Thread for Outland LONDON, UK Applications!

[SchnookoLoly]

RKevin - read the FAQ linked in both mine and Andrew's signatures, a load of your questions are answered there.

If you want somethign to do so you don't go entirely stir crazy, you can look into volunteering, as long as it's in a position that would normally be staffed by a volunteer (like working at a food bank or volunteering for the Salvation Army). You are not allowed to do "volunteer work" where the work would otherwise be done by a paid person, like volunteering as a receptionist or volunteering to clean an office building, etc. As long as the work would normally be done by a volunteer then you're just fine to go and spend your time doing that. Lots of people who are waiting in Canada do this to help pass the time, plus it looks good on a resume that you give back. Not to mention it's just a good thing to do generally!

As for inland vs outland, there are pros and cons to both, and restrictions and freedoms to both. Yes, inland applicants can get a work permit, but they also have to wait well over 2 years to get their PR, they cannot leave Canada until they get their OWP, and if their application is rejected they have no right of appeal. Outland applicants, even if they are living in Canada, generally have their applications processed much faster (even London applications are done in about 10ish months), they have the right to appeal, and they have free travel with no requirement to remain inside Canada.

It's also worth mentioning that at the end of the process, the applicant has full permanent residency. Many other countries may allow you a visa earlier in the process based on your marital status, but then it takes significantly longer to get any kind of permanent status. Sure in the UK you can get a spouse visa in a few months, but then it takes at least 3 years to get ILR, the PR equivalent. In addition, Canada is one of exceptionally few countries that allows couples to apply as common-law applicants, not requiring them to actually get married, which is very uncommon.

So read the FAQ to understand more about the different offices and the different processing times. The big red box on the cover page of the spreadsheet also explains this. The majority of common questions are covered int he FAQ, so do have a read of that and if your questions are still not answered, then pop back here.

 

[RKevin]

Thanks ShnookoLoly. The FAQ's are very detailed, did you and Andrew both produce this? - it is very good!

In terms of volunteering, I was considering this to keep busy on a few days of the week, and yes it's generally a good thing to do, but I've also read how Canadians may be put at a disadvantage for taking a position that could potentially be their own. Also, I really do not want to be caught up in a situation where the volunteering did fall under a paid position and suffer the repercussions!

I agree one is getting Permanent residence but when Canada's sovereignty holds Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, it really bothers me that UK citizens are not given a speedier process. If applying for PR in another country in which it's sovereignty lies outside of British rule and the process is just the process you have to go through, then fine just have to bite the bullet.

If it wasn't for doing further studies at this time in my life then I would probably go back to UK and work! Anyways, great informative forum!

 

[RKevin]

Oh and another thing, re: spreadsheet - who's the excel whiz who produced this and keeps it updated? Is there a way of saving this down to Excel?

 

[andrew-brit]

Oh and another thing, re: spreadsheet - who's the excel whiz who produced this and keeps it updated? Is there a way of saving this down to Excel?

Myself and SchnookoLoly maintain the spreadsheet. It is a google doc, you can go File > Download As > (format) but why not just bookmark it in your browser so you can check it whenever you want?

A downloaded copy will not contain any updates made after you download it.

 

[RKevin]

Nevermind! Got it, stupid question (being a techy myself lol), ShnookoLoly is the owner with Andrew as an Admin too. Cool

 

[SchnookoLoly]

Thanks ShnookoLoly. The FAQ's are very detailed, did you and Andrew both produce this? - it is very good!

Mostly me as I was bored of answering the same questions a zillion times. Andrew and a few others have helped shape it.

In terms of volunteering, I was considering this to keep busy on a few days of the week, and yes it's generally a good thing to do, but I've also read how Canadians may be put at a disadvantage for taking a position that could potentially be their own. Also, I really do not want to be caught up in a situation where the volunteering did fall under a paid position and suffer the repercussions!

Hence I said as long as the position is normally volunteer, you are fine. So you can go to a soup kitchen or Meals on Wheels or to the Salvation Army or whatever and volunteer your time there, and that's all completely fine.

I agree one is getting Permanent residence but when Canada's sovereignty holds Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, it really bothers me that UK citizens are not given a speedier process. If applying for PR in another country in which it's sovereignty lies outside of British rule and the process is just the process you have to go through, then fine just have to bite the bullet.

Ugh I'm not even going to dignify this with a response. Yeah the Queen is technically head of state but it's purely ceremonial. Lay off.

Oh and another thing, re: spreadsheet - who's the excel whiz who produced this and keeps it updated? Is there a way of saving this down to Excel?

It was originally created by someone on here named PinkLady, then Sweden took it over for awhile, then it was passed to me a few years ago. Andrew is currently my right-hand-man in helping keep it up to date (and does more than I do these days). Glad you find it useful and informative! Best way to say thanks for it is to have your own info added to it, I notice you are not on it yet. Shoudl be obvious from looking at the data what data we need, so if you post it here one of us will add you in.

 

[RKevin]

Yep got it Andrew! Thanks (y)

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I agree one is getting Permanent residence but when Canada's sovereignty holds Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, it really bothers me that UK citizens are not given a speedier process. If applying for PR in another country in which it's sovereignty lies outside of British rule and the process is just the process you have to go through, then fine just have to bite the bullet.

As SchnookoLoly said, lay off with that. Sharing a figurehead head of state does not entitle UK citizens to a single benefit or advantage in immigrating to Canada. This is coming from a person who waited 9 months for my British partner to become a PR.

 

[RKevin]

Ugh I'm not even going to dignify this with a response. Yeah the Queen is technically head of state but it's purely ceremonial. Lay off.

@SchnookoLoly - Fair one

Mostly me as I was bