Manila Spousal Spreadsheet Over 1 year still waiting? Compare notes here!

[GabbieLovesAya]

You keep watching the spreadsheet and all the others passing you by... You keep checking ECAS and nothing is happening there either... They've had your passport for eons.... Your wife asks "Sweetheart, what's wrong with OUR application?"

So is there a common denominator for those cases that go over 1 year?

I was told that there are several levels of visa officers. First, as your application arrives to Manila, it goes into a queue. Every application will be reviewed by a Junior Visa Officer. If the case is simple, he can process and approve the application, request the passport and indicate that the visa /COPR should be printed upon receipt of the passport. Apparently, the easiest cases are those of Filipino couples, whereas the couple has been married long time prior to one of them coming to Canada and the one in Canada is applying for the one left at home. No questions about the genuineness of the marriage.

Once there are any "flags", a junior VO cannot approve the application - he has to refer it to a senior VO. And here goes your application into ANOTHER QUEUE. Now you have to wait again, until the senior VO gets to your case. He may review or approve your application, or request more documents, an interview - or whatever he sees fit. But it is really the 2nd QUEUE that screws you time-wise.

So to get to the point.... do you think there is a reason why your application has been flagged for a 2nd review? Realizing this may give you some peace... or not... I know there is a reason for one or two flags on my app. I am at 445 days and these days I SCREAM at everybody who talks to me... The stress levels are unbearable at times.

 

[Akosimak]

You keep watching the spreadsheet and all the others passing you by... You keep checking ECAS and nothing is happening there either... They've had your passport for eons.... Your wife asks "Sweetheart, what's wrong with OUR application?"

So is there a common denominator for those cases that go over 1 year?

I was told that there are several levels of visa officers. First, as your application arrives to Manila, it goes into a queue. Every application will be reviewed by a Junior Visa Officer. If the case is simple, he can process and approve the application, request the passport and indicate that the visa /COPR should be printed upon receipt of the passport. Apparently, the easiest cases are those of Filipino couples, whereas the couple has been married long time prior to one of them coming to Canada and the one in Canada is applying for the one left at home. No questions about the genuineness of the marriage.

Once there are any "flags", a junior VO cannot approve the application - he has to refer it to a senior VO. And here goes your application into ANOTHER QUEUE. Now you have to wait again, until the senior VO gets to your case. He may review or approve your application, or request more documents, an interview - or whatever he sees fit. But it is really the 2nd QUEUE that screws you time-wise.

So to get to the point.... do you think there is a reason why your application has been flagged for a 2nd review? Realizing this may give you some peace... or not... I know there is a reason for one or two flags on my app. I am at 445 days and these days I SCREAM at everybody who talks to me... The stress levels are unbearable at times.

hi i can feel you. i saw in the forums that some people have the same case as you. can i know your relationship details? if you dont mind? how long have you been married? do you have children? thanks!

 

[GabbieLovesAya]

hi i can feel you. i saw in the forums that some people have the same case as you. can i know your relationship details? if you dont mind? how long have you been married? do you have children? thanks!

No kids yet... 2nd anniversary coming up in September... we met when she applied to work for me as a caregiver from Hong Kong.... I got her the LMO approval and got the caregiver app going... I truly needed a caregiver as my ex left me alone with my son and my previous caregiver planned to leave soon... We ended up discussing her caregiver application over skype and falling in love... I ended up meeting her in HK.... We absolutely clicked.... She withdrew her caregiver application and said "if you really love me, come, meet my family and marry me". Which I had NO PROPLEM with. Little did I know, that this process will take forever. Now I think her previous attempt of coming to Canada as a caregiver is hurting us.... So much for being honest and doing it the right way. We should have left the caregiver application in place and marry later, here in Canada.... we could have had kids by now...

 

[Gumper]

Thanks for posting your thoughts on your unpleasant experience. I think I can say we ALL feel the stress of this whole thing & it's sure hard to know if the same reasoning is being applied consistently by CEM or not. The lack of transparency is very frustrating ... even the GCMS notes don't always seem to provide any greater insights for people. My only guess in your case is that they may view your wife as suspect, rightly or not. Still think they would have at least summoned her for an interview by now though.

 

[Mr_Mercenary]

You keep watching the spreadsheet and all the others passing you by... You keep checking ECAS and nothing is happening there either... They've had your passport for eons.... Your wife asks "Sweetheart, what's wrong with OUR application?"

So is there a common denominator for those cases that go over 1 year?

My wife and I are watching the same spreadsheet. She is Filipina and I am Canadian born. The one flaw of the spreadsheet is it compares all applicants regardless of where application originated. It appears others are passing us by but when we use their names as a possible hint, we realize that those passing us by have names like Reid and Anderson while we are pretty much inline with names like Acosta and Estrada. The Manila VO Spreadsheet needs one more header and that is where the applicant is trying to immigrate from. Does that make you feel better?

 

[GabbieLovesAya]

Thanks for posting your thoughts on your unpleasant experience. I think I can say we ALL feel the stress of this whole thing & it's sure hard to know if the same reasoning is being applied consistently by CEM or not. The lack of transparency is very frustrating ... even the GCMS notes don't always seem to provide any greater insights for people. My only guess in your case is that they may view your wife as suspect, rightly or not. Still think they would have at least summoned her for an interview by now though.

Well... they asked for her passport beginning of April 2014 (+ new pics, Appendix A, & HK police certificate), which we all provided within 4 weeks.. so we thought they asked for the passport for a reason. As in "you need the passport because you want to put the visa into it" There was no interview request. I don't think anybody can question the genuineness of our marriage, we have great wedding photos, photos with family, friends, myself, my son and my Filipina wife even traveled to the EU to see my family there, another time the 3 of us had a 10 day vacation together in Hong Kong. Anyway, they had a chance to invite us for an interview but they did not. I am at a loss. Ordered the GCMS notes, we will see what that brings.

