Los Angeles Visa Office Applicants Check in here! :)

[Belinasha]

Where do you guys go to get your prints done? The price just went up $15.00 at the Commissionaires in Ottawa. It's now close to $60 not including the $18 bucks to the FBI and to send the thing, plus the $7 for the money order. The one thing that I do like about them though is that the prints are guaranteed, if they fail at the FBI, you get another set free. It sucks going in there though, the guy that does the prints hardly speaks English and his French accent is so thick you can't understand him. He had my hubby's American passport in front of him and asked if my husband was an American citizen or a U.S. citizen.

 

[Midwest]

I got my fingerprints done at a local jail. It was the only place in my area where they still them. Other places have only electronic fingerprinting now. The jail has this service for free. However, it did creeped me out a bit. 8)

 

[scottandlisag]

scottandlisag, trust me I understand how frustrating it is...I'm loosing all faith in the system/process and timing...
My sponsorship approval came May 10th, and said my file is being forwarded to LA...we emailed LA in early Aug and they never responded ... then we get an email from CPP-Ottawa to redo medicals for my husband...we sent them Sep 4th and they still have no record of them, call center agent told us it may take up to 3 months to match up information... :'( :'( :'( this is borderline radiculous ...

If they ask him to do it again I'm going to SNAP!!! It's such a money grab!!! The doctor told him that they are only checking for HIV and Hepititis, being married to a Canadian nulifies anything else...

This is all so frustrating... I feel terrible for people that have been waiting years. It's just not right, life is so short, you need to live each day to the fullest and it's hard when we all have our lives on hold waiting for our spouses...
:'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

 

[Belinasha]

I'm pretty sure drug testing is included to the HIV and Hepatitis. I can't find any proof but I'm sure they do test for drugs as well. It would make sense.

 

[computergeek]

If they ask him to do it again I'm going to SNAP!!! It's such a money grab!!! The doctor told him that they are only checking for HIV and Hepatitis, being married to a Canadian nullifies anything else...

Actually, this isn't a fair statement, because neither of those two conditions would be grounds for refusal although they do test for them. TB or syphilis would be grounds for deferral until after treatment, with syphilis being the easy one since it is normally eradicated by penicillin. TB can require extensive treatment and then they want a year of test results showing that one is free of TB (I learned this from a spousal case reported here where the VO insisted on 12 months of "TB free" results from some poor soul from the UK who had never had TB nor even been exposed to it.)

Spouses are exempt from "excessive demand", which includes potentially expensive but treatable conditions, but are not exempt from public health or safety concerns.

 

[scottandlisag]

Actually, this isn't a fair statement, because neither of those two conditions would be grounds for refusal although they do test for them. TB or syphilis would be grounds for deferral until after treatment, with syphilis being the easy one since it is normally eradicated by penicillin. TB can require extensive treatment and then they want a year of test results showing that one is free of TB (I learned this from a spousal case reported here where the VO insisted on 12 months of "TB free" results from some poor soul from the UK who had never had TB nor even been exposed to it.)

Spouses are exempt from "excessive demand", which includes potentially expensive but treatable conditions, but are not exempt from public health or safety concerns.

Again, I'm stating what was said to my husband at his medical exam... and it's still a money grab, the fact that CIC is asking for meds to be done again is nothing more than a way to buy time for themselves to get thru the backlog they have created...

 

[computergeek]

Again, I'm stating what was said to my husband at his medical exam... and it's still a money grab, the fact that CIC is asking for meds to be done again is nothing more than a way to buy time for themselves to get thru the backlog they have created...

Well yes, it's what we usually refer to at work as a "rock fetching exercise" - it has no useful purpose other than to keep you busy. I'm so ready to have this over with.

 

[parker24]

Where do you guys go to get your prints done? The price just went up $15.00 at the Commissionaires in Ottawa. It's now close to $60 not including the $18 bucks to the FBI and to send the thing, plus the $7 for the money order. The one thing that I do like about them though is that the prints are guaranteed, if they fail at the FBI, you get another set free. It sucks going in there though, the guy that does the prints hardly speaks English and his French accent is so thick you can't understand him. He had my hubby's American passport in front of him and asked if my husband was an American citizen or a U.S. citizen.

Local police station here. Ontario Provincial Police. It was hilarious watching hubby be taken to the "back area" where the cells were haha! He came out and was like I died laughing.

 

[scottandlisag]

Well yes, it's what we usually refer to at work as a "rock fetching exercise" - it has no useful purpose other than to keep you busy. I'm so ready to have this over with.

