Sponsoring Japanese citizen through the Manila office - please share!

[coolbucks]

Hi,
I am sponsoring my wife in Japan and found this thread interesting (I filed application in Dec, 2013 and get sponsorship approved in Jan and application is transfered to Manila, as I was told while I called CIC - It's said CIC emailed me about DM on sponsorship but I have never got it).
It seems VO of Manila changed their manner of handling cases. When I looked at a spread sheet on another website, it shows most of the cases processed at Manila got passport requested about a month or so after sponsorship got approved. But now and here it seems we can't expect anything from Manila until we can find E-CAS shed a little light when application status is changed to 'In Processing' after several months.

 

[JRPW]

Hi,
I am sponsoring my wife in Japan and found this thread interesting (I filed application in Dec, 2013 and get sponsorship approved in Jan and application is transfered to Manila, as I was told while I called CIC - It's said CIC emailed me about DM on sponsorship but I have never got it).
It seems VO of Manila changed their manner of handling cases. When I looked at a spread sheet on another website, it shows most of the cases processed at Manila got passport requested about a month or so after sponsorship got approved. But now and here it seems we can't expect anything from Manila until we can find E-CAS shed a little light when application status is changed to 'In Processing' after several months.

Your wife will not get a passport request as she is from Japan, a visa-exempt country. From experience, expect to wait awhile.

 

[Tanli]

Hi everyone, Just wondering if anyone has had any updates? I've been looking at the spreadsheet and you can't really tell who has applied from Japan. So, I put "Japan to BC" beside my name in the destination area so you can tell that I am sponsoring my spouse from Japan and not a spouse from another country that the Manila VO handles. I also wonder if everyone actually updates their data on there or if they just forget about it when they get their visa? Well it's been 8 months now and not one word from Manila about my husbands application.... what a joke! From some others' experiences I guess we might have to wait another 6 months or so...? ???

 

[Daantaat]

Hi everyone, Just wondering if anyone has had any updates? I've been looking at the spreadsheet and you can't really tell who has applied from Japan. So, I put "Japan to BC" beside my name in the destination area so you can tell that I am sponsoring my spouse from Japan and not a spouse from another country that the Manila VO handles. I also wonder if everyone actually updates their data on there or if they just forget about it when they get their visa? Well it's been 8 months now and not one word from Manila about my husbands application.... what a joke! From some others' experiences I guess we might have to wait another 6 months or so...? ???

I'm sponsoring my husband from Korea and our application was sent to Manilla in April 2013. We just got a request for a scan of his passport information page and his ECAS status changed to "In Process" on March 18th, so I'm hoping that means he'll get his visa soon! It's been almost 13 months since we applied.

 

[Kayaker]

Hi, I just wanted to say hello to others on the same boat - I'm a Japanese citizen, my husband is Canadian and we applied in February 2014. We got AOR and SA for the first stage, but so far no more updates... my ecas still says "application received" (with no mention of medicals).

It seems like Manila does not do second stage AOR or very many updates. That doesn't make us any less anxious, but we are hoping no news means good news!

 

[gt_65]

Hello - no updates here either and SA was approved Nov 21.

The Manilla VO spreadsheet right now is showing movement for April, and May applications ...some 1 or 2 June.

 

[dpgc33]

hello guys
glad i read this topic. we applied for sponsorship in july 2013 i got approved to sponsor my wife in july 31. theres been no updates on cic website about our application. It still says application has been received and medicals have been received. my wife came here in december but her visa is expiring so we have to extend it this week. any good tips on what to send and write to extend the visa? I hope we all get good news soon its a little frustrating to keep checking updates on cic almost daily.

 

[Tanli]

Hi dpgc33

It sounds like you are on a very similar timeline with us. We applied on July 15 and were accepted as sponsors Aug 15. My husband doesn't even have a UCI yet. It says his application was received but not his medicals... Hmm, we got the medicals done before we applied (they will expire in June). We also just realized that we didn't include a police check from the USA and he was living there for 6 years. We already applied to get it done about three weeks ago and are waiting for it to get back to us now. CIC hasn't contacted us about it but we are sure they will. I guess this will delay us. We decided to go to Canada to wait it out. Did anyone have any problems going through immigration? Were you upfront about it? Sorry I don't know anything that can help you with the visitor visa extension as I haven't had to go through that yet. Well I hope you hear good news soon!

