COPR and coronavirus

[planetarium]

Hi Experts,

I got an email from IRCC today:

Dear client,

Thank you for your interest in coming to Canada as an Economic Class permanent resident. We are looking forward to having you here, but you will have to wait a little longer.



I am yet to travel to Canada to validate my COPR (Issue date 24th Dec 2020) and PR Visa counterfoil is valid till 31st May 21. I have my flight booked for 14th May 21.
When I checked IRCC website, I found some conflicting information regarding my entry to Canada.

So, please clarify if I am actually restricted to enter in Canada or can there be any exemption?
If I am not allowed, is there any chance that these restrictions can lift off before my visa expiry (31st May 21)?


I will be in a very bad situation, as I have resigned from my current organization and my last working day is 15th April 2021.
so I have a very confusing situation in front of me:
1-Either I should take the resign back, but what if restrictions get lifted before my visa expiry/travel date?
2-Relieve from my company and wait for IRCC next email regarding COPR extension? How early from expiration does IRCC inform us about the extension of COPR?

Thank you in advance

Hi, I’m not sure what conflicting info are you referring to. But the current travel exemption is only if your copr issue date is BEFORE 18 March 2020, which is not the case for you. Another exemption is if you have family members living in canada.

I’m not an expert but NO ONE KNOWS when canada is going to lift their travel ban. Even if you call IRCC to ask about this, they wont be able to tell you. So if you decide to keep your flight booking and proceed with job resignation, you are taking a risk which only you can answer yourself whether you can face the consequences.

If I were you though, I would definitely cancel my ticket booking and get refunded while I can, depending on the booking terms. And if possible, I’ll also take back my resignation as the consequence of not having a job for an uncertain length of time is far more risky since travel ban lift is not something we can predict.

all the best

 

[Fmegha86]

which VO office is your application in?Did you call the VO office and ask what exactly the situation is?.. Why are they suggesting for reassessment ?

NDVO, planning to call them today

 

[Fmegha86]

Hello,

Sorry didnt quite understand this - Did they close your application?

Has your COPR expired? What stage where you at when they said your application is closed?

Yes copr expired July 2020, raised multiple RTT webforms since July , received. 4 pointer email in September raised webforms again in nov and December. There was utter silence and when called ircc they asked us to wait. And day before yesterday they sent this email where they indicate the application is closed? This is unbelievable as if we ignored their emails and stuff. Will call ircc and NDVO and ask why we received this email and how they closed the application when they never sent anything to us prior to this email

 

[Fmegha86]

when you receved COPR first time and when was it expired

Copr recieved 15 March 2020
Expired 5 July 2020

 

[Fmegha86]

Hey I also got the same email on Monday. Have you responded to them? Did you get an acknowledgement on your reply?

No even i did not get acknowledgement

 

[whyCorona]

Hi Experts,

I got an email from IRCC today:

Dear client,

Thank you for your interest in coming to Canada as an Economic Class permanent resident. We are looking forward to having you here, but you will have to wait a little longer.



I am yet to travel to Canada to validate my COPR (Issue date 24th Dec 2020) and PR Visa counterfoil is valid till 31st May 21. I have my flight booked for 14th May 21.
When I checked IRCC website, I found some conflicting information regarding my entry to Canada.

So, please clarify if I am actually restricted to enter in Canada or can there be any exemption?
If I am not allowed, is there any chance that these restrictions can lift off before my visa expiry (31st May 21)?


I will be in a very bad situation, as I have resigned from my current organization and my last working day is 15th April 2021.
so I have a very confusing situation in front of me:
1-Either I should take the resign back, but what if restrictions get lifted before my visa expiry/travel date?
2-Relieve from my company and wait for IRCC next email regarding COPR extension? How early from expiration does IRCC inform us about the extension of COPR?

Thank you in advance

I was in same situation like you last year. CoPR issued before 18th March with validity up to May 2020. Resigned from the job, was serving notice period, had my flight booked and was ready to travel. BUT lockdown happened, flights got banned and CoPR got expired.

I took my resignation back on last day of my notice period. After 8 months I travelled to Canada on AL with expired CoPR and yes had to redo the meds after getting notification from IRCC.

As your CoPR is approved after 18th March 2020, If you have a job offer in Canada or some other reason (not just finalizing your PR application) that you think that would make you exempted from travel restriction then you can take a risk to travel. If there is still a 1% doubt then I would recommend to take back your resignation and travel when the restrictions are uplifted. Get a refund on flight tickets or reuse them for your future booking if you can do it.

