. PAFSO is one of the smallest unions in the federal government. Equal pay for our members could be achieved for $4.2 million – 1.5% of the impact this strike is having on the tourism sector alone. PAFSO can only conclude that the Government is behaving prejudicially toward the Foreign Service and is therefore negotiating in bad faith. This should be of serious concern to all Canadians.
Effective Monday, in order to persuade the Government that binding arbitration remains the responsible way forward to resolve our dispute, PAFSO members will withdraw all services until further notice at Canada’s fifteen largest visa processing centres abroad: Abu Dhabi, Ankara, Beijing, Cairo, Delhi/Chandigarh, Hong Kong, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Riyadh, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai.
We take no pleasure whatsoever in these strike actions and their real, severe, and mounting effects on the Canadian economy. But it should now be evident to all Canadians that from this point forward the Government of Canada bears sole and complete responsibility for these impacts. PAFSO has made every reasonable effort to resolve this situation; the Government has not. PAFSO encourages all individuals, businesses, and industry associations with a stake in the outcome of our dispute to intervene with the Government and urge them to bargain freely and flexibly with their own employees.
PAFSO’s recent exchanges with Treasury Board are below for background.
For more information, contact: media@pafso-apase.com
Yes that's just sad for us. I understand that PAFSO have legit reasons for what they're asking, and I don't think the Government fully understands the impact of what this indefinite strike will do, not just on sponsorships, but on the economy in terms of tourism, education, and business. It will end up costing them more. I wonder what measures they'll be implementing to ensure continuity of visa processing.Mrs Ayman said:PAFSO:
Effective Monday, in order to persuade the Government that binding arbitration remains the responsible way forward to resolve our dispute, PAFSO members will withdraw all services until further notice at Canada's fifteen largest visa processing centres abroad: Abu Dhabi, Ankara, Beijing, Cairo, Delhi/Chandigarh, Hong Kong, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Riyadh, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai.
Oh well. More waiting for us.
HRH
Star Member
- Aug 28, 2012
- 1
- Category........
- Visa Office......
- Cairo Visa Office
- Job Offer........
- Pre-Assessed..
- App. Filed.......
- 29-02-2012 another medical 10/3/2014
- AOR Received.
- 14-06-2012
- Med's Done....
- 20/2/2012
- Interview........
- waived
- Passport Req..
- 23/4/2014
- VISA ISSUED...
- 29/4/2014
- LANDED..........
- 4/6/2014
I don't think its bad news. This will rearrange a lots of things when the strike its over insha allah.
On other hand This strike will affects the economy and tourism so the government will sit with them soon insha allah.
On other hand This strike will affects the economy and tourism so the government will sit with them soon insha allah.
Canada Wolf
Star Member
- Apr 27, 2012
- 2
- Category........
- Job Offer........
- Pre-Assessed..
- App. Filed.......
- 6/3/2012
- File Transfer...
- 30/6/2012
I agree with your idea, as if they were waiting for a strike to stop working, seems to me that they were running on the menimum requirments of the office.HRH said:
madatito2000
Hero Member
- Jul 3, 2011
- 5
- Category........
- Visa Office......
- Cairo visa office
- Job Offer........
- Pre-Assessed..
PAFSO members will shutdown all services until further notice (Currently they are working at limited services)
Visa office that will be affect are
Abu Dhabi.
Ankara.
Beijing.
Cairo.
Delhi/Chandigarh.
Hong Kong.
London.
Manila.
Mexico City.
Moscow.
Paris.
Riyadh.
Sao Paulo.
Shanghai.
On Twitter Clement said he couldn't comment on future options but that new Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander "will be able to deal with the resources needed
Source : CBC National Television
Visa office that will be affect are
Abu Dhabi.
Ankara.
Beijing.
Cairo.
Delhi/Chandigarh.
Hong Kong.
London.
Manila.
Mexico City.
Moscow.
Paris.
Riyadh.
Sao Paulo.
