Help needed - EE / TRV / BIL deadlines

[nazgul86]

Hello,

I would like to get your thoughts on my case as it's getting difficult to reach CIC via CSE or calling them.

I applied to EE and I'm part of the February '19 AOR applicants. I received MEP in March and have a BIL request for my wife with deadline of April 22.
She came to Canada as a student back in June 2017 and she recently renewed and got approved for an extended study permit until July 2019. The BIL request states she has to provide Biometrics outside of Canada and so we booked her flights to do so in Europe (she's iranian and cannot get a visa for US). Unfortunately we just realized that her Canadian passport visa that she got when she came here initially is now expired. This means she will need to request a new visa to come back to Canada and we're worried that process may take long. She called a lawyer that told her some for some of her iranian clients it took 7 weeks for some 7 months. But if I understand correctly from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html the processing time for an online TRV visa is 4 days? She already has a valid extended study permit, she just needs a visa on her passport.

The idea we had was for her to go abroad to do the fingerprints while starting an online application for getting the visa, wait for that to be approved and mail the passport to Ottawa while abroad and get it back so she can return. Does this sound feasible in a matter of few days/weeks or are we at a real risk of a long separation?

 

[skape7]

Hello,

I would like to get your thoughts on my case as it's getting difficult to reach CIC via CSE or calling them.

I applied to EE and I'm part of the February '19 AOR applicants. I received MEP in March and have a BIL request for my wife with deadline of April 22.
She came to Canada as a student back in June 2017 and she recently renewed and got approved for an extended study permit until July 2019. The BIL request states she has to provide Biometrics outside of Canada and so we booked her flights to do so in Europe (she's iranian and cannot get a visa for US). Unfortunately we just realized that her Canadian passport visa that she got when she came here initially is now expired. This means she will need to request a new visa to come back to Canada and we're worried that process may take long. She called a lawyer that told her some for some of her iranian clients it took 7 weeks for some 7 months. But if I understand correctly from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html the processing time for an online TRV visa is 4 days? She already has a valid extended study permit, she just needs a visa on her passport.

The idea we had was for her to go abroad to do the fingerprints while starting an online application for getting the visa, wait for that to be approved and mail the passport to Ottawa while abroad and get it back so she can return. Does this sound feasible in a matter of few days/weeks or are we at a real risk of a long separation?

To be honest, I am not sure this will really work but its worth exploring. (Just make a couple of phone calls to CBSA)
My Iranian classmates flagpoled to the US Border and got their Post Graduate Work Permits while re-entering Canada.
You can re-enter Canada with a valid Study Permit/ PGWP even if your Temporary Resident Visa has expired.
By this logic, your spouse could flagpole and get her biometrics done at the closest land border crossing. The list of entry points where this facility is offered is on this link: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/security-securite/biometrics-biometrique-eng.html
If this works, you will get the biometrics done in a day and your PR application will continue processing almost immediately, besides saving you expensive travel costs to Europe.

 

[nazgul86]

To be honest, I am not sure this will really work but its worth exploring. (Just make a couple of phone calls to CBSA)
My Iranian classmates flagpoled to the US Border and got their Post Graduate Work Permits while re-entering Canada.
You can re-enter Canada with a valid Study Permit/ PGWP even if your Temporary Resident Visa has expired.
By this logic, your spouse could flagpole and get her biometrics done at the closest land border crossing. The list of entry points where this facility is offered is on this link: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/security-securite/biometrics-biometrique-eng.html
If this works, you will get the biometrics done in a day and your PR application will continue processing almost immediately, besides saving you expensive travel costs to Europe.

Thanks for the suggestion, and just to clarify the travel to Europe was expensive yes, but also useful as she wanted to visit her family in Iran for a couple of weeks. I wasn't familiar with the flagpole idea, but that sounds a bit risky, especially since we also applied for a US Green Card and would prefer to not risk jeopardizing that by entering without a visa in US. I'm surprised they let re-enter Canada with expired TRV, assume it's only working for this flag poling case.
In any case I guess we're more worried now on the timing it would take to receive a TRV as we already arranged the flights for fingerprinting.

 

[skape7]

Thanks for the suggestion, and just to clarify the travel to Europe was expensive yes, but also useful as she wanted to visit her family in Iran for a couple of weeks. I wasn't familiar with the flagpole idea, but that sounds a bit risky, especially since we also applied for a US Green Card and would prefer to not risk jeopardizing that by entering without a visa in US. I'm surprised they let re-enter Canada with expired TRV, assume it's only working for this flag poling case.
In any case I guess we're more worried now on the timing it would take to receive a TRV as we already arranged the flights for fingerprinting.

Alright...given your circumstances, what you are doing makes sense.
By the way, you can always re-enter Canada with an expired TRV, provided you are returning from the US, St.Pierre or Michelon.Check this link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=527&top=15