• Visa Office
There has been an obsession of finding which visa office the application is at. Many threads on this forum start with explaining how to find your visa office. Let's get to the crux of it. Finding the visa office was very relevant pre- express entry. Even after the introduction of express entry in 2015, the same practice was followed which usually was for the paper based application, but that is no longer the case. Earlier all application followed the following trajectory:
Central Intake Office - Case Processing Centre - Local Visa Office
However, this has radically changed and for all express entry, all application follow the following:
1.
Central Intake Office - The R10 (completeness check) is done at the Central Intake Office for all classes (FSW / PNP / CEC). Now even the criminality and medicals are done at CIO.
2.
Case Processing Centre - These are 4 CPCs in Canada
CPC in Edmonton
CPC in Mississauga
CPC and CIO in Sydney
CPC in Ottawa
OSC in Ottawa
The Operations Support Centre (OSC) processes the following applications:
International Experience Canada work permits
In-Canada temporary resident applications submitted online
Verification of Status (VOS)
Replacement of valid temporary resident documents
Amendment of immigration documents and of valid temporary resident documents
Local Visa Office - This is the office where you will be asked to submit your passport after your application has been approved. Usually the consulate in your home country.
These days all application after starting at CIO (where R10 is met), either start the processing of eligibility at CIO itself, or move to CPC (wither Ottawa, Sydney, or Vegreville), or are straight sent to the LVO. The trend has been to complete most of the processing between CIO and CPC. Since the applications are electronically stored, there is no movement of physical files.
SUGGESTION - There is no point sending emails to ask which VO your application is at, as that process is moot since the eligibility can even start at CIO. So save yourself some time and efforts and also save the human resources of IRCC and stop sending emails. Even if you know which VO your application is at, it means nothing. Most applications which are processed within weeks and get PPR, are processed at CIO, and this is a much faster way.
A few applications will see eligibility passed, and then go to not started when the application is sent to the LVO. This is because the final review is done at the LVO, and the local agent may decide to conduct additional review, or identification before the eligibility is finally set to PASSED.
• ECAS (Electronic Client Application Status) -
This was the most important tool pre EE to track an application and provided much more in-depth status than what MyCIC does. However, after the IRCC moved to the Global Case Management System (AKA GCMS) applications are no longer linked to
ECAS.
So there is no point going there and checking.
• Letter of Explanation -
As the name suggests, the LoE is exact what it sounds like. It is not an idea for the documents and you do not have to explain each document you are submitting in your application.
The simple rules to follow for LoE -
- Should be 1-2 pages in length. If you cannot explain it in 1-2 pages, it is probably not worth it.
- Only use LoE to explain an issue. Eg. you could not obtain a reference letter on letterhead, could not meet PoF 6 months avg balance, seeking exemption or extension from PCC, or to explain something in your application which is not clear.
- IRCC Agents do read LoE, but if its too long and not to the point, it loses its importance.
- You DO NOT need an index for your documents. There are placeholders for the documents just put each document there and when it is stored on the IRCC system it is names and stored in an organized way.
All the best!!
Stay Safe and do your bit to fight the spread of COVID-19.