If you need to travel in a short notice, you can serve your notice period remotely or pay out some part of your notice period. In my case, I opted for paying off my remaining notice period days (my 62.5 days of leave balance took the hit and saved me for paying back to my company:/. I want to thank my ex HR for not waving off my notice period. Thank you ex HR!).

In a nutshell, resign only if you are sure that you will be allowed to travel when there are restrictions are in place.

Getting relieved from your company and wait for IRCC to respond is NO NO from my experience. Either you switch company or stick with the one you are right now till you are 110% sure about your travel.

 

[kpatel1988]

(La version française suit le texte anglais)

March 17, 2021

Application number: EXXXXXXXX

Dear client,

Thank you for your interest in coming to Canada as an Economic Class permanent resident. We are looking forward to having you here, but you will have to wait a little longer.

At this time, to protect Canadians from COVID-19, travel restrictions are in place for individuals travelling to Canada. Even people with a confirmation of permanent residence (CoPR) and a permanent resident visa (PRV) counterfoil (if applicable), CANNOT TRAVEL TO CANADA at this time to become permanent residents unless they are exempt from the travel restrictions.
Do not worry if your documents are near expiry. We will contact you with further instructions if your documents expire before the travel restrictions are lifted. We will then work with you at that time to re-issue or extend the validity of your documents when it is safer to travel.

Travel Restrictions Compliance and Enforcement
We want you to eventually come to Canada safely and legally. Please note if you don’t follow the instructions provided to and try to travel to Canada right now, you could face a signficant ticket or fine. Entering Canada is an offence under the Quarantine Act. For more information see Consequences for failure to comply with the Emergency order.

Please learn about how COVID-19 is affecting immigration services and how it affects travel, quarantine and borders for the latest information on travel restrictions before making any travel plans and again before departing for Canada to avoid being denied boarding or entry in Canada.

Reuniting with family
We understand that you may have family in Canada and are looking forward to seeing them. If you are trying to reunite with family in Canada, you likely meet an exemption under the travel restrictions. If so, please consult Foreign nationals reuniting with family regularly to find out if you can travel to Canada.

Keep us informed if your situation has changed
Please let us know if your situation changes in any of the following ways:

Marriage or common-law union, divorce, annulment, legal separation Death of the sponsor, the principal applicant or any accompanying family member Birth or adoption of a child, including grandchildren born to dependent children You, the principal applicant, or any of your family members have been charged or convicted of a criminal offence

Do not attempt to travel to Canada if your situation has changed. Your documents will need to be updated and re-issued.

We are sorry to keep you waiting and thank you for your patience,

Sincerely,
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

*********************************************************************************************************************************************

Got this email, early morning and another shock. Looking to fly out on 24th, all arrangements done and now this? Has anybody else got this?

My COPR issued before 18th march 2020 expired on June 2020 and Now got AL valid till 30th March 2021, flying out on 24th. Checked the wordings and hopefully am exempt but still need another opinion.

If anybody could share their thoughts, would be grateful.

 

[whyCorona]

(La version française suit le texte anglais)

March 17, 2021

Application number: EXXXXXXXX

Dear client,

Thank you for your interest in coming to Canada as an Economic Class permanent resident. We are looking forward to having you here, but you will have to wait a little longer.


Travel Restrictions Compliance and Enforcement
We want you to eventually come to Canada safely and legally. Please note if you don’t follow the instructions provided to and try to travel to Canada right now, you could face a signficant ticket or fine. Entering Canada is an offence under the Quarantine Act. For more information see Consequences for failure to comply with the Emergency order.

Please learn about how COVID-19 is affecting immigration services and how it affects travel, quarantine and borders for the latest information on travel restrictions before making any travel plans and again before departing for Canada to avoid being denied boarding or entry in Canada.

Reuniting with family
We understand that you may have family in Canada and are looking forward to seeing them. If you are trying to reunite with family in Canada, you likely meet an exemption under the travel restrictions. If so, please consult Foreign nationals reuniting with family regularly to find out if you can travel to Canada.

