Help needed for holiday to Canada next month!!

[JessieB]

Hi me and my partner have planned a holiday to visit some friends in Canada next month for a few days before flying to New York for a week. My partner was arrested for a DUI 7 years ago (ban and fees were all completed more than 5 years ago) whilst we checked the entry to America was okay with his conviction we stupidly didn't think there would be an issue with entering Canada! We have quickly applied for an individual rehabilitation application which has been received in the post today by the Canadian high commission in London. The CIC website states that a visitor visa processing time is 12 days however I am concerned with conflicting information stating that it could take over a year and we fly the 24th of November! If we don't have enough time he will need to book a separate ticket and meet me in new York so my question is does anyone know what the real time processing times are for this type of application? He will drive down to the high commission offices if we don't hear back within the 12 days but without a phone contact number to ask advice we are worried the flights to new York will sell out before we find out! Apologies for the lengthy post!!!

 

[scylla]

Processing times are different from application to application - so it's unfortunately impossible for us to say for certainly how long it will take. The 12 day processing time on the CIC site is just an estimate (not a maximum). It could be anywhere from days to months.

 

[JessieB]

Thanks, do you happen to know the process he needs to follow if the application for rehabilitation is approved in time? Do he just need to reapply for an ETA or is the approved rehabilitation application sufficient documentation to allow access at the port of entry?
Thank you for quick response!!

 

[scylla]

Ah - I misunderstood and thought you already had an approved rehab application. If you just submitted the rehab application now, then I honestly think there's extremely little chance it will be approved in time. Rehab applications tend to take many months.

To answer your question - he needs an ETA if he's from a visa exempt country. Otherwise he needs a visitor visa.

 

[JessieB]

Do you think if he travelled to the high commission office in person it would make any difference? Thanks

 

[scylla]

Do you think if he travelled to the high commission office in person it would make any difference? Thanks

No - it won't. Typically there's no access to the public. And even when there is, this won't speed up processing.

 

[JessieB]

OK thanks, is there any way of contacting them from outside of Canada by phone? Or by email? It seems you can only contact them from within Canada or if your application has not been reviewed within the expected timescales but obviously this timescale is unknown. Thanks

 

[Jalex23]

OK thanks, is there any way of contacting them from outside of Canada by phone? Or by email? It seems you can only contact them from within Canada or if your application has not been reviewed within the expected timescales but obviously this timescale is unknown. Thanks

You can contact them from anywhere in the world:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/contacts/web-form.asp

Nonetheless, why would you want to contact them? Even if you get a hold of them, the people in the phone/email do not have access to applications and neither you have an argument to request any special treatment.

IMO you can only wait for the best.

Good luck.

 

[JessieB]

Hi,

Good news! my partner received approval for his criminal rehabilitation on Tuesday which we were definitely not expecting and had resigned ourselves to thinking we were no longer going. He immediately re-applied for his ETA again, as he still had to state he had a driving ban it came back requesting further information so my partner included a reference to the approval letter (unfortunately it doesn't allow you to upload the letter as an attachment) once this was sent he received notification to say the application would take longer than usual to review. Does anyone know how long this might be? It looks like it should be a case of reviewing the approved rehabilitation and granting the ETA however I am concerned this may take longer than the 3 weeks we have to go!

If he doesn't receive the ETA in time is this something that could now be sorted out at the port of entry or is there still a risk he will not be allowed in?

Thanks

 

[canuck_in_uk]

If he doesn't receive the ETA in time is this something that could now be sorted out at the port of entry or is there still a risk he will not be allowed in?

If he doesn't receive the eTA in time, he won't even be able to board the plane to travel to Canada.

 

[scylla]

If he doesn't receive the eTA in time, he won't even be able to board the plane to travel to Canada.

Agreed. The airline won't let him fly without an ETA. So if the ETA isn't approved before you departure date - you'll unfortunately have to change your plans.

 

[Pearl1957]

Hi JessieB I have had my holiday in Canada so have not been on this site for months. I had a notification today from you asking for help with similar issue. I live in New Zealand so the Canadian Immigration Office who processed my Criminal Rehabilitation was in Sydney, Australia. I see in your partners case Criminal Rehab has come through so do try the office that gave you that decision and ask if they can assist with the ETA.
When I was delayed two months with my application for an ETA (and had tickets booked) I contacted Sydney with my story (attached the emails with my ETA Case Specific Enquiry and the reply I had) and asked for help. This is what I got back -which made my heart so happy! Also the ETA came through almost immediately.


Thank you for your email. Our office will facilitate the eTA process for you. You should receive a result in the next 72 hours.

Sincerely,

Immigration Section / Section de l'immigration
sydney.immigration@international.gc.ca

 

[JessieB]

Hi all,

Thank you all very much for your help. We received the approved ETA this morning so we are all good to go with less than 3 weeks to spare! So relieved!!

Thanks again!