I called IRCC today and they confirmed I am approved as a sponser yet the officer assigned to my case has not sent out the letter despite being approved weeks ago. You are correct they are not consistent with sending sponsor approvals. The agent would not tell me where the PA file is either. I’m not sure if it’s still in Nova Scotia or if in the PAs country.
Thank you, I think this will be helpful for others to know (so that they do not worry).
It is a little bit odd to me they are not sending these out as they are an automated form letter - so you would think they do not require much time. But perhaps it is an additional step and they want to rush things by skipping less critical steps. Note, it _seems_ the trigger for bio request and medical request _is_ the initial review of sponsor eligibility - that is, for those who get the biometric and medical requests, this _probably_ means the sponsor is approved. The letter itself is a form letter.
The personalized content of the sponsor approval letter is minimal - literally only the identifying information (sponsor name and address, relevant UCI and file numbers, and name of principal applicant). The remainder of the letter (after confirming approval as sponsor) is limited to: i) reminder of the financial undertaking; ii) boilerplate that the right of permanent residence fee may be payable later, they'll let you know if so; iii) when should you contact IRCC (any change to application eg change in circumstances like birth/death/adoption/divorce, change of contact info, change of representative, withdrawal of applicaiton); iv) contact info (use the web), how to check status of app (use the web), how long will it take (use the web, no addl info).
So no, you are not missing out on much by not receiving the sponsor approval letter. If you had to choose between not getting the SA letter and faster, believe me, you'd choose faster. (Not clear that is the real trade-off or it's just a system issue, but whatever, I can understand low priority.