Parents Super Visa processing time for retired Indian army officer

[Geeta Hiteshi]

My daughter applied for parents super visa in August 2022. My husband is a retired army officer since 2009. However, we were informed by our consultant that it would take 8-9 months. We received a self declaration form from Canadian embassy in February 2023. It was duly filled and received by Canadian embassy by March 10th. Ever since we are waiting month by month. I fail to understand when all details have been provided by the earnest officer, then why is it taking so long for background the check. ts been 9.5 months now.
My anxiety is on rise because my daughter is pregnant and is due to deliver by mid June23. We have sent requests too. And did receive a response yesterday that application is being reviewed.
I am POSITIVE that our visa will arrive. Just need to know how much is expected time in processing of the same?

 

[Naturgrl]

My daughter applied for parents super visa in August 2022. My husband is a retired army officer since 2009. However, we were informed by our consultant that it would take 8-9 months. We received a self declaration form from Canadian embassy in February 2023. It was duly filled and received by Canadian embassy by March 10th. Ever since we are waiting month by month. I fail to understand when all details have been provided by the earnest officer, then why is it taking so long for background the check. ts been 9.5 months now.
My anxiety is on rise because my daughter is pregnant and is due to deliver by mid June23. We have sent requests too. And did receive a response yesterday that application is being reviewed.
I am POSITIVE that our visa will arrive. Just need to know how much is expected time in processing of the same?

No one can tell you processing times. Depends on your country and what steps have been completed in your application. Has medical and background check been completed. Background check will take longer because your husband was in the military. If eligibility review has started it means an officer is reviewing the file. It can take weeks or months. When do your medicals expire?

 

[Geeta Hiteshi]

Our medical will expire in August'22. We assume our background check is in process.

 

[Naturgrl]

Our medical will expire in August'22. We assume our background check is in process.

Check your file and confirm.

 

[vkamath]

Hello Geeta Mam, 1st of all I would like to thank your huband for safe guarding our borders. Your daughter could reach out to a local MP in Canada since she is a Permanent resident/Citizen. They could help check the case details. Note the processing time back in Aug 2022 was very high now it is reduced to 52 days.

Since your Husband was an Army office, the background check could be bit exhaustive which is unfortunate. I wish you the best and hope you get the visa soon

 

[Geeta Hiteshi]

Hello Geeta Mam, 1st of all I would like to thank your huband for safe guarding our borders. Your daughter could reach out to a local MP in Canada since she is a Permanent resident/Citizen. They could help check the case details. Note the processing time back in Aug 2022 was very high now it is reduced to 52 days.

Since your Husband was an Army office, the background check could be bit exhaustive which is unfortunate. I wish you the best and hope you get the visa soon

Thank you much Sir vkamath. Really appreciate your prompt suggestion.
My daughter has already written a email to respectable Mayor as a plea to address the issue and seek help at the earliest.
We are hopeful to receive a positive response.
Regards.

 

[GandiBaat]

My daughter applied for parents super visa in August 2022. My husband is a retired army officer since 2009. However, we were informed by our consultant that it would take 8-9 months. We received a self declaration form from Canadian embassy in February 2023. It was duly filled and received by Canadian embassy by March 10th. Ever since we are waiting month by month. I fail to understand when all details have been provided by the earnest officer, then why is it taking so long for background the check. ts been 9.5 months now.
My anxiety is on rise because my daughter is pregnant and is due to deliver by mid June23. We have sent requests too. And did receive a response yesterday that application is being reviewed.
I am POSITIVE that our visa will arrive. Just need to know how much is expected time in processing of the same?

Dear Mrs Hiteshi,

I thank your husband for his service to the nation. Here are few options for finding out where your Super Visa application is stuck.

1. MP . Ask your daughter to contact their local MP. Family reunion is a priority for Liberal government in Canada. They will answer.

2. Call IRCC. Again, this is better done by your daughter because it is a long distance call. I am not 100 % sure but the IRCC may be able to tell you whats the status of your application. 1-888-242-2100 is IRCC call centre number. You can google "IRCC contact" and find it too. This is fastest way to reach to IRCC but it is frustrating because wait is long.

3. Get GCMS notes. This is most comprehensive method and will get you your file in progress. Again, your daughter will be able to do this free of charge using something called AoA method. Ask her to look at https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/how-to-order-gcms-notes-step-by-step-process.513893/ . You might need to provide her with a signed consent letter in prescribed form (check the forum thread)

4. Raise a Web Form with IRCC : https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/contact-ircc/web-form.html This will allow you to send an online request to IRCC. They take sometime before responding. They may be able to tell you why there is delay and where your application is at.

Thank you and Happy to help you!
GandiBaat

 

[Geeta Hiteshi]

Thank you very much for your guidance. Yes, indeed my husband is a righteous mand is proud for having served his nation.
I truly appreciate your intent to help.
However, most of the suggestions have attempted. Yes, point 1&2 shall be addressed my daughter soon, inspite of her being just 2 weeks away from delivering our grand child.

