INLANDERS!

[robrod]

It's totally understandable you feel this way and your reactions are more than human, Black-Berry.
I think everybody in the forum who has read or will read (newbies) your postings, will have a very good idea of what can be expected out of this whole experience. I came into the forum late in the game, when I was already on Decision Made mode and it was just matter of finding applicants in the same situation than me or who have gratefully posted their experiences in this forum for me to learn what was next. And I did find them and gave me an idea of how long and what to expect out of my local office.
So, it's ok to keep posting. If someone doesn't like your postings or think they are sad or whatever, they are missing the point and they can always click on "Next posting" or go to a different thread...
I am rooting for you. Sounds like because of the tiny size Nanaimo is, the challenge is bigger. But you have a very good proof of a genuine marriage under anyone's eyes and you have been given the opportunity to show it rather than being refused flat-out...
By the way, I've been to Nanaimo and Tofino and both are gorgeous settings and the ideal places to raise a family.
Keep the good spirits up!!!!!!!!!.
Hugs your way,
Rob.

 

[MexicaTica]

Black-berry: I feel like the people on this thread are like a little immigration family and like a family we care about eachother when things are good or bad so please don't feel like you should stop posting. I care and want to help and be there for you and know how things are going. Hugs to you!

 

[mimi23]

Black-berry: I feel like the people on this thread are like a little immigration family and like a family we care about eachother when things are good or bad so please don't feel like you should stop posting. I care and want to help and be there for you and know how things are going. Hugs to you!

yes without people in this forum i swear to you guys i was loosing myself but you all make me strong ,when things get tough on us we have to be more strong thus how how we can survive its not the end yet black-berry don't feel bad plz
MexicaTica how did you fill out the forms for open work permit never use them please if you dnt mind help me

 

[kiwikris]

Hello Inlanders!


I wish I knew about this forum last year!
Arrived in Canada 09 July 2009
NZWHP 11 Sep 09
Medical Sep 09
Application sent 13 Jan 10
Application received 18 Jan 10
Confirmed sponship approved 19 Oct 10

Was going to apply for work permit inside Canada and we spoke to the call centre, they advised for me to get a work permit from my home country(New Zealand) as then I could at least work while I was waiting...so glad we found that one out. Never mentioned apply from outside Canada though.... I was going insane not being able to do anything. My permit also restricts me from working with children, the elderly and in health services.

Application received inland 18 Jan 2010.(Did not know we could apply outland...if we would have, the interview would have been in Australia and tickets back there are not cheap..$2000 at least return per person) Included medical and police checks. Agonized over the details and if there was enough information to the point my common law husband would get upset about us having to prove our relationship to someone sitting in an office and who we were never going to meet!

Called the call centre on 19th Oct 2010 and they advised they could not do anything until the following week as processing date was only one day late. Called them back on Thursday 21 Oct 2010 and they advised sponsorship has been accepted (YAY!!!) and I if I don't receive the letter(which was posted on 19th Oct) by 10 Nov I can call back and they will send another one. They also extended my medical which I had done in Sep 09. Also that OWP has been issued...I'm guessing this lasts a year?? Not sure if I have to do a border run again as well, I do know I have to apply for another SIN and OHIP card. But will be glad to be able to do it!
So looking forward to getting the letter and seeing if there is anything more I need to do, I think the police check for Canada? I have not checked anything on E-cas but I will this evening.


I also heard why they stopped processing anything for about a month if not longer..... By Canadain law the boat load of refugees that arrived HAVE to have a hearing within 48 hours or else they would be granted automatic access into Canada.

Good luck everyone and I wish you all the best!

Kris

 

[robrod]

Welcome to the forum and to the Inlanders thread, Kris!.
Congratulations also on your AIP!. I'm sure your letter will arrive this week along with your OWP... That is a big step in the right direction.

 

[MexicaTica]

yes without people in this forum i swear to you guys i was loosing myself but you all make me strong ,when things get tough on us we have to be more strong thus how how we can survive its not the end yet black-berry don't feel bad plz
MexicaTica how did you fill out the forms for open work permit never use them please if you dnt mind help me

Hi Mimi

1. Fill out this form:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM1249E.PDF
(Check option "C")

2. Write "OPEN WORK PERMIT" at the top of the page
3. Make sure you send it in with everything requested on the Document Checklist under "All Applicants" and "Work Permit"
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5556E.PDF
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5556E.PDF

Hope this helps you.

 

[Black-Berry]

hey all,
Thanks for the support,..After almost 24 hrs i cant stay away!..
Mexicatica you are right. I feel more comfort and at least i cant talk all day about immigration issues on here.
Well i have been reflecting and gathering as much information as i could from my end.
If you dont mind me posting here, Here is a list of all the stuf i have this far.
Mark you i have had all this stuff all along!.If i probably sent it earlier maybe this couldnt have happened.

