Sponsoring my Korean wife for permanent residency

[bartjones]

My MP was involved around the 12-month mark. His assistant told us that it was in line to be reviewed. And to re-contact her after 14 months, which I did. It turned out that our CSQ was missing in action. We sent the MP a copy who forwarded it to Manila. A few weeks after, we got the second medical request. Since then nothing and nothing in the notes. I know that sooner or later we are getting to get a request for a recent police check. I am going to contact my MP again.

This is crazy ridiculous how long this is taking.

Agreed. That's just way too long. It's made even more frustrating by the fact that we're seeing other posters who applied 7 or 8 months ago and already have their visas.

Keep on the MP. Maybe do a little polite yelling and screaming the next time you speak to them. That worked for me. Good luck.

 

[costaudjoe]

Agreed. That's just way too long. It's made even more frustrating by the fact that we're seeing other posters who applied 7 or 8 months ago and already have their visas.

Keep on the MP. Maybe do a little polite yelling and screaming the next time you speak to them. That worked for me. Good luck.

Thanks for your help and support! Having our lives on hold is brutal.

I just sent a strongly worded email to my MP. So we will see...

 

[ilovecbc]

Hey everyone~!

This is my first post. I'm a Canadian with a Korean spouse and our outland application was received in Mississauga April 8, 2014, and I was approved as a sponsor June 8.

We got the following e-mail this week:


This refers to your application for Permanent Residence in Canada. Your file has been transferred to the Case Processing Centre in Ottawa for further review.

Case Status:

In order for us to continue the processing of your application, we require the following documents:

·Police Certificate: Provide an original police clearance certificate from Korea. The certificate you provided does not include all lapsed records. Please provide certificate that includes all lapsed records.

Three things:
1) Any updated info on the correct police check to send in? My spouse is insisting he sent in the right one, but someone mentioned the format changed July 1st?

2) Why is the application going to OTTAWA and not Manila? We applied as outland applicants in South Korea... Is that normal or a mistake?

3) Unrelated, but I just renewed my passport this week. Should I just send them a photocopy or not worry about until if/when they ask?

P.S. All of you are quite lovely and helpful. This may be the least snarky forum I've ever read ^^

 

[bartjones]

1) Any updated info on the correct police check to send in? My spouse is insisting he sent in the right one, but someone mentioned the format changed July 1st?

He probably provided a Criminal History Information Record (CHIR), which was the correct search, but it was incomplete because the police didn't search the "Lapsed Records" database. This is a fairly common mistake for Korean applicants because the police in Korea do not search that database unless you specifically ask them to. My wife and I made the same mistake.

Korea maintains three criminal records databases; Criminal History, Investigative History and Lapsed Records. I'm guessing your search was incomplete because the scope of the search was limited to the first two only. Try doing the search again at the police station and using either the English or Korean request form you will find here http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/asia-pacific/korea-south.asp

It would seem that the Korean Police Service recently started issuing CHIRs in English. It doesn't look like CIC is aware of this yet, so I don't know how they are going to deal with the new search results. Anyway, the important thing is to make sure the new search you obtain shows results from all three databases.

2) Why is the application going to OTTAWA and not Manila? We applied as outland applicants in South Korea... Is that normal or a mistake?

This is weird. If you applied outland, your application should be going through Manila. Maybe it's just a typo? What is the return address of the email? Is the word 'manila' anywhere in the email address or does it look like it came from Ottawa? Also, to what address are they asking you to send the new CHIR?

3) Unrelated, but I just renewed my passport this week. Should I just send them a photocopy or not worry about until if/when they ask?

It wouldn't hurt to send them a photocopy. At some point they will ask you to complete a form called "Appendix A" which will ask for your new passport information anyway. I'd send them them a photocopy of the front page to make sure they don't get confused.

P.S. All of you are quite lovely and helpful. This may be the least snarky forum I've ever read ^^

Lol, definitely not AFEK or Dave's ESL Cafe.

Good luck.

 

[Rob_TO]

2) Why is the application going to OTTAWA and not Manila? We applied as outland applicants in South Korea... Is that normal or a mistake?

Is your spouse currently living in Korea, or in Canada on some longer term permit (like working holiday or study)?

 

[ilovecbc]

Is your spouse currently living in Korea, or in Canada on some longer term permit (like working holiday or study)?

Rob, we are both living in South Korea. My spouse did a Working Holiday from March 2012- March 2013, but we applied April 2014, so I don't think that would matter, right?