Keep us informed if your situation has changed
Please let us know if your situation changes in any of the following ways:

Marriage or common-law union, divorce, annulment, legal separation Death of the sponsor, the principal applicant or any accompanying family member Birth or adoption of a child, including grandchildren born to dependent children You, the principal applicant, or any of your family members have been charged or convicted of a criminal offence

We are sorry to keep you waiting and thank you for your patience,

Sincerely,
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

*********************************************************************************************************************************************

Got this email, early morning and another shock. Looking to fly out on 24th, all arrangements done and now this? Has anybody else got this?

My COPR issued before 18th march and AL valid till 30th March 2021, flying out on 24th. Checked the wordings and hopefully am exempt but still need another opinion.

If anybody could share their thoughts, would be grateful.

You got an AL and you can travel. They probably have sent this email to all including AL holders. This is not a new thing. You can call IRCC call centre and confirm. I would say to IRCC call agent "I got an AL and just want to confirm what documents should I need to travel? Could you please help?" without mentioning this email. If they are aware of such thing then they will let you know.

Best of luck!

 

[pavie24]

No even i did not get acknowledgement

Neither did I. I spoke to the customer service agent at IRCC yesterday and she said at times you don't get an acknowledgement. She suggested that I write an email to NDVO on delhi-immigration@international.gc.ca with a screenshot/export of my email response asking them for an acknowledgement. That way atleast it'll be on our records that we replied. Use the same email ID that has been registered with your application.

Looks like we have the same COPR issue dates.. mine also got approved on 15th March 2020 but it expired in Aug. My 4-pt email also came in Sept and I haven't heard anything back from them since. Whenever I used to raise a webform or call them, I was told that my file is with NDVO and that I should wait. It's possible this email got auto-triggered as soon as we hit the 1 year mark of our COPR issue date.

Let's just hope we get our remedical requests soon. Best of luck!

 

[Fmegha86]

Neither did I. I spoke to the customer service agent at IRCC yesterday and she said at times you don't get an acknowledgement. She suggested that I write an email to NDVO on delhi-immigration@international.gc.ca with a screenshot/export of my email response asking them for an acknowledgement. That way atleast it'll be on our records that we replied. Use the same email ID that has been registered with your application.

Looks like we have the same COPR issue dates.. mine also got approved on 15th March 2020 but it expired in Aug. My 4-pt email also came in Sept and I haven't heard anything back from them since. Whenever I used to raise a webform or call them, I was told that my file is with NDVO and that I should wait. It's possible this email got auto-triggered as soon as we hit the 1 year mark of our COPR issue date.

Let's just hope we get our remedical requests soon. Best of luck!

Hope so but I don’t understand why they closed our applications just like that

 

[MatSys]

Hi Experts,

I got an email from IRCC today:

Dear client,

Thank you for your interest in coming to Canada as an Economic Class permanent resident. We are looking forward to having you here, but you will have to wait a little longer.



I am yet to travel to Canada to validate my COPR (Issue date 24th Dec 2020) and PR Visa counterfoil is valid till 31st May 21. I have my flight booked for 14th May 21.
When I checked IRCC website, I found some conflicting information regarding my entry to Canada.

So, please clarify if I am actually restricted to enter in Canada or can there be any exemption?
If I am not allowed, is there any chance that these restrictions can lift off before my visa expiry (31st May 21)?


I will be in a very bad situation, as I have resigned from my current organization and my last working day is 15th April 2021.
so I have a very confusing situation in front of me:
1-Either I should take the resign back, but what if restrictions get lifted before my visa expiry/travel date?
2-Relieve from my company and wait for IRCC next email regarding COPR extension? How early from expiration does IRCC inform us about the extension of COPR?

Thank you in advance

You cannot travel until and unless they give you the landing permission, and if you still flying to Canada, they will deport you at the port of entry. Further, you will need to face many consequences, so be patient. They have clearly mentioned it.
My suggestion is to cancel your ticket and wait for a green signal from IRCC, everything will be alright.

 

[K&K]

Hi Everyone,

I got the below email from IRCC today.

URGENT: IRCC requires your action or response immediately

Please select one of the following two options:

Option 1: Confirm that you plan to travel to Canada before the validity date above. If you choose this option, you will be sent a request to submit your passport (which must be valid until at least the date above) to IRCC for physical reissuance of your CoPR (and your PR visa, if you are a citizen of a visa required country). Your CoPR will be annotated to indicate that it is a replacement for a document issued on or before March 18, 2020. If you select this option, you must use your re-issued CoPR and PR visa before the validity date printed on the new documents expires. If you do not use them before they expire, you will need to submit a new application if you want to immigrate to Canada in the future.

