If CIC receives the certificates at the first stage, i.e. Case Processing Centre-Mississauga, within 3 months of the date written on the certificates, it should NOT be considered expired. Just as a reminder, the certs have to be for those countries that the applicant lived in for 6 or more consecutive months since the age of 18. As far as the issue with the dependant accompanying the principal applicant, CIC's own instructions say, "If you or your family members were under 18 years of age (16 years of age in certain jurisdictions) for the entire time you lived in a particular country, you do not need to provide a police certificate for that country." So I have no idea why your visa office is splitting hairs about this - he was technically exempted from such records (unless the "16 years old in certain jurisdictions" provision applies to him but I have no idea what those jurisdictions are) at the time the application was filed. Also I'm not sure why they claim you need to provide documents you already provided. Hopefully you made a copy of your application, including the original police certificates, before you mailed it in. Send them a letter explaining that the original police clearances had been submitted at the time of filing and enclose the two copies. I'm thinking they misplaced it or something. Wow, I guess it's not just Buffalo that's incompetent. As far as the time limit they gave you, I believe the language was something to the effect of, "if we do not receive these documents
or an explanation from you within 30 days, we will assume you are not interested in continuing with the application." So as long as you communicate with them (and I suggest to follow up to confirm receipt and think about sending an inquiry through your MP), you'll be fine.
malirca said:
No police certificates were within the 3 months.
for the 2 countries he's lived in. Is the 3 months from date received in canada or date received in the visa office?
and they are also asking one for his kid who when we sent the application was under 18, but is obviously 18 now....
how does this 30day limit affect the application?