How long does it take to get approval to apply for a CSQ?

[umbrellaporcupine]

Hi,

I am the principal applicant on my spousal sponsorship application (common-law class) and my Quebecois partner is the sponsor. I received an invitation to link my paper application to an online account on 16th August. Through that, I received a letter telling me to submit police certificates and a schedule A (both done.) That letter also said:

Provincial Requirements for Residents of Québec - As a resident of the province of Québec, a
letter will be sent to your sponsor instructing them to submit an undertaking application to the
Provincial Government. A Certificat de sélection du Québec from the Ministère de
l'immigration, de la diversité et de l'inclusion (MIDI) must issued to IRCC by MIDI in your
name. For more information please consult the website at www.immigrationquebec.
gouv.qc.ca/en/index.html. Processing times for this document are not less than 25
days, therefore you should apply as soon as possible, the document must be received at this
office by: 2017/10/15
​

Partner has received no correspondence, by mail or by email. The only thing he received was an email on 16th August saying only:

This confirms that your application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class has been received by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) on 2017/07/12 on behalf of the following member(s):
[MY NAME]​

That doesn't seem like what they're talking about in the first letter, but we've received nothing else. Does anybody know how long it is supposed to take to get the letter instructing you to submit the undertaking application? If I have to receive and submit a CSQ by 15th October, I need to be able to apply as soon as possible. I originally submitted the application in April but had it returned in July because I had not put down my partner as my family member on the family background form. My visa expires on the 23rd October, so I'm really starting to panic.

All help appreciated!

 

[bafonso]

Do you know where your application is going to be processed? Quebec needs to know that before you file documents with them. That's what it says on the forms. I know because I'm filing them now...

 

[umbrellaporcupine]

Do you know where your application is going to be processed? Quebec needs to know that before you file documents with them. That's what it says on the forms. I know because I'm filing them now...

I'm not sure - they were sent off to Mississauga and the sole correspondence we've had has been from Mississauga. Have you received something inviting you to apply? Which form did you see that on, out of interest?

Thanks!

 

[bafonso]

Yes, we got mail from CPC-M stating that we should apply to QC. On this mail it says that the app will be processed at CPC-M. See chapter 6 in the guide: "Once you receive the letter from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) stating that your sponsorship application is admissible, you can submit your undertaking application to the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Diversité et de l’Inclusion (MIDI). "

On the website, you can also see: "IMPORTANT REMINDER
You must receive confirmation from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada that your sponsorship application has been approved before submitting your undertaking application to the Ministère. We do not process sponsorship applications that are submitted without proof of this confirmation."

And then on the form A-1520-BA you can see that the requirements are:

Recent letter or e-mail from Citizenship and Immigration Canada containing:

– confirmation that you satisfied the eligibility conditions to sponsor

a person, or inviting you to submit an undertaking application

to the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Diversité et de l’Inclusion;

– your name and the name of the principal sponsored person;

– the name of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada office that will

process the sponsored person(s)’ permanent resident application

 

[umbrellaporcupine]

Yes, we got mail from CPC-M stating that we should apply to QC. On this mail it says that the app will be processed at CPC-M. See chapter 6 in the guide: "Once you receive the letter from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) stating that your sponsorship application is admissible, you can submit your undertaking application to the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Diversité et de l’Inclusion (MIDI). "

Okay, thanks. So the first letter I quoted above, that's not the same as the letter you received? I don't know whether to interpret what I got as being told to apply or not. My partner has not received anything themselves except for the acknowledgement of receipt.

Another issue I'm having is that it doesn't seem to be possible to submit documents individually in my online account, only together. So I can't seem submit my police certificate and Schedule A without either submitting my CSQ or submitting it with the CSQ missing. I feel as if we won't get approved until I submit those documents, but I don't see how I can submit those documents before I get approved and can get my CSQ. I have submitted a question about this to IRCC though and will be calling up later in the week.

 

[bafonso]

I don't know what to say. I find it amazing you already got a request for the CSQ without them telling you where your case will be processed and without having gone through your Sched A. The sponsor got this letter I mentioned before and telling me to apply to CSQ. The letter also tells me to enclose this same letter on my Quebec undertaking. I (the sponsored person) never got any notification regarding this, only a text asking me to do my medical. That said, I have not yet been requested by PCC but I did send my Sched A months ago.

Are you doing a normal family sponsorship? Those dates seem extremely fast.

 

[bafonso]

But one of the options in the form is

1. Recent letter or email from the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Diversité et de l’Inclusion inviting you to submit your undertaking application

So maybe it's ok..

