Thread For applications Through SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA) Office

[Jez]

Thanks canadayogini. They sent an email with just the email signature from the Sydney office and attachment which reads...

In order to issue Permanent Residence visas, you are asked to complete the following instructions as indicated by the
below for yourself and each family member included on your application:

Send the current, valid, actual passport/s to this office. Ensure that there are sufficient blank pages in all
passports. Ensure that all passports have a validity which exceeds the proposed expiry date of your permanent
resident visa as stated below. Do not send expired passport/s. If there is more than one family member
included on a single passport ensure that there is at least one blank passport page for each person included on
that passport; Diplomatic/Official passports are not acceptable.

Your Permanent Resident visa, when issued, will be valid for travel until: 26 July 2011

Then it has some suggestions on how to send it to them, how long it should take to process (5-10 days), etc.

 

[canadayogini]

That's awesome, thanks so much for sharing the details Jez!

 

[canadayogini]

On the plus side of my post below, I received a letter from the Sydney visa office this week that said that the preliminary look at my file had been done, the interview waived and they were just missing a few documents and asked me to send them within 60 days.

I had to redo schedule 1 - background information - ok. I get their point, I'd accidently missed some months in Q11 and only listed addresses from age 20.

My gripe is that somehow the original police check and driving history report I sent to the Sydney immigration office have mysteriously vanished into ... (the ocean? well, there has been a lot of flooding here) and therefore I've had to redo my police check AGAIN!

If anyone in this country heard the sound of a wailing woman earlier, that was probably I. An email from their office this morning confirmed they had never seen such a thing. I'm 99% sure they did but since I can't go hunting through their mail room to match up records, I just have had to accept it.

I'm all good now, the checks/reports have been re-applied for and paid for today. So I'm yet another $150 poorer, had to invent more excuses at work why I suddenly had to slink off unexpectedly.

Ah, the joys of putting major life decisions in another persons hands! I think I would feel more resigned to this fact if I wasn't carrying a baby, so hyper-emotional anyway and wanting desperately to get back there to Canada to build the nest at home. :-(

Not sure whether to feel happy or sad really. I just feel pretty rubbish right now. Guess it could be worse. they could have lost my entire application somewhere along the way.

 

[TracyS]

gawd, that's my fear too. Because we can't staple sheets together I'm paranoid that when I finally get this application off to Canada that parts are going to go missing. I may not be pregnant like you canadayogini but I sure feel like an expectant mother with this whole process.

 

[arunsgirl]

I don't know if all of you lovely Sydney applicants have heard about it yet or not:

there is a tracking site that keeps all the data nicely organized for all of us waiting. It calculates days you have been waiting and it's really nice to sort. It also gives you all different statistics and it is really useful for all future immigrants so please log onto that page and keep people posted about waiting times etc. You can find the page here:

trackitt.com/canada-immigration-trackers/family-class

 

[Jez]

Sydney claimed they never received my Quebec Selection Certificate even though I have documentation from Quebec that explicitly states they were sent it. Hang in there people! There is a light...

 

[TracyS]

I just had a sinking feeling. I'm in Perth and when I had my medical, the doctor said he was sending the results to Singapore. It didn't register at the time but why would they do that? Surely they would go to my visa office which is Sydney?

 

[fariza]

I just had a sinking feeling. I'm in Perth and when I had my medical, the doctor said he was sending the results to Singapore. It didn't register at the time but why would they do that? Surely they would go to my visa office which is Sydney?

For all applicant under Sydney (better say Asia-pacific) the MR goes to Singapore RMO (regional medical office) before sending back to sydney... so far I know

 

[TracyS]

ahh..thanks fariza...i didn't realise that..phew :

 

[kam1982]

Hi everyone, i figured that this would be a good place to ask Aus related questions.

I'm a Canadian in Australia on a working holiday visa,
Will be applying outland from Melbourne,
going back to Quebec, and my wife will travel with me as a visitor in June 2011

How do we go about notify Mississauga and Sydney office about the fact that we are now in Canada, Quebec and provide them with a Canadian correspondence address?
Is there a form for this?

