Question about PR Visa Expiry Date

[Odaith]

I apologize if this question has been answered before but I wasn't able to find anything on it via the search function.

I'm getting ready to sponsor my common-law partner for PR. We both currently live in the US (me on a temporary work visa), so we'll be using the LA office. My concern is the expiry date that comes with the temporary visa permitting entry to Canada to become a PR.

I know that the expiry date is supposed to be 1 year from the applicatns medical exam (or less if their passport expires before that). I've also read that ALL documentation, forms, etc (including said medical exam) should be submitted together up front.

The processing time for phase one is 50 days currently, and the processing time for phase two at the LA office is an average of 10 months. When you factoring in mailing time and the like, that comes to 1 year or possibly more.

So my question is, how does this work exactly? Is there a minimum amount of grace time they will tack onto the temporary visa (e.g. 30-60 days after approval is given) even if its been a year or more since the initial medical exam? Or is it possible to get the acceptance paperwork back with 1-2 days to get across the boarder, or even receive it and have the visa already expired?

I've read that its not absolutely necessarily to submit the medical exam with the initial documentation, but that if all your paperwork isn't present than it can lead to delays. If we wanted to submit the medical exam at a later date how would I go about that (at what point in the process) and what kind of delay in the processing would it be likely to impose?

Queries to the LA visa office by e-mail have gone unanswered, so any help you can offer would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Sweden]

Hey,

nothing is ever really set with CIC, so I'll try to give you an "informed" answer, but of course it can always be different!

In general, if CIC is about to issue the visa and there is less than 2 weeks left on the medical expire date, then the VO will contact the applicant and ask if they will be able to land by that date. If yes, then great. If not, then the office can request an extension of medicals ( could be 3 months, 6 or more, but in case it's to allow time to land, then most likely 3 months) then issue the visa with the new expiry date.

The VO has the authority to request an extension of medicals IF it's the only thing missing for the issuance of the visa and if it's a "normal medical" ( no particular issue). it can be extended also "in advance" - let's say for a reason or another, the VO comes close to issuing the visa and realise that you have only a few days left on the medicals - if they are ready but not completely done, they will request ( nothing for you to do) the extension of the visa, without consulting with you, so you don't have to re-do a medical. Then when you get the PR issued, you can see from the expiry date that the medicals have been extended.

I have never seen ( but not everybody writes on the forum of course!) somebody asked to land within 2 days of getting the visa. it can be cutting it close sometimes, but not like 1 or 2 days - and sometimes there is a consultation with the applicant. As you are from a visa-exempt country, you could already be in Canada and close to a US border for example, so sometimes one week is not a problem (for example, I landed within 2 days of getting my papers as I was already in Canada and just had to "flagpole" at the US border to land as a PR).

Also - you don't have to actually move to Canada at that point. You can just "land as PR" ( complete landing procedures etc), and then go back to the US, close all business, and then move to Canada.

Also - time posted on the CIC website is for processing 80% of the applications, but quite a few get done before. 50 days approval is a "maximum" because if you see for example for December ( spreadsheet in my signature), you will see that quite a few are done within the 20/30 days mark. Same for Ottawa/ US Outland - it says 10 or 12 months, but quite a few are done much before that, depending if you have a straightforward case or not. So most of the time the "expiry date" is not really an issue.

Delaying the medicals is not a good idea. The idea that it's not "absolutely necessary" floats around on the forum but it's part of the "compulsory documents" and the check list for outland application and you always risk having your file sent back to you because something is missing, and hence delaying it much more. Your best bet is to do the medicals as close to the sending date as possible, and hope for the best! For other type of applications ( not family sponsorship for spouse) they have to wait for instructions from the VO to do the medicals (for parents sponsorship, as it takes about 4 to 5 years! no point in doing a medical...), so there is a little confusion here.

For delays - it's difficult to say. You might come across an officer that sends the file back, and then you have to go back to the end of the queue when you send everything again. Sometimes at stage 1 if some documents are missing, they will ask for only that document and proceed when the document arrives... but no guarantee.

Hope it clarifies a bit, good luck with your application,
Sweden

 

[Odaith]

Thanks very much, this provides a load of helpful information

 

[Harju]

They will ask for a new medical or extend the medical. Our application took more than one year so the medical was extended to 2 years.