 

[umbrellaporcupine]

I don't know what to say. I find it amazing you already got a request for the CSQ without them telling you where your case will be processed and without having gone through your Sched A. The sponsor got this letter I mentioned before and telling me to apply to CSQ. The letter also tells me to enclose this same letter on my Quebec undertaking. I (the sponsored person) never got any notification regarding this, only a text asking me to do my medical. That said, I have not yet been requested by PCC but I did send my Sched A months ago.

Are you doing a normal family sponsorship? Those dates seem extremely fast.

We're doing spousal sponsorship common-law class from inside Quebec. That first email where it mentions the CSQ said that they needed the police certificate/Schedule A to 'continue processing' my application. It's from the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga with a letterhead from the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (not MIDI). I don't think it is a request letter for a CSQ - I just don't know what that letter would look like.

I just don't know why they would set me a deadline, tell me to apply fast, but then not send out the letter allowing me to apply in the first place. I just checked the status of me and my sponsor's applications on the online tool/my account and there doesn't appear to be any correspondence that I've missed. I haven't been asked to do a medical at this point.

It's all pretty frustrating. Thanks for trying to help regardless. I hope I'll be able to get through to somebody tomorrow morning.

 

[WorkerInCanada123]

I will be applying for the spousal sponsorship common-law class from inside Quebec in the next couple of weeks. I'd be interested to know what they say when you call tomorrow! This all seems very overwhelming! Good luck

 

[MiaMartin333]

The CSQ checkbox on the Schedule A form should be left blank as you cannot have applied for it before being approved as a sponsor. What they want is the letter that you will receive confirming that you have been approved as a sponsor and that your application has been transferred over to the visa processing office (you will receive this after the meds are done, and after schedule A + police certificates are submitted). You can then send out all the Quebec forms for the CSQ. In my case, I received it very quickly, it took 3 weeks for it to be mailed to my house (from the date I sent out the Quebec forms). Good luck!

 

[umbrellaporcupine]

The CSQ checkbox on the Schedule A form should be left blank as you cannot have applied for it before being approved as a sponsor. What they want is the letter that you will receive confirming that you have been approved as a sponsor and that your application has been transferred over to the visa processing office (you will receive this after the meds are done, and after schedule A + police certificates are submitted). You can then send out all the Quebec forms for the CSQ. In my case, I received it very quickly, it took 3 weeks for it to be mailed to my house (from the date I sent out the Quebec forms). Good luck!

Thank you! My issue is that I don't seem to be able to actually submit the Schedule A and police certificates on my online account without also submitting the CSQ at the same time OR submitting incomplete documents (due to the lack of the CSQ). Tried to post a picture here to illustrate the issue. I'm in a queue to speak to an agent right now at least!

 

[umbrellaporcupine]

An update on this situation, if anyone is interested:

- I called IRCC and explained the issue. IRCC told me that the sponsor had to call the MIDI and get the MIDI to confirm that they have either sent out a letter inviting to submit an undertaking or that they haven't received the application. IRCC told me to call them back if MIDI had not received anything.
- Sponsor called MIDI. MIDI said that they don't send out anything and that we need to call IRCC.
- Eventually got through to IRCC, was told to submit a letter of explanation in place of a CSQ.

Confusingly, it doesn't seem like we CAN be approved in principle until the Schedule A and police certificates have been received by IRCC, making it strange that it was not possible to submit them separately/that they were requested all in the same letter.

Even more confusingly, I was told by both of the separate IRCC agents I called today that I will get implied status after my IEC work visa expires because I submitted an OWP with my spousal sponsorship. However, everything I have read seems to say this isn't the case. I'm kinda nervous about relying on the word of an IRCC agent.

 

[bafonso]

You don't necessarily need PCC or meds to get invited to apply to csq. I was asked to apply to QC before I did my medical or sent the PCC. We did outland but on the form we said we wanted to go Quebec. The inland process from within QC is very different than outland I feel.

 

[samijade14]

does anyone know if the CSQ takes longer than the 30 days to arrive, do we need to submit and enquiry?

 

[Flutterbee]

does anyone know if the CSQ takes longer than the 30 days to arrive, do we need to submit and enquiry?

It took about 6 weeks for us. We paid by credit card so we could see when they actually charged the card for the fees...which was a few weeks before we received the approval.
I would not worry. You should be getting this soon. We applied as a family sponsorship conjugal class. My fiancé is in Quebec. I am in the states.
If you don’t get your letter soon, feel free to call them. They are usually very helpful but might only be able to confirm that they received the request. They do say at least 25 business days, so ours was just a bit longer than that.
Well wishes.