How long did it take you? USA to Canada

[CJD181]

Via outland application for spouses, how long did it take you to get your permanent residency after your sponsor met the requirements needed?

Processing times for sponsorship of spouses, common-law or conjugal partners and dependent children applications (on the cic website) shows 16 months if processed in Ottawa, and 35 months if processed in New York. I'm really hoping those numbers are off though... 3 years seems a little ridiculous. Even 16 months seems a bit excessive for a spouse. So just wanted to hear how long it took real people who recently got their PR who went from the USA to Canada.

 

[KelseyTVS]

American applications are processed through Ottawa, which says 16 months, but most people are averaging at 8-10 months. For the most up to date times, check some of the Outland threads and look at their spreadsheets. Some people who applied in March 2015 are done already.

 

[bethanycupcakes]

Applied in Sept. 2014, Just got COPR this week. Took about 9 months in total. KelseyTVS is right, it seems the process is actually more like 8-10 months. So keep your head up, it may happen sooner than you think! I initial thought it would be 2+ years and was so excited when I finally realized it would be half that!

 

[keesio]

It took my wife about 6 months to get COPR after sponsor approval. It does not take the average American 16 months. More like 8-10 months for a straightforward app. Also the 35 months listed for NY is misleading. US outland is processed in Ottawa and only transferred to NY/LA if there a problems with the application. A good solid application will never be transferred to out.

Also the 16 months for Ottawa is a bit misleading. That 16 months includes application with some issues (though not major ones that require transfer to NY/LA) and that skews the time higher.

Again, a good solid outland sponsorship for an American spouse/common-law is much sooner (8-10 months). Non-Americans applying from the US (people in the US on work/student visa) will be a bit slower. Note that Americans applying under conjugal is considered a "problem" application since conjugal rarely works for American applicants and those are almost always transferred out.

This is a good spreadsheet too:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18NpCwiqXpOUdH3hN-f4J2gJ7T_-B97WoK3vlQMNKjAM/edit#gid=0

 

[CJD181]

Thank you very much for your replies. I love this site and these forums.

This is a big relief. Seeing 16 or 35 months was just so discouraging

 

[Evadyrrehs]

The NY option for interviews is no more btw, so if an interview is required LA is the only place you'd be going now as a US/Canada Outland App.. Highly unlikely to be interviewed as a US/Canada couple unless serious red flags etc..

It took my US wife and I 8.5 months from the day our app arrived in their mail room to COPR arriving in our mailbox.. We had no issues with form requests or anything, so it was all just straight forward. Process times can fluctuate depending on a myriad of circumstances and issues.. It was thought by all when we applied back in Sept 2014 that it would be 4-6 months tops.. That time went up significantly with Sept applicants still waiting in limbo, and now approaching the 10th month mark with the Ottawa VO.. You should mentally prepare for 12 months and hope for the best.. They have jumped ahead and processed 2015 applicants already so you just can never really know for certain with CIC..