Hello Everyone,
Finally !!! Exactly 7 months after the submission of the immigration application, my wife (from China) has finally landed in Canada on May 17th, 2012.
Being separated from my wife by an ocean during the last 15 months, where I visited her twice for a total of 27 days, I am now the happiest man on hearth !!
Our dates are:
Application submitted to Mississauga Centre: October 17, 2011
Application Received by Mississauga Centre: October 19, 2011
Sponsor Approval: December 22, 2011
E-mail received from Mississauga Centre on December 22, 2011 indicating that I was approved as a sponsor; only me received that e-mail.
Sponsor Approval: December 29, 2011
AOR as a pdf received by e-mail from Mississauga Centre on December 29, 2011 indicating that our file was being transferred to Beijing Visa Office; only me received that e-mail.
E-cas was also updated on January 6, 2012: Sponsor - Decision made Applicant - Application received.
AOR as a pdf received by e-mail from Beijing Visa Office on February 24, 2012 indicating that our application has been received and the processing has begun on February 2, 2012; both of us received that e-mail.
E-cas was also updated on February 24, 2012: Sponsor - Decision made Applicant - In Process.
When I clicked on the link "in process": Application Received and Started Processing at Beijing on February 2, 2012 - Medical results have been received.
Passport Request: March 22, 2012
AOR as a pdf received by e-mail from Beijing Visa Office on March 22, 2012 requesting the passport of my wife; only my wife received that e-mail. My wife and I then assumed that the interview was waived.
Passport sent by EMS: March 23, 2012
Passport received by Beijing Visa Office: March 26, 2012 (we followed the delivery by the tracking number provided by EMS)
Interview: Waived
E-cas was again updated on April 19, 2012: Sponsor - Decision made Applicant - Decision Made
E-cas was again updated on April 22, 2012: When I clicked on the link "Decision Made": A decision has been made on "X (my wife name)" application. The office will contact "X (my wife name)" concerning this decision.
E-cas was again updated on May 2, 2012: I was seeing the address of my wife as mine.
Passport received with COPR by my wife: May 5, 2012
Landing in Canada: May 17, 2012
We just want to share briefly our story and our personal thoughts about the immigration process in general. It might or might not help people, but writing these few words helped us to get the stress out over the last past year.
First, I must admit, if someone would have predicted 2-3 years ago that I would be writing on an Immigration Forum about my adventure through the Canadian Immigration process, I would have most likely laughed at them. I have never considered the idea of sponsoring someone else, until I met the love of my life !!
My story has begun 2 years ago in Canada when I met my wife at my workplace. Nine months later, for personal and work related reasons, my wife (my girlfriend at that time !) had to go back in China. The split was very difficult, but we kept talking each other every day (million thanks to Skype). Honestly, both of us did not know what our future would be, because of the distance between each other. Seven months after her departure from Canada, I ended up going to China to get married with the love of my life.
As a foreigner, several documents are required in order to be able to get married in China. Being said, I took three months to gather all the required documents. Three months seem a very long time, but by the time I requested and received all the documents, get them certified by a notary, and then also certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada, and then also authenticated by the China Embassy. Very long process… not to mention that some of the documents had to be translated in Mandarin. My wife had also several documents to assemble, but, at the end, we got married in Shanghai. Our journey through the Canadian Immigration process had not begun yet.
Three months before the wedding, we started to complete the necessary forms for the Canadian Immigration. The goal was to submit our application as soon as possible after the wedding once I was back from China. Our case is pretty simple: I have never been married; my wife was legally divorced; both of us have no children. We have been able to complete all the forms within six weeks. The most difficult thing was to gather all the documents proving that our relationship was genuine and establishing the legitimacy of our union. We had a long list of documents that needed to be collected for that purpose. After the wedding, I went back to Canada, I paid the immigration fees and I submitted the application to Mississauga on October 17th. The most important thing is we had a plan, and we followed the plan. We did consider hiring a lawyer specialized in Immigration, but we decided to go ahead ourselves because our case was very simple. The waiting game begun on October 19th, 2011; the day Mississauga Centre received our package.
As the waiting game begun on October 19th, we received the final decision about seven months later. Every step was done within few days of the processing time shown on the CIC website. However, before I got involved in the Immigration process, I had no idea about the emotional frustration and anger I could develop. Waiting for someone I love was hard, especially when the future of two persons depends on the judgment of the Visa Officer towards the love story we were telling to them. Separation is hard to overcome. I am happy that it’s finally over with me.
During my reading on this forum, I realized that there is no standard procedure of how applications are handled between the different Visa Offices: CIC is very inconsistent with sending out AORs, PPR request differs for every visa office, e-cas status is not updated consistently for everybody (however I was happy with mine). I understand how frustrating it is to not receive an updated receipt of status. When my life was reduced to a computer chat with my wife, when I met my wife online in less time than I commuted to work, when I saw happy families in parks, when I saw couples hugging or a child laughing, all reminds me of what I was missing. Every time I missed my wife, I visualized what we like to do together. It’s like daydreaming, but it is more positive than all other desperate thoughts I could have. Even my work was not enough to escape from the feeling of missing. I decided to have my head up, and the wait was for a good cause, because I am now rewarded with years of family life. The first thing that my wife and I promised to each other when she came back is we will never be apart anymore. I love her so much !!
