Speeding Up Family Class Sponsorship Application Processing Times

[StellaArtois]

Spouse of a May 2019 outland applicant here.
I wrote to my MP almost 2 months ago, and even my MP has been unable to get a response from the visa office responsible for processing our application. Most of the time MPs will at least be able to get a status update, but my MP has had no success for our case. This is despite the fact that this visa office has in fact been processing and approving other applications.

**THIS POST WAS EDITED BY A MODERATOR. In order for the rest of this thread to make sense, however, it is necessary to know I had a link to a Canadian federal government level petition here supported by a MP regarding improving family class sponsorship application processing times that is open for signatures**

Any hope that it might eventually help speed up the processing of our applications...?

 

[thevisawhisperer]

Probably not.

 

[StellaArtois]

Any ideas for anything else we can do or who we can contact? We want to do everything we can to be reunited sooner.

 

[thevisawhisperer]

The processing standard is a year (without any COVID considerations). You are at just under 14 months? I suspect that the multiple criminal charges and the due diligence that IRCC has to do to determine that there are no grounds for inadmissibility are causing your application to take longer than one with no issues whatsoever.
If IRCC is assessing admissibility I don't think there is anything you can do to hurry them along. If your MP is not getting a response . . .

 

[StellaArtois]

His past charges were 2 marijuana possession charges for <1g each time (one charge also came with a weapon possession charge, which was a baseball bat in the back of his car at the time he was pulled over, and he wasn't even holding it never mind doing anything violent/threatening with it), and 2 for domestic assault. There was no physical harm - one was a hand on the shoulder and the other was a hug, His ex was very vengeful. He served overnight in jail for the first and 10 days in jail for the second.

Given the nature of the domestic assault charges, would it be advisable/help speed up our case to send in more proofs that we are in continuous relationship? I haven't been able to do any visits since the pandemic shutdown in March, but we still message every day.

 

[thevisawhisperer]

My opinion, based on years of trying to get IRCC to do anything they're not inclined to do, is that nothing you can do or send them (unless they ask for something) will speed their internal processes.
I sincerely hope that other people will chime in with stories about the many techniques they've found effective for moving the needle. But I am not optimistic.

 

[StellaArtois]

My opinion, based on years of trying to get IRCC to do anything they're not inclined to do, is that nothing you can do or send them (unless they ask for something) will speed their internal processes.
I sincerely hope that other people will chime in with stories about the many techniques they've found effective for moving the needle. But I am not optimistic.

Thanks for your honesty. May I ask why you have had to deal with the system for so many years? What happened with your applicaiton(s)?

 

[thevisawhisperer]

I've been an immigration professional for the past 10 years+.

 

[StellaArtois]

I've been an immigration professional for the past 10 years+.

I see! Well thank you for your expertise. Just curious, have any of your clients had success with contacting their MPs in recent times?

 

[canuck78]

Given I saw Trudeau say in a press conference this week that what their priority is keeping the people already in Canada safe I don't think this has a chance of sucess. This would mean a huge number of people arriving from all over the world arriving in Canada and many bringing covid with them.. Given the backlog of applicants and the amount the governwmet is spending so we don't go into a depression the chances of hiring or diverting hundreds of employees to process these special visas isn't likely. There have been huge issues with people actually not quarantining on arrival and there have been multiple cases where covid cases were brought in by plane so there isn't a huge incentive to bring more people into Canada from abroad. There are already a limited number of cases causing problems and we can't risk closing businesses again. I surprised we haven't had more stringent border restrictions on US arrivals given the numbers.

Just being honest.

 

[StellaArtois]

Given I saw Trudeau say in a press conference this week that what their priority is keeping the people already in Canada safe I don't think this has a chance of sucess. This would mean a huge number of people arriving from all over the world arriving in Canada and many bringing covid with them.. Given the backlog of applicants and the amount the governwmet is spending so we don't go into a depression the chances of hiring or diverting hundreds of employees to process these special visas isn't likely. There have been huge issues with people actually not quarantining on arrival and there have been multiple cases where covid cases were brought in by plane so there isn't a huge incentive to bring more people into Canada from abroad. There are already a limited number of cases causing problems and we can't risk closing businesses again. I surprised we haven't had more stringent border restrictions on US arrivals given the numbers.

Just being honest.

Thank you for your honesty; that is logical. A shame that people who were fortunate enough to land during this pandemic were irresponsibly ignoring quarantine orders, causing these repercussions for everyone else wanting to be reunited with their family.

 

[thevisawhisperer]

I see! Well thank you for your expertise. Just curious, have any of your clients had success with contacting their MPs in recent times?

Sometimes getting an MP involved is usually effective in getting IRCC to recognise a mistake or correct a decision. Speed . . . not so much. I've been in visa offices where we sat on a file for 2 years or more waiting for something to happen somewhere - NOT that that is going to happen in your case.

 

[SamanthaWhite]

Given I saw Trudeau say in a press conference this week that what their priority is keeping the people already in Canada safe I don't think this has a chance of sucess. This would mean a huge number of people arriving from all over the world arriving in Canada and many bringing covid with them.. Given the backlog of applicants and the amount the governwmet is spending so we don't go into a depression the chances of hiring or diverting hundreds of employees to process these special visas isn't likely. There have been huge issues with people actually not quarantining on arrival and there have been multiple cases where covid cases were brought in by plane so there isn't a huge incentive to bring more people into Canada from abroad. There are already a limited number of cases causing problems and we can't risk closing businesses again. I surprised we haven't had more stringent border restrictions on US arrivals given the numbers.

Just being honest.

Agreed!

 

[scylla]

His past charges were 2 marijuana possession charges for <1g each time (one charge also came with a weapon possession charge, which was a baseball bat in the back of his car at the time he was pulled over, and he wasn't even holding it never mind doing anything violent/threatening with it), and 2 for domestic assault. There was no physical harm - one was a hand on the shoulder and the other was a hug, His ex was very vengeful. He served overnight in jail for the first and 10 days in jail for the second.

Given the nature of the domestic assault charges, would it be advisable/help speed up our case to send in more proofs that we are in continuous relationship? I haven't been able to do any visits since the pandemic shutdown in March, but we still message every day.

Did you have to submit a rehab application along with the sponsorship application? (I'm assuming you did since he has a history of four charges.) If so, has the rehab application been approved yet?

Unfortunately your application has complications so I don't think standard processing times was ever going to be a reality for you (even pre-COVID-19). Of course unfortunately everything is even slower now.

 

[StellaArtois]

Did you have to submit a rehab application along with the sponsorship application? (I'm assuming you did since he has a history of four charges.) If so, has the rehab application been approved yet?

Unfortunately your application has complications so I don't think standard processing times was ever going to be a reality for you (even pre-COVID-19). Of course unfortunately everything is even slower now.

Yes, we submitted a criminal rehabilitation application in the same package as the spousal sponsorship application. We haven't received any update to state that the CR has been approved. I saw some other posts in this forum mentioning though that sometimes when the CR is submitted together with the PR, the IRCC doesn't give an update to when the CR is approved. We haven't applied for GCMS or CBSA notes yet, but given that even the MP can't get an update on our case status, we are considering it now.

Yes, our lawyer told us to expect our application to take over 12 months to process... we were hoping that maybe with some government pressure, our case could be finished processing by the end of 2020 at least... now with pandemic delays, that might even be too much to ask sadly.