NOVEMBER 2013 APPLICATIONS

[PRhopeful2014]

MY LANDING EXPERIENCE:

Dreams come true!!! I am a PR 8)

Friday, July 11

5:17 PM - my passports finally get delivered. I tell my spouse we are going to land tomorrow and I don't care that I have to work till 5pm.

Saturday, July 12

9AM-5PM patiently working, thinking of the upcoming landing.
5:01PM - closing the office and rushing to College and Yonge intersection where I meet my spouse and we take a casino (Safeway) bus to Niagara. By the way for those who don't know about this cool option, you can purchase a casino card which is $35 dollars and go to Niagara as often as you would like for 7 dollars per round trip. You have to play at casino though, but I usually use $5 so that my card gets activated and I don't get a fine on the way back. I know it is not nice, but the bus takes 1 hour and 30 minutes without stupid Greyhound/GO stops since it goes directly to the Casino that is very close to the Rainbow Bridge. Anyways, where was I?

We leave Toronto at 6:20PM and get to Niagara at 7:50 PM. I am eager to land but my spouse tries to calm me down saying that they work 24/7 let us enjoy Niagara one more time. Finally, I win and we go to the Rainbow Bridge. Both me and my spouse have U.S. visas so instead of an administrative refusal we go to the US for literally 20 minutes, take a few pics of the Falls from the U.S. side and get back to the Canadian side.

We are greeted by the nice old fellow who asks us what citizenship we have and forwards us into Canada again. Here is what I don't understand: after crossing the border back to Canada you can just leave and don't land. I imagined that you don't get back into Canada until you have landed. It pissed me off for one simple reason: WHY THE HELL DO WE NEED PERMANENT RESIDENT VISAS THEN??? Both me and my spouse had valid Canadian Visas still valid for 2 more months. Why doesn't CIC ask if you have a valid visa before wasting 2 weeks of our time and nerves and fears of losing our passport. Here is what I would do if it was up to me: 1. Visa exempt countries - send COPR as they do now 2. Countries that require visas to enter Canada - send COPR and state that to cross the border you will need a valid visa, if you don't have one, send your passport to us, we will give you one so that you can land.

Seriously... Such a waste of time... But anyways...

We go to the building where magic happens and see a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge line there, we are greeted by a Doughnut-like looking lady with a cup of Tim Hortons and she takes our passports with her doughnut-like fingers, then she forwards us to the waiting area where lots of ppl are nervously waiting. We sit down and wait for 1 hour and 20 minutes telling each other jokes just to calm down a little bit. Here I must mention that I was afraid of landing as hell. I imagined it would be just like the last challenge but it wasn't...

Around 10:30PM we are called over by the officer who just got back from his break. He asks us very rudely (first time I saw a Canadian being so angry and rude, hope it is just an exception lol) what is the purpose of our presence and we tell him that we are landing today, he had COPR in front of him so I don't know what this qustion was about. Then he asks us a few questions:

- Who is the primary applicant?
- Are you employed at the moment?
- Does your spouse speak English?
- Is your spouse employed?


He makes us read the sentence about criminal record on our COPR aloud and tells us to write YES/NO and initial it. We obviously say NO, initial it.

Then he makes us read the sentence about dependents aloud and we state NO again and initial it.
He asks us to sit down and wait.

In 5-7 minutes he calls us over again and asks us to sign our COPR. We do sign it and he tells us we can go ahead and update our SIN numbers now. Here I get angry with this guy and ask him if we are PR yet, cuz I was hoping he would say something. He says yes and shows his desire on his face not to see us again. My spouse and me say hoooray, not very loudly but just to drop the tension a little bit and he smiles a little bit.

We leave the building and get f***ing wasted at 4 different bars, play a little bit of casino and leave Niagara at 3AM.

So here I am at work, hungover as hell but happy as hell as well.

I am a Permanent Resident of Canada! Dreams come true!!!!

What a journey this was, thank you to all of those who helped me in this forum and to those who dealt with my panic attacks, I know I panic too much.

I will definitely stay around to help those who need help and to answer questions.

Beautiful Experience, congrats. I am expecting my passport back by next week.
I am in Toronto so would like to do the same in regards to travel, few questions:

1. Where do you buy that pass?
2. Schedule for Bus timings?
3. Where does it leave from, I work in downtown near dundas square.

 

[new_guy]

How many Nov Applicants are still waiting for Medical or PPR?

1. Dost7 (My Fiancee)

 

[ramz1604]

How many Nov Applicants are still waiting for Medical or PPR?

1. Dost7 (My Fiancee)

approx 50% more

 

[akil_f1]

How many Nov Applicants are still waiting for Medical or PPR?

1. Dost7 (My Fiancee)

I am waiting for medicals .No updates with regards to my file after the AOR. :'(

 

[samir3132]

App rec Nov 22
Med rec. 3rd June
Requirement on 6th June
Rprf paid upfront June 8
Requirement submit June 24
Medical received June 27
Application in process July 3
Now waiting for ppr.

 

[searing_heat]

I'm waiting for PPR. RPRF paid and medicals updated on ECAS since mid June.

 

[letsvibe]

Waiting since June 1st Decision Made , NO PPR as of yet

 

[ju_mark]

my medical now show up in ECAS as Medicals Received (July 14). i cannot modify the list so if somebody could update my info for me. thaaaanks

Congrats to everybody who already landed and for everybody who is still waiting: No worries. Good things always take a little longer Thumbs crossed and gooood luck

 

[dizon09]

my medical now show up in ECAS as Medicals Received (July 14). i cannot modify the list so if somebody could update my info for me. thaaaanks

Congrats to everybody who already landed and for everybody who is still waiting: No worries. Good things always take a little longer Thumbs crossed and gooood luck

Congratz! The file is open for everbody to update. Check samir3132 link.

