Petitioning CIC to improve inland processing time and grant Open Work Permit

[Leopold_31]

Exactly. A year goes by quickly. I don't mind being away from him as long as I can be productive. As I said, I was forced to do inland. The days go by quickly when you are keeping yourself occupied. However, they drag when you're doing absolutely nothing.

I don't even know what to say to that. I guess our relationships are vastly different, because for me and my wife every day apart is horrible and she would quit her job in a second to be with me, but we do not have that option.

 

[Rob_TO]

How is that a basic common sense? Why the government doesn't want to charge the applicants (the foreigners) full expenses of the processing? Because they are so nice so they want to help foreigners with Canadian tax dollars? You believe so? Haha

You obviously don't know much about how government works in Canada. Any fees you pay for any service, usually cover only a portion of the cost. If you actually look at all the man-hours and levels of people that are involved in doing something, the real costs are much higher and funded by general taxes. This is true for any fee you pay the government for anything.

You really think $500 in processing fees fully pays for the direct wage, all the benefits, and all the pensions of the people that process an application including the visa officer, medical officers, all their managers, and support staff? Not to mention visa officers travelling to attend interviews in many cases? The total budgets of visa offices do not come close to being self-funded by application fees alone. You would need to be completely clueless or delusional to think so.

 

[chakrab]

Oh so its ok for me, a canadian citizen, to be away from my loved one. But not for federal workers. I don't buy it.

dude i feel for you. i genuinely do. but "we" are different. ordinary citizens dont give a **** about you missing your loved one. but sending more workers and staff to parts of the world which are already volatile and hostile to the so called western world won't fly well with the common folks.

it's an unfortunate situation that am sure you realize deep down. 4/5 years ago, canadians could even sponsor their girlfriends for PR. things are a lot different now because of how those situations were abused by stupid people. i am mad too because of same reason. if pissing at the others here on the forums gives you some relief, then so be it. but it's not going to help the cause.

 

[Leopold_31]

You obviously don't know much about how government works in Canada. Any fees you pay for any service, usually cover only a portion of the cost. If you actually look at all the man-hours and levels of people that are involved in doing something, the real costs are much higher and funded by general taxes. This is true for any fee you pay the government for anything.

You really think $500 in processing fees fully pays for the direct wage, all the benefits, and all the pensions of the people that process an application including the visa officer, medical officers, all their managers, and support staff? Not to mention visa officers travelling to attend interviews in many cases? The total budgets of visa offices do not come close to being self-funded by application fees alone. You would need to be completely clueless or delusional to think so.

I agree with this. I don't know where the guy got 5 hours to process an application. Obviously it takes much longer then that and there many other costs involved.

 

[Gaymer]

I don't even know what to say to that. I guess our relationships are vastly different, because for me and my wife every day apart is horrible and she would quit her job in a second to be with me, but we do not have that option.

I've been in a long distance relationship for about 8 years. A little distance never killed either of us. If anything, it made my bond with my husband stronger. As long as I get to talk daily with him through Skype, I was honestly satisfied. I'm sorry about your situation. It seems that we view things differently.

 

[fumbler1983]

After reading some of these posts I guess I should consider myself "lucky". I am from the US and my wife and I just decided to switch from applying inland to applying outland. I am still staying here during the process and am glad I have the option compared to others who do not. I do however know what both sides feels like and I dont know why we cant respect that the grass is never greener on the other side. We all have struggles that we have to deal with. I would imagine 99 percent of us are in these forums because we are all experiencing immigration.

It was extremely hard to be away from my wife. The more we had to leave each other, the harder it became. We literally would become so depressed being apart towards the end. When I decided to quit my job and my life and "visit" her during the PR process it seemed like a no-brainer. I knew I would not be able to see my friends and family for an extended period of time but compared to the agony of being apart, it seemed like a breeze.

Now that I am not working and am away from everyone I have days where it is really hard. It really takes a toll on someone mentally to not contribute or feel like the days have no purpose. Boredom can feel like torture for all of us at times.

If I had to go back and choose to keep my job and stay in Michigan for the process I would not take it but that doesn't mean that I have not suffered a lot along the way. All applicants suffer from whatever situation they are coming from and if we will never see change in any process if we keep this all or nothing mentality. The OP wanted to see change in the inland process. That does not mean they don't respect the struggles outland applicants face or that he wants priority.

