Problem of Requesting Immigration Office (in the form of IMM0008)

[extreme001]

Hello everyone,

It is my first post in this forum and looks like there are plenty of experts here. Here are some basic background of us. My wife is a Canadian citizen who is now working in New York City, United States. I am a Chinese citizen who is now studying in the United States. Both of us has been living in the US for over 1 years but none of us are able to apply a US green card yet.

We've decided to move back to Canada after I graduate. So we start to apply me a Canadian PR based on family class sponsorship. As long as I get the Canadian PR, we will move back to Vancouver, BC.

According to the regulations in CIC website "For all other applications you must select the visa office that serves your country of nationality or the country where you have been legally admitted for at least one year", it seems we have a chance to select a visa office to process our case either from Beijing, which is the office serving my country of nationality, or New York/Los Angeles, which is the office serves US in which I have been legally admitted for at least one year.

I did a little research on some immigration forms which I was filling. Previously people can designate an immigration office on the fourth question in IMM0008 (Immigration office requested for processing this application). However, the lastest version of IMM0008 published on Nov. 2014 took this question off and I found no place in the entire application kit serves the same purpose. I knew I need to mail the entire application kit to CIC Mississauga Processing Centre and Mississauga would transfer my case to either the office in my home country or the office in the US from my choice, but now such a choice has gone......

The reason I wanted Beijing rather than US-based offices to process my case is because Beijing processes much faster than US-based offices. From the processing time list in CIC website, it only took 9 months in Beijing, but it took 28 months in Los Angeles and even 33 months in New York City! Could anyone tell me if this time length is correct? Will the US applicants need to wait more than 2 years and a half or even 3 years to get the decision made? Is there any chance that I can let Beijing office process my case exclusively?

By the way, I also notice that the US-based applications would be transferred to CIC Ottawa Processing Centre, which would take me 16 months according to current processing time. However, if someone needed an interview, the case would be transferred to New York City or Los Angeles, which would delay the processing (to 33 months or 28 months?). Is it information correct? Anyway, would the US-based applications take so long time, much longer than the applications in China, or most of the other countries? I want to have this in my mind that how long time would a US-based application take in average?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[etienbjel]

The visa office is based on the applicants home address. This is taken directly from my SA letter:

"This visa office was selected based on your relative’s home address and the requirements of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act."

 

[brucem]

The visa office is based on the applicants home address. This is taken directly from my SA letter:

"This visa office was selected based on your relative's home address and the requirements of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act."

Actually CIC will decide where they send the application. I was sent to Ottawa but live in the UK with my wife. US applicants usually go via Ottawa as the OP mentioned and average processing time at the moment is 6 months. Cases only are transferred to LA if there are 'red flags' in your application. So if there were unaccompanied children, criminality etc etc. I do not believe NY processes family class applications any longer.

Either way Bejing or Ottawa you will probably receive similar processing times as long as your application is complete and you submit your medical, criminal background checks and pay all the fees up front....as that generally avoids small delays in processing if CIC have to request them at a later date.

 

[rhcohen2014]

the option to choose the visa office was recently removed from the applicaiton form (in November), so applicants can't make the decision anymore.

as for processing for US citizen applications, they are processed in Ottawa. LA only gets files that require interview, and NY doesn't handle family class applications. The stats posted online are very misleading and are "worst case scenarios". Right now, US citizen applications are being approved in 6 months, a bit quicker than Beijing. Those requiring interviews are seeing a processing time around 12 months, some a bit longer.

The thing about US residents (not citizens) applying through Ottawa is that it's not guaranteed they will see the same quick processing as citizens. this can be related to the fact that CIC will need to do background checks for both the home country AND country of residence, which can take extra time to do. US and Canada have open sharing of info, so that helps US citizens get through quicker. the same can't be said of other countries. Also, not being a us citizen has been seen to be a trigger for an interview. This isn't always the case, it's just a trend noticed on this forum. It's just important to keep in mind a resident may not get processed as quickly. It really is case specific, so no one can predict what will happen.

bottom line, it really doesn't matter because CIC will process the application as THEY see fit, not where the applicant wishes it to be processed.