Option 2: Do another medical examination. If you select this option, you will be sent a request to do new medicals (at your own expense) within NINETY (90) calendar days. Your new medicals will be valid for 12 months from the date of your new examination. When we receive your updated medical results, we will assess whether any other information needs to be updated to re-issue your CoPR(s). If you (and your dependants, if applicable) continue to meet all statutory requirements, we will send you a request to submit your passport(s) for physical reissuance of your documents, which you will need to use before they expire.

Can someone who has received similar mail help understand timelines in case I chose Option 1.Also if I understand correctly this is not AL ?

I am pre Mar 2020 COPR which expired in Jun 2020 and Visa Office is NDVO

Thank you!

Have you received any update for this, after you responded ?
its very strange my Visa also expired in June 2020 have not received any update, im sure many have'nt received anything

 

[Aliasoufan]

Hi Everyone,

I got the below email from IRCC today.

URGENT: IRCC requires your action or response immediately

Please select one of the following two options:

Option 1: Confirm that you plan to travel to Canada before the validity date above. If you choose this option, you will be sent a request to submit your passport (which must be valid until at least the date above) to IRCC for physical reissuance of your CoPR (and your PR visa, if you are a citizen of a visa required country). Your CoPR will be annotated to indicate that it is a replacement for a document issued on or before March 18, 2020. If you select this option, you must use your re-issued CoPR and PR visa before the validity date printed on the new documents expires. If you do not use them before they expire, you will need to submit a new application if you want to immigrate to Canada in the future.

Option 2: Do another medical examination. If you select this option, you will be sent a request to do new medicals (at your own expense) within NINETY (90) calendar days. Your new medicals will be valid for 12 months from the date of your new examination. When we receive your updated medical results, we will assess whether any other information needs to be updated to re-issue your CoPR(s). If you (and your dependants, if applicable) continue to meet all statutory requirements, we will send you a request to submit your passport(s) for physical reissuance of your documents, which you will need to use before they expire.

Can someone who has received similar mail help understand timelines in case I chose Option 1.Also if I understand correctly this is not AL ?

I am pre Mar 2020 COPR which expired in Jun 2020 and Visa Office is NDVO

Thank you!

Hi, i received a similar thing but a letter from IRCC to my account on dec 30 2020.
Got my copr in dec 2019, expired on dec 4 2020.

letter from ircc:

Dear ,
This is in reference to your application for permanent residence in Canada. In order for us to continue the processing of your application, we require the following documents:
IRCC has received your communications regarding settlement by the end of September 2021. We are able to send an authorization letter to travel on your expired COPR and Visa till February 27, 2021. If you wish to land at a later date, a new medical exam will be required. A new COPR and VISA can be issued on the new medical results. Landing expiry date is within 1 year of new medical exam date.
-A new medical examination has been requested in your application.
 Kit, Application forms: Letter of applicant choice to do new medicals or land before Feb
27,2021. This must be received at this office by: 2021/01/08
If you do not respond by 2021/01/08, IRCC will process our application on the requiring for a new medical examination for new COPR and VISA to land after February 27,2021.
You must upload the requested documents/information by using your IRCC secure account within the time frame indicated above.
Once the deadline has passed, the ability to upload your document will be deactivated. If you are unable to provide the requested document within the time frame provided, we recommend that you write an explanation and upload it in lieu of the requested document(s).

 

[Aliasoufan]

Hi.. May I know your country of residence and your AOR please? I live in Dubai so wondering if my file will be moved to the Abu Dhabi VO. When was your file moved to Abu Dhabi VO?

Hi,

I live in the UAE, in Dubai, and my AOR was in July 2019. I believe the abudhabi VO is the only one in the UAE, isn't it? What is your current VO?

 

[butterflyins]

Dear members, not sure how many are following the VFS disaster that is unfolding in India. Thousands of people with PPRs have been waiting for more than 20 days now for passport collection. I personally have been waiting for more than 16 days, and have not received any payment link or communication regarding passport collection. They are not responding to any query, nobody answers the call, only generic replies to emails and tweets.
Does anyone know what happens if we are unable to get our passports to the Visa Office within the 30 day time frame?
Appreciate your time.