I have
1. Lots of photos.. ( of our very small wedding plus we have called all our friends that were present to forward to us any photos of our wedding or us that they have!. In total i have accumulate about 100 photogs.

2. All three kids Canadian citizenship cards.. (when i filled my application, They didnt have canadian citizenship yet. We had to apply for prrof of canadian citizenshipcards and they got them a few weeks later). In the forms they had asked us to explain the status of our kids and we just wrote they are canadian Hehehe and we were in the process of applying for their Canadian citizenship cards

3. The kids birth certificates

4. Photos of me in the hospital with dh when i was having both kids (HEY!. They want it all!. I will give them all!)

5. Bills bills and more bills. Bills of the telephone both here and Bermuda, Bills of Hydro, Cell phone bills.

6. Bank account statements. In both our names. for both here and bermuda. ( we have both accumulated A LOT of money over the years plus dh and i inherited some money)

7. CCopies of dhs will listing me as his sole beneficiary

8. Copies of my will listing dh as sole beneficiary

9. Six credit card statemenmts both in canada and bermuda with dh and i!.

10. Anniversary cards and birthday cards (Dh is a hopeless romantic and he loves that kind of stuff!. he also writes me long letters in the cards which signify his love for me)

This one in particular is very relevant in my case i think ..

11. A Long telephone bill for 10 grand that dh racked up when we first "met" . he used to call me everyday for 3 hours a day and over three years he accumulated a 10 thousand dollar phone bill. I was in kenya and he was in Bermuda. I treasure that bill because it shows where we came from!.

12.Car ownership. We own two cars in both our names. so thats got to go too.

13 We have a 35 year mortgage in both names!!. Account is in both our names and it cant be reversed!.

14. Home ownership forms. A ten page home ownership document drafted by our lawyer stating we are the owners of a five acre piece of property with a beutiful home standing on it which dh and have built from the ground up!.

15. Some moe photos.

16. Old emails that dh used to send me to declare his love for me!. Dh doesnt know i have them because i plan on surpriseing him for his 50th birthday party this year.

ETA..
17. Receipt for my wedding/engagement rings
18. photos of our house, our property and us on the property.

Am also thinking of asking his parents (who hated me at the beginning0 to write letters on how they think of our marriage. they are brutally honest and they know that we love each other.

and we will ask my best maid and his best man to write testimonies

This list is not exhaustive. Should i send more stuff?. I can think of other things but to me this list pretty much has some concrete stuff in it. If you were an IO and you saw this list would you think we were genuine?

The funny thing is.. I did not send any of these things when i was applying. i kind of blame myself!!. When i read JD whityes story i felt i should have sent me and something at the back of my head kept urging me to. But i didnt.

When i am done compiling my list, I will let you know exactly what i will send.

Also people are advising me Not to send anything??..well not yet??. i am pretty sure they transferrd my file is because i didnt provide enough information.

I want to send this stuff or rather drop it to the Nanaimo office on thursday..Do you think it is too soon?.

 

[robrod]

Welcome back, Black-Berry!.

I was about to send you a private message with my email address so that we could stay in touch, but now I am delighted to see you back and more focused. Perhaps I should give it to you soon as I think I'm going to move along and don't return to the forum shorty in the days after I land... I do wonder if friendship is possible in this forum as everybody appears to be secretive and keeping a safe distance. I once read of a thread about a gathering of applicants who all met here in the forum and I wonder if they indeed got together and met each other here in Toronto. I thought it was real cool.

I think you should go to the Nanaimo office and ask them about dropping off this awesome additional proof that you have gathered and it's great you've done so now before they make a decision in your case. It should have been included before, but the "should have" doesn't exist and this is what does exist right now. So, ask them and they will tell you if it's the proper time to submit this new batch right there in person or what.

Best of luck,
Rob.

 

[kiwikris]

Thanks Robrod, it is nice to have some positive people around and to know we are not alone.

Black-berry- the amount of information you have should knock em over and they will have no reason to say no!

I checked online last night and it said
they started processing on 23rd March 2010
medical accepted
and that a decision has been made (what does this mean??? Is this just for the sponsorship part? do I still have to do a police check for in Canada?)
Does anyone know how long the Ottawa office takes to process applications?

