Moscow: Must travel there to pick up PR Visa?

[tsawyer]

My wife was approved for her Permanent Resident visa from Moscow. We're living in Canada right now (she's on a TR "visitors" visa).

There's a couple options outlined in the email sent to her from Moscow about sending her visa in from other CIS countries, but nothing about sending it from Canada.

Is it necessary for her to travel to Moscow to pick up the visa? Are there any options to send her passport from Canada?

 

[Dmitri]

Join the moscow thread.whats your timeline?
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/-t51704.0.html

 

[shawngt2]

tsawyer, I'm not sure myself, wait for someone elses response or call CIC to find out your options. I think they can give the visa here, but you would still need to travel to the border.

I think you just got today right? Because someone on rusforum.ca (somebodies wife) received today as well.

Please let us know your timing!

 

[tsawyer]

One complication is that her previous visa expired and we're waiting for the new visa -- so she can't travel for a few weeks (likely a month or more, realistically). She has 3 months to pick up the new PR visa.

If we were still in the CIS, we could have just couriered her passport to Moscow (and there's instructions from Moscow on how to do this.) Can we courier her passport from Canada too? How about getting the visa in Canada instead of Moscow?

There's no reason other than it's a big waste of time, money, and nerves to fly to Moscow and back just to get a piece of paper glued into a passport.

I did look through the Moscow thread, but didn't see anything relevant and didn't want to add to the clutter.

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[MandiF]

Although I am getting my visa through London, I am currently in Canada and just sent mine back to London via Fedex. Can't see why that would be a problem with Moscow as well.

 

[shawngt2]

Since each visa office can be different, I would strongly recommend you write or call the embassy.

Email can take 20 something days.
Call reception of the embassy in Moscow and tell them you need to request this info. They will help you out I'm sure.

 

[RobsLuv]

One complication is that her previous visa expired and we're waiting for the new visa -- so she can't travel for a few weeks (likely a month or more, realistically). She has 3 months to pick up the new PR visa.

If we were still in the CIS, we could have just couriered her passport to Moscow (and there's instructions from Moscow on how to do this.) Can we courier her passport from Canada too? How about getting the visa in Canada instead of Moscow?

There's no reason other than it's a big waste of time, money, and nerves to fly to Moscow and back just to get a piece of paper glued into a passport.

I did look through the Moscow thread, but didn't see anything relevant and didn't want to add to the clutter.

Thanks for everyone's help!

I don't think you're entirely understanding how this final step works. The applicant submits their passport to the processing office to receive their visa and their Confirmation of Permanent Residence document. The visa and COPR have an expiration date on them that coincides with either the one year anniversary of the immigration medical exam, or their expiration date of their passport - whichever comes first. Once the applicant has their passport and COPR in hand, they have to take those and present themselves at a Canadian port-of-entry to finalize the process - before the COPR expiration date. For applicants who have been staying in Canada, they have to actually leave the country and then come back to Canada. (I did this just yesterday - had to physically drive out of Canada and enter the United States, then turn around and re-enter Canada.) Then you go inside to the officers at the Canadian port-of-entry and they sign off your paperwork.

So, whether your wife was able to mail/courier her passport to Moscow and actually get it back safely or not, she's still going to have to travel outside of Canada and re-enter again to complete her process. I personally think it's very risky to try to get the passport to Moscow by mail/courier - especially where there are no instructions in her letter to tell you specifically how to do that. Some countries do not allow passports to be shipped over their borders - and now is not when you want her passport to disappear. I think she needs to plan to fly to Moscow to submit her passport. When she gets it back, she returns to Canada to do her "landing". She has a bit of time, since they have said she needs to submit it within the next 3 months - but the sooner the better because then she'll be a permanent resident.

Also, if the "previous visa" you mention was her Canadian TRV, she does not need that anymore. She does not have to have that to board transport back to Moscow, and she does not need it to come back to Canada - because she will have her permanent resident visa at that point. No more need for a temporary visa. What her temporary status documents are good for now is proving how long she lived in Canada legally prior to getting permanent status. One year of that time counts towards the 3 year residency requirement for citizenship application.

 

[Siouxie]

For applicants who have been staying in Canada, they have to actually leave the country and then come back to Canada. (I did this just yesterday - had to physically drive out of Canada and enter the United States, then turn around and re-enter Canada.) Then you go inside to the officers at the Canadian port-of-entry and they sign off your paperwork.

So, whether your wife was able to mail/courier her passport to Moscow and actually get it back safely or not, she's still going to have to travel outside of Canada and re-enter again to complete her process.

Applicants who are in Canada with valid visitor status or a temporary permit no longer have to go to a port of entry. They can arrange to "land" at a local CIC office.

