Hey all...just wanted to share our story for some insight...
On May 19 when I had found out that my mother had collapsed due to massive stroke I made travel plans to fly back to Canada to say goodbye. My husband who had landed in Canada Apr 1 then submitted an application for a PRTD on May 22. We wrote the embassy to see if processing could be expedited due to the circumstances but they responded that they could not. At the time, I remember the posted processing time being about 15 days.
After I came back from Canada, my husband went to VFS to request the application be cancelled and return of his passport (we submitted it at the same time in hopes it would help speed things up). A few days later the passport came back and we thought nothing more.
Yesterday (Sept 6) he received an email from VFS UAE to submit his passport. It only contained a reference number in the subject line and said he had 30 days to submit the requested documents.
I called VFS today to find out what happened. Yes - the PPR was for the PRTD (processing time of 110 days)....and she said that if we wanted to cancel the application, we needed to send a form to the embassy. Why they didn't provide that to us when he first requested the cancellation, I don't know. There is also nothing in the guide for completing a PRTD submission to cancel the application.
FYI...
C.