How many in the midst of the appeal process?

[boyee6576]

If your case is denied they will give you the reasons why outlined in the rejection letter. You and your spouse will both get one. Once you get that letter you have a form to fill out to appeal the decision and you have 30 days to do it. Once you send in the letter you will get an acknowledgment letter saying that they have received your letter to appeal. Then its waiting. CBSA has 120 days to send the record of appeal to the Appeals Board. You will also get a copy of your entire file, the application etc, that you sent in to them along with the notes from the interview that the IO took while interviewing your spouse. Then you wait yet again, to hear from the Appeals board to find out if you are going to be heard at a hearing or an alternative dispute resolution (ADR). They will send you information on what the steps are and what you need to do to prepare for either case. If you have the ADR then you will be a bit faster to get an appointment. Its like mediation really. They look over your case and decised if it can be resolved but ADR and if they feel it can they will give you an appointment. In either case, you need to submit any NEW evidence to prove your case and prove why your spouse should be allowed to come to Canada. The reasons for rejection are addressed and you need to be well prepared for it. You can have a lawyer if you wish but its an informal meeting. They only take an hour and give you the decision at the meeting. if they feel your case can not be descided by ADR it will go to hearing before a judge. That is about 3 hours and it can take up to 90 days for them to descide. To get a date for a hearing takes longer. That one you really need a lawyer for. Once they agree the that your appeal should be allowed, a letter of agreement is drawn up and you have to sign it, then it goes before a tribunal at the appeals board, another document is made and signed and it has a seal on it , you will get a certified true copy. Then your file gets sent back to the visa office for them to continue the process. And its more waiting. My case was won on Mar16, as of June 10th they have started to process our file and a kit has been sent to us to get medicals redon and pcc and other forms. Its a long process and I was told now that our file is open in delhi, it will take another 6 months. So you really need to settle with the fact its long wait and alot of it.

 

[unstopable1]

Thanks boyee for your info. I can only imagine what the pressure is like to wait so long time to be united. When I think about this long process my stomach hurts. But we have to do what we have to do in order for love to win the war. My huband made an appointed to see a lawyer on Monday. So then we will know the options judging from the refusal letter.

I do hope that your end is near.

Take care all

Unstopable1

 

[mirkopal]

Hi guys
I really dont know how to start this...I feel so sad and confused
guys I need an advice
I have sent an email to Rome visa office and Mississauga on Friday, saying that my partner s address has changed, from Quebec (where we sent the application in december) to toronto (on june 1st).He s going to work in toronto for 1 year. in the email we emphasized that we want to come back to Quebec after that.

as you know there are some immigration documents (2) that are different from quebec to the rest of canada
quebec does not have the imm 5481 and imm5409 but
Quebec HAS three other ones and also additional fees (250 dollars) to pay.

both you people and the ones from the immigration phone number suggested me that considering that my application has been sent in december and we are almost at the end of the processing time (rome takes 5 months on average, and we are on the 3rd) they may not ask me nothing.

well today we received a weird email from Rome

Dear Mr. Cravero,
This is to inform you that your application has now been assessed and concluded.
Please arrange for the pick-up of your documents by a courier within the next 7 working days.
You must instruct the courier company that the envelope addressed to you is available at the Reception of the Visa Section of the Canadian Embassy and must be collected from Monday to Thursday (our office is closed to public on Fridays) between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm. You should also inform them that the envelope will not be released without your name and surname.
Canadian Embassy
Reception - Second Floor
Via Zara, 30
00198 Rome


what does it mean? they will give me my documents back with no info? and what about this letter? i am freaking out. I don t know what it means but I am really freaking out. I am wondering to see if they need the extra documents for my change of address, or maybe they refuse my application. if it is like that, I would like to know which are the reasons and why they do decided like that. don t they have to call u for an interview before? or stop you before? i mean our file has been opened so long time ago....

a friend of mine who is a lawyer told us to be quiet and think positive. that they put a delay date to pick up the documents is a positive sign.
and also, the fact that they give the documents back is a good sign?
when you have been refused do they call you to go and pick up ur documents back plus a letter? without telling you what it was?

in the e cas is still written that the application is in process......

 

[boyee6576]

To Unstoppable1: My stomach was the same way. I cried for days thinking about how much longer it was going to take. Our relationship was not considered real by the visa officer. After I sent in my letter that I wanted to appeal the decision, I went back to India got all kinds of pictures more info for our case to prove we were a real couple. THe visa officer my husband had was very very rude. I managed to to the case myself without legal help, but getting legal advice is good to see where you stand, but the final decision is yours. I was told by a lawyer I didnt have a prayer, but I thought this is my life and no one can speak for me like me and thats what I did and I won. Now that was my situation, everyone is different. You will get through it, you just have to let yourself get over the shock of the rejection. Just take this time to gather, gather, gather all the information you can to prove your relationship and get new stuff. You can do it dear. hugs

To Mirkopal: I am sorry I dont know anything concerning Quebec and your kind of case. I can only hope that its good news. I know how you much be feeling and it can be hard to stay positive. Hopefully somewhere on this forum you will come across someone who is or has experienced the same thing. Good luck to you though, I hope all is in your favour.