Agreed!!!
I have 2 weeks left today and my hubby will be back here in Canada! 115 days is too long to be apart! I am hopeful this will be the last time we're apart and that this whole "process" will be over and done with sooner than later for all of us!

 

[scottandlisag]

Where do you guys go to get your prints done? The price just went up $15.00 at the Commissionaires in Ottawa. It's now close to $60 not including the $18 bucks to the FBI and to send the thing, plus the $7 for the money order. The one thing that I do like about them though is that the prints are guaranteed, if they fail at the FBI, you get another set free. It sucks going in there though, the guy that does the prints hardly speaks English and his French accent is so thick you can't understand him. He had my hubby's American passport in front of him and asked if my husband was an American citizen or a U.S. citizen.

My hubby's was done in Nevada and sent to Virginia...

 

[moochops]

Well yes, it's what we usually refer to at work as a "rock fetching exercise" - it has no useful purpose other than to keep you busy. I'm so ready to have this over with.

I couldn't agree with you more, when they requested further docs from me in Jan of this year I emailed them to say - eeer you do realise my meds have been out of date for like 3 months - do you need further copies of those too".

I got the basic response of "If we'd have wanted it we'd have asked for it, so don't do anything until we say so". Fair enough I thought, maybe upon reciept of the additional docs they would have been ready to issue ppr (as the meds would have been the magical 15 months old by then) thus granting an extension.

Obviously 9 months have gone by without a peep from them. I know I'll be asked to get further meds but why the heck couldn't they have requested them way back when.

You know what they remind me of - its that road trip you take with the kids. "Make sure you go to the bathroom before we leave" "But mum I don't want to go" Trundle 10 minutes down the road "MUUUUUUM stop the car I need the bathroom right now" "Why didn't you go before we left???" "I didn't want to go then".

Thats CIC - A child who can't decide if it needs to pee or not.

I appreciate the case officers are stressed but holy hell, most normal people would be fired from their jobs for this level of incompetence.

 

[scottandlisag]

I couldn't agree with you more, when they requested further docs from me in Jan of this year I emailed them to say - eeer you do realise my meds have been out of date for like 3 months - do you need further copies of those too".

I got the basic response of "If we'd have wanted it we'd have asked for it, so don't do anything until we say so". Fair enough I thought, maybe upon reciept of the additional docs they would have been ready to issue ppr (as the meds would have been the magical 15 months old by then) thus granting an extension.

Obviously 9 months have gone by without a peep from them. I know I'll be asked to get further meds but why the heck couldn't they have requested them way back when.

You know what they remind me of - its that road trip you take with the kids. "Make sure you go to the bathroom before we leave" "But mum I don't want to go" Trundle 10 minutes down the road "MUUUUUUM stop the car I need the bathroom right now" "Why didn't you go before we left???" "I didn't want to go then".

Thats CIC - A child who can't decide if it needs to pee or not.

I appreciate the case officers are stressed but holy hell, most normal people would be fired from their jobs for this level of incompetence.

HAHAHAHAHAHA Love it!!!!!!!!!!!! That sums it up perfectly!!!!!

 

[computergeek]

I appreciate the case officers are stressed but holy hell, most normal people would be fired from their jobs for this level of incompetence.

I think you may be missing the point here: the VOs are evaluated based upon some sort of internal criteria that has nothing to do with "customer satisfaction".

In general, immigrants don't vote. They don't pay taxes. They don't contribute anything to the Canadian economy or society. So they aren't the customer and their inconvenience isn't important. Further, the current government is anti-immigration. Given that Alberta is importing TFWs as fast as they can because of the labour shortage, I find this a bit ironic. But then again, TFWs are easily kicked out if anything goes wrong - the jobs go away, they get injured on the job or sick, etc. My first application (FSW) took 30 months to complete processing (a rejection that led to 9 months of litigation). In that process I submitted documents that I found out later they claim they never received. I'm not terribly impressed with them, but I've learned enough to understand that "immigrant satisfaction" is not a criteria used to evaluate how CIC is doing.

SPOUSAL applicants mean at least one probably contributes, so they get "priority" handling. I was surprised when someone mentioned CIC's claim of how many MP inquiries they get for spousal applications - it was surprisingly high. But individual cases can still get lost, and they aren't going to be graded on it.

I suspect VOs are seriously overworked. They are called upon to process more and more applications with fewer and fewer resources. They must respond to shifting priorities, changing rules, periodic missives on the excesses of the system, etc.

In the end, any blame should fall upon senior management and that would start with the current minister, but equally those at the top of CIC who survive from government to government are significantly responsible as well.

But that's what makes it such a dehumanizing system - it ignores the real people who are being processed and turns them into little more than scraps of paper in a file.