 

[GabbieLovesAya]

It appears others are passing us by but when we use their names as a possible hint, we realize that those passing us by have names like Reid and Anderson while we are pretty much inline with names like Acosta and Estrada. The Manila VO Spreadsheet needs one more header and that is where the applicant is trying to immigrate from. Does that make you feel better?

Sorry Mr. Mercenary, at this point only the visa in hand will make me feel better 445 days is a mind game... torture... like water dripping onto your head and you can't move....

 

[Edgehead78]

You got over the posted processing time. I would recommend you get in touch with the member of parliament (MP) of your county. Write a him/her a letter or better, get to his/her office to explain your case. I saw in other threads that it speeds up late applications when MP's are getting involved.

 

[bartjones]

You got over the posted processing time. I would recommend you get in touch with the member of parliament (MP) of your county. Write a him/her a letter or better, get to his/her office to explain your case. I saw in other threads that it speeds up late applications when MP's are getting involved.

Definitely a good idea if you are beyond 14 months. It got some action on my wife's file and I'm told by the MP's staffer that a decision will be made by the end of the month on our application.

 

[chach]

My wife and I are watching the same spreadsheet. She is Filipina and I am Canadian born. The one flaw of the spreadsheet is it compares all applicants regardless of where application originated. It appears others are passing us by but when we use their names as a possible hint, we realize that those passing us by have names like Reid and Anderson while we are pretty much inline with names like Acosta and Estrada. The Manila VO Spreadsheet needs one more header and that is where the applicant is trying to immigrate from. Does that make you feel better?

another header with "Immigrating From" is a fantastic idea. In fact, I would also suggest a couple other columns:

• "Yolanda Victim? yes/no" to see how fast Yolanda victims are being processed.
  
• Notes area where you can list any special circumstances that might have led to the delay or prioritization of your application.

 

[GabbieLovesAya]

Definitely a good idea if you are beyond 14 months. It got some action on my wife's file and I'm told by the MP's staffer that a decision will be made by the end of the month on our application.

Yeah guess what, my MP is Chris Alexander, and it seems every other MP can help except mine... You see, he is also the Immigration Minister and they say it would be a conflict of interest for him to get involved - OMG what a nonsense. First I thought it is a blessing, I am lucky that my MP is also the Immigration Minister.. but guess what... he is also overly busy (or so they say) to even meet with me any time soon and then he will not want to discuss a specific immigration case - or so I am told. He is worried that he will be accused of favoritism... IMHO, he should be proud if he could stand up and say "yes I helped a guy whose application was grossly delayed, it is my job!" Anyway, I will now spend all my efforts bugging them, I will go there every day if necessary and if I don't get any help any time very very soon, I will picket their constituency office with a sign "my MP does not want to talk to me"

 

[GabbieLovesAya]

Definitely a good idea if you are beyond 14 months. It got some action on my wife's file and I'm told by the MP's staffer that a decision will be made by the end of the month on our application.

BTW bartjones, do you know that they did not even update the online chart (which shows 14 months of processing in Manila)? The last "quarterly update" is dated March 10th. So there should have been an update as of June 10 - if it is quarterly. And the next one due September 10th... According to the spreadsheet, the average processing times have actually been improving. Used to be 8 months when I applied (June 3, 2013) Then, during the strike, it changed to 14 months. I got on my MP's case about this too.

 

[kristinaa]

Any update on OP's case? I'm confident about my application but there's a lot of irregularities in my case, too. Lookin to meet other manila VO applicants with irregular cases.

 

[Kayaker]

My wife and I are watching the same spreadsheet. She is Filipina and I am Canadian born. The one flaw of the spreadsheet is it compares all applicants regardless of where application originated. It appears others are passing us by but when we use their names as a possible hint, we realize that those passing us by have names like Reid and Anderson while we are pretty much inline with names like Acosta and Estrada. The Manila VO Spreadsheet needs one more header and that is where the applicant is trying to immigrate from. Does that make you feel better?

I totally agree - the spreadsheet would be far more informative if it indicated where the applicant is from. (I'm sure there can be a significant difference between Filipino, Korean and Japanese applicants.)

Also, it might be a good idea to add a column for whether the sponsor is living in Canada or not. I've seen several people who think they have straightforward cases (married with kids, shouldn't be any doubt about relationship) but have been waiting a year or more. In their case, the hiccup may be due to the fact that the VO is not convinced that the sponsor is moving back to Canada.

So how can we change the spreadsheet? Can anyone just go in and add a couple of columns? (And who can? I'm not very confident about that sort of thing and would be afraid to mess it up.)

 

[Edgehead78]

I totally agree - the spreadsheet would be far more informative if it indicated where the applicant is from. (I'm sure there can be a significant difference between Filipino, Korean and Japanese applicants.)

Also, it might be a good idea to add a column for whether the sponsor is living in Canada or not. I've seen several people who think they have straightforward cases (married with kids, shouldn't be any doubt about relationship) but have been waiting a year or more. In their case, the hiccup may be due to the fact that the VO is not convinced that the sponsor is moving back to Canada.

So how can we change the spreadsheet? Can anyone just go in and add a couple of columns? (And who can? I'm not very confident about that sort of thing and would be afraid to mess it up.)

I added 2 columns to the spreadsheet for people who want to add information about origin of applicants and if the sponsor is already in Canada. It will be up to the people to add their info.