Remember we are all in the same shoes in the big picture. Please respect each other or take it elsewhere.

 

[automaton82]

Regarding the petition, no matter how much you slice the arguments over inland applicants, it all comes down to this. There were 2 choices to make. So as long as there were choices your arguments becomes moot because everyone will come back to say this: you made a choice to take the inland route.

I would support your petition if there were no choices. Only inland available only. Not outland. Or the other way around. No inland and only outland sponsorship only. Then you "really didn't have a choice" because there was no choice.

In conclusion, as long as you have 2 options to take to immigrate to Canada through spousal PR application, you really can't have your cake and eat it too just because it didn't turn out the way you wanted in one of your choices.

You really can't expect CIC to treat inland more favorable over the outland. So I would support petition to reduce outland and inland sponsorship timeline but not one over the other.

I agree with this. Both should be reduced.

 

[automaton82]

It is never a "right" for anyone to immigrate to any country in the world for any reason (not just Canada)... it is a "privilege" extended by that country. Immigration is a controlled process that is subject to many rules and regulations in order to protect it's citizens. Even more so for wealthy countries that offer benefits and services that are not available elsewhere, all paid for by tax-payers.

It's perhaps a right to have your spouse move here ONLY if it can first be determined that the relationship is genuine, and that there are no security issues involved. If it was just a case of showing a marriage certificate and being approved instantly, then the number of fraud cases of people trying to gain immigration to Canada would skyrocket, harming all other Canadians. Since there are many dishonest people out there, you need to accept our immigration program for the privilege it is, and the harsh scrutiny and process that goes with it.

I don't agree that it is not a right. As a citizen of a democratic country, I am free to marry whomever I want. And in doing so, I also have the right to live here, with them, which means they get all the same rights as I do. This is a fundamental human right - the right to live and work and marry whomever you please.

Now to your second point, about scrutiny and genuine, of course I agree with this. I'm not saying they shouldn't do it; I'm saying they should do it faster. With the amount of information they have, they can decide on most cases very quickly.

Just because a process exist doesn't mean it cannot be improved upon. It is certainly not running at optimal efficiency; nothing in the government ever is. Why would it? No competition, no need to worry about funding. That doesn't breed efficient work environments.

 

[chakrab]

i keep telling my wife, i should have just married when i was a foreign worker. damn they have it so easy. the spouse gets a spousal visa easily without any hassle and can qualify for PR as a dependent. best of both worlds. it's so not fair to be a resident/citizen lol. but then i remember the hassle i had to go through to get LMO and get the PR. life seems better now (at least for me).

i agree with fumbler, it's difficult for everyone. no matter what process or stage one is in.

 

[automaton82]

You obviously don't know much about how government works in Canada. Any fees you pay for any service, usually cover only a portion of the cost. If you actually look at all the man-hours and levels of people that are involved in doing something, the real costs are much higher and funded by general taxes. This is true for any fee you pay the government for anything.

You really think $500 in processing fees fully pays for the direct wage, all the benefits, and all the pensions of the people that process an application including the visa officer, medical officers, all their managers, and support staff? Not to mention visa officers travelling to attend interviews in many cases? The total budgets of visa offices do not come close to being self-funded by application fees alone. You would need to be completely clueless or delusional to think so.

I am sure you are right, it is not covering their wages, nor their time. Of course, IMO, they are being paid too much. And in addition, they are taking too long. And lastly, I still pay the rest of it, through my income taxes, and HST. So I am paying them, even if not all of it is upfront.

No matter what you say, 100% of their funding is coming from us, through taxation + the upfront 'processing' fees. It's not like they get money from anywhere else but the citizens.

 

[Rob_TO]

I don't agree that it is not a right. As a citizen of a democratic country, I am free to marry whomever I want. And in doing so, I also have the right to live here, with them, which means they get all the same rights as I do. This is a fundamental human right - the right to live and work and marry whomever you please.

Yes, it is your right as a Canadian citizen to marry whoever you want, and it's your right as a Canadian to live and work in Canada.

However it is most definitely NOT a right of a non-Canadian (even if spouse) to live in Canada and enjoy all the rights that Canadians have. Similarly is it not your right as a Canadian to live in any other country in the world as a citizen or PR, including the one your spouse is from. That is at the discretion of each country, and each country has their own rules and regulations.