Shanghai.
On Twitter Clement said he couldn't comment on future options but that new Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander "will be able to deal with the resources needed
Source : CBC National Television
madatito2000
Hero Member
- Jul 3, 2011
- 5
- Category........
- Visa Office......
- Cairo visa office
- Job Offer........
- Pre-Assessed..
triking foreign service officers are withdrawing all services at Canada's 15 biggest visa processing centres abroad starting Monday, following a failed attempt to go to arbitration to settle the bitter contract dispute with the government.
The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, the union representing the officers, said Friday that Treasury Board President Tony Clement had rejected its offer of binding arbitration because the union wouldn't accept the conditions Clement attached to the offer.
The union began staging rotating job actions in the spring at different embassies and visa processing centres at different times, which has slowed down work abroad but not completely stopped it. Now the union is stepping up its pressure on the government.
"Effective Monday, in order to persuade the government that binding arbitration remains the responsible way forward to resolve our dispute, PAFSO members will withdraw all services until further notice at Canada's fifteen largest visa processing centres abroad," PAFSO said in a statement.
The centres are:
Abu Dhabi.
Ankara.
Beijing.
Cairo.
Delhi/Chandigarh.
Hong Kong.
London.
Manila.
Mexico City.
Moscow.
Paris.
Riyadh.
Sao Paulo.
Shanghai.
"We take no pleasure whatsoever in these strike actions and their real, severe, and mounting effects on the Canadian economy. But it should now be evident to all Canadians that from this point forward the government of Canada bears sole and complete responsibility for these impacts," the union said.
The tourism sectors and education institutions and organizations have been vocal with their concerns about the foreign service strike because of its impact already on the processing of visas. PAFSO encouraged them and others Friday to urge the government to "bargain freely and flexibly."
After the last round of negotiation broke down with no resolution and weeks went by with no talks scheduled, the union proposed to the government that they go to binding arbitration. The government then responded that it would agree, only if the union accepted certain conditions. It wanted the conditions kept confidential.
But in its statement Friday PAFSO shared some of the conditions and said two of them were "so paralyzing that their acceptance would have predetermined the outcome of arbitration in the government's favour and negated the purpose and integrity of the process."
Union accepted some conditions
The government wanted to exclude any mention of other bureaucrats who perform similar work, according to the union, "which has been at the heart of our position since day one."
"Equal pay for equal work," has been the union's slogan throughout the strike and it's the main sticking point in the dispute.
Ending their work action during the arbitration process was another condition the government wanted to impose and is one the union accepted. It also accepted two other conditions, but without accepting all six, the government said no to arbitration.
The union is accusing Clement of "cherry-picking criteria" that would have favoured the government's position and of "negotiating in bad faith."
Clement rejects those accusations. In his own statement released Friday he said the government has put a fair contract offer on the table and it's "disappointed that PAFSO was so quick to reject our willingness to enter into a binding arbitration process that the union itself requested."
He said the Canadian public is concerned about PAFSO's willingness to disrupt international business and tourism during the busy summer season.
"However, we want to reassure Canadians and our international friends that, despite PAFSO's actions, Canada remains open for business, and that we continue to welcome visitors and international students to experience Canada," Clement said.
On Twitter Clement said he couldn't comment on future options but that new Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander "will be able to deal with the resources needed."
Source : Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, the union representing the officers, said Friday that Treasury Board President Tony Clement had rejected its offer of binding arbitration because the union wouldn't accept the conditions Clement attached to the offer.
The union began staging rotating job actions in the spring at different embassies and visa processing centres at different times, which has slowed down work abroad but not completely stopped it. Now the union is stepping up its pressure on the government.
"Effective Monday, in order to persuade the government that binding arbitration remains the responsible way forward to resolve our dispute, PAFSO members will withdraw all services until further notice at Canada's fifteen largest visa processing centres abroad," PAFSO said in a statement.
The centres are:
Abu Dhabi.
Ankara.
Beijing.
