DONE!
Got my PR approved, and am, strangely, feeling really a little different now. Great feeling, though. I am home!
Thanks to everyone who helped me here along the way, I can't believe how quickly everything just happened... I am happy to give you a little run through my interview, and my stats on my application.
Interview: We were scheduled for 2pm yesterday, arrived 5mins early, but had to wait about 45mins. Long enough that my husband had to leave to add money to the meter, and didn't show up for another 35 minutes because he had to find a new parking spot downtown Vancouver... Anyways, it was all VERY civil, very friendly officers (all the interviews were held in the lobby so you were witness to all the spousal interviews...), and my officer interviewed me for about 10 minutes while we waited for him to return half an hour later...
She asked me a few questions to verify that I am who I am, where I live, how I met my husband and how we went about our relationship for the past few years. Also when and were we got married. Once my husband finally arrived he got asked the same questions, and of course he already had forgotten the name of the park we got married in and I helped him out. All good, no interrogation style interview with anyone.
And that was it! We verified our identities, she voided my Work Permit and told me to get my official SIN number as the temporary one is cancelled now, explained my conditional PR to me, and handed me my confirmation of my PR.
One thing: Everyone in the office had to re-do their PR card photos for some reason. I had sent them in with my initial package and apparently that didn't matter, so I had to get them re-done for the interview. Bummer, but in light of the other expenses for the PR nothing too painful.
Here my timeline:
Feb 19th 2016: Application package arrived at CIC, including:
- all filled out forms
- security check (Germany/Netherlands/Switzerland/Canada<-- not necessary to add Canada but I was on autopilot and got it because I have lived here several times before and didn't question anything) - my German certificate was 2-ish weeks before being out of date (5,5 months old) but it was fine, apparently.
- Medical check (done in January)
- 7 pictures of my husband and me (wedding, trips throughout the years)
- a letter highlighting the course of our relationship (how we met, 8 years together long-distance, decided to finish our education before moving to Canada etc.)
- a few forms showing us as beneficiaries of each other's insurance, shared phone account
- 4 short letters on our behalf: 2 friends, my brother, our neighbors
- 2 photos for the PR card (were useless)
- essentially everything else that was asked for in the check list
- complete OWP application
We paid all the fees except the RFPR fee, but now in hindsight I think we could have just paid it right away and it wouldn't have mattered.
We never got AOR but found out about it after inquiring via email and getting my husband's UCI number. My ECAS never updated, and just today MyCIC got changed to "approved".
My visitor visa ran out some time in March, so I applied for an extension about two days before it ran out, in case we got our application returned, and it went through in late April.
I received my OWP June 12th, so almost exactly 4 months after applying for it.
My AOR arrived June 1 with the request to redo IMM5669 and IMM5406 (was expected).
We received SA on July 6th, and full AIP on July 13th.
Some time in between (early August?) I connected my app on MyCIC.
September 2nd I received my invitation for my landing interview - September 8th. MyCIC didn't change at all, until today.
September 6 I received my GCMS notes that are quite long and fairly boring, but highlight that some time around May/June someone recommended us for the Backlog Reduction Program. Thanks, CIC officer!
All in all - I arrived in Canada exactly a year ago (Sept 9th 2015), got married 6 months in, and 6.5 months later I have my PR. My husband was never particularly worried that we would run into problems (but he bluffs a lot as well, tbh), and he kept on repeating that we should just make sure to have everything together, and paid, on time, and keep everything clear and concise. Turns out he was right!
Godspeed to everyone here! Keeping my fingers crossed for all of you!
It was kind of beautiful in the office there yesterday with all the other couples - a lot of encouraging smiles were exchanged, and maybe the odd tear shed (okay, that was only me).
i know it's my fault for wanting to be in Canada but its a harsh world....
