Hi Guys and Gals,
I had a very interesting chat with a very good immigration lawyer today on Permanent Residency application for Inland applications. Here it is:
1 - What do all the status and emails from CIC mean?
AOR - AOR only means that your application has reached Sydney and some assistant has reviewed it very quickly and deemed it 'somewhat' complete. This means that they have entered you in their system correctly and are able to have email communication with you.
2 - When does the application actually goes under process?
After your account has been made on their website tracking system and your medicals have been received. After medicals, it can take an officer anywhere from 2-4 months to touch your application and review all the sections. In most cases, you get an email asking for more documents or an interview request if you have any criminal history or political connections.
3 - So, Why does it take so much time from the application start date to the actual review process start?
Well, there are couple things going on at CIC right now. First being Express Entry: EE is the highest priority application for CIC as it gained a very high media attention across the world and CIC invested a lot of money to make it a smooth automatic system. EE applications PR is being completed in 3-4 months and CIC is very proud of it. Second being the sheer number of regular applications from 2013-2015. There are so many applications piled up at the CIC office in Sydney from all categories of PR that it takes them 6-8 months to take a deep look into one. Basically, PR process is actually quite fast as from the time someone looks into a complete and perfect application including Medicas, they run a background check on you for Canada and if all good, request your Passport for stamping. Once that is done in 1-3 weeks, you have to either cross a border or go to your local CIC office and get your PR letter. Once you have your PR letter you are technically a Permanent Resident. With that letter you apply for your PR card which can take any where from 2-6 weeks.