Dear all,
I have been a silent reader of this thread for many months since our AOR date of June 10th, 2018. Our application was stuck in IP1 stage since the end of June last year, and no one touched our file since then. After reading the posts and replies on this forum, I contacted the local MP to ask for help on April 16th, 2019, and she called the IRCC the next day and got a reply "you will hear from them in ten days." Exactly on April 26th, we received an update on the website, showing that our file was moved to IP2 stage. In the following week, we called the agents through the phone to ask the most current stage of our application, and we were told that everything had passed and is waiting for a "final review." Yesterday (May 3rd, 2019), we received another update in the morning but only to observe an update on the medical exam (which was originally passed last year but accidentally changed to "You do not need a medical exam...", I emailed the CPC-Ottawa about this mistake, and it was corrected yesterday). And in the afternoon, we received the golden email. So I would like to thank all who have been actively contributing to this discussion, and the suggestions are really helpful.
For people who are stuck in the IP1 stage, if the waiting time is longer than 6 months and GCMS notes showed no update for a long time (like ours, nothing changed for 10 months), it would be beneficial to contact a local MP to inquire about the status on your behalf. Just like our MP said, "if I call them, they may realize that this file is important, and this will make the process faster." This is true in our case. If you are abroad, maybe ask someone familiar in Canada who can submit the request on your behalf. However, if you submit the express entry application through an agency, it would be not possible to do it this way; instead, you have to reply on your agent. Here is our time line:
FSW-applicant (Country of Origin: China, Country of Residence: USA)
AOR- June 10th, 2018
Medical Passed - June 26th, 2018
Ghost update - June 27th, 2018 (appear to be a mistake made by the case agent: we have submitted POF but an email of requesting a POF was sent and then reverted! This was shown in the GCMS note)
Review Required for POF, supplementary document (IP1 stage)- from June 27th, 2018.
Order first set GCMS note - Nov, 2018
Order second set GCMS note - Feb, 2019 (exactly the same thing as the first set, showing that no one has touched our file since June 2018)
Contacted the local MP - April 16th, 2019
Background check (IP2 stage) - April 26th, 2019
Medical exam re-updated - May 3rd, 2019 (in the morning)
RFV - May 3rd, 2019 (in the afternoon)
Will send the passport and do landing this month.
This is a complete process that we undertook since last year. It has been a long wait for us. And I hope this will be helpful for those who are still waiting or stuck in the IP1 stage. Once again, thanks everyone for the valuable comments and ideas.