Port of Spain Office, Trinidad and Tobago

[fromadistance]

The curse will soon be broken and when we do start to get PPR's in here it will be one after the other....FAITH!

 

[Behopeful]

The curse will soon be broken and when we do start to get PPR's in here it will be one after the other....FAITH!

I really hope so! I had a dream last night everyone here had decision made on their application! Wouldn't that be great. Wishful thinking!

 

[millslu]

hahaha my wife said she is tired of that dream so last night she dreamnt she won the lottery hhhhhh ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[Behopeful]

hahaha my wife said she is tired of that dream so last night she dreamnt she won the lottery hhhhhh ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Well tell her to at least pass some of the money my way! This process has made us all a little poorer!

 

[Brit_Edwards]

Haha you're not the only one, but unfortunately it will draw scrutiny as their inclination will be to say that he married you to get back into Canada. Sad but true. It doesn't necessarily have to mean an interview though, again, it's all how you present it. The reason for calling for interview would be for you to prove that your relationship naturally progressed to marriage, and was not done to gain entry to Canada. Your job is to prove this up front in your application, so that they won't have anything additional to ask. Sadly, babies don't mean anything to CIC. They have stated quite clearly that "all a baby proves is that two people had sex". If your case looks weak to them, a baby won't help. HOWEVER... if you've got a strong case, having a baby on top of that can only make you stronger. It's all in the presentation

Also YES, you should definitely include a cover letter separate from the forms! It's one of those things that they don't tell you but earns big points. For one, it shows you're super organized, which they interpret as a sign of a genuine relationship (fraudsters won't put in that much effort). Second, it gives you the opportunity to present your case the way you want them to see it, to guide them through all your evidence and frame your story for them. Think of it as the opening statement in a trial. It's also the opportunity to point out any potential red flags and address them head on, rather than leaving the VO to come to his/her own twisted conclusion. Finally, it allows you to walk them through how you organized your application, so they can find everything quickly, as likely your package will include things that are not on the CIC checklist.

Another suggestion... while it usually isn't worth the $2000-$3000 an immigration consultant will charge to represent you, it is totally worth the $200 or so they'll charge you to look over your case. Most consultants offer this service. You simply bring in your completed package and they will look over it through the eyes of a VO and give you any feedback on how to make it better. It's soooo worth a couple hundred bucks. If you can do this, I'd strongly recommend it!

Oh yeah... I forgot lol. Yeah, you're on the last leg brother, don't worry

Immigration consultants, lawyers,, HELL FKN NO! You know how much PEOPLE have gone to them for help, spend money and end up screwed anyways..some of my family members r living proof of that..Uh uh...Im very knowledgeable when it comes to this immigration thing you know, and im happy we took our time to put everything together the right way than rush like everyone else.. I just want to make sure im on the right track and my ideas match to the outcomes of all of you.. Ive always thought of doing a cover letter but the way how my package is fat already I dont want to over do anything.. so now I know the more the better and how you present it too right.. I got his pic today so im organizing the papers for the 100th time and maybe thursday we can mail them in

 

[Behopeful]

Immigration consultants, lawyers,, HELL FKN NO! You know how much PEOPLE have gone to them for help, spend money and end up screwed anyways..some of my family members r living proof of that..Uh uh...Im very knowledgeable when it comes to this immigration thing you know, and im happy we took our time to put everything together the right way than rush like everyone else.. I just want to make sure im on the right track and my ideas match to the outcomes of all of you.. Ive always thought of doing a cover letter but the way how my package is fat already I dont want to over do anything.. so now I know the more the better and how you present it too right.. I got his pic today so im organizing the papers for the 100th time and maybe thursday we can mail them in

Brit... That's great that everything is ready to go. It is hard to stop organizing and re-organizing, even when it's out of your hands you will think (or at least I did) and think I should have added that or this.

Question for other members... My husband and I were common law from early 2011. He was in the lease, my health benefits with lots of claims, the beneficiary and reported/ files taxes together. I've read somewhere CRA can issue a letter saying we were common law and filed taxes together. Did anyone else get a letter from CRA?

