Someone searching for "immigration to Canada" on Google will probably land on IRCC's website first. When you read the information on their website, you get a FALSE impression that the application process is quick and straightforward. It is "Express" entry, right? You will think that it takes around 6 months to get your visa. This is completely wrong!!! it normally takes 2-4 years from the time you start actively working on your application.
I am writing this post to try to give people some accurate insight into the PR application process as opposed to the misleading information on IRCC's website.
About 3 years ago I found a Canadian company that was planing to start a project. I do not want to go into the details, but this is a very specialized domain and I was a perfect fit for this position. I convinced the employer to sponsor me for a Canadian PR. We both looked at IRCC's website and thought that this is not very hard. We did not like the 6 months waiting time (we were so naive
) but we thought that this is OK.
The employer and I assumed that I am going to Canada soon and started preparing business plans based on that. We also started working on the visa application. I quickly booked an IELTS test and sent my university docs for credentials evaluation. My first shock was that credentials evaluation takes over 7 months!!! Yes, now I know that I could have used WES instead of ICAS. But I am not an expert on this. And at the time, ICAS were hiding their processing time really well on their website. Also the LMIA was a long process for the employer and they had to post dummy job ads for several months and answer applicants who had no chance. Standard job ads are not how you look for someone to fill such a position, but they had to do that just to make the government happy. Then I had to wait for the US PCC which took over 5 months. I had to record my own finger prints and I am not a professional. So I was very concerned about my fingerprints being rejected.
Collecting all the documents required for the PR application took about a year and a half and wasted a lot of my time ad the employer's time. Then I finally got to submit the application. I thought WOW! I finally get to start those 6 months. But not so fast! They do not complete the processing in 6 months. They "try" to complete the processing in 6 months. And more often than not they fail. So those 6 months do not really mean anything. I am currently waiting since over 9 months with no end in sight. There is no time frame for application processing and it can take years.
And because the wait is not bad enough, they decided to play with me. Cairo Visa Office sent me a PPR (Passport Request). I celebrated an everything. And 3 weeks later, they called me to tell me that they were not really serious about it. They said that because I spent over 6 months in the US, they have to do additional background check (of course my stay in the US was declared very clearly in my travel history). They said that I can come pick the passport if I want it. "Pick the passport", they would not even send it to me. And they did not say a single word of apology. Like it is very normal to send me wrong (or at least misleading) information on such an important matter.
I cannot tell how bad the employer and I were screwed because of our wrong assumptions about the processing time. The project absolutely had to start so I started working for them remotely. Work hours are 3 PM to 3 AM my local time (imagine my lifestyle). Also working remotely is often inefficient and impractical. And we have to worry about the possibility of my application being rejected which will be disastrous to the project I am working on.
On the personal level, it is a mess when you do not know whether you will be in a different country the next month. You cannot write a lease agreement or make a decision about buying a car.
My decision to apply for a Canadian PR looked good at the time I made it given the information I had at the time. But now I know that it was a bad decision. So I wrote this post to share my experience with other people so they can make more educated decisions.
I am writing this post to try to give people some accurate insight into the PR application process as opposed to the misleading information on IRCC's website.
About 3 years ago I found a Canadian company that was planing to start a project. I do not want to go into the details, but this is a very specialized domain and I was a perfect fit for this position. I convinced the employer to sponsor me for a Canadian PR. We both looked at IRCC's website and thought that this is not very hard. We did not like the 6 months waiting time (we were so naive
) but we thought that this is OK.The employer and I assumed that I am going to Canada soon and started preparing business plans based on that. We also started working on the visa application. I quickly booked an IELTS test and sent my university docs for credentials evaluation. My first shock was that credentials evaluation takes over 7 months!!! Yes, now I know that I could have used WES instead of ICAS. But I am not an expert on this. And at the time, ICAS were hiding their processing time really well on their website. Also the LMIA was a long process for the employer and they had to post dummy job ads for several months and answer applicants who had no chance. Standard job ads are not how you look for someone to fill such a position, but they had to do that just to make the government happy. Then I had to wait for the US PCC which took over 5 months. I had to record my own finger prints and I am not a professional. So I was very concerned about my fingerprints being rejected.
Collecting all the documents required for the PR application took about a year and a half and wasted a lot of my time ad the employer's time. Then I finally got to submit the application. I thought WOW! I finally get to start those 6 months. But not so fast! They do not complete the processing in 6 months. They "try" to complete the processing in 6 months. And more often than not they fail. So those 6 months do not really mean anything. I am currently waiting since over 9 months with no end in sight. There is no time frame for application processing and it can take years.
And because the wait is not bad enough, they decided to play with me. Cairo Visa Office sent me a PPR (Passport Request). I celebrated an everything. And 3 weeks later, they called me to tell me that they were not really serious about it. They said that because I spent over 6 months in the US, they have to do additional background check (of course my stay in the US was declared very clearly in my travel history). They said that I can come pick the passport if I want it. "Pick the passport", they would not even send it to me. And they did not say a single word of apology. Like it is very normal to send me wrong (or at least misleading) information on such an important matter.
I cannot tell how bad the employer and I were screwed because of our wrong assumptions about the processing time. The project absolutely had to start so I started working for them remotely. Work hours are 3 PM to 3 AM my local time (imagine my lifestyle). Also working remotely is often inefficient and impractical. And we have to worry about the possibility of my application being rejected which will be disastrous to the project I am working on.
On the personal level, it is a mess when you do not know whether you will be in a different country the next month. You cannot write a lease agreement or make a decision about buying a car.
My decision to apply for a Canadian PR looked good at the time I made it given the information I had at the time. But now I know that it was a bad decision. So I wrote this post to share my experience with other people so they can make more educated decisions.
