Sao Paulo VO 2011

[Canadianinbrazil]

Hi all

Just received my SA and my paperwork is headed to Sao Paulo as of today

Hoping for speedy processing times.

 

[Jaytheo40]

Hi everyone,

Just to help everyone out. I landed in Canada in April 6, 2016 and below is my timeline for the outland sponsorship application from Sao Paulo VO:

- Application received in Mississauga: June 15, 2015

- AOR 1: July 18, 2015

- Sponsorship Approval: Aug 24, 2015

- AOR 2: Aug 27, 2015

- Passport requested: March 22, 2016 (waived interview)

- COPR and visa received: April 6, 2016

- Landed: April 6, 2016

When we applied in June 2015 CIC's website was showing an average of 5 months to process the PA application at Sao Paulo VO.

My whole process took almost 10 months, without much feedback from Immigration. I used to communicate with the Sao Paulo VO through emails to spaloimmigration@international.gc.ca and most of the time they answered me.

I met a person that applied in the same day as me and got his PR two months before me.

I asked for my GCMS notes once, in Feb 4 2016 and I received it one month later. We did not find any red flags in the notes, so we have no idea why our process took longer than the other person we know applied in the same day. Also I heard from an immigration consultant that they do not like when applicants ask for the notes, I am not sure if this is true but after that I did not ask for notes anymore, and 45 days later I received the email requesting the passport.

I hope this can be helpful and wish you all the best of luck in your process!!

Abraços,

Ana

Well thank you so much for the update. Enjoy life in Canada - it's a beautiful country and I'm sure you will love it here. Enjoy making some wonderful memories with your significant other.

All the best,
John
Toronto

 

[Jaytheo40]

Hi all

Just received my SA and my paperwork is headed to Sao Paulo as of today

Hoping for speedy processing times.

Awesome news- congrats! Hope your process is a quick one - our timeline is about a month ahead of yours so if there are any developments I'll be sure to let you know.

Cheers,
John
Toronto

 

[Mightytonewheel]

Hi all

Just received my SA and my paperwork is headed to Sao Paulo as of today

Hoping for speedy processing times.

Congrats, CanadianinBrazil! My own timeline is exactly two months ahead of yours (they started processing in Sao Paulo on February 15) so I'll keep you and everyone else updated on my progress. Hopefully everything will go smoothly for everyone, and we'll all be toasting one another in the late summer or fall sometime.

 

[Jaytheo40]

Congrats, CanadianinBrazil! My own timeline is exactly two months ahead of yours (they started processing in Sao Paulo on February 15) so I'll keep you and everyone else updated on my progress. Hopefully everything will go smoothly for everyone, and we'll all be toasting one another in the late summer or fall sometime.

Hi Mighty,

Thanks for the updates. Our application was received in São Paulo March 30 2016 for processing so we are approx 45 days behind you.

I'll keep you posted as well should I hear anything from São Paulo- we actually haven't even received an email for AOR2 but did get the 3rd line instead.

Well all the best - wishing everyone a quick process - check back here soon

John
Toronto

 

[minniemouse]

Hey everyone!
I was hoping someone could shine some light on my situation. I am a Canadian citizen married to a Brazilian. We have 2 wonderful children (who are also Canadian). I received SA approval on the 6th April and have been informed that my application is in process here in São Paulo. My husband's application already had the medical results and police certificates included when we sent the application. Does anyone know if the VO gives some sort of priority to families with children?? The reason why I ask is because we would really, really like if our children could start their school year at the apprpopriate time and not after school starts.
Thanks guys!!
Minnie

 

[Confuzzeled23]

Hi,

Unfortunately I don't believe they give any priority to families with children. My brother-in-law was waiting for his process while waiting in Canada unable to work due to his work permit. He called immigration saying he needed his permit to work and provide for his pregnant wife and daughter. They told him to go back to Brazil if he wanted to provide for his family. They were not the least bit helpful.

I would like to believe they take these things into account. But I feel as if we are viewed as piles of paper on a desk to be completed.

 

[am3306]

I guess I will chime in with my application.