 

[Zouk Princesse]

Immigration consultants, lawyers,, HELL FKN NO! You know how much PEOPLE have gone to them for help, spend money and end up screwed anyways..some of my family members r living proof of that..Uh uh...Im very knowledgeable when it comes to this immigration thing you know, and im happy we took our time to put everything together the right way than rush like everyone else.. I just want to make sure im on the right track and my ideas match to the outcomes of all of you.. Ive always thought of doing a cover letter but the way how my package is fat already I dont want to over do anything.. so now I know the more the better and how you present it too right.. I got his pic today so im organizing the papers for the 100th time and maybe thursday we can mail them in

Hahaha like everything else, you have to weed out the bad from the good. For example, the first consultant we went to quoted us $5,000 for representation. When I asked why it was so high, she explained that if we are refused, she will represent us in the appeal for free, so essentially the appeal fee was built in. So I said cool, if we are approved and don't need to appeal, do we get a portion back? She gave me a LOOK. Leaving her office, I also wondered why she was planning for us to be rejected, what kinda consultant is she??? Again, I'm not suggesting that you pay $$$ for full representation, only the $200 or so for an application review. A qualified consultant can be extremely helpful in that capacity and can point out little things that even the most organized among us may not know. For example, it was our (new) consultant who told us about using a cover letter. The choice is yours, but if you do due diligence and use them appropriately, they can be the difference between a quick process and one full of delays. Spousal sponsorship is different from any other immigration category, so even being familiar with other classes doesn't fully prepare you for this.

 

[millslu]

you know what @zouk that is were i may differ on you at this point, my wife after getting some crazy quotes on the application we ended up doing it our selves and we put our to genuise mind to it and we came out with very little to know errors, except for a few things they decided to change along the way, and it has panned out well for us,we had so much bad experineces with lawyers and consultants, you know the only mistake we did and my wife keeps beating herself about it, but it could have gone both ways, the fact tht we should have done inland application, even though i was facing deportation, when i was asked to report to cbsa the officer didnt realise my app was outbound so he sent me back and said he will chek my application and see were it at so he can give me a temp, less than 24 hr he call me back and said he made a mistake he didnt realise it was outbound, and a few days later here i am hahaha in st lucia.

i find the application is very straight forward and if along the way she wants to do a strenghening then she should, plus we are here on the forum to help, something alot of us didnt get a chance to get and we paid outstanding monies to idiots tht did nothing. i know @zouk you have massive experiece and i agree with what you said but @brit sounds like she has everything under wraps there, how hard can it be, if she forgets anything she will send it later but as long as her basic application is done correct she dont need to worry, and like i said with my application all the strengthening i did, at the end of the day and that just my assumption i dont even think it mattered at all to them, at the interview they ask for so much more stuff, when i brought it for them they didnt go through s quarter of it, my intreview was called quickly and she just handed me all my hard work.

anyways @brit make your best judgement on that i agree with @zouk but am just sayin with my experience i dont know. what do you think @zouk

 

[Maddants]

you know what @ zouk that is were i may differ on you at this point, my wife after getting some crazy quotes on the application we ended up doing it our selves and we put our to genuise mind to it and we came out with very little to know errors, except for a few things they decided to change along the way, and it has panned out well for us,we had so much bad experineces with lawyers and consultants, you know the only mistake we did and my wife keeps beating herself about it, but it could have gone both ways, the fact tht we should have done inland application, even though i was facing deportation, when i was asked to report to cbsa the officer didnt realise my app was outbound so he sent me back and said he will chek my application and see were it at so he can give me a temp, less than 24 hr he call me back and said he made a mistake he didnt realise it was outbound, and a few days later here i am hahaha in st lucia.

i find the application is very straight forward and if along the way she wants to do a strenghening then she should, plus we are here on the forum to help, something alot of us didnt get a chance to get and we paid outstanding monies to idiots tht did nothing. i know @ zouk you have massive experiece and i agree with what you said but @ brit sounds like she has everything under wraps there, how hard can it be, if she forgets anything she will send it later but as long as her basic application is done correct she dont need to worry, and like i said with my application all the strengthening i did, at the end of the day and that just my assumption i dont even think it mattered at all to them, at the interview they ask for so much more stuff, when i brought it for them they didnt go through s quarter of it, my intreview was called quickly and she just handed me all my hard work.