 

[mirkopal]

boyee
how did u get the news to be refused?
did u receive a similar email? let me know...
i mean I know that before getting refused they should ask you at least for additional documents or maybe an interview...not like that...

 

[boyee6576]

Well in our case my husband is in India so we were dealing with New Delhi. We were given a letter saying that he had and interview and to send in additional documents. He didnt get an email. Once we got the letter then ecas changed to show that he had interview and the date. When he went to the interview he took pictures and marriage licence with him things like that. We pretty much knew at the interview that we were refused by the way the interview went, so the letter although a huge disappointment not a surprise. We got the letter of refusal I think 2 weeks later. Thats what happened to us. We didnt get any emails at all. Just the letter.
I really can only answer from what I have experienced but if I were to guess if picking up your documents is a normal thing at the visa office you are dealing with then it could be a good sign that they didnt ask for anything additional or interview. Sounds like it might be good news. But please remember I am only guessing.

 

[mirkopal]

what I am thinking is that in the letter in rome there will be probably written to attend an interview or to send additional documents. But what I am scared of is to open this letter in rome and discover ' you have been refused' without any opportunity to show more proofs or interview....

usually in rome they said:
we are pleased to announce that the application has been finalized and the visa has been issued.

while we received
this is to inform you that the application has been assessed and concluded.

I mean if there is something wrong, they can AT LEAST tell me to send additional proofs or maybe interview...not refusing right the way, right?

 

[boyee6576]

I would think if there was something wrong they would ask you for interview to clarify thing. In my case for example they had doubts our marriage was genuine, so the interview was set up to clarify things to the VO so she could make her decision. So that is why they asked for an interview and a few other documents. From everything I have read IF they doubt your relationship is real for example, they usually request an interview. I know its hard not to panic and think the worse, but just hang in there you will know soon.. hugs

 

[mirkopal]

thanks a lot....well let s hope for an interview...really

 

[boyee6576]

You know there is not a person on this board that has not had to wait and worry. Wondering and thinking things to the point of mental exhaustion. We all know what its like waiting for that letter. I know how you feel

 

[confused and lonely]

What do you mean?

 

[boyee6576]

just means that we are always waiting for response on ecas to give us some clue as to what is going on or we are waiting for a letter to say we have been approved or need they need extra documents. etc. Its always waiting lol. thats what I mean. We send in our applications and then we worry that what if we didnt send enough info or maybe we forgot something thats important and we wait for CIC within canada to approve us as sponsors. By the time this entire process is over with, if you have even 1/16 of your brain power left you are doing great.

 

[unstopable1]

date for appeal?

Hi Boyee

For the first time after the refusal I came back to the site. I was so hurt and angry with everything especially cic. Thinking how can they be so cruel. My spouse came to spend some time with me and just left a few days ago, which now I am feeling more lonely and stressed. We are going throught the appeal via a good standing law firm. I submitted additional doc's as requested, the only problem I am having to obtain is the call history from my phone company, they are telling me that they have archived all records. I had to go as far as having a court order, a Justice of the peace, police, pay a fine etc just to obtain any records that they have on my call history. Its real stress.

The lawyer said they are preparing for a court date, but not sure when yet. the appeal was filed in early July. How long does it usually take to get an appeal hearing. I hope and pray the ADR goes through.

God help us all!!

 

[eh??]

Hi unstopable,

I sent in my appeal forms in mid July but I haven't recieved a confirmation letter from them and it has been 2 months. Is this too long? When did you recieve confirmation that they have recieved your request?

 

[boyee6576]

Well I first want to say, I know what your going through.

This is a long process. I sent in my request to appeal in May of 2009 and didnt get a response from them until July 2009, so it was over 2 months. from the time they have your notice to appeal, Immigration has 120 days to send the appeals board a copy of your file. You will also receive a copy of your file. In January of 2010 we got a date for our appeal on March 16 2010 and we got ADR not full hearing. Then our file was then sent back to delhi in April then again started reprocessing our file on June 11 2010. So as you can see, its not a fast process. But I will say this, you will need the time to prepare. In my case they didnt believe our relationship was genuine, so we had to take the refusal points and prove them wrong. So I made a trip back to India as my brother inlaw was getting married. So we took oodle of pictures and collected things and letters to show that we were actually a couple, and it helped us to win our case.

I think if you have not heard anything by the end of this month I would call the appeals board and ask them what is going on. I think also it depends on what province you are in. For me my appeals board was in Montreal. Once you get your letter you will have a contact person on there if you have questions. The lady I had was wonderful and no matter what I asked she was very kind to give me answers or find the answer and then call me back. I think its normal for it to take about 2 months or more to get your notice. But there is no harm in calling them to see what is going on.