--Application received end of September 2015
--Sponsorship end of November / beginning of December 2015
--Application received in Sao Paulo second week of December 2015
--Third week of January 2016 received request to send in a police certificate
--Replied and asked if it can be emailed, they replied back to me quickly and said yes so we emailed in the new police certificate
--Then the silence started
--Towards the end of March I emailed them to ask if the police certificate was added to the application and all was ok and if sending in more information from my visits to Brazil since the time of the submission of the application would help. Never received a reply (beyond the message received automatic acknowledgment).
--Silence
--Last week I applied for GCMS notes so worst case scenario I will get a idea of whats going on with the application in the second half of next month.

Obviously frustrating for a number of personal reasons, I don't think I need to get into the details to illicit sympathy because we are all in roughly the same boat.
Right now I am about to buy plane tickets to Brazil for next month again to be with her for a week or two (I can temporarily work remotely so I am lucky). Also debating if it would be good for her to apply for a tourist visa and come here for a bit. This would mean she would have to leave her job before the decision is made but that should not be a issue The bigger issue is that it takes two weeks and there is no guarantee it will be approved (she has her US visa, we have lots of travel history, but her Canadian visa was denied once in the past while she was out of work at the time even though she had plenty of money so its not a guarantee at this point).

Hoping for a quick decision obviously, its already gone longer then I was hoping for (based on the 2015 spread sheet for Sao Paulo where people were reporting having a decision made in 1 to 3 months after the VOC started processing their application). But maybe the processing time has gone up for the Sao Paulo VOC.... :-(

Hope this helps.

 

[Canadianinbrazil]

Just got the third line on ECAS on the permanent residence application side that they started processing the app on April 22. Really crossing my fingers for everything to go quickly. Getting nervous since it seems a lot of ppl have had to wait a long time to get a decision from São Paulo.

 

[am3306]

Well for me it will be 5 months in two weeks time since Sao Paulo has began processing my application. Only communication from them was 5 weeks in to ask her to send in a new police certificate (easy to do stuff). Our application should be fairly straight forward given we have a 7ish year history (not living together for more then 50% of that time but I cant see that being a flag). No big marriage ceremony (just us on a US vacation) as it was not possible anyways given the circumstances but again that by its self should not be a problem. She is actually several years older then me and I did notice in the GCSM notes sample they had a line on age difference so I suppose that could be a flag even though it really shouldent be. I am a dual EU and Canadian national so most of my trips to Brazil were on my EU passport to avoid the hassel of a visa so I hope that doesnt cause a problem if CBSA records dont match my travel history and plane ticket stubs etc. but still I dont think that will be a problem either but who knows.

Overall our application should be solid though. If they want a interview they can schedule one, no problem there. My only concern is that we are on the older side to start a family and wanted to give it a shot and each month that it takes longer has a real negative impact on our chance to do that. Then again its our fault for putting careers first and putting our lives on hold for a couple years, in hindsight that was a mistake that we would not repeat again.

 

[Mightytonewheel]

Well for me it will be 5 months in two weeks time since Sao Paulo has began processing my application. Only communication from them was 5 weeks in to ask her to send in a new police certificate (easy to do stuff). Our application should be fairly straight forward given we have a 7ish year history (not living together for more then 50% of that time but I cant see that being a flag). No big marriage ceremony (just us on a US vacation) as it was not possible anyways given the circumstances but again that by its self should not be a problem. She is actually several years older then me and I did notice in the GCSM notes sample they had a line on age difference so I suppose that could be a flag even though it really shouldent be. I am a dual EU and Canadian national so most of my trips to Brazil were on my EU passport to avoid the hassel of a visa so I hope that doesnt cause a problem if CBSA records dont match my travel history and plane ticket stubs etc. but still I dont think that will be a problem either but who knows.

Overall our application should be solid though. If they want a interview they can schedule one, no problem there. My only concern is that we are on the older side to start a family and wanted to give it a shot and each month that it takes longer has a real negative impact on our chance to do that. Then again its our fault for putting careers first and putting our lives on hold for a couple years, in hindsight that was a mistake that we would not repeat again.

Thanks for getting us up-to-speed on your application progress. I can certainly understand how the wait and the silence can be very uncomfortable. I know the feeling. Not hearing anything is very difficult.

