Im not sure I understand the Ottawa idea and the Visa Office..

[GeeO]

Today my husband received the approval to sponsor and they said my application has been sent out. However i am not sure where it has been sent to. Ottawa or Detroit(which i put as my visa office since its the one closest to me). On the letter it doesnt specify so I am not sure where it is going. Any ideas? This is what they said:

"This refers to the Application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class you submitted to this office on
behalf of [Name......] and family (if applicable).

You have met the requirements for eligibility as a sponsor. Accordingly, the Application for Permanent
Residence for your relative(s) has been forwarded to a visa office abroad for further processing.

Should you need to submit additional information or make any further enquiries regarding the
Application for Permanent Residence for your relative(s), you may contact the visa office by e-mail,
fax, or in writing as follows:

CPP Ottawa
Case Processing Pilot - Ottawa
NHQ - Centralized Processing Region
219 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa ON
K1A 1L1, Canada

E-mail:
OttPilot-immigration@cic.gc.ca
Fax number: (613) 946-6059

This visa office was selected based on your relative’s home address and the requirements of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act."

So where is it going? And if its really going to Ottawa, what was the point of the Detroit Office they had me put in my application?

 

[computergeek]

Today my husband received the approval to sponsor and they said my application has been sent out. However i am not sure where it has been sent to. Ottawa or Detroit(which i put as my visa office since its the one closest to me). On the letter it doesnt specify so I am not sure where it is going. Any ideas? This is what they said:

"This refers to the Application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class you submitted to this office on
behalf of [Name......] and family (if applicable).

You have met the requirements for eligibility as a sponsor. Accordingly, the Application for Permanent
Residence for your relative(s) has been forwarded to a visa office abroad for further processing.

Should you need to submit additional information or make any further enquiries regarding the
Application for Permanent Residence for your relative(s), you may contact the visa office by e-mail,
fax, or in writing as follows:

CPP Ottawa
Case Processing Pilot - Ottawa
NHQ - Centralized Processing Region
219 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa ON
K1A 1L1, Canada

E-mail:
OttPilot-immigration @ cic.gc.ca
Fax number: (613) 946-6059

This visa office was selected based on your relative's home address and the requirements of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act."

So where is it going? And if its really going to Ottawa, what was the point of the Detroit Office they had me put in my application?

CPP-O (Ottawa) processes all US and Canada outland applications. If an interview is required, it will be transferred to a US office. When you checked off "Detroit" it indicated that you would prefer an interview in Detroit if one is necessary. However, interviews for US applicants are rare. Thus in most cases CPP-O will finalize the application and then transfer it to Los Angeles and they will issue the Passport Request and Confirmation of Permanent Residency.

This complies with the law (which requires outland applications be processed at a visa office abroad) but benefits from centralized processing - and eliminates sending paper files abroad, since everything is scanned and stored electronically now.

 

[Andrei_T]

Today my husband received the approval to sponsor and they said my application has been sent out. However i am not sure where it has been sent to. Ottawa or Detroit(which i put as my visa office since its the one closest to me). On the letter it doesnt specify so I am not sure where it is going. Any ideas? This is what they said:

"This refers to the Application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class you submitted to this office on
behalf of [Name......] and family (if applicable).

You have met the requirements for eligibility as a sponsor. Accordingly, the Application for Permanent
Residence for your relative(s) has been forwarded to a visa office abroad for further processing.

Should you need to submit additional information or make any further enquiries regarding the
Application for Permanent Residence for your relative(s), you may contact the visa office by e-mail,
fax, or in writing as follows:

CPP Ottawa
Case Processing Pilot - Ottawa
NHQ - Centralized Processing Region
219 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa ON
K1A 1L1, Canada

E-mail:
OttPilot-immigration @ cic.gc.ca
Fax number: (613) 946-6059

This visa office was selected based on your relative's home address and the requirements of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act."

So where is it going? And if its really going to Ottawa, what was the point of the Detroit Office they had me put in my application?

Your application is processed by Case Processing Pilot - Ottawa.

 

[GeeO]

Thanks so much!
So in the case of finding the processing times on their website, they give options of "Person to be sponsored lives outside of Canada" and "Person to be sponsored lives inside of Canada". At first I clicked outside which asks for my visa office....now im wondering where I should be clicking on since obviously no Ottawa was there.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp

 

[computergeek]

Thanks so much!
So in the case of finding the processing times on their website, they give options of "Person to be sponsored lives outside of Canada" and "Person to be sponsored lives inside of Canada". At first I clicked outside which asks for my visa office....now im wondering where I should be clicking on since obviously no Ottawa was there.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp

The Ottawa office took over in June 2012, so there are no published times yet. It's a bit of a crap shoot at the moment, with some people getting PR fairly quickly (the fastest I've seen was five months from filing to visa issuance and that was through the Hong Kong visa office). I was quite fortunate as well - application signed for at CPC-M on 6 March, logged in on 12 March, and COPR issues on 10 October, which is the fastest time I've observed for CPP-O so far. But I had extenuating circumstances that encouraged CIC to show alacrity in processing my application.

The last Buffalo published time was 12 months to complete 80% of applications, and I suspect CPP-O will not beat that time for a while as they adjust to the new workload.

Good luck!

