SANTIAGO VISA OFFICE - any applicants out there??

[horizonyeah]

Hola!

I searched a previous topic about the santiago VO, but they seem pretty abandoned :-\

If there is some chilean applying, i would like we share experiences and sttufs

I just applyed in december so i havent got any news from the VO, i dont know if they usually send AOR or not either, I feel kinda lost about what to expect.

So feel free to join here please

 

[cacique]

Buenas!

Yes I am in the same boat. I am the sponsor who is applying for my wife who is in Santiago, Chile. I just received by sponsorship approval on May 29 2014. There is not much examples of others applying to Santiago VO. Hopefully we can get some idea...I see you applied in December?

 

[horizonyeah]

Hola =)

I was starting to think there was really no one applying from chile hahah
and yes I applied in december and got the sponsorship approval on january, last week i got news from the embassy they requested more documents, like a recent police certificate (It seem its normal that this VO ask this), some forms that i had to update and proof of my comunication with my spouse since we applied till now.

Im not sure if you will be processed in santiago though, like one month ago I saw this on the CIC website:
"Note: As of April 01, 2014 new permanent resident applications are now processed by the Mexico City visa office. The visa office in Santiago will finish processing applications received before April 01."
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/offices/missions/santiago.asp

I dont know if by "received" they mean in the embassy or by cic in canada ???
i know they received mine in the embassy in march at least i got a email saying they had received my file
probably you should email them to know

 

[cacique]

Hola!

Thanks For replying! I hope everything goes smoothly for you. Yes I will email them to find I out if they are using the Santiago VO or Mexico City. My SA email attachment says Santiago but the website says Mexico City for applicants after April 1. I applied April 4.
Question. When you said that they asked for more info like recent police record etc, did they contact you (sponsor) or did they contact your spouse (person you are sponsoring)? I am trying to understand if future correspondence is now directed to me (like the AOR and SO) or do they now start contacting my wife in Santiago by email.
Thanks

 

[horizonyeah]

well my husband is the sponsor, I'm the wife in chile =P
so yeah the embassy emailed me asking more documents not my husband, after you get approved for sponsorship all the correspondence will be directed to your wife only.
I hope things go well for you too
If you have more doubts just ask, I'll be glad to help =)

 

[cacique]

ok got it

I am in reverse from your situation but thats good. At least I get an idea from your side as to what to expect. I have advised my wife that she needs to lookout for correspondance going forward. That now she will be advised of either submitting new info or updating. I assume by email.
At least I can see how long (fast i hope) that it takes you guys for the approval. That would give me an idea as the site says 22 months! We will be too old by then! ha!

questions - did the VO in Santiago advise you that your application was recieved etc? I am trying to understand what type of correspondance we should be seeing next...whenever that is

 

[horizonyeah]

hahahah i think those times are for the worst case you could have like if you were deported from canada and you had a refused refugee claim and that kind of things xD

and my husband ask the embassy first if they had received our file here: https://dmp-portal.cic.gc.ca/enquiries-renseignements/case-cas-eng.aspx?mission=santiago (specific enquiry)

you can email them here too: Santiago-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca (here you must include in your email your file number, date of birth and full name)

like one week after they sent me the AOR from the embassy to my email. And if your wife put her email in the forms in the contact info section than she have to check that email, the spam folder too just in case.

Well and since that AOR that was in March I didnt hear nothing from them till May 21th when they requested more documents and all that,
so dont worry so much if you dont hear from them in months, its normal (sadly)

 

[cacique]

Hola!!

Just wondering if you had any update on your case? as for me, they requested some document from my wife on June 25th and we sent that within the week. I guess we just wait and see!!...time does go by fast though..

 

[horizonyeah]

hola =)
Im glad you had news from them, and yeah I received an email 2 weeks ago
they sent my file to the Mexico embassy in the end =P
It seems it will be processed more fast in there and things, the good part is that they said I must get some communication from mexico in max 2 months
I imagine that your wife's file is in Mexico too right?
I read a little the mexico thread and its true it is way more fast than Santiago
well Im hoping the next we hear is the passport request and all this waiting ends soon

 

[horizonyeah]

I have news from my side, I just received my passport with the visa today =D
they asked my passport on august 11th, I sent it and they received it on august 21th and got it back in 8 days =D
just in case they will ask you to send a prepaid envelope to send the passport back, I had a lot of issues finding that service in here
So in the end I could do it by DHL and ask for a service called "pick up request" and that made it =P
The people in the embassy was very nice and answered me all my queries right away and even called me a few times
so im very happy with the embassy and all =D

I wish you end the process very soon tooo
for me it took 7.5 months and i was expecting even more xD
awww Im so relieved !
I have notice the people that applied this year are getting their visas super fast, so it probably will take you less than me =P
I will spend the fiestas patrias in here,as my visa expire in october 31th, and then I will travel to be with my husband <3
Good luck with everything ! ;D

 

[cacique]

Hola!!