Dear Mrs Hiteshi,

I thank your husband for his service to the nation. Here are few options for finding out where your Super Visa application is stuck.

1. MP . Ask your daughter to contact their local MP. Family reunion is a priority for Liberal government in Canada. They will answer.

2. Call IRCC. Again, this is better done by your daughter because it is a long distance call. I am not 100 % sure but the IRCC may be able to tell you whats the status of your application. 1-888-242-2100 is IRCC call centre number. You can google "IRCC contact" and find it too. This is fastest way to reach to IRCC but it is frustrating because wait is long.

3. Get GCMS notes. This is most comprehensive method and will get you your file in progress. Again, your daughter will be able to do this free of charge using something called AoA method. Ask her to look at https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/how-to-order-gcms-notes-step-by-step-process.513893/ . You might need to provide her with a signed consent letter in prescribed form (check the forum thread)

4. Raise a Web Form with IRCC : https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/contact-ircc/web-form.html This will allow you to send an online request to IRCC. They take sometime before responding. They may be able to tell you why there is delay and where your application is at.

Thank you and Happy to help you!
GandiBaat

Thank you once again.

 

[canuck78]

It sure why everyone is thanking someone from serving the Indian army on a a forum about Canada. What he actually did for the army will be one of the factors that will partially determine the length of processing. If someone has a more senior position and/or was involved in more sensitive parts of the army the longer the processing will likely be. For example if involved in any form of spying or surveillance at a senior level for example then there would be significantly more concern than if someone was involved in army officer recruitment for example. Your case is considered atypical and there isn’t a predictable processing period. All you can really do is wait. Your daughter can try and contact their local MP and not their mayor. A mayor is not re lo armed to federal politics. The MP is likely to say that your file is still being processed but no harm in asking. They won’t be able to have any too much influence on the file. Background checks also depends on receiving responses from other countries so that may also creating more delays.

 

[canuck78]

Thank you very much for your guidance. Yes, indeed my husband is a righteous mand is proud for having served his nation.
I truly appreciate your intent to help.
However, most of the suggestions have attempted. Yes, point 1&2 shall be addressed my daughter soon, inspite of her being just 2 weeks away from delivering our grand child.


Thank you once again.

Dear Mrs Hiteshi,

I thank your husband for his service to the nation. Here are few options for finding out where your Super Visa application is stuck.

1. MP . Ask your daughter to contact their local MP. Family reunion is a priority for Liberal government in Canada. They will answer.

2. Call IRCC. Again, this is better done by your daughter because it is a long distance call. I am not 100 % sure but the IRCC may be able to tell you whats the status of your application. 1-888-242-2100 is IRCC call centre number. You can google "IRCC contact" and find it too. This is fastest way to reach to IRCC but it is frustrating because wait is long.

3. Get GCMS notes. This is most comprehensive method and will get you your file in progress. Again, your daughter will be able to do this free of charge using something called AoA method. Ask her to look at https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/how-to-order-gcms-notes-step-by-step-process.513893/ . You might need to provide her with a signed consent letter in prescribed form (check the forum thread)

4. Raise a Web Form with IRCC : https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/contact-ircc/web-form.html This will allow you to send an online request to IRCC. They take sometime before responding. They may be able to tell you why there is delay and where your application is at.

Thank you and Happy to help you!
GandiBaat

1. Although the Liberal government has prioritized family reunification parents of adult children aren’t considered family for IRCC. When it comes to background checks for people with a military background especially if your whole career has been in the military there will likely be abnormal processing time and a much more exhaustive background check. This also likely involves i firms too from other countries which can take time up receive. An MP will likely report that their application is still being processed and the case will not be processed based on normal processing times.

2,3 and 4 it sounds as though they can see that their application is stuck in background screening. Calling IRCC is unlikely to provide more information. Ordering GCMS notes will provide more information than calling IRCC. Sending a webform just duplicates the work you have already done. Contacting your MP and getting GCMS notes should provide more information than contacting IRCC customer service via webform or phone number. Contacting the people that will get you the most information and getting the documents that will provide the most information is much better than just contacting everyone. IRCC customer service line regularly gives out wrong information so would avoid calling in general and would always get things in writing.

 

[GandiBaat]

1. Although the Liberal government has prioritized family reunification parents of adult children aren’t considered family for IRCC.

The term "family" is used contextually in Canadian immigration law. Meaning, IRCC treats the meaning of family or family unit depending upon where they occur. For instance, consider the Family-class visa program.

IRCC official page provides this handy guide : https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/permanent-residence/non-economic-classes/family-class-process.html

Its clear that Canadian immigration considers Parent and Grandparents as "Family-class immigration".

We can also see that in this page only, they clarify.

The intent of the family class immigration program is to reunite Canadian citizens and permanent residents with close family members.

So, yes, Parents and Grandparents are considered FAMILY in context of family-class sponsorship and family-class immigration. And indeed, family reunion has been, atleast nominally, a goal of canadian immigration under present regime.

