How can they be synonymous when Client ID is xxxx-xxxx and Kit ID is a xxxxxxxxxxxx (8 digits vs. 12 digits)? Granted, I don't know anything about Islamabad (other than it takes a loooooong ass time to go through there), Case Processing Centre-Mississauga deals with everybody at the first stage so they should be sending out fairly consistent sponsorship approvals.
Right, the Client ID on the sponsorship approval belongs to the sponsor, and since logging into e-cas with the sponsor's info gives both stages of the processing versus just the PR part if you log in with the applicant's Client ID, this is sufficient for people.
I assumed the reason CPCM started including the file numbers in sponsorship approvals was to put less strain on the embassies receiving emails for the file numbers, so people could start ordering GCMS notes, etc. I know that London does not send out AORs on its own, but that makes sense because it has such a fairly short processing time that they don't think it's worth it. For Islamabad, they should absolutely be sending out AORs to confirm they received the PR portions fo the applications from CPCM.
I found an old post by Rinnerz, and she described Kit ID like this: "Kit ID number: Since inland and outland Canadian visa offices use different ways to identify applicants' files (client ID versus file number, for example), the Kit ID number is what the inland offices use to refer to applications in any correspondence between them and the outland offices. It's a universal way of identifying an application package. It's not often even mentioned though, since obviously we as applicants/sponsors always just use client IDs when contacting inland CIC, and file numbers (once we get them) when dealing with outland Canadian visa offices."
I don't know how true this is, but given that Kit ID is not even found anywhere (that I could see) on CIC's external site, I think it's not too important for us.
shamsia said:
I think (I could be wrong) that the Kit ID and the client ID (from June onwards) are interchangeable terms. The client/kit ID are to check with the sponsor details and the File No. is to check with the Principal Applicant's details. So, methinks, that CIC wants to do away with the AOR system and just assign File numbers right away at the sponsorship approval stage to streamline the process.
@ ddobro: His VO is Islamabad which has stopped sending out AORs since last year. The done thing for Pakistani applicants is to email the VO, a few months after getting the sponsorship approval, requesting for the File number. This move should save them some headache because the VOs are very inconsistent with replying to the emails.