That is great to hear!! congratulations as now the process is done for you!.

As for us, I still see that it says "We started processing your application on June 20, 2014." This is in the Mexico City VO. Nothing as changed from that as of today Sept 1.

I have a couple of questions if you can help.

1) Did the VO of Mexico send you a letter that the interview was waived? Or did you just see that when you logged into your account status?
2) I assume you have to send your Chilean passport to the Mexico City VO correct? Not the Santiago office. I will let my wife know that its best to use DHL whenever she has to send here passport and her son's as well.

Your visa expire on Oct 31? Is that the date you have until to reach Canada? Or is that something else?

It looks like the time is not too bad....maybe by the end of the year we will be successful! I am too planning on going to Chile for las fiestas patrias this month! should be fun!

again congratulations and thanks for your help!

 

[horizonyeah]

Holaaa, thanks =D

well I see that your application is in process, thats great! that means someone is reviewing your file so I think you will get news from them soon =) mine got in process just when they ask my passport, before that it just said application received =P

1) No, actually they just send me an email asking for my passport and it said when my visa would expire... so I just assumed that the interview was waived as they told me in a indirect way that I got the visa... xD

2) Yes, I had to sent it to Mexico city VO. What I did is to send the passport first, I used Chilexpress to save some money, dont use that company xD I mean it arrived when it should but the tracking number I could never use it in their website so I had to call and then they gave me the tracking number of UPS as they work with them to international shippings, then i the ups website it said it was received and the name of the person who received it and all...So yes for peace of mind use DHL, UPS or Fedex to send the passport.

And for get it back you have to use DHL and ask for the service "pickup request". I find out about it calling to the company because in the DHL office near me they didnt know nothing, the person in the callcenter told me to go to the central office near the airport better because all the other offices of DHL are part of an external company so they just know basic sttuf...
Once in the central office everything went well they ask you an email and phone number from the Mexico embassy, you are supposed to pay after they collect the passport but I insist to pay right away so I could scan the receipt and email it to the Mexico VO.

As you see it was kinda long the passport thing but everything went well in the end and I received the passport in my house =) and DHL emailed me to notify me about any issues.

awww and yes, my visa expire on Oct 31th, I have to arrive in canada before that date otherwise I would loose the visa and have to start the process again from scratch. They calculate the expire date according the anniversary of your medical check or the expire of your passport, whichever come first.

I think before the year ends you should have your visa =) just my opinion.. =P
and its nothing, im happy my experience is useful to others, this forum had helped me a lot too =)

I wish you have a great time with your wife in here! Feliz dieciocho !
drink a lot of terremotos

 

[cacique]

Buenas!

Thanks for the info! How do you say that service there in Chile "pickup request". Osea como se dice para explicar bien a mi esposa que tiene que pedir. I will tell her to use the DHL service at the central office (call ahead of time) and have her ask for that service (just need to know how to say it in castellano! :
I guess the phone number and email address of the embassy of Mexico is all in that letter they send you when they instruct to mail in that passport correct?

Thanks again!

 

[horizonyeah]

hehehehheh dont worry you dont have to translate it to spanish, its just like that in english =)
aww and email and phone number I just gave the one its in the website
mexico-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca
(55) 5724.7900

dhl will contact the embassy to confirm the service with them, in my case they hadnt received my passport yet when dhl contacted them so they called me to check about that, so maybe you would want to wait the embassy receive your wife's passport first to then get the "pickup request" service with dhl.

 

[ncu25]

Hi recently I found this forum, also I applied in Santiago on feb 2014 and transfered to Mexico on Jul 2014, and my last updated was on August 12, 2014 that they started processing my aplication. I want to know if there have been any updates in your wife's application?