Cairo.
Delhi/Chandigarh.
Hong Kong.
London.
Manila.
Mexico City.
Moscow.
Paris.
Riyadh.
Sao Paulo.
Shanghai.
"We take no pleasure whatsoever in these strike actions and their real, severe, and mounting effects on the Canadian economy. But it should now be evident to all Canadians that from this point forward the government of Canada bears sole and complete responsibility for these impacts," the union said.
The tourism sectors and education institutions and organizations have been vocal with their concerns about the foreign service strike because of its impact already on the processing of visas. PAFSO encouraged them and others Friday to urge the government to "bargain freely and flexibly."
After the last round of negotiation broke down with no resolution and weeks went by with no talks scheduled, the union proposed to the government that they go to binding arbitration. The government then responded that it would agree, only if the union accepted certain conditions. It wanted the conditions kept confidential.
But in its statement Friday PAFSO shared some of the conditions and said two of them were "so paralyzing that their acceptance would have predetermined the outcome of arbitration in the government's favour and negated the purpose and integrity of the process."
Union accepted some conditions
The government wanted to exclude any mention of other bureaucrats who perform similar work, according to the union, "which has been at the heart of our position since day one."
"Equal pay for equal work," has been the union's slogan throughout the strike and it's the main sticking point in the dispute.
Ending their work action during the arbitration process was another condition the government wanted to impose and is one the union accepted. It also accepted two other conditions, but without accepting all six, the government said no to arbitration.
The union is accusing Clement of "cherry-picking criteria" that would have favoured the government's position and of "negotiating in bad faith."
Clement rejects those accusations. In his own statement released Friday he said the government has put a fair contract offer on the table and it's "disappointed that PAFSO was so quick to reject our willingness to enter into a binding arbitration process that the union itself requested."
He said the Canadian public is concerned about PAFSO's willingness to disrupt international business and tourism during the busy summer season.
"However, we want to reassure Canadians and our international friends that, despite PAFSO's actions, Canada remains open for business, and that we continue to welcome visitors and international students to experience Canada," Clement said.
On Twitter Clement said he couldn't comment on future options but that new Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander "will be able to deal with the resources needed."
Source : Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
my MP told me the same thing in regards to ppl getting it before me... she wont even believe it saying it is impossibleCan_Lily said:I just wanted to share with everyone my experience with contacting my local MP, in case anyone will be doing so in the future.
I can't exactly say it was fruitful, but at the same time it wasn't useless. The guy who talked to me from the MP's office was very nice and understanding. He handled immigration issues so he's seen such situations many times before. He of course explained to me that waiting times are long given the strike happening with officers and also the situation in Egypt, plus they are receiving huge amounts of immigration applications from people wanting to leave Egypt. He claimed that the visa office in Egypt is still closed, but I argued that it reopened to business as usual following the downfall of the president. Then he said he was on vacation for the last 2 weeks so maybe things have changed. So I couldn't completely trust that piece of information. Those living in Egypt can probably give us more accurate info.
When I explained to him how the Cairo office asks us to refrain from sending in inquiries, he explained that for them to reply to each email it'll cost them resources that they're not willing to expend. But he did recommend to send them in some information to update our case with just to show continuity and genuinity of relationship. Although that will not change how fast they'll look at the application, but they can decide to waive the interview requirement which will save time on the application processing provided of course that your application has no red flags.
He was also quite surprised that applications received later were processed before our application. He kept reassuring me that there's a queue system and applications are processed as they are received. I have to say I'm still skeptical of that.
Nonetheless he offered to help by sending in a status report on my husband's application from the MP's office. It'll take a couple of days but we'll see the result of that. I'm not really hopeful that he'll give me any kind of helpful information, but as I mentioned before, I'm exhausting all my resources.
So for Canadians living in Canada waiting for their spouse's application to go through, if you've ever contemplated contacting your MP's office, go ahead. If it doesn't help, it won't hurt either
Good luck to us all.
meh