 

[solong]

Finally great news - landed in Prescott, ON on July 13.
Here's a quick update of recent events: after a long waiting, as soon as UF medicals were uploaded on ECAS (July 6), things started to move faster:
Status changes to In process - July 8 (started processing your app on July 4)
Decision made: July 11
CPR letter: dated July 8 (arrived a few days after by mail).

Landing was smooth - crossed the bridge to the US side, got the admin refusal paper in 5 minutes (didn't have to pay anything), back to the Canadian side - the officer arranged the forms and that's it - I'm a PR! ;D

My understanding now is that Medicals are being either requested or retrieved (in the case of UF) by the VO only when eligibility in other fields is passed (security, criminality etc.). I have an extensive travel history, which might caused the delay comparing with other Nov apps. Still much faster than 13 months! will know better when GCMS notes arrive.

Thank you all forum members for sharing your experiences and advice, and best of luck to all applicants still waiting and to new PRs!

 

[maniac2403]

Finally great news - landed in Prescott, ON on July 13.
Here's a quick update of recent events: after a long waiting, as soon as UF medicals were uploaded on ECAS (July 6), things started to move faster:
Status changes to In process - July 8 (started processing your app on July 4)
Decision made: July 11
CPR letter: dated July 8 (arrived a few days after by mail).

Landing was smooth - crossed the bridge to the US side, got the admin refusal paper in 5 minutes (didn't have to pay anything), back to the Canadian side - the officer arranged the forms and that's it - I'm a PR! ;D

My understanding now is that Medicals are being either requested or retrieved (in the case of UF) by the VO only when eligibility in other fields is passed (security, criminality etc.). I have an extensive travel history, which might caused the delay comparing with other Nov apps. Still much faster than 13 months! will know better when GCMS notes arrive.

Thank you all forum members for sharing your experiences and advice, and best of luck to all applicants still waiting and to new PRs!

Congratulations! It appears that the longer travel history one has, the more time it is taking for applicants. For me, I don't have frequent trips, just longer trips

 

[dizon09]

Congratulations! It appears that the longer travel history one has, the more time it is taking for applicants. For me, I don't have frequent trips, just longer trips

Congratz everybody!

Travel history effect, is not really true for everybody. I have been assigned to 6 countries in the middle east & Africa, while my friend only travelled to Canada. And yet we have the same timelines and we simultaneously received PPR July 08, 2014.

 

[ukulele]

Beautiful Experience, congrats. I am expecting my passport back by next week.
I am in Toronto so would like to do the same in regards to travel, few questions:

1. Where do you buy that pass?
2. Schedule for Bus timings?
3. Where does it leave from, I work in downtown near dundas square.

Hi bro, ok so it is called Safeway here is the website http://www.safewaytours.net/casino-tours/ SORRY EVERYONE IT IS NOT AN AD, JUST HELPING SOME PPL GET TO NIAGARA

They go tO Niagara every hour. The only disadvantage - you cannot have anything with you, not even a small bag, what i did was I took my husband's passport and my passport and our COPRs and put them in a pocket in my jacket. If you have a bag or something they will not let you on the bus.

You don't have to book anything you just show up at Yonge and College (Holiday Inn Hotel is where they stop and where their office is) and once the bus stops you will see lots of gamblers get on it. There will be a stewardess or whatever they call her, conductor maybe, just tell her you are going to Casino and you would like to purchase a card, she will let you on the bus and while the bus is on its way to Niagara she will collect money from you ($35). Once you arrive she will walk you to the casino reception and they will print a card for you. After that you can leave the casino, nobody cares what you do after but MAKE SURE YOU PLAY AT LEAST 1 GAME BEFORE YOU LEAVE, they will fine you if your card is not activated. The fine is $70, but just spend 5 bucks and play some sloth machines whatever. After that you can go Niagara as often as you want for $7 per round trip.

Very cool option indeed, we go to Niagara by those buses all the time. All of my friends do as well.

 

[RobyBaggio]

App rec Nov 22
Med rec. 3rd June
Requirement on 6th June
Rprf paid upfront June 8
Requirement submit June 24
Medical received June 27
Application in process July 3
Now waiting for ppr.

App rec Nov 18
Med rec 27 june
waiting for Rprf and Ppr. Application Received with no updates on medicals.

 

[dizon09]

Hi bro, ok so it is called Safeway here is the website http://www.safewaytours.net/casino-tours/ SORRY EVERYONE IT IS NOT AN AD, JUST HELPING SOME PPL GET TO NIAGARA

They go tO Niagara every hour. The only disadvantage - you cannot have anything with you, not even a small bag, what i did was I took my husband's passport and my passport and our COPRs and put them in a pocket in my jacket. If you have a bag or something they will not let you on the bus.

You don't have to book anything you just show up at Yonge and College (Holiday Inn Hotel is where they stop and where their office is) and once the bus stops you will see lots of gamblers get on it. There will be a stewardess or whatever they call her, conductor maybe, just tell her you are going to Casino and you would like to purchase a card, she will let you on the bus and while the bus is on its way to Niagara she will collect money from you ($35). Once you arrive she will walk you to the casino reception and they will print a card for you. After that you can leave the casino, nobody cares what you do after but MAKE SURE YOU PLAY AT LEAST 1 GAME BEFORE YOU LEAVE, they will fine you if your card is not activated. The fine is $70, but just spend 5 bucks and play some sloth machines whatever. After that you can go Niagara as often as you want for $7 per round trip.

Very cool option indeed, we go to Niagara by those buses all the time. All of my friends do as well.

Thanks ukulele.
This is a good option, but will they allow your son/daughter under 18 to board the bus going to the Casino?