When we send in the police check, should we send in a note too double-checking that out app should be in Ottawa and not Manila? I feel like an e-mail won't really get much done...

 

[ilovecbc]

This is weird. If you applied outland, your application should be going through Manila. Maybe it's just a typo? What is the return address of the email? Is the word 'manila' anywhere in the email address or does it look like it came from Ottawa? Also, to what address are they asking you to send the new CHIR?

Bart, no typos... They're asking for the docs to be sent to Ottawa... What does it mean?? LOL

And thanks for the CHIR advice!

 

[bartjones]

Bart, no typos... They're asking for the docs to be sent to Ottawa... What does it mean?? LOL

And thanks for the CHIR advice!

I'm stumped. Sounds like Rob may have an idea though.

 

[Rob_TO]

Rob, we are both living in South Korea. My spouse did a Working Holiday from March 2012- March 2013, but we applied April 2014, so I don't think that would matter, right?

When we send in the police check, should we send in a note too double-checking that out app should be in Ottawa and not Manila? I feel like an e-mail won't really get much done...

I see 2 possibilities here:
1. CIC made a mistake, and sent your app to Ottawa when it should have gone to Manila, or
2. Manila office is overloaded, and they are re-routing some apps to CPC-O

You can always send them a case-specific email to confirm.

But I would just continue on as they are requesting, get your new police cert and send to CPC-O. The fact they are even asking you for this, shows they are working on your file. So if they do process in CPC-O you may get a better processing time vs Manila.

 

[KRM]

Hi there!

I'm also sponsoring my Korean wife, outland. We just received an email request from Manila for Appendix A and Entry/Exit Cert, which I take as meaning our app is progressing nicely. However, the attached file also included Appendix B, which is photograph specifications(?!). We submitted immigration photos with our original application, so I don't think we need to submit any more. My gut tells me that file is just included automatically, for some reason. There's no request for photos in the email itself (just for Appendix A and Entry/Exit Cert). Can anyone confirm my hunch?

Thanks!

 

[bartjones]

Hi there!

I'm also sponsoring my Korean wife, outland. We just received an email request from Manila for Appendix A and Entry/Exit Cert, which I take as meaning our app is progressing nicely. However, the attached file also included Appendix B, which is photograph specifications(?!). We submitted immigration photos with our original application, so I don't think we need to submit any more. My gut tells me that file is just included automatically, for some reason. There's no request for photos in the email itself (just for Appendix A and Entry/Exit Cert). Can anyone confirm my hunch?

Thanks!

Your hunch is correct. They did the same thing with my wife. I emailed them and asked if they really needed the photos and they said to complete Appendix A and ignore Appendix B.

 

[bartjones]

But I would just continue on as they are requesting, get your new police cert and send to CPC-O. The fact they are even asking you for this, shows they are working on your file. So if they do process in CPC-O you may get a better processing time vs Manila.

I agree with this approach. If it's a mistake and you bring it to their attention they may transfer the file to Manila which, I would think, would probably delay your application considerably. Just pretend everything is fine and comply with their request.

 

[KRM]

Your hunch is correct. They did the same thing with my wife. I emailed them and asked if they really needed the photos and they said to complete Appendix A and ignore Appendix B.

Thanks for the peace of mind!!

 

[kazzy]

Moving to Toronto from Busan.

Have checked out a bunch of shipping companies. It seems the cheapest one will be over 1.2 million won.

We aren't sending any furniture, just clothes, books and mementos. So we are thinking Korea post is the way to go.
Can anyone share their experiences with shipping with them. I'm worried about losing boxes / damaged goods....

Thanks!

 

[ctcruiser]

Hey Kazzy, I'm doing the same thing as you are. We don't have anything big, so we're just sending stuff through mail as we box it up. Nothing has reached Canada yet, so I don't have any updated info for you, but I have shipped boxes and even a full suitcase before and they came through alright. It's also reasonably priced as well. Sent 2 very large 18kg boxes last week for $100 total.

On another note, I have a question about address changes. They received our package in Mississauga on July 10 and we are waiting for my sponsorship approval. However, we need to move out of our apartment on August 15 and won't have a permanent address again until we hit Canada on sept 10 where we will be staying with my parents. How do I change our address at this point in time since we're not in Canada yet, and we don't have any account numbers or anything because I haven't been approved yet. Do they send any paperwork out during or after the approval process for sponsorship or is that only through email? (I did fill out the email part on the app)

Thanks

Ct