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Permanent residency request sent by CIC to London instead of Paris office

V

vdoeler

Newbie
Jan 30, 2015
7
0
Hi all,

We recently have been left fairly winded by an unexpected twist in our immigration process.

As per the CIC webiste and information from the consultants the process for my son and I to become permanent residents under the spouse application (Canadian husband) was to be sent to the Paris office as I live in Belgium (but do have British nationality).

We received confirmation of my husband approval to be sponsor - hurray! - but then found out that instead of sending my file to the Paris office, processing time 8 months, it has been sent to the London office, 29 months!!!!!

We have base our whole lives on a maximum of 8 months waiting time, knowing that we are covered to be in Canada till that is completed as visitors, my son will be starting school in Canada in September, we are currently buying a house in Canada, I have sold my property in Belgium, the list goes on.... obviously waiting for up to 29 months for permanent residency here wld seriously affect all of these plans

I was wondering if anyone else had found themselves in a similar situation, whether it was worth writing to them, if anyone cld tell me how long they had to wait for once....any info that might give me hope really... :-(

With hopes still high and fingers very much crossed,

Vanessa
 
The good news is processing time at London is not 29 months. Last year due to a backlog of cases in Islamabad they were transferred to the London office. Many of them had been already in processing for over 18 months, hence when London calculated their average wait time for PR applicants they had to include the Islamabad applicants. Hence it jumped from 11 months to 29.

Check out the London thread which keeps a spreadsheet of current processing times and this very useful link for some FAQ.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spousal_Sponsorship-Canada/FAQ

London Thread: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/thread-for-outland-london-uk-applications-t49436.16845.html
 
vdoeler said:
Hi all,

We recently have been left fairly winded by an unexpected twist in our immigration process.

As per the CIC webiste and information from the consultants the process for my son and I to become permanent residents under the spouse application (Canadian husband) was to be sent to the Paris office as I live in Belgium (but do have British nationality).

We received confirmation of my husband approval to be sponsor - hurray! - but then found out that instead of sending my file to the Paris office, processing time 8 months, it has been sent to the London office, 29 months!!!!!

We have base our whole lives on a maximum of 8 months waiting time, knowing that we are covered to be in Canada till that is completed as visitors, my son will be starting school in Canada in September, we are currently buying a house in Canada, I have sold my property in Belgium, the list goes on.... obviously waiting for up to 29 months for permanent residency here wld seriously affect all of these plans

I was wondering if anyone else had found themselves in a similar situation, whether it was worth writing to them, if anyone cld tell me how long they had to wait for once....any info that might give me hope really... :-(

With hopes still high and fingers very much crossed,

Vanessa
Click to expand...

You better have a back up plan if your residency hasn't been granted by then. Since visitor status exempts your son from attending school unless you have a study permit and a lot of $$$ you better make other arrangements should this not happen on time. Also as everyone knows, being granted residency is never a guarantee. Should not jump the gun and assume you will automatically get it too no matter how solid your application is.
 
Hi vdoeler,

As brucem indicated there is a spreadsheet where we track application progress for applications processed in London.

Would you like to be added to the spreadsheet? If so please provide the following information (provide the answers you know):

-Date application received in Mississauga
-Whether you applied as Married or Common-Law
-Date of sponsor approval
-Which office is processing Phase 2 of your application (will say on your sponsor approval letter/email)
-Date(s) of any other requests you've had
-Whether or not the principal applicant is non-visa exempt
-Current location of the principal applicant- closest major city is fine if you don't want to be too specific!

Thanks,
Andrew
 
Thank you so much for your quick replies! it seems we can breath somewhat more easily! :-)

i shall deff into the links u have kindly sent us and yes, shall c where i can fill in that info to be added to the spreadsheet.

any idea of why they might have decided to send the application to London though despite the Paris office usually dealing with Belgian residents?

Thank you again!
 
What address do they have on file with you?
 
vdoeler said:
any idea of why they might have decided to send the application to London though despite the Paris office usually dealing with Belgian residents?
Click to expand...

You said you have British nationality, so that is the reason it went to London. CIC can choose to use visa office based on residency or citizenship, it's entirely their choice.
 
Thx Rob, that seems to be what I am seeing since delving into the forums a bit more.... question of sitting back and things taking their course now I guess, from the sounds of it, it seems that the average process time is around 8 months so what it wld have been via Paris in any case, one can but hope right! thank you!
 
d_j_heckford said:
Since visitor status exempts your son from attending school unless you have a study permit and a lot of $$$ you better make other arrangements should this not happen on time.
Click to expand...

This is actually up to individual schools/school boards to decide. Many have no issue enrolling the stepchild of a Canadian as normal, regardless of status.
 
canuck_in_uk said:
This is actually up to individual schools/school boards to decide. Many have no issue enrolling the stepchild of a Canadian as normal, regardless of status.
Click to expand...

Yes, exactly right. I was about to post the same.
 
all good re the school - picked up proof of enrollment - at least that big box is now ticked :-)

thank u so much for your answers!
 
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