Actually what I meant to say is that when one calls CIO then there are 2 possible routes for the call:
- The agent is not cooperative and will give you the routine standard answer that CIO will be in touch with you in a few weeks
or
- The agent is cooperative and will ask for your details such as first and last name and date of birth and then will put you on hole for a short while to check the system, afterwards the agent gets back on the phone and tries to do further verification of the identity of the applicant by asking you if you have submitted anything else (like an Express Entry application) afterwards you have 3 different outcomes:
1- Your name is in the system and - heavens forbid- the systems shows that your application has been returned to you due to cap being full or some missing document.
2- Your name is not in the system yet which means that your application has passed the completeness check and is waiting in line to be processed
3- Your name is in the system and that means that your application is in process (waiting to be charged or has been charged and awaiting PER work by a more senior officer)
I confirmed the above with the agent when I asked her about the status of my application, she confirmed that my name is not in the system, she mentioned that they have received quite a large volume of applications in late December 2014 and it might be a few weeks before they can process all of the applications, my application was received on the 29th of December,
So far they have been stuck at charging December 24th and before, remember that December 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th were all an official holiday, so all of the applications that didn't make it on the 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th were received on the 29th, and there was a rush by consultants and applicants to get their applications before the 25th, so the biggest congestion happened on the 24th, 29th, 30th and 31st as evidenced by the number of applications received in those dates as per the FSW2014 Global Spread Sheet as follows:
Date Apps Rec Percentage
12/1/2014 33 5%
12/2/2014 17 3%
12/3/2014 26 4%
12/4/2014 19 3%
12/5/2014 19 3%
12/8/2014 23 3%
12/9/2014 11 2%
12/10/2014 44 7%
12/11/2014 21 3%
12/12/2014 29 4%
12/13/2014 1 0%
12/15/2014 45 7%
12/16/2014 35 5%
12/17/2014 31 5%
12/18/2014 20 3%
12/19/2014 42 6%
12/20/2014 1 0%
12/21/2014 1 0%
12/22/2014 38 6%
12/23/2014 36 5%
12/24/2014 32 5%
12/29/2014 58 9%
12/30/2014 33 5%
12/31/2014 57 8%
Total 672 100%
So approximately 44% of December apps were received in the last 10 days, based on historical analysis, we estimated the spread sheet to contain only 20%-25% of the global applicant population, so the actual numbers should be multiplied by 4 or 5, so that kinda gives you the actual picture of the number of applications CIO is dealing with for the month of December,
I am hoping that we all get charged very soon and good luck to all
Mahmoud