 

[parker24]

I think you may be missing the point here: the VOs are evaluated based upon some sort of internal criteria that has nothing to do with "customer satisfaction".

In general, immigrants don't vote. They don't pay taxes. They don't contribute anything to the Canadian economy or society. So they aren't the customer and their inconvenience isn't important. Further, the current government is anti-immigration. Given that Alberta is importing TFWs as fast as they can because of the labour shortage, I find this a bit ironic. But then again, TFWs are easily kicked out if anything goes wrong - the jobs go away, they get injured on the job or sick, etc. My first application (FSW) took 30 months to complete processing (a rejection that led to 9 months of litigation). In that process I submitted documents that I found out later they claim they never received. I'm not terribly impressed with them, but I've learned enough to understand that "immigrant satisfaction" is not a criteria used to evaluate how CIC is doing.

SPOUSAL applicants mean at least one probably contributes, so they get "priority" handling. I was surprised when someone mentioned CIC's claim of how many MP inquiries they get for spousal applications - it was surprisingly high. But individual cases can still get lost, and they aren't going to be graded on it.

I suspect VOs are seriously overworked. They are called upon to process more and more applications with fewer and fewer resources. They must respond to shifting priorities, changing rules, periodic missives on the excesses of the system, etc.

In the end, any blame should fall upon senior management and that would start with the current minister, but equally those at the top of CIC who survive from government to government are significantly responsible as well.

But that's what makes it such a dehumanizing system - it ignores the real people who are being processed and turns them into little more than scraps of paper in a file.

100% agree. Thing is, with spousal immigration, the SPOUSE can vote. So you'd think they would clue in to that. If Jason Kenney (current Immigration Minister) puts his hat in for leadership of Conservative party, I can pretty much guarantee you that everyone in my family will be saying HELL NO! My entire family feels so bad that my husband is STILL waiting. My grandmother, at 72 years old, said that the government is filled with chickens with their heads cut off. Perfect analogy in my point of view.

Come on CIC

 

[moochops]

I think you may be missing the point here: the VOs are evaluated based upon some sort of internal criteria that has nothing to do with "customer satisfaction".

In general, immigrants don't vote. They don't pay taxes. They don't contribute anything to the Canadian economy or society. So they aren't the customer and their inconvenience isn't important. Further, the current government is anti-immigration. Given that Alberta is importing TFWs as fast as they can because of the labour shortage, I find this a bit ironic. But then again, TFWs are easily kicked out if anything goes wrong - the jobs go away, they get injured on the job or sick, etc. My first application (FSW) took 30 months to complete processing (a rejection that led to 9 months of litigation). In that process I submitted documents that I found out later they claim they never received. I'm not terribly impressed with them, but I've learned enough to understand that "immigrant satisfaction" is not a criteria used to evaluate how CIC is doing.

SPOUSAL applicants mean at least one probably contributes, so they get "priority" handling. I was surprised when someone mentioned CIC's claim of how many MP inquiries they get for spousal applications - it was surprisingly high. But individual cases can still get lost, and they aren't going to be graded on it.

I suspect VOs are seriously overworked. They are called upon to process more and more applications with fewer and fewer resources. They must respond to shifting priorities, changing rules, periodic missives on the excesses of the system, etc.

In the end, any blame should fall upon senior management and that would start with the current minister, but equally those at the top of CIC who survive from government to government are significantly responsible as well.

But that's what makes it such a dehumanizing system - it ignores the real people who are being processed and turns them into little more than scraps of paper in a file.

Oh I don't doubt for a minute that you are correct in your assumptions. When an agency exists that doesn't need to rely on customer service for return business then it's a downward spiral from there on in.

Maybe the IO's start their new ob with all the vim and gusto in the world and then get dragged down by the politics and number shuffling. My point would be that, say I, were a visa officer (unlikely!) would you seriously not think that it is common sense to request everything needed all at the same time - to alleviate further actions in the future on that file, thus diminishing the workload that way????

The caveat here being that common sense really isn't that common.

Maybe there is a little computer system that they have to enter things into, and if it doesn't generate a document as being out of date, then the standard letter gets sent out without asking for it. Then lo and behold when they get around to looking at the file in the future - BOOM - another document is flagged as being out of date, so another request gets sent out. I again appreciate that they tried in some way to circumvent this with the extension of 3ish months to medicals - however when they have their weekly meetings you would think someone would bring up the fact that "um we seem to be about 6 months behind at the minute so extensions are proving a bit futile".

I dunno, just mulling things over really, as my hubby says "work smarter not harder". !