Finally !!! Exactly 7 months after the submission of the immigration application, my wife (from China) has finally landed in Canada on May 17th, 2012.
Being separated from my wife by an ocean during the last 15 months, where I visited her twice for a total of 27 days, I am now the happiest man on hearth !!
Our dates are:
Application submitted to Mississauga Centre: October 17, 2011
Application Received by Mississauga Centre: October 19, 2011
Sponsor Approval: December 22, 2011
E-mail received from Mississauga Centre on December 22, 2011 indicating that I was approved as a sponsor; only me received that e-mail.
Sponsor Approval: December 29, 2011
AOR as a pdf received by e-mail from Mississauga Centre on December 29, 2011 indicating that our file was being transferred to Beijing Visa Office; only me received that e-mail.
E-cas was also updated on January 6, 2012: Sponsor - Decision made Applicant - Application received.
AOR as a pdf received by e-mail from Beijing Visa Office on February 24, 2012 indicating that our application has been received and the processing has begun on February 2, 2012; both of us received that e-mail.
E-cas was also updated on February 24, 2012: Sponsor - Decision made Applicant - In Process.
When I clicked on the link "in process": Application Received and Started Processing at Beijing on February 2, 2012 - Medical results have been received.
Passport Request: March 22, 2012
AOR as a pdf received by e-mail from Beijing Visa Office on March 22, 2012 requesting the passport of my wife; only my wife received that e-mail. My wife and I then assumed that the interview was waived.
Passport sent by EMS: March 23, 2012
Passport received by Beijing Visa Office: March 26, 2012 (we followed the delivery by the tracking number provided by EMS)
Interview: Waived
E-cas was again updated on April 19, 2012: Sponsor - Decision made Applicant - Decision Made
E-cas was again updated on April 22, 2012: When I clicked on the link "Decision Made": A decision has been made on "X (my wife name)" application. The office will contact "X (my wife name)" concerning this decision.
E-cas was again updated on May 2, 2012: I was seeing the address of my wife as mine.
Passport received with COPR by my wife: May 5, 2012
Landing in Canada: May 17, 2012
We just want to share briefly our story and our personal thoughts about the immigration process in general. It might or might not help people, but writing these few words helped us to get the stress out over the last past year.
First, I must admit, if someone would have predicted 2-3 years ago that I would be writing on an Immigration Forum about my adventure through the Canadian Immigration process, I would have most likely laughed at them. I have never considered the idea of sponsoring someone else, until I met the love of my life !!
My story has begun 2 years ago in Canada when I met my wife at my workplace. Nine months later, for personal and work related reasons, my wife (my girlfriend at that time !) had to go back in China. The split was very difficult, but we kept talking each other every day (million thanks to Skype). Honestly, both of us did not know what our future would be, because of the distance between each other. Seven months after her departure from Canada, I ended up going to China to get married with the love of my life.
As a foreigner, several documents are required in order to be able to get married in China. Being said, I took three months to gather all the required documents. Three months seem a very long time, but by the time I requested and received all the documents, get them certified by a notary, and then also certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada, and then also authenticated by the China Embassy. Very long process… not to mention that some of the documents had to be translated in Mandarin. My wife had also several documents to assemble, but, at the end, we got married in Shanghai. Our journey through the Canadian Immigration process had not begun yet.
Three months before the wedding, we started to complete the necessary forms for the Canadian Immigration. The goal was to submit our application as soon as possible after the wedding once I was back from China. Our case is pretty simple: I have never been married; my wife was legally divorced; both of us have no children. We have been able to complete all the forms within six weeks. The most difficult thing was to gather all the documents proving that our relationship was genuine and establishing the legitimacy of our union. We had a long list of documents that needed to be collected for that purpose. After the wedding, I went back to Canada, I paid the immigration fees and I submitted the application to Mississauga on October 17th. The most important thing is we had a plan, and we followed the plan. We did consider hiring a lawyer specialized in Immigration, but we decided to go ahead ourselves because our case was very simple. The waiting game begun on October 19th, 2011; the day Mississauga Centre received our package.
As the waiting game begun on October 19th, we received the final decision about seven months later. Every step was done within few days of the processing time shown on the CIC website. However, before I got involved in the Immigration process, I had no idea about the emotional frustration and anger I could develop. Waiting for someone I love was hard, especially when the future of two persons depends on the judgment of the Visa Officer towards the love story we were telling to them. Separation is hard to overcome. I am happy that it’s finally over with me.
During my reading on this forum, I realized that there is no standard procedure of how applications are handled between the different Visa Offices: CIC is very inconsistent with sending out AORs, PPR request differs for every visa office, e-cas status is not updated consistently for everybody (however I was happy with mine). I understand how frustrating it is to not receive an updated receipt of status. When my life was reduced to a computer chat with my wife, when I met my wife online in less time than I commuted to work, when I saw happy families in parks, when I saw couples hugging or a child laughing, all reminds me of what I was missing. Every time I missed my wife, I visualized what we like to do together. It’s like daydreaming, but it is more positive than all other desperate thoughts I could have. Even my work was not enough to escape from the feeling of missing. I decided to have my head up, and the wait was for a good cause, because I am now rewarded with years of family life. The first thing that my wife and I promised to each other when she came back is we will never be apart anymore. I love her so much !!