 

[OhCanadiana]

The Ottawa office took over in June 2012, so there are no published times yet. It's a bit of a crap shoot at the moment, with some people getting PR fairly quickly (the fastest I've seen was five months from filing to visa issuance and that was through the Hong Kong visa office). I was quite fortunate as well - application signed for at CPC-M on 6 March, logged in on 12 March, and COPR issues on 10 October, which is the fastest time I've observed for CPP-O so far. But I had extenuating circumstances that encouraged CIC to show alacrity in processing my application.

The last Buffalo published time was 12 months to complete 80% of applications, and I suspect CPP-O will not beat that time for a while as they adjust to the new workload.

Good luck!

The latest data released from data.gc.ca provides timing for those applications CPP-O was processing before the Buffalo transfer.

For the last 12 months, the fastest 20% of applications that were completed at CPP-O took 4 months to complete and 80% of applications took 12 months. Given the significant increase in workload once Buffalo applications were transferred and shift in application source, it's unlikely to be any better than that (after all, Buffalo processed over 3,000 spouses, partner & children applications annually and in fact almost 4,000 in some recent years.)

 

[computergeek]

The latest data released from data.gc.ca provides timing for those applications CPP-O was processing before the Buffalo transfer.

For the last 12 months, the fastest 20% of applications that were completed at CPP-O took 4 months to complete and 80% of applications took 12 months. Given the significant increase in workload once Buffalo applications were transferred and shift in application source, it's unlikely to be any better than that (after all, Buffalo processed over 3,000 spouses, partner & children applications annually and in fact almost 4,000 in some recent years.)

As I recall the number of applications from which they extracted this was very small as well (75? I have the data set somewhere here as well). But even the US visa offices (which each handled ~200 applications per year as I recall) showed processing times of 10-12 months for 80% of applications.

 

[OhCanadiana]

As I recall the number of applications from which they extracted this was very small as well (75? I have the data set somewhere here as well). But even the US visa offices (which each handled ~200 applications per year as I recall) showed processing times of 10-12 months for 80% of applications.

Looks like it was 221 family class cases in the last 12 months. Compared to Buffalo's 3-4k, that's a significant ramp up (what I meant by "significant increase in workload"). Plus, they used to dealing with low-risk successful-appeal cases (the rest got transferred back to the original VO) and IIRC transfers from other regions (where visa offices had shut down quickly due to geopolitical risks). There's also bound to be staffing changes, training, etc. so there's a big change they are dealing with beyond numbers directly related to step 2.

In addition, there's other factors also including the fact that CPP-O seems to be handling step 1 approvals too.

I haven't paid too much attention to the US satellite office figures because it's hard to tell where the timing cut-offs are (is it from approval or receipt at that office?) and variations in work-load management (e.g., Buffalo used to do background checks and there's been changes in distribution of other visa types).

Bottom line - I agree with you that:

It's a bit of a crap shoot at the moment...

 

[computergeek]

In addition, there's other factors also including the fact that CPP-O seems to be handling step 1 approvals too.

I'm wondering if this was a stop-gap measure when CPC-M started falling behind.

Have you noticed that CPC-V is now posting 6 months for stage 1? At this rate, by early next year the stage 1 time is going to be the same between inland and outland. THAT will have an impact on the workload at CPP-O as well.

As I've observed several times: "check back with us in 12-18 months and we'll have a better idea about processing times." That's useless to anyone in process now, but it's being honest. Now, back to reading the tea leaves.

 

[OhCanadiana]

I'm wondering if this was a stop-gap measure when CPC-M started falling behind.

I've wondered the same thing, especially since it would have helped train new personnel on what a variety of applications looked like so they were calibrated when they started assessing step 2. Any mistakes would have been caught at the visa offices so it would have been a low risk move (since CPC-M just makes recommendations during step 1). The coincidence for step 1 processing to drop so consistently lends itself to tea-leaf reading.

Have you noticed that CPC-V is now posting 6 months for stage 1? At this rate, by early next year the stage 1 time is going to be the same between inland and outland. THAT will have an impact on the workload at CPP-O as well.

Yes. Not surprising that they are building inland capabilities since the aim is to centralize processing. There used to be a competitive spirit between Buffalo and CPC-V (just read the Parliament hearing minutes) so this may be their opportunity to shine also.

As I've observed several times: "check back with us in 12-18 months and we'll have a better idea about processing times." That's useless to anyone in process now, but it's being honest. Now, back to reading the tea leaves.

Agree, as soon as they announced the Buffalo closure, all bets were off. I suspect the timing is going to keep evolving as they bring in more VOs into CPP-O and eventually 'CPC-O' (assuming it's deemed a successful pilot).

 

[computergeek]

Yes. Not surprising that they are building inland capabilities since the aim is to centralize processing. There used to be a competitive spirit between Buffalo and CPC-V (just read the Parliament hearing minutes) so this may be their opportunity to shine also.

The other interesting issue here is that GCMS is now in full operation; I suspect some of the time change for Inland is that they're entirely in GCMS now and off FOSS - the Minister actually commented about this last spring and maintaining two computer systems simultaneously makes things slower than it was with an older antiquated system, but once the new system is up and running things do speed up.

The stated goal really has been to get CPC-V stage 1 times to be comparable to CPC-M stage 1 times. For a LARGE number of US couples the conventional wisdom to file outland will reverse and they will file inland - most anyone can enjoy a couple of month break while CPC-V approves the sponsor and issues that open work permit.

Indeed, I'm now suggesting that couples that can go inland do so, at least versus coming to Canada and staying on visitor status. That's a complete reversal from the advice from March 2012.