Passport Request - Applicant in Canada on Visitor Visa

[viking123]

Good day!

I received an email from CIC regarding the passport request accompanied with 2 recent photographs. They advised sending to the high commissioning of the applicants home country. However, my wife (the applicant) is currently in Canada on a visitor visa. They did mention if the applicant is in Canada and is going to be in for another 3 months, the additional documents can be submitted to CPP Ottawa.

Now the tricky piece is her visitor visa is expiring early May, 2017 (that gives us approx 2.5 months from now).

I am not sure if we should send the passport to the Home country or CPP Ottawa. Please advise?

How long does it take to receive the Passport back?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Cheers.

 

[CDNPR2014]

send it to ottawa. it will not take 2.5 months to get it back from Ottawa. it generally takes anywhere from 1-4 weeks. worst case scenario, she can apply to extend her stay as a visitor if it gets too close to her current visa expiring. though, again, if she submits her passport to ottawa immediately, she will get her passport back and will be able to land at a land border well before she would need to do that.

 

[viking123]

send it to ottawa. it will not take 2.5 months to get it back from Ottawa. it generally takes anywhere from 1-4 weeks. worst case scenario, she can apply to extend her stay as a visitor if it gets too close to her current visa expiring. though, again, if she submits her passport to ottawa immediately, she will get her passport back and will be able to land at a land border well before she would need to do that.

Thanks for the feedback.

What are the next steps after sending the passport......is this good news?

 

[CDNPR2014]

Thanks for the feedback.

What are the next steps after sending the passport......is this good news?

if they are requesting her passport for visa processing, then it's assumed the application is approved. The visa office will send her approval paper back with her passport and visa. Once she receives that back, she will need to officially land as a pr. she can do this by going to a land border or flying out and returning to canada by plane.

yes, this is good news. the application won't be rejected if there wasn't an interview or if multiple requests were left unanswered.

 

[viking123]

Excellent!

Thanks much.

 

[dranzer19]

if they are requesting her passport for visa processing, then it's assumed the application is approved. The visa office will send her approval paper back with her passport and visa. Once she receives that back, she will need to officially land as a pr. she can do this by going to a land border or flying out and returning to canada by plane.

yes, this is good news. the application won't be rejected if there wasn't an interview or if multiple requests were left unanswered.

Just to get further clarification on what you said: when you say go to a land border, would the person need to have a US visa assuming they would need to exit and re-enter Canada to officially land as a PR?

 

[CDNPR2014]

Just to get further clarification on what you said: when you say go to a land border, would the person need to have a US visa assuming they would need to exit and re-enter Canada to officially land as a PR?

no, no US visa is required. when you land at a land border, you are doing what's called "flagpoling". While you drive to the US, you technically are never actually entering the us. When you tell the US border guard you want to "flagpole" to land as a PR in canada, they will issue what's called an "administrative refusal" and turn you around to go back to Canada. The administrative refusal has no impact on the person's future US visa applications and is not considered "denied entry". it is basically just a piece of paper that allows you do do a u-turn at the border. it's quite common.

 

[dranzer19]

no, no US visa is required. when you land at a land border, you are doing what's called "flagpoling". While you drive to the US, you technically are never actually entering the us. When you tell the US border guard you want to "flagpole" to land as a PR in canada, they will issue what's called an "administrative refusal" and turn you around to go back to Canada. The administrative refusal has no impact on the person's future US visa applications and is not considered "denied entry". it is basically just a piece of paper that allows you do do a u-turn at the border. it's quite common.

That is useful information. Thank you very much!