However, in your situation, I don't think you have anything to be concerned about. In December 2015, the CIC website was saying that completed Sao Paulo applications were taking about 5 months to process. That's in addition to the time it takes to process the sponsorship application. In your case, Sao Paulo has not yet had the application in their possession for 5 months. The lack of communication is not concerning: they don't say anything if there's nothing they need to say. Finally, keep in mind that there might have been a small delay introduced when they discovered the police certificate needed to be provided.

I also heard that, about last year at this time, some applications were being processed in about 2-3 months. Others were taking a little longer. But I think the Sao Paulo office is experiencing many more worker visa applications, because there's been so much job loss in Brazil in the last year. (That's just me speculating.)

It's frustrating that things seem to be taking longer than they used to, but overall most of us should have minor -- not excessive -- waits. I'm trying to avoid waiting for the pot to boil, if you know what I mean. In about six months, most of us will have forgotten all about these headaches.

 

[am3306]

Well I am not concerned, our relationship is genuine and clear cut. Only concern for me is time.
The original application had the police certificates, they just asked for us to send new ones. Either this is common or the original certificates were too old by the time they opened the application. No big deal.

I agree that they might be facing a jump in applications due to the current situation in Brazil and because supposedly they are moving more workloads from busy offices to less busy ones like Sao Paulo. Also holidays will have a bit of a effect. The notable ones being Christmas to new years period and the carnival stretch. Also maybe the Olympics might not be helping as Canadian athletes and tourists begin to make plans to go to Brazil and put extra pressure on the VOC's resources. Who knows though.

Also something to keep in mind is that the processing time that was listed before was for all family applications. Spousal applications I understand are usually the quickest ones to process.

 

[Mightytonewheel]

Well I am not concerned, our relationship is genuine and clear cut. Only concern for me is time.
The original application had the police certificates, they just asked for us to send new ones. Either this is common or the original certificates were too old by the time they opened the application. No big deal.

I agree that they might be facing a jump in applications due to the current situation in Brazil and because supposedly they are moving more workloads from busy offices to less busy ones like Sao Paulo. Also holidays will have a bit of a effect. The notable ones being Christmas to new years period and the carnival stretch. Also maybe the Olympics might not be helping as Canadian athletes and tourists begin to make plans to go to Brazil and put extra pressure on the VOC's resources. Who knows though.

Also something to keep in mind is that the processing time that was listed before was for all family applications. Spousal applications I understand are usually the quickest ones to process.

Glad you're not concerned.

It's difficult to say what drives the turnaround time of any given application. I suspect that it's a bunch of factors. I spoke to one Portuguese-English translator in the fall who said he was "swamped" because of a increase in visa applications to Canada. I am sure that's become a factor. One poster indicated a total wait time of 10 months, but acknowledged someone else submitted on the same day and got DM two months earlier. We can speculate, but the bottom line is we just have wait.

Keep in touch, everyone. Once news starts flowing in, it will be an encouragement to everyone.

 

[Canadianinbrazil]

Does anyone know the likelihood of São Paulo scheduling an interview? Like in cases like mine, where my husband and I have always lived in the same country as each other, have lived together for over a year (I'm living in Brazil with him right now) and we have substantial proof that we are close with each other's family and friends?

 

[Mightytonewheel]

Does anyone know the likelihood of São Paulo scheduling an interview? Like in cases like mine, where my husband and I have always lived in the same country as each other, have lived together for over a year (I'm living in Brazil with him right now) and we have substantial proof that we are close with each other's family and friends?

In my view, it's unlikely they would schedule and interview. If you included lots of evidence of showing continuous contact (like people would normally have before a marriage), they will likely waive the interview. Interviews are typically scheduled when the officer has reason to believe the marriage might not be genuine, or doesn't have enough evidence in front of them to verify that the marriage is genuine. If the proof that you provided is extensive and persuasive, you should be fine.

In addition, officers are generally discouraged from scheduling an interview unless it's necessary.

Finally, I looked over some data for outland applications. From what I recall, interviews were scheduled for something like 7% of applications. I can't recall if that's the exact number, but it was obvious interviews from this office were rare.