Tanli

 

[JRPW]

Hi dpgc33

It sounds like you are on a very similar timeline with us. We applied on July 15 and were accepted as sponsors Aug 15. My husband doesn't even have a UCI yet. It says his application was received but not his medicals... Hmm, we got the medicals done before we applied (they will expire in June). We also just realized that we didn't include a police check from the USA and he was living there for 6 years. We already applied to get it done about three weeks ago and are waiting for it to get back to us now. CIC hasn't contacted us about it but we are sure they will. I guess this will delay us. We decided to go to Canada to wait it out. Did anyone have any problems going through immigration? Were you upfront about it? Sorry I don't know anything that can help you with the visitor visa extension as I haven't had to go through that yet. Well I hope you hear good news soon!

Tanli

When the wife and I arrived in Calgary in December 2013, I told the CBSA agent that the wife had a PR application in process since October 2012. I provided the SA I received from CIC. I told the agent that the wife will be visiting my family and I until she lands (receives PR). DO NOT TELL the agent that your husband is MOVING to Canada. He can't move, just visit until the process is finished. The CBSA agent(s) will want to see your marriage license, any correspondence you have had with CIC and, most likely, proof that you can support yourself and your husband until he lands. When the wife and I were in secondary screening, I showed the CBSA agent the E677 form (Cross-Border Currency Report) I filled out, declaring the $25,000 we were carrying as proof we could support ourselves. I also had a bank statement from CIBC indicating that the wife and I had access to a lot more money. I returned to Canada on a one-way ticket. The wife had a return ticket. The CBSA agent didn't ask to see the return ticket, but I think it would be better if your husband had one.

Be honest and prepared. The CBSA agents we dealt with were polite and friendly. In fact, the agent we dealt with in secondary screening gave the wife a one-year visa after we told her the trials and tribulations we had to go through.

Good luck.

J

 

[gt_65]

Hi everyone, Just wondering if anyone has had any updates? I've been looking at the spreadsheet and you can't really tell who has applied from Japan. So, I put "Japan to BC" beside my name in the destination area so you can tell that I am sponsoring my spouse from Japan and not a spouse from another country that the Manila VO handles. I also wonder if everyone actually updates their data on there or if they just forget about it when they get their visa? Well it's been 8 months now and not one word from Manila about my husbands application.... what a joke! From some others' experiences I guess we might have to wait another 6 months or so...? ???

Hi Tanli - I noticed they requested additional information. What are they requesting of you?

 

[Tanli]

Hi gt_65

Sorry I didn't check back here recently. Yeah they finally contacted us. I was so shocked to see an email in my inbox from manila. Anyways, they want us to send an FBI criminal record check for my husband because we didn't include it in the original application. Luckily we realized that we would need it last month and it's already on its way. They also want me, as a sponsor, to show more proof of my intention to return to Canada; such as a formal job contract, etc etc. I already sent a letter from my old boss that says she'd be happy to give me a job. I guess that wasn't good enough. Or maybe they lost it? I just decided I will move to Canada ASAP and then there won't be any question about my intention to return. So, now I've been rushing around packing my stuff. My husband will join me about a month later as a tourist. Oh and another thing, they said: if you do not provide the requested documents in 45 days from the date of this notification we will make a decision about your application based on the documents we have received. --- Nice hey? It takes a while for the FBI criminal record check, we are lucky we applied for it before they asked us or we might not have had enough time.

 

[Tanli]

Oh and thank you JRPW for the info about arriving as a tourist. It's very helpful. I hope my husband can come in by himself because now I decided to move ahead of him. He just bought a one year open ticket but the return date is in 6 months from when he arrives. I hope he won't need to use it!

 

[Tanli]

Just wondering if anyone had any updates? My husband finally got a DM today!!! It's been 20 months in Manila. So glad it's almost over.