 

[Jez]

Hi everyone, i figured that this would be a good place to ask Aus related questions.

I'm a Canadian in Australia on a working holiday visa,
Will be applying outland from Melbourne,
going back to Quebec, and my wife will travel with me as a visitor in June 2011

How do we go about notify Mississauga and Sydney office about the fact that we are now in Canada, Quebec and provide them with a Canadian correspondence address?
Is there a form for this?

Hi kam1982,

Our situation is very similar and I have just had my passport requested, so I'm happy to suggest what we did.

We applied outland whilst living in Sydney, Australia in order to immigrate to Quebec. Two months after applying we moved to Quebec and sent an email directly to the Sydney office notifying them of our new address. It took them about a week to reply.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/change-address.asp
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/offices/missions/sydney.asp

There is a 'Case Specific Enquiry' link on the above Sydney URL which looks like you could use though we just emailed them. One thing I will say is that our new address still not in ECAS. We've notified them several times but they haven't changed it. Anyway, they send all letter communications to our correct address in Quebec so we have just chosen to ignore.

If she wants/needs to work in Canada while her visa is being processed and she is under 31, I'd suggest your wife get a Canadian working holiday visa - I did. It also made getting through immigration very easy when we arrived as I only had a one-way airfare. Just a thought!

 

[kam1982]

Hi Jez,

there is this reassuring feeling reading that someone else is in the similar situation.
Thank you for your help, we will definitely use the link when time comes to change address.

For some reason a two way ticket for her was cheaper then one way. So it's all booked. If we do run into questions at landing, she'll simply have more proof that she can easily return to Australia.

Unfortunately, she used her working holiday visa in Canada back in 2004, so that option is out.

I tried to get the option C from Revenue Canada this morning. I was missing my T1 to answer their security questions and will have to call again, once I get my family to email me the T1.

If the request is for Option C printout is made over the phone, they will send original right away to Australian address (provided one can answer their security questions)
If request is made by faxing them, she sad it will take weeks for them to process and send the original

Never ending red tape

 

[Jez]

Unfortunately, she used her working holiday visa in Canada back in 2004, so that option is out.

Australians can now have more than one working holiday visa... I'm actually here on my second one! It changed a few years ago and now we can stay/work in Canada for 24 months total. Applications must now include a police record check (not fingerprints) and that's about all which has changed. Your wife must be under 31 on the day she applies for the visa.

http://www.whpcanada.org.au/

I contacted the Canadian Consulate General in Sydney when we began my visa application and they said it was perfectly fine for me to go to Canada on a WHP visa while my common-law was being processed. It made things so much easier for us.

 

[kam1982]

We had no idea. This was great news. Sorry if i didn't respond earlier, but that same day we jumped at this info and got all her papers in order. She applied for the visa, and now just waiting for a second police check to be send to us.
This is perfect. If only we would have verified earlier. It relieves the stress of not being able to work in case the PR is still not processed or approved.

So it's perfectly ok to tell immigration at landing that a PR is in works and hope they approve working holiday visa for at least 12mnths +?
I personally don't see why they would stamp her for less then that.
Thanks again Jez.

a side side question and a silly one perhaps: how did you send the entire application to Sydney? Boxed or large envelope?

 

[Jez]

When we went through immigration there were no complications at all... They didn't even ask why I was coming to Canada because the WHP visa is valid for two years, so yes it is Ok to tell them.

If they had asked about my PR, I would have told them the truth because the WHP and PR are two totally different visas. All your wife needs to make sure is that she follows the rules of the WHP visa because that is the one she is entering with. Does that make sense?

I know how you feel. We were a little nervous about the whole thing before we arrived but it really was so easy when we got here.

We sent our application in a thin document box, probably two inches thick. We didn't have a huge amount of supporting evidence like a lot of people here, so our application wasn't massive. But it has all worked out!

You know that outland PR applications go to Mississauga, not directly to Sydney?