No AORs yet, however, it may be the case for us very soon. By soon I mean around January. This estimate stems from people in the August batch receiving their AORs currently. Given how IRCC is generally speeding up their processes of late, September could be receiving AORs as soon as mid-December and October by early to mid-January. Of course, this is a best case scenario.
Realistically, I would personally expect mid to late-January for October AORs to start rolling out. Of course, some of us may not get ours until even March or April. Worth keeping in mind.
The current vaccine developments, however, make this time exciting. Instating online testing can only do so much since applicants are required to have a one-on-one interview with an officer. However, having a vaccine rolled out means we can start the process of going back to normal. This going back to normal means back to vis-à-vis interactions which IRCC so adores. But with everything in life, there is always some real & gloomy caveat:
How quickly we can go back to normal depends greatly on how quickly everyone can get access to the vaccines. According to the U.S, they plan to the
following tiered approach. Assuming Canada follows likewise, the order of vaccine will be as follows:
1) Healthcare Workers
2) Individuals with high health risks from COVID
3) Essential Service Workers at high risk of exposure & moderate health risk individuals
4) Young Adults, Children & Essential Service workers at moderate risk of exposure
5) Everyone else.
So where do IRCC workers stand? Unfortunately, they do not all fall into a particular group (as do fast-food workers OR doctors for example). Therefore, given the Unions consider safe being when everyone in their office gets the vaccine, normality could very well take till June 2021 to be in place (the estimated time-frame for everyone to receive a vaccine). Given the horrible rolling out of Flu Vaccines in Canada, this estimate is a very generous one.
But the above are my 2¢ on the matter. I hope I am wrong and we see some developments soon. Nonetheless, having a vaccine rolled out this soon means we can start going back to normal for most things in our lives. We can get back to going out frequently, back to socializing, and even back to the movies (oh how I miss them!); we can be back to everything we used to do in the seemingly distant past. The prospect of that sure is exciting!