Does it mean "family" ALWAYS include parents and grandparents. The answer is NO. In certain contexts, especially when "family-unit" is mentioned, it DOES NOT INCLUDE. For instance when you are immigrating as an economic immigrant, you can not add a parent or grandparent as a dependent because they are NOT considered part of family-unit.

Hope it helps.

2,3 and 4 it sounds as though they can see that their application is stuck in background screening. Calling IRCC is unlikely to provide more information. Ordering GCMS notes will provide more information than calling IRCC. Sending a webform just duplicates the work you have already done. Contacting your MP and getting GCMS notes should provide more information than contacting IRCC customer service via webform or phone number. Contacting the people that will get you the most information and getting the documents that will provide the most information is much better than just contacting everyone. IRCC customer service line regularly gives out wrong information so would avoid calling in general and would always get things in writing.

When it comes to IRCC, you never know WHY your application is stuck. Sometimes, it is stuck expecting a document and even the intimation of that is LOST. Yes, IRCC LOOSES emails too. I have suffered this first hand. IRCC failed to send an email giving BIL for my wife during my PR application. When IRCC takes more time than it expects to process your application, it is INDEED advisable to investigate. It is NOT a client's mistake that Canadian immigration processing is a complete mess and fails to give a detailed status and likes to hide things -- mostly because of their archaic GCMS system and NOT due to malevolence.

As they say, where there is smoke, there is fire. So getting GCMS notes, asking IRCC about delay in processing and calling them out on phone is all kosher. Does one need to do ALL of them at once? Ofcourse not! But being aware of various means is vital. And if you go through my answer I have mentioned them as options.

 

[GandiBaat]

However, most of the suggestions have attempted. Yes, point 1&2 shall be addressed my daughter soon, inspite of her being just 2 weeks away from delivering our grand child.

Has your daughter attempted to retrive GCMS notes of your application? I am aware it takes more than usual these days but if you can get GCMS notes of your application, it will give you most certain reason about why your application is delayed.

My wife's Biometric Letter notification was lost in email and was not notified to us at all. It was a good thing that I was checking our account like a maniac back then. Just look more throughly if there has been any kind of communication.

I know its too late but you folks might have applied for a TRV. It ... might have allowed you to visit canada sooner. TRV processing is less stringent than SuperVisa AFAIK. It allows you to say for six months but you can apply for a visitor record too upon reaching the end of you initial stay. I did this exactly for my parents. I originally used TRV when my wife was preggers. Now when again my parents visited, I applied for a Visitor Record to extend their visit. So they came to Canada this time around in May 2021 and in Oct we applied for Visitor Record and they gave us visitor record valid till Nov 2023. I have an autistic son and parents were visiting after a long time (due to covid) so probably IRCC has been sympathetic. This way my parents will be with me for 6+12 = 18 months. Also while your Visitor Record is processing you get to stay in Canada till it processes. So IRCC processes VR lightening fast. My parents got their processed in 8 days flat!

Bonus? I will apply for their Super Visa once they reach home. And then they can again visit us as visitors and let their Super Visa to process.

 

[GandiBaat]

It sure why everyone is thanking someone from serving the Indian army on a a forum about Canada. What he actually did for the army will be one of the factors that will partially determine the length of processing. If someone has a more senior position and/or was involved in more sensitive parts of the army the longer the processing will likely be. For example if involved in any form of spying or surveillance at a senior level for example then there would be significantly more concern than if someone was involved in army officer recruitment for example. Your case is considered atypical and there isn’t a predictable processing period. All you can really do is wait. Your daughter can try and contact their local MP and not their mayor. A mayor is not re lo armed to federal politics. The MP is likely to say that your file is still being processed but no harm in asking. They won’t be able to have any too much influence on the file. Background checks also depends on receiving responses from other countries so that may also creating more delays.

Honestly, @canuck78?

This forum is about Canadian IMMIGRATION and has a sizeable membership that is non-Canadian. Is it really this strange that some of us will thank people who served our nation of origin?

Indeed, if by serving the nation, they are still paying the price in terms of monstrous wait, there is MORE SO the reason for us civilians to thank them! They and their families made sacrifices not just during duty but are also paying the price AFTER they have retired owing to being treated with higher risk profile while visiting foreign lands.

Remember, in Canada, we say "Thank you" to our bus drivers too (atleast in Vancouver and Victoria we do so). Is a gesture of gratidue so surprising here now?

I personally owe my and my family's (not just wife and minor kids, just to be clear) life to Indian Army. We are originally a refugee family settled in India (legally) who were rescued by Indian Army in 1971 war in erstwhile East Pakistan. Had they not saved my grandparents, I would have never existed!

 

[vkamath]

Its a sign of respect for the Indian Armed Forces. I do it for the Canadian and US armed forces too.

 

[Manoj957]

Our medical will expire in August'22. We assume our background check is in process.

It's better to withdraw the application and reapply. The visa officer must have forgotten our files.. so that new file will be assigned to a different visa officer