New to forum, hoping we can get some help :)

[jlewison]

Hi all,
I am an American female who is engaged to a Canadian. My finace and I have known each other for about 5 years now and started dating about a year ago. We will be getting married in January and as soon as we are married, I am applying for PR of Canada. I have most of my forms filled out, have a date set for my medical and have my FBI background check set in and am waiting for a reply(I don't even have a speeding ticket so I am not too worried about this.)

Our wedding will be in the middle of January and as soon as we receive my background check and get our marriage certificate, we will be sending our forms in. I am wondering if I should wait until after the wedding to get my medical exam done...

I'm sure I will have many more questions as we continue to go through this process...any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[awor]

Hi! My story is similar to yours (American woman/Canadian fiancee, known each other almost 10 years, dated 2.5, going to get married in late April and file right after). It's my understanding that the medical is good for 12 months and the PR visa will expire the day the medical does, so for myself, we're waiting til the last possible moment (early April) because the application can take up to 11 months according to the CIC website.

 

[jlewison]

Thank you! Best of luck to you...I'm sure you are finding it to be quite an intimidating process just like I am...keep the faith!

 

[Rinnerz]

Just a sidenote about the processing times on the website. The timeline they're showing you is for 80% of the cases and can actually be very misleading. For a straightforward, complete application processed at Buffalo (since you guys are US citizens), the total processing time seems to be more around the 4-6 month range. That's including the 1 month it sits at Mississauga before being transferred to Buffalo.

Of course, there have been plenty of people recently who have been processed even faster, and the scattered few whose processing seems to be taking longer. It really does all depend on the person's file and various other factors. But I thought I'd mention it, just so you guys know there's a fair possibility it will not take the entire 11 months (or even half of that) that the website says it will. It's still definitely alright to get the medical done just before you submit your application, "just in case" .

Good luck!

 

[awor]

Thanks Rinnerz, you are right. I saw a link on another thread to http://www.trackitt.com/canada-immigration-trackers/family-class and was really encouraged by some of the total processing times - seems like 120ish days was around average. Much better than 11 months!

 

[Rinnerz]

Much better than 11 months!

Haha, indeed! Of course, things can happen (like Buffalo "losing" your FBI certificate and you needing a brand new one, eep!). But overall, I can see a lot of people being very confused and/or totally misled by the website's processing times. They used to show a much better breakdown, but scrapped that during the last few months. Ah well.