anyways @ brit make your best judgement on that i agree with @ zouk but am just sayin with my experience i dont know. what do you think @ zouk

my opinion in this case is that i would not advice her to get a lawyer unless her case is a very unique case....as long as you read the guideline about the application then i dont see you needing a lawyer for that...me and my wife did our application by ourselves and the only thing that i left out was my signature on one of the form that the applicant and sponsor had to sign together....it cost me $3,400 jmd just to send that one piece of paper to my wife in canada.

 

[CdnandTrini]

Hi everyone, hope you have all been keeping well. Not sure if anyone else has posted on this yet; however, the processing times at POS and Kingston have gone up again from 19 months to 20 months.........arrrrggghhhh :'( Just saw that CIC did a quarterly update........please Lord help us all to cope.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp

 

[fromadistance]

Hi everyone, hope you have all been keeping well. Not sure if anyone else has posted on this yet; however, the processing times at POS and Kingston have gone up again from 19 months to 20 months.........arrrrggghhhh :'( Just saw that CIC did a quarterly update........please Lord help us all to cope.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp

:'( :'( :'(

 

[Zouk Princesse]

Lol I think you guys are not getting what I'm saying. Ok let me type real big: I AM NOT ADVISING ANYONE TO GET A LAWYER OR TO BE REPRESENTED BY AN IMMIGRATION CONSULTANT. NOT AT ALL. Unless of course your case is super complicated and involves some major legal issues, which is clearly NOT the case here. So again... A BIG NO TO SPENDING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON REPRESENTATION. Clear?

OK... what I AM suggesting is a REVIEW.. it should not cost anymore than say $250 and takes like a day or 2. And not from any quack who calls himself a consultant either. I would also strongly advise against having a lawyer do this type of review, as their experience is more on the legal end and less on the organization/helpful hints end. A review would be the equivalent of you saying to me "Hey, Zouk, you mind taking a quick look at my application package before I send it in?" I'd look it over, say things like "you should really use a cover letter" or "when typing the employment dates, use "present" instead of today's date to avoid them questioning in 5 months whether he still works there or not". I give you back your application with my comments, you take the helpful ones and then proceed as normal. This is NOT representation. And I do stress it should be a qualified and trusted consultant, again... no useless quacks. You do all the work, you send it in yourself, you make all the decisions and retain full control over your application, and this person will have nothing further to do with you ever again (unless of course you want to call them in 8-18 months and say "we got approved, thanks for your help!").

Aight, not sure how much more I can break that down. As always, do what is best for you

I do understand the fear of lawyer/consultant representation. A friend of mine had his "lawyer" prepare his case, only to find out after the fact that said lawyer omitted his children from the application and now he can never sponsor them to Canada. The lawyer's response was "I thought it would be faster if you applied with no dependents". That's why I'm suggesting a REVIEW and NOT REPRESENTATION.

 

[Zouk Princesse]

Hi everyone, hope you have all been keeping well. Not sure if anyone else has posted on this yet; however, the processing times at POS and Kingston have gone up again from 19 months to 20 months.........arrrrggghhhh :'( Just saw that CIC did a quarterly update........please Lord help us all to cope.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp

Don't hurt your head over those posted numbers... the only thing they should mean to you is to let you know when it's ok to have your MP demand answers. Remember that they refer to 80% of cases, including the really difficult long drawn out ones. It's also based on the past... so they could very well speed things up going forward

 

[CdnandTrini]

Don't hurt your hurt over those posted numbers... the only thing they should mean to you is to let you know when it's ok to have your MP demand answers. Remember that they refer to 80% of cases, including the really difficult long drawn out ones. It's also based on the past... so they could very well speed things up going forward

Thanks Zouk Princesse - for the perspective and encouragement. Blessings.

 

[Zouk Princesse]

Thanks Zouk Princesse - for the perspective and encouragement. Blessings.

8) Stay strong, the light at the end of the tunnel grows nearer