Greeting everyone,
I am a longtime lurker on this site, having gathered tons of good advice, but this is my first post.
I have been married to my wife for almost a year (8 days shy of our anniversary) and we are going through the process of getting a PR visa for her and her 10-year-old daughter to join me in Canada.
They haven't been over on a tourist visa at this point as it has been difficult planning a visit around our daughter's school calendar so I have had to make due with visiting them every three or four months.
Here is our time frame:
Jan. 28, 2008: Married
April 21, 2008: Submitted application for Sponsorship/PR Visa through Canada.
May 13, 2008: Sponsorship approved
May 26, 2008: CIC started processing PR application
Sept. 2, 2008: Notified that my wife had been placed on list for interview at embassy in Bangkok
Late Oct., 2008: Notified that my wife's interview would be held on Dec. 2, 2008.
Late Nov., 2008: Notified that my wife's interview had been postponed due to difficulties in Bangkok and the embassy needing to help stranded Canadians return home.
Mid-Dec. 2008: Notified that my wife's interview had been rescheduled for Jan. 20, 2008.
Jan. 20., 2008: My wife had her interview at the embassy.
This is where we are at now. My wife's interview was today and it apparently went well, lasting only about 20 minutes. She said that the people were very nice to her and asked her about our relationship, how we kept in touch, how I supported her, how often I visited, etc etc. It sounds like the interview was pretty much exactly what our lawyer told us to expect.
At the end of the interview they kept my wife and daughter's passports. I am assuming this is a positive thing. If they had any reason to deny the application they wouldn't keep the passports would they?
I'm thinking that since they already have up-to-date medicals in hand, plus my wife's criminal record check, that this is a logical conclusion. But, to be honest, I'm a little afraid of getting too far ahead of myself.
Our experience so far has been pretty straightforward. I can't really complain about too much other than the time frame and the lack of information flowing our way. The time frame was lengthened by the troubles in Bangkok and were certainly beyond everyone's control but I would like to CIC work on the flow of information in the future.
As most of you can attest, this whole process is strenuous enough as it is without a total lack of communication from CIC. Add to that a very real fear that any prodding into your case could delay it by months and it really is difficult on families already separated by thousands of miles and many months, in some cases years.
I'll keep you updated as I hear more. But I do want to thank everyone who takes the time to participate in this forum as it is an excellent resource and a great source of comfort at times.
All my best.
I am a longtime lurker on this site, having gathered tons of good advice, but this is my first post.
I have been married to my wife for almost a year (8 days shy of our anniversary) and we are going through the process of getting a PR visa for her and her 10-year-old daughter to join me in Canada.
They haven't been over on a tourist visa at this point as it has been difficult planning a visit around our daughter's school calendar so I have had to make due with visiting them every three or four months.
Here is our time frame:
Jan. 28, 2008: Married
April 21, 2008: Submitted application for Sponsorship/PR Visa through Canada.
May 13, 2008: Sponsorship approved
May 26, 2008: CIC started processing PR application
Sept. 2, 2008: Notified that my wife had been placed on list for interview at embassy in Bangkok
Late Oct., 2008: Notified that my wife's interview would be held on Dec. 2, 2008.
Late Nov., 2008: Notified that my wife's interview had been postponed due to difficulties in Bangkok and the embassy needing to help stranded Canadians return home.
Mid-Dec. 2008: Notified that my wife's interview had been rescheduled for Jan. 20, 2008.
Jan. 20., 2008: My wife had her interview at the embassy.
This is where we are at now. My wife's interview was today and it apparently went well, lasting only about 20 minutes. She said that the people were very nice to her and asked her about our relationship, how we kept in touch, how I supported her, how often I visited, etc etc. It sounds like the interview was pretty much exactly what our lawyer told us to expect.
At the end of the interview they kept my wife and daughter's passports. I am assuming this is a positive thing. If they had any reason to deny the application they wouldn't keep the passports would they?
I'm thinking that since they already have up-to-date medicals in hand, plus my wife's criminal record check, that this is a logical conclusion. But, to be honest, I'm a little afraid of getting too far ahead of myself.
Our experience so far has been pretty straightforward. I can't really complain about too much other than the time frame and the lack of information flowing our way. The time frame was lengthened by the troubles in Bangkok and were certainly beyond everyone's control but I would like to CIC work on the flow of information in the future.
As most of you can attest, this whole process is strenuous enough as it is without a total lack of communication from CIC. Add to that a very real fear that any prodding into your case could delay it by months and it really is difficult on families already separated by thousands of miles and many months, in some cases years.
I'll keep you updated as I hear more. But I do want to thank everyone who takes the time to participate in this forum as it is an excellent resource and a great source of comfort at times.
All my best.