CPP-Ottawa

[spaceexp]

Anyone know of a method of contacting Ottawa that is faster than their e-mail CPC-CTD-Ottawa @ cic.gc.ca? They made an error on our COPR and we need to know what to do about that and they haven't responded to any our e-mails.

As others said, there is no other way to contact them, except through MP's office. But I can help you with CoPR mistake:
You have to send them back BOTH copies of CoPR & if you got a visa in your passport, send in the passport, too (even if they say not to, they will ask for it later). If you are visa-exempt, just send both copies of CoPR. I just checked my communication with my MP&CIC, they asked for additional two passport sized photos, too. Include a cover letter explaining what is the mistake. If you want to get it there and back safely, include an express post envelope. SO, to sum up:
*both CoPR copies
*passport if you are not visa exempt
*two passport sized photos (for PR card)
*cover letter
* express post envelope (optional)

And don't hold your breathe, it took them 3-4 weeks to correct mine, although some chief officer was working on it because our MP was involved. HHope yours will be processed more quickly.

Good luck!

 

[jaxxon]

Signed in today and saw this:

Wasn't expecting to see this until August.

wow thats amazing! congrats Im a March applicant so maybe it's not too far away...if Im lucky! lol

 

[michminn]

ecas shows IP June 4th

 

[borealis]

@ michminn Woo! About time in your case, eh?

@ jaxxon I certainly hope you are lucky!

 

[DanOCan]

Hey guys quick question? Immigration sent this: (My question is: Can I send them an email of the citation or, do they require a certified copy?) Ottawa doesn't have a phone number for me to call so just curious if anyone has been in my situation. **THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR AN FBI RECORD**

6xxxxxxx - Michelle xxxxxxxxx:
•Court record / Police report: Provide an original police report or court records Provide court documents related to your "Damage to property" conviction in the state of Arizona.
•This must be received at this office by: 2015/07/05

Please note:

All documents must be accompanied by English or French translations. When original documents are requested, notarized documents are not acceptable.

We had a similar situation on our first application. What we did was obtain the original documents, scan them, and sent them in by email and mentioned the originals would follow via mail.

They're pretty clear, if they ask for originals, they want originals. If even a notarized copy isn't enough, you can bet a photocopy you make yourself won't cut it, but at least if you email them a copy they should be able to continue to process your application based on the assumption the originals will follow soon after. Of course, I have no way of knowing if that is true or not, but it can't hurt, right?

 

[michminn]

We had a similar situation on our first application. What we did was obtain the original documents, scan them, and sent them in by email and mentioned the originals would follow via mail.

They're pretty clear, if they ask for originals, they want originals. If even a notarized copy isn't enough, you can bet a photocopy you make yourself won't cut it, but at least if you email them a copy they should be able to continue to process your application based on the assumption the originals will follow soon after. Of course, I have no way of knowing if that is true or not, but it can't hurt, right?

As soon as the certified copies get here I'll send them in! YESYES! I have been waiting since March 2014

 

[bbcj]

The first PR card is sent automatically and at no cost. Renewals and replacements have to be applied and paid for.

Thanks figtoria

 

[Amalthea]

As soon as the certified copies get here I'll send them in! YESYES! I have been waiting since March 2014

Oh my gosh, that's such a long time!! So glad you're finally IP. CONGRATS!!!

 

[jaxxon]

@ michminn Woo! About time in your case, eh?

@ jaxxon I certainly hope you are lucky!

lol I surtainly hope so but I highly doubt it, there are so many people ahaead of us that deserves their PR Wish you all the best!

 

[Confused987]

Getting twinkle of hope every week that Ottawa is about to go full speed ahead.

Maybe next week they will knock out one entire month.

 

[Majromax]

My suspicion is that the out-of-order processing is a good thing.

As far as we know, applications at the visa offices are processed topic-by-topic, with different "due by" or "bring forward" dates. For example, an immigration officer will send out for security checks, then not look at the file again until <blank> time has passed and the checks have already been attached to the file. It seems something of an assembly-line, with the next step beginning after the previous one has finished. This is also why sometimes people see no movement on a simple documentation request until after the "due by" date, even if the documents are sent in immediately.

For applications from Q1 of this year to be processed, these checks must be happening in parallel, with everything going at the same time.

If this does reflect a change in processing methodology, I would expect that it would apply to older (Q3-Q4 2014) files once they're opened again. This may or may not be of much benefit to August-November applicants who could already be nearly finished with processing.

