The July 2013 Outland Applicant Chill Spot.

[castleseng]

cant argue with that!! ...bit of a bummer about the strikes ..outta curiosity what did you guys applications look like in the end ..i have never seen an envelope so overfilled in my life haha

 

[Hungary]

This strike is crazy! I barely understand what is going on.... What will happen now with that 15 visa offices? I sure hope this will end soon.... ???

22 members nice

Castleseng, we sent package not an envelope it wasn't that huge though.... Which now makes me worried. I hope it will be enough.

 

[castleseng]

haha PACKAGE sounds big to me most of mine was just chat log "fluff" to be honest what route did you take ..im common-law that may explain it

 

[shan30]

Guys

Does this mean, that the 15 VOs will not be processing any of the sponsor applications too??

News from CBC:

Striking foreign service officers are withdrawing all services at Canada's 15 biggest visa processing centres abroad starting Monday, following a failed attempt to go to arbitration to settle the bitter contract dispute with the government.

The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, the union representing the officers, said Friday that Treasury Board President Tony Clement had rejected its offer of binding arbitration because the union wouldn't accept the conditions Clement attached to the offer.

The union began staging rotating job actions in the spring at different embassies and visa processing centres at different times, which has slowed down work abroad but not completely stopped it. Now the union is stepping up its pressure on the government.

"Effective Monday, in order to persuade the government that binding arbitration remains the responsible way forward to resolve our dispute, PAFSO members will withdraw all services until further notice at Canada's fifteen largest visa processing centres abroad," PAFSO said in a statement.

The centres are:

Abu Dhabi.
Ankara.
Beijing.
Cairo.
Delhi/Chandigarh.
Hong Kong.
London.
Manila.
Mexico City.
Moscow.
Paris.
Riyadh.
Sao Paulo.
Shanghai.
"We take no pleasure whatsoever in these strike actions and their real, severe, and mounting effects on the Canadian economy. But it should now be evident to all Canadians that from this point forward the government of Canada bears sole and complete responsibility for these impacts," the union said.

The tourism sectors and education institutions and organizations have been vocal with their concerns about the foreign service strike because of its impact already on the processing of visas. PAFSO encouraged them and others Friday to urge the government to "bargain freely and flexibly."

After the last round of negotiation broke down with no resolution and weeks went by with no talks scheduled, the union proposed to the government that they go to binding arbitration. The government then responded that it would agree, only if the union accepted certain conditions. It wanted the conditions kept confidential.

But in its statement Friday PAFSO shared some of the conditions and said two of them were "so paralyzing that their acceptance would have predetermined the outcome of arbitration in the government's favour and negated the purpose and integrity of the process."

 

[castleseng]

it says they are withdrawing all services ...hopefully they lay on some OT when its resolved to clear some of the backlog!

 

[Hungary]

Shan30 I don't really understand these people, but it seems like these are not good news :'( they said they were not giving visas but they were. So.... Head up , it will be fine!

Castleseng, ours is spousal. And we cant live together yet. I must stay here if they happen to call me for an interview because we cant afford now to fly to Vancouver, then back to Vienna (for interview) and then again to Vancouver... :'( besides we need three tickets because I have twins. :'( for him, he is working two jobs right now, in 13 hours a day and 5 on the weekend plus has no holiday left for this year... So we had to do our best to send enough proof. :'(
I feel sick to my stomach whenever I think it over, that we cannot show up a lot of visits or years living together. We know each other for 20 years, but fell in love only a year ago.

 

[mrsalvaro]

I feel for you sis.


I understand every point of all their rantings and they have all their right to fairness and equality.But these kind of news....urgh are really unacceptable!

PAFSO keeps on asking for fairness to the Canadian government. But they themselves are unfair to the hundreds of people who are depending on them for a chance to be with our loved ones and also to have a better opportunity in Canada by faster processing of papers for visa application. ??? ???

I hope they realize that's it's not easy to be apart from our spouses and family. They don't have any idea how it feels to be this depressed by dealing with this kind of situation. It's really hard, I hope they know that.

Can't they have a compromise agreement? This has been going on for a long time and has affected a lot of people. This strike has caused a lot of troubles because of the delays.

I just hope it gets resolved soon. It's also unfair to us...so unfair.

 

[sheee29]

hi guys,hi mrs. alvaro.just want to update my spreadsheet.i got my AOR today via email.thanks guys!

 

[mrsalvaro]

hi guys,hi mrs. alvaro.just want to update my spreadsheet.i got my AOR today via email.thanks guys!

Hi sis! Yey, you got your AOR already. I updated your info on our spreadsheet. ;D ;D

 

[simply_me14]

Thanks so much BossJosh. They received my application on July 26, 2013. Good luck guys!!

 

[mrsalvaro]

Thanks so much BossJosh. They received my application on July 26, 2013. Good luck guys!!

I updated your info

 

[scos]

I feel for you sis.


I understand every point of all their rantings and they have all their right to fairness and equality.But these kind of news....urgh are really unacceptable!

PAFSO keeps on asking for fairness to the Canadian government. But they themselves are unfair to the hundreds of people who are depending on them for a chance to be with our loved ones and also to have a better opportunity in Canada by faster processing of papers for visa application. ??? ???

I hope they realize that's it's not easy to be apart from our spouses and family. They don't have any idea how it feels to be this depressed by dealing with this kind of situation. It's really hard, I hope they know that.

Can't they have a compromise agreement? This has been going on for a long time and has affected a lot of people. This strike has caused a lot of troubles because of the delays.

I just hope it gets resolved soon. It's also unfair to us...so unfair.

Why don't you ask all those questions to where they belong; the government. PAFSO as a union represents their member workers. They have no agreement with us, and we have not paid them for their services. We paid the government for their services. It is up to government to provide them. The labor dispute affects us but only because the government refuses to take the steps required to provide for adequate staffing.

Remember even before the strike they were closing and consolidating VOs without hiring new people to deal with all the new applications in the consolidated VO. That led to processing times going from 8 months to 14 months in less than a year in Manila. That wasn't PAFSO's fault (they are the ones being overworked with the huge backlogs!!).

And I seriously doubt things will improve when they go back. There will just be more of the same.

 

[MCARTER82]

Thanks for getting back to me on that so quick ...for some reason I thought they were talking like 10K+, did you just send bank statements or did you have some kinda guarantee from spouse saying she'd cover you?


..nice one on your AOR Josh (good thing knowing it at least got through the doors I guess)

I actually just printed off my PayPal account showing the balance and my name. That worked for me.

 

[MCARTER82]

Congratulations! ;D I believe you received your UCI # and Application # as well. You can now access ECAS and monitor the progress of your application.

I was able to access it already using my husband's UCI# compared to the other day that I can't see anything regarding our application. And it now says Application Received and my name is correct in their system.

I think it's safe to say that they are going through our application already because it's the 24th day since the day we filed our application. I really wish to hear good news soon...I really miss my husband so much already huhu

Thanks mrsalvaro! Mine isn't on the ECAS yet, but it's only been a day so I'm not anxious about it.

I know how you feel I've only been back in England for 1 day and I miss my wife like crazy already. I'm hoping day 1 is the hardest, because I feel sick right now Hope it gets better for you too and God Bless to us all.

 

[mrsalvaro]

Thanks mrsalvaro! Mine isn't on the ECAS yet, but it's only been a day so I'm not anxious about it.

I know how you feel I've only been back in England for 1 day and I miss my wife like crazy already. I'm hoping day 1 is the hardest, because I feel sick right now Hope it gets better for you too and God Bless to us all.

Thanks! I really wish this strike ends as soon as possible.