You will not find any 1st world country in the world, that makes this a right for non-citizens or PRs of that country. Just look at the US, where if a citizen doesn't make enough income, their spouse can not even apply to immigrate there.

No matter what you say, 100% of their funding is coming from us, through taxation + the upfront 'processing' fees. It's not like they get money from anywhere else but the citizens.

Yes and that is the problem. To speed up processing times would require expanding the budgets of all the visa offices. This would be paid for by EVERY single Canadian (not just the ones going through the process). And most Canadians unfortunately couldn't care less if it takes 6 months, a year or 2 years for an applicant to get status here since it only affects a small portion of the population... they would rather their tax dollars go do things that benefit the average Canadian more. Many Canadians would probably be upset if taxes were increased or other services suffered so more money could go to funding family class immigration. So the government will never make this an election issue, and will always have others areas higher on the list to invest tax-payer dollars into, before they get to immigration.

 

[screech339]

You obviously don't know much about how government works in Canada. Any fees you pay for any service, usually cover only a portion of the cost. If you actually look at all the man-hours and levels of people that are involved in doing something, the real costs are much higher and funded by general taxes. This is true for any fee you pay the government for anything.

You really think $500 in processing fees fully pays for the direct wage, all the benefits, and all the pensions of the people that process an application including the visa officer, medical officers, all their managers, and support staff? Not to mention visa officers travelling to attend interviews in many cases? The total budgets of visa offices do not come close to being self-funded by application fees alone. You would need to be completely clueless or delusional to think so.

As RobTO mentioned, the fees you pay for spousal sponsorship is a small portion of the total cost. If you really think that the fees should cover the full cost, expect your fees to a lot higher than what you are paying.

The only government service that is 100% fee paid for the service is the Canadian Passport service. What you pay for the passport is what is suppose to cost to get your Canadian Passport. Everything else, you are only paying a small portion of the cost. The rest is paid for by taxpayers.

 

[screech339]

I don't buy that argument. For example, its your choice to get pregnant (often), but that doesn't mean your employer can discriminate against you if you have chosen to get pregnant.

What does choosing to get pregnant got to do with employers here. We are talking about immigration and health care coverage. As for the CBC coverage story, they didn't get my sympathy. They could have tried to avoid getting pregnant at all cost if they wanted to avoid paying the cost of delivering the baby while under "VISITOR" status. It is not like they had no choice but to get pregnant. They knew what they were doing. They made an assumption she will get BC coverage by the time the baby comes? This is their fault. Never assume anything. And now BC residents will have to cover the cost of delivery. I can only imagined the uproar from BC residents.

Screech339

 

[Ponga]

What does choosing to get pregnant got to do with employers here. We are talking about immigration and health care coverage. As for the CBC coverage story, they didn't get my sympathy. They could have tried to avoid getting pregnant at all cost if they wanted to avoid paying the cost of delivering the baby while under "VISITOR" status. It is not like they had no choice but to get pregnant. They knew what they were doing. They made an assumption she will get BC coverage by the time the baby comes? This is their fault. Never assume anything. And now BC residents will have to cover the cost of delivery. I can only imagined the uproar from BC residents.

Screech339

Screech...in BC a PR applicant is eligible for MSP as soon as CIC accepts (for processing) their application. The couple probably figured that this was a non-issue, but soon realized (like many) that they have to fight to get the coverage! It is not based on AIP, which is what they were told, repeatedly by BC MSP.

And, BC MSP is not free. The applicant, or spouse, has to pay the premiums to HIBC. Why should there be an uproar at all?

 

[chakrab]

What does choosing to get pregnant got to do with employers here. We are talking about immigration and health care coverage. As for the CBC coverage story, they didn't get my sympathy. They could have tried to avoid getting pregnant at all cost if they wanted to avoid paying the cost of delivering the baby while under "VISITOR" status. It is not like they had no choice but to get pregnant. They knew what they were doing. They made an assumption she will get BC coverage by the time the baby comes? This is their fault. Never assume anything. And now BC residents will have to cover the cost of delivery. I can only imagined the uproar from BC residents.

Screech339

BC case is different. apparently in BC, they are eligible for BC MSP as long as the application has been filed. the sponsor has to pay the premium. i was told it's unique to BC. the case has nothing to do with delay in process. it's to do with proving that the application was submitted.