For folks who are frustrated with waiting, with the black box process, as I was until yesterday, here are a few observations.
Note that YMMV. This is from the perspective of a US Outland applicant for Spouse PR, no dependents and no complications:
- ECAS Sync
- Systems aren't perfectly synchronized: ECAS added Line 2 "In Process" this morning -- yes, ECAS started showing the IP line day after my status in ECAS was changed to Decision Made
- As of today, it still says Decision made on the main ECAS page, so we're good, but when I click through, the ECAS points summary added a line today that IP (Application in Process) started two days ago - so technically it started the day before DM, but it was not showing right away.
- FWIW, the ECAS summary does not show DM yet, even though it's the status of the link. So my point is systems are a little squishy on synching up.
- Also note that I've not yet received any email notification from CIC. My guess is there's a lot of stuff happening now and once everything is lined up at their end, I'll get an email and when I log in, things will be better aligned in terms of timeline. But what do I know?
- ECAS and Mississauga:
- I also notice that many Mississauga VO applicants don't update IP in the spreadsheet (stays blank or "unknown"). I wouldn't have known I got IP unless I'd logged in to ECAS after my DM (which I did because I'm a bit OCD. I don't know that most people would do this).
- The upshot is: If you are Mississauga, do not worry about ECAS IP. Since for me it showed up after DM, I'm guessing that has happened to others who never bothered to go back in after DM, so they never knew they got it at all. This is just a guess, folks who know better than me are welcome to weigh in.
- GCMS
- Coincidentally (or not) all this activity on my account started the day after sent in my request for GCMS notes. I can't say for sure, but my read is that they have to open your file to do GCMS notes, and if it's looking good, maybe they just want to open it once and move on. I can imagine my CIC agent might just have been thinking: "Well, I have the file open, it all looks good, marking as DONE so I can move onto someone else." I'll know more when I get the actual GCMS notes, but for now, that's what it looks like to me.
- So if you're waiting in a black box and it's been so many months since you heard anything that you think you are losing your mind, consider requesting GCMS notes; it may help move things along.
That's all I have for now. I'll post more if I think of anything else, and as I learn more.