Thank you in advance

Kris

 

[robrod]

You are most welcome, Kris!.
The "A decision has been made and you will be contacted." doesn't really tell much but hopefully it's good news. In addition, you were also told over the phone that "you have AIP" and your letter should arrive this week. It's in fact 2 letters in 2 different envelopes hopefully arriving on the same day. Nice brown bigger than regular size envelopes. One is for the sponsor, the other for the applicant. Are you the applicant?. The Ottawa office sounds like it can be a busy one since it's a big city. But might not be as busy as mine here in the Toronto metro area.

Here's my timeline to give you an idea of what can be seen on e-cas with the passing of time:

We received your application for permanent residence on October 5, 2009.

We started processing your application on November 17, 2009.

Medical results have been received.

A decision has been made and you will be contacted.

We sent you a letter on May 3, 2010 to XXXXXXXXXXX, Scarborough, Ontario about the decision on your application. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us. If we have sent the letter to the wrong address, please contact us.

We received the requested information on May 26, 2010. Thank you for providing the information.

A decision has been made and you will be contacted.

A decision has been made and you will be contacted.

 

[Janadian]

Hey there Black-berry..hang in there..Im glad you chose not to leave us here. Mexicatica had it right, we are like a family..good or bad..we are here for you. I don't doubt at all that you and your family will overcome this process.
Its just a matter of time. We are all here for you!

 

[kiwikris]

Hi Robrod,

Yes I am the applicant my other half is Canadian and I'm a Kiwi Hopefully the letters fit in our wee mail box lol

I am hoping it will be good news, when I called the call centre last week he said I had been "accepted", just have to wait and see if I need to do any more police checks- I had to get them from three countries. Or anything else of course.


I have had a look at other posts and have not seen anyone mention Ottawa. I know you can go in to ask questions Mon-Fri 9-12 only and then the afternoons are for interviews etc

Thank you for adding your time line I notice that on ecas for me there is no "We sent you a letter on xxx etc**

Will have to wait and see...I have definitely been learning how to be patient

 

[robrod]

You sure are a long way from home, Kris!.
My wife went to Australia for a month couple of years ago and she loved it!. Unfortunately she didn't have the time to go visit your homeland (New Zealand) but it's a country we'd sure love to visit one day...

The line that reads "We sent you a letter on May 3..." was in fact the AIP letters and that line was posted on my e-cas about 3 weeks after I received the letters in the mail. If they are going to request additional documents from you, they will be listed in that letter (in the AIP applicant's one). For me, one of the additional documents requested was fingerprints so that they could request in turn one police certificate on my behalf from my home country (Mexico)...

 

[Jean26]

Hi Everyone!
This forum is Awesome! I've been reading it for a few weeks, and is so nice to read stories about married couples that are in the same situation as me. I'm from Dominican Republic and have a visa extension for 1year which expires in april. I need your help, I'm confused about the work permit. Would someone help me please?
I submited my Inland Application in April and it was received April16th, but I didn't send a work permit application cause I tought that once you have a Permanent Residence status as a Spouse, you would have the rights to work...? Isn't this right? Why would a person approved to be a resident have to also have a work permit? dosen't this give you the right to work and have access to health insurance in Canada?
Please let me know if I'm wrong so I can start working on submitting my work permit as soon as possible, cause I'm desperate to start working and earning some money. :/
Also, once I receive my approval does that allow me to travel outside the country right away or is there more wait? Thanks!!!!!!!! and Hugs to everyone!

 

[MexicaTica]

Hi Everyone!
This forum is Awesome! I've been reading it for a few weeks, and is so nice to read stories about married couples that are in the same situation as me. I'm from Dominican Republic and have a visa extension for 1year which expires in april. I need your help, I'm confused about the work permit. Would someone help me please?
I submited my Inland Application in April and it was received April16th, but I didn't send a work permit application cause I tought that once you have a Permanent Residence status as a Spouse, you would have the rights to work...? Isn't this right? Why would a person approved to be a resident have to also have a work permit? dosen't this give you the right to work and have access to health insurance in Canada?
Please let me know if I'm wrong so I can start working on submitting my work permit as soon as possible, cause I'm desperate to start working and earning some money. :/
Also, once I receive my approval does that allow me to travel outside the country right away or is there more wait? Thanks!!!!!!!! and Hugs to everyone!

Hi Jean,

Welcome to the inlanders thread!

You are correct, permenent residents are entitled to work and have health care however what people are refering to is the Open Work Permit which if approved (this happens after you receive approval in principal) will allow you to work while you wait for the final decision to made made regarding your file. That is, it will allow you to work in the time before you receive PR but after AIP. Does that make sense?

As for travelling, you may travel after a final decision has been made not before. This means that you may leave once you receive PR. This is especially true if you are from a country that is not visa exempt such as the Dominican Republic.

Hope this helps.