Dual Citizenship- form IMM0008

[Clothilde]

Hello all,
I have both US and French passports, and according to a Toronto lawyer I just saw today, I can use my French passport to complete my Outland application because it will take much less time than from the US. She said that US outland applications are now taking about 33 months?!?! And apparently French only 8 months. (please correct me if this is UNTRUE)
She also said that the fact that I don't actually live in France is not a problem, as long as I have a legal ID from that country, it's enough to use that for my application.

Now when it comes to the IMM0008, to be clear, the question "Country of Residence" should I say: France? USA? Or Canada? (I am legally living in Canada with my common law partner- I never exceeded my 6 months limit).
Also, for the question MAILING ADDRESS and RESIDENTIAL address, should I state Canadian addresses for both, even if I am not a "full resident"? (I have a US address, but not a French address since I have not lived in France for so long).

Same goes for PASSPORT: Should I give my French passport rather than US?
And for NATIONAL DOCUMENT: I have both a drivers license in the US, and a social security number, but I have no "national documents" from France since I have not lived there in such a long time.

If anyone is in the same situation or knows the answers to these questions, please help!
Thanks greatly appreciated.

 

[mrpotatohead]

Your lawyer is way off. I would fire her. US processing goes through Ottawa, takes about 6 months from start to finish once the app is in CIC's hands.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Definitely STAY AWAY from that lawyer, as she has absolutely no idea what she's talking about. As said above, US apps are processed through Ottawa and are currently zipping through, with many being done in a matter of a few months. Also, even if you included a letter requesting the app be processed in Paris, there is VERY little chance that they would actually send the app there since you haven't lived there in a very long time. They would see you have been living in the US and send the app to Ottawa anyways. Really stupid lawyer.


Your country of residence is Canada. You can put your Canadian address for both residential and mailing.

If I recall correctly, you must state all nationalities that you hold and include copies of all passports.

Put N/A for the National Document.

Head over to the Ottawa thread and have a look at the spreadsheet and the timelines of other Americans http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/cppottawa-t118769.6135.html

 

[Clothilde]

Ok thank you for your concern. The lady I met with was actually a PARALEGAL at the VisaPlace office in Toronto.

I definitely agree that it would make more sense to apply from USA rather than France. However, I found this link on the CIC and it reinforces what she said about the processing times, but the dates are from JULY 2014. Can processing times change so drastically in half a year?

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp

Thank you for your advice!

 

[Ponga]

Ok thank you for your concern. The lady I met with was actually a PARALEGAL at the VisaPlace office in Toronto.

I definitely agree that it would make more sense to apply from USA rather than France. However, I found this link on the CIC and it reinforces what she said about the processing times, but the dates are from JULY 2014. Can processing times change so drastically in half a year?

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp

Thank you for your advice!

That is the reason why so many Americans mistakenly choose an Inland application!

CIC seems to like hiding the fact that most American applications are actually being processed in Ottawa and at a blistering speed, compared to their own processing times!

 

[surleplateau]

I definitely agree that it would make more sense to apply from USA rather than France. However, I found this link on the CIC and it reinforces what she said about the processing times, but the dates are from JULY 2014. Can processing times change so drastically in half a year?

cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp

It's confusing because it's not (just) about the July 2014 updates... but that we automatically assume that applications from US citizens would go to the Los Angeles or New York offices, but if you click on those two cities, you'll see for New York:

Responsible for Permanent Resident Applications from: Bermuda

Huh? And when you click the Los Angeles office, you'll see:

see Case Processing Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

It threw me off at first, too!

 

[Clothilde]

Has Ottawa always been the processing center for USA applications?

On that CIC link, it shows that Ottawa processing times are 16 months, still a BIG difference from what people are saying in this forum.
So in fact, if I was to apply outland from New York (in August 2015) it would only take 5 or 6 months? Or it might change again by then...


http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Has Ottawa always been the processing center for USA applications?

On that CIC link, it shows that Ottawa processing times are 16 months, still a BIG difference from what people are saying in this forum.
So in fact, if I was to apply outland from New York (in August 2015) it would only take 5 or 6 months? Or it might change again by then...

It was changed to Ottawa a few years ago.

Understand that the posted processing times are NOT AVERAGES and not how long it takes to process each app. This is a common misconception. If you look at the top of that page, you'll see that the times are long it took to process 80% of applications, which means that 79% are processed FASTER than that. If 75% were done in 6 months and that last 5% took 16 months, the posted processing time would still be 16 months.

Straightforward American apps are going through in about 6 months.

 

[Clothilde]

Thanks that good news! How did you get that information about the real processing times? From the threads in this forum?

Thanks

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thanks that good news! How did you get that information about the real processing times? From the threads in this forum?

Mostly. I posted the link to the Ottawa thread. Go have a look at their timelines and the spreadsheet.

There is also a data set posted by the government which you can find here http://data.gc.ca/data/dataset/427337d0-7c36-4fed-8428-c6a63f8c19b3, though it only covers up to June 2014.

 

[Clothilde]

Ok thanks. I will definitely call that paralegal and ask her about the inconstancies in processing times from what she told me and what people are reporting here!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Ok thanks. I will definitely call that paralegal and ask her about the inconstancies in processing times from what she told me and what people are reporting here!

I really wouldn't bother calling her back. She will most likely have no clue or claim that her data is more accurate.

 

[AshleyAnne]

This is completely accurate!
Most applications are taking 6-8 months from start to finish for US residence. My Husband and I panicked about the wait times at first too, but if you go through the forum to June applications A LOT have gotten their approval and landed already. July applications received quite a few landings already too. Since Christmas there seems to be a bit of a freeze, but considering we are only now at 6 months and a little less than half have already landed , that is pretty good!

My application needed the right to residence fee and a bit more information so we are waiting after sending that in. But hoping to hear before the month is out!

 

[keesio]

Has Ottawa always been the processing center for USA applications?

On that CIC link, it shows that Ottawa processing times are 16 months, still a BIG difference from what people are saying in this forum.
So in fact, if I was to apply outland from New York (in August 2015) it would only take 5 or 6 months? Or it might change again by then...


http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp

See my reply in the below link. It explains the Ottawa timelines and the confusion:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/spousal-sponsorship-pls-help-to-get-me-out-my-situation-thank-you-t252017.0.html;msg3733815#msg3733815