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/SOR-2002-227/page-3.html#anchorbo-ga:l_5-gb:l_7

Foreign nationals in Canada as temporary residents 71.1

(2) A foreign national who is a member of a class referred to in paragraph 70(2)(a) or (b) and who is a temporary resident in Canada must, to become a permanent resident, present their permanent resident visa to an officer at a port of entry or at an office of the Department in Canada.

and... from a manual..

7.9. Becoming a permanent resident

To become a permanent resident, any foreign national outside Canada needs to present their
permanent resident visa at a port of entry to Canada.

As per policy decribed in Section 5.1 of this chapter, applicants whose permanent resident visa is
issued while they are in Canada with a valid temporary resident status may:

 contact the Call Centre to request an appointment at a local CIC office to become a
permanent resident at that location; or

 leave Canada and become a permanent resident upon re-entry to Canada at a port of entry.

The template letters that accompany the permanent resident visas must
be amended by the visa offices to include the following paragraph:

Please note that if you are already in Canada and have a valid temporary resident status, you
now have the option of obtaining your permanent resident status in Canada as opposed to leaving
Canada and re-entering at a port of entry. Please contact CIC’s Call Centre at 1 888 242-2100 as
soon as possible to arrange an appointment with the Citizenship and Immigration office nearest to
your place of residence. (You cannot call this number if you are outside Canada.)

 

[RobsLuv]

Siouxie - you're right. But that doesn't address the issue of getting the passport to and from Canada to get the visa and COPR, and there are several (if not most) countries that do not allow their passports to be shipped over international borders. As I said before, this is not the time to have the passport disappear in transit.

This is one of the drawbacks to outland processing for non-visa-exempt applicants in Canada. While it's now possible for outland applicants to "land" in Canada, the COPR and PR visa are issued at the overseas embassy and the passport has to be able to get to the embassy in order to facilitate that . . . and, in most situations, that can only be accomplished by the applicant taking it there. If that can't happen, applicants should consider applying inland.

 

[fleo]

In addition to passport delivery problem, some experiences show that "landing" inside Canada can also drag on for quite a while depending on the CIC office - you may not be able to make the landing appointment for a while, so unless travelling to Moscow would cause significant financial problems I'd personally do it that way.

 

[Siouxie]

From the Moscow CIC office website: http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/russia-russie/visas/5-6.aspx?lang=eng

How to Pick Up Your Visa

You can pick up your immigrant visa either in person at the Embassy, or via a representative, or via International Organization for Migration (IOM) or Pony express.

To obtain visas, you or your representative should present the POV letter, your foreign travel passport(s) as well as any other documents requested with the POV letter to the Immigration Section of the Embassy in Moscow on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday (except statutory holidays) from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Visas are issued on the same day from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. If you choose to send your documents for the visa with a representative, for identification purposes this individual should submit his or her own internal passport and a notarized signed authorization from you allowing him or her to pick up your visas. This authorization must specifically authorize that individual to pick up your visas - general Power of Attorney or other general authorization letters are not valid.

If you wish you may, at your expense, send your passports and other required documents through the visa service department of Pony Express or via IOM. If you choose to use Pony Express or IOM to deliver passports to the Visa and Immigration Section, the process to pick up the visas will take several working days. Please consult with the closest office of IOM or Pony Express for further information about the delivery.

However, if we ask you to pay additional fees, you should apply to Pony Express or IOM.

Usually you do not have to come in person to collect your visas, but sometimes we will need you to come personally, generally when there are some documents which you need to sign.

The Visa and Immigration Section of the Embassy of Canada accepts applications in person, by mail or from private couriers or representatives. In order to provide better service to our clients, we have also signed an agreement with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which will accept and deliver payment and visa applications to the Embassy and return passports with decisions for those wishing to use its services. IOM charges a fee for their services.

Pony Express International Website: http://www.ponyexpress.ru/services_visa-en.php and IOM Canada http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/activities/americas/north-america/canada (approved by CIC Canada / Moscow)

You can also use a private courier (DHL or similar).

I would suggest sending the passport by courier either to a family member who can submit the passport and collect it or send it directly to CIC Moscow. You could try contacting IOM Canada to see if they offer the service from here.

Alternatively, she could take the opportunity to visit relatives and submit/collect the passport and visa's herself - it's a one day service (far better than London which is 2 weeks!).

 

[motul2000]

Hi MandiF:

Have you got your passport back from London? How long does it take to send back the passport?

Although I am getting my visa through London, I am currently in Canada and just sent mine back to London via Fedex. Can't see why that would be a problem with Moscow as well.