Regardless, even as an applicant in this mess, everyone receiving their COPR has my heartfelt congratulations regardless of where in the queue they are. After all, this is not a competitive process.

 

[Amalthea]

My suspicion is that the out-of-order processing is a good thing.

As far as we know, applications at the visa offices are processed topic-by-topic, with different "due by" or "bring forward" dates. For example, an immigration officer will send out for security checks, then not look at the file again until <blank> time has passed and the checks have already been attached to the file. It seems something of an assembly-line, with the next step beginning after the previous one has finished. This is also why sometimes people see no movement on a simple documentation request until after the "due by" date, even if the documents are sent in immediately.

For applications from Q1 of this year to be processed, these checks must be happening in parallel, with everything going at the same time.

If this does reflect a change in processing methodology, I would expect that it would apply to older (Q3-Q4 2014) files once they're opened again. This may or may not be of much benefit to August-November applicants who could already be nearly finished with processing.

Regardless, even as an applicant in this mess, everyone receiving their COPR has my heartfelt congratulations regardless of where in the queue they are. After all, this is not a competitive process.

There is a lot of talk about how the people who process 2014 are a different group of people than those who process 2015 applications, purely speculation though. CIC has already admitted that they fire old employees to replace them with new inexperienced trainees, which could attribute to the 65% error rate at Vegreville that was in the news.

Personally I think with all the heat they have been getting in the media, they are trying to shorten wait times in 2015 to rig it to look like they are doing better. "Look how fast we process applications now, 5 months!!". Reminds me of when Chris Alexander was bragging about the Super Visa saying it would reunite families and was a big step for Canadian parent immigration yet.. did nothing to solve the long wait times for parent sponsorship. Politics and all that.

I'm really curious to see how CIC responds to the fact that they've processed 2015 applications in 5 months yet have left most September-December apps hanging. Maria brought this up in her interview. The article will run in the Toronto Star Monday or Tuesday, keep your eye out!

 

[daftfunk]

ecas shows IP June 4th

Mine was upgraded to In process on that day as well.

I did have to mail them back a proper marriage license because we sent in a photocopy instead of certified copy
They should have it by now though... hopefully that didn't screw things up

 

[Mariac819]

My suspicion is that the out-of-order processing is a good thing.

As far as we know, applications at the visa offices are processed topic-by-topic, with different "due by" or "bring forward" dates. For example, an immigration officer will send out for security checks, then not look at the file again until <blank> time has passed and the checks have already been attached to the file. It seems something of an assembly-line, with the next step beginning after the previous one has finished. This is also why sometimes people see no movement on a simple documentation request until after the "due by" date, even if the documents are sent in immediately.

For applications from Q1 of this year to be processed, these checks must be happening in parallel, with everything going at the same time.

If this does reflect a change in processing methodology, I would expect that it would apply to older (Q3-Q4 2014) files once they're opened again. This may or may not be of much benefit to August-November applicants who could already be nearly finished with processing.

Regardless, even as an applicant in this mess, everyone receiving their COPR has my heartfelt congratulations regardless of where in the queue they are. After all, this is not a competitive process.

This honestly was not the case with my application. I have ordered notes through out the entire process and there was ZERO activity on my app since October 2014. The next time there was activity was April 2015 and that is when they requested documents (the ones they misplaced). So here I am still waiting in limbo...

They also did answer me back before the 45 days were up for the document request deadline. So I don't think they wait until the 45 days either. It might just depend on the officer. I am more inclined to agree with Amalthea's comment up above.

 

[Majromax]

Personally I think with all the heat they have been getting in the media, they are trying to shorten wait times in 2015 to rig it to look like they are doing better. "Look how fast we process applications now, 5 months!!".

I don't think the spreadsheet supports this.

First, the commonly-reported figure is the 80% processing time: Ottawa won't be able to reach "5 months" until the full backlog of routine 2014 cases is cleared out.

Second, we haven't seen preferential processing for post-January applicants. It appears that CPC-O did not process much of anything family-class in early May, but since then IP/DM changes have been spread around all applicants. Of late-May to now status changes, 6 have gone to September applicants, 5 to October applicants (now including myself to IP, spreadsheet update coming forthwith), 1 to a November applicant (with one more RPRF request), 3 to December applicants (with one more with colour changed but no date posted), 2 to January applicants, and 1 to a very lucky March applicant (with a request for the CSQ at the same time).

If anything, it's November applicants that have gotten the short end of the stick, but with only a half-dozen in the spreadsheet it's hard to say that the observation is conclusive evidence.