Thread for Outland LONDON, UK Applications!

[canuck_in_uk]

On our accompanying letter in MyCIC it says:

I originally assumed this was October 2nd 2017, but it sounds like it might be as soon as February 10th 2017?!

COPRs are generally valid for about one year from the medical, which you completed in Feb 2016, so yes, you must land by Feb 10th, 2017.

 

[toeknee]

i see this repeated quite often, but i'm not sure whether there's any truth to this. take a look at the 2016 tab on the pakistani spreadsheet and you'll notice that in many cases, non-visa exempt applicants are processed within the same time frame as visa exempt applicants. exceptions are when the applicant is asked to provide additional documents, redo their medical, has an extensive travel history (leading to lenghty background checks), needs further review (i.e. has red flags), or requires an interview.

i've even had an opportunity to look at GCMS notes for some of the non-visa exempt applicants who have gotten passport requests recently. i was surprised to learn that for straightforward and complete cases, it would take LVO less than a week to finalize an application from the time they pull it off the shelf for initial review to the time they make a final decision.

Looking at the London spreadsheet on the BE forum then statistically speaking on average it takes longer for an application to be processed via the Islamabad office.

Using their current statistics, the average is 9.41 months from standard countries and 12.18 months for those transferred from the Islamabad office.

Based on the last 20 decisions made in each case then the London std countries average is 9.36 months compared with 13.41 months for those transferred from the Islamabad office.

With this information to hand, then I think its categorically fair to say that ON AVERAGE it takes longer to be processed through London if the file is transferred via the Islamabad office.

Of course individual cases will occur where quicker straightforward Islamabad applications are processed in a shorter timeframe than slower, more complex ones from a std country.

 

[smclintock]

COPRs are generally valid for about one year from the medical, which you completed in Feb 2016, so yes, you must land by Feb 10th, 2017.

thanks for confirming this!

also thank you to everyone on the forum, especially for the spreadsheet updates, an invaluable source of information

we better get packing

 

[NSharoon]

I assume your comments relate to the London office. Bear in mind that non-Visa exempt applications take longer. Also it is not as 'mechanical' as you say, as there are a number of much older applications still outstanding for a variety of reasons.

But if you want to over-simplify it - for visa exempt, clean / straightforward spousal sponsorship applications, then yes, that is as good a reading of it as any.

Thanks for your help!
Im just trying to be optimistic. I applied for my husband's spousal visa from Pakistan and the AOR was received on 23 June, 2016.
SO i was just trying to get some ideas as how soon can I expect him here.

 

[flx2015]

Looking at the London spreadsheet on the BE forum then statistically speaking on average it takes longer for an application to be processed via the Islamabad office.

Using their current statistics, the average is 9.41 months from standard countries and 12.18 months for those transferred from the Islamabad office.

Based on the last 20 decisions made in each case then the London std countries average is 9.36 months compared with 13.41 months for those transferred from the Islamabad office.

With this information to hand, then I think its categorically fair to say that ON AVERAGE it takes longer to be processed through London if the file is transferred via the Islamabad office.

Of course individual cases will occur where quicker straightforward Islamabad applications are processed in a shorter timeframe than slower, more complex ones from a std country.

pakistani spousal apps are no longer processed at islamabad; they're transferred directly to LVO. the islamabad office is only responsible for issuing the COPR once the application has been approved.

IMO the pakistani average on the london spreadsheet is not accurate because too few pakistani applicants contribute to it. i've spoken to schnook about being added on as an administrator on the spreadsheet so that i can import data from the pakistani spreadsheet over to the london one, thus giving us more data points and a more realistic average. once i've imported everything over, you'll see that the averages are more or less the same.

 

[toeknee]

pakistani spousal apps are no longer processed at islamabad; they're transferred directly to LVO. the islamabad office is only responsible for issuing the COPR once the application has been approved.

IMO the pakistani average on the london spreadsheet is not accurate because too few pakistani applicants contribute to it. i've spoken to schnook about being added on as an administrator on the spreadsheet so that i can import data from the pakistani spreadsheet over to the london one, thus giving us more data points and a more realistic average. once i've imported everything over, you'll see that the averages are more or less the same.

