Pretoria - Paris Processing Estimates

[pretoriaSA]

Hi!

I am a Canadian citizen, My husband is a citizen of South Africa (Pretoria) working in Paris. We have been married just over two years and filed our spousal sponsorship application in July 2013, I was approved as a sponsor in late August 2013. Our application is being processed in Paris and has exceeded the 8 month estimate by several months now. We had a pretty simple application, no children or other issues. I recently checked the CIC system and his status just says application received.

I want to make enquiries to CIC now but was wondering before I bother them, will they help now since 8 months has passed in Paris Embassy or do we have to wait 21 months because he is citizen of South Africa - Pretoria which is 21 months?

Thanks you!

 

[Avadava]

First of all, double check to make sure your application is in Paris. Did they say on your sponsorship approval that the application has been forwarded to Paris? It is possible that CIC sent the application to the country of nationality instead of country of residence. Even if you are asked to choose a VO on the forms, in the end, it's their decision where to send it.

If your application is truly in Paris and it has exceeded the posted processing times, you can either:

a) email the Paris VO and ask for an update - follow this link for a case specific inquiry: https://dmp-portal.cic.gc.ca/enquiries-renseignements/case-cas-eng.aspx?mission=paris
or
b) contact your MP in Canada and ask them to request an update on your application from the VO in Paris (most MPs are helpful, but there have been cases where the MP didn't do much in this regards)

If you discover that your application is in Pretoria, then you still have some waiting to do.

Since Paris VO is very fast in processing applications (some applicants get through in 4-5 months), I'm inclined to believe that either your application is in Pretoria or something went wrong (eg: you might have missed an email from them)

Don't be scared though, just keep calm and start inquiring for updates.

 

[pretoriaSA]

First of all, double check to make sure your application is in Paris. Did they say on your sponsorship approval that the application has been forwarded to Paris? It is possible that CIC sent the application to the country of nationality instead of country of residence. Even if you are asked to choose a VO on the forms, in the end, it's their decision where to send it.

If your application is truly in Paris and it had exceeded the posted processing times, you can either:

a) email the Paris VO and ask for an update - follow this link for a case specific inquiry

b) contact your MP in Canada and ask them to request an update on your application from the VO in Paris (most MPs are helpful, but there have been cases where the MP didn't do much in this regards)

If you discover that your application is in Pretoria, then you still have some waiting to do.

Since Paris VO is very fast in processing applications (some applicants get through in 4-5 months), I'm inclined to believe that either your application is in Pretoria or something went wrong (eg: you might have missed an email from them)

Don't be scared though, just keep calm and start inquiring for updates.

Yes. absolutely the application is in Paris Embassy. I will start a case enquiry. thank you for the link.

Would it be possible, since they need to do a background check in Pretoria, that our application is now in a wait list with all other Pretoria applicants and then when they are done it goes back to Paris? Sorry, I just have no idea how the system works. We were obviously hopeful that applying at a less busy Embassy would mean a shorter wait, but maybe it doesn't work that way.

 

[abbybc]

Yes. absolutely the application is in Paris Embassy. I will start a case enquiry. thank you for the link.

Would it be possible, since they need to do a background check in Pretoria, that our application is now in a wait list with all other Pretoria applicants and then when they are done it goes back to Paris? Sorry, I just have no idea how the system works. We were obviously hopeful that applying at a less busy Embassy would mean a shorter wait, but maybe it doesn't work that way.

I think you may be right. Ours is already past the HK timeline where we filed. I was told it depends on citizenship so we will probably be waiting 15 months (Manila process time)