You are indeed correct that a larger sample size would give a more accurate average and that is why I am surprised that you pointed to the 2016 tab earlier as examples of similar processing times, these are skewed statistics because they are obviously the speediest of processed applications and only when the longer ones are processed will a true average emerge. But I will play along......

Your spreadsheet shows 12 pakistani applications getting decisions made with only one of these applications was delayed due to extra documentation and yet the average processed time is still longer than that of the 8 std countries 2016 completed applications of which 3 were delayed due to extra documentation required.

It will be interesting to see the averages when a more complete picture due to a bigger data set is forthcoming.

Overall there shouldn't really be any difference in the processing times except for the postage time for extra hard copied documentation between Pakistan and London.

The most telling figure for me, is the 2015 outstanding uncompleted applications 3 from 69 std country applications are outstanding and your 2015 spreadsheet shows around 30 pakistani uncompleted applications from a total of 121. IMO when these are completed it will lead to a longer overall average for the pakistani applications.

 

[flx2015]

Are you looking at processing times for London VO only? I see that many visa exempt applicants are being transferred to CPC-O which is on a whole different level in terms of processing times.

With regards to the number of uncompleted apps on the 2015 Pak spreadsheet, the data from January to September was copied over from from an earlier spreadsheet whose admin vanished from the forum without giving anyone else admin access to it. So yeah, we've got a few issues with some members (especially those from Jan/15 to Sep/15) not updating us once they've got a decision made. This is why I referred you to the 2016 sheet and not the 2015 one.

With that said, if we look at cases from 2015 that were finalized without an interview, the average comes out to be 255 days (8.4 months). I still don't really see much deviation from the processing times for visa exempt applicants processed at LVO who had applied at the same time.

 

[toeknee]

Yes I am looking at the London office only - There are 8 London std country completed applications in 2016 (of which I am one) and 1 from Pakistan on the London BE spreadsheet.

The 2016 Pakistan spreadsheet average is currently skewed due to the lack of applications completed there are 12 of 31 upto the last completed one jamils2 (today) whose application was received at CPC-M on 20th April, only one of these required extra documentation. Once the other 19 applications are completed the true average will emerge of those first 31 applications of 2016.

You do realise that if the 19 outstanding applications upto Jamils2 were all miraculously approved on Monday, that your current average would increase by 11 days instantly.

It really is semantics at this point!

A bigger sample would give a better picture but I have yet to see anything that suggests that ON AVERAGE Pakistani applications are not slower than standard countries, the original point Hurlabrick made that you disagreed with!

 

[flx2015]

The 8.4 month average I mentioned in my previous post was taken from the 2015 sheet. I created a temporary filter that only included all routine cases that had been finalized to date (routine meaning cases that did not require interviews).

But yeah, I suppose it really is all semantics at this point. It's also tough to draw any reliable conclusions with such small samples. Let's wait and see what happens once we've got more data for Pakistani applicants imported into the London spreadsheet.

 

[ScaMD]

My status on ECAS updated today to In Progress

 

[Hurlabrick]

Spreadsheet update (for "kmclintock"): MyCIC has changed to "Your application has been approved" :-D

We can see the letter that accompanies the COPR document, but not the COPR itself... is this sent later by post?

Congratulations! Spreadsheet updated. Please let us know when the paper COPR finally arrives.

 

[Hurlabrick]

My status on ECAS updated today to In Progress

Thanks for the update. Spreadsheet updated.

 

[kmclintock]

Thanks! The papers arrived yesterday! Thanks for all the help and advice as well

 

[Hurlabrick]

Thanks! The papers arrived yesterday! Thanks for all the help and advice as well

Wow - fast! Spreadsheet updated, your entry now done. Enjoy Canada!

 

[MissDW]

I've noticed on the spreadsheet that Statutory declaration of common-law union (IMM5409) is being requested more often in Ottawa. I was just wondering if anyone might know why that was or had any insight to it?

I know there's no solid answer, I was just curious. Since all the guidance says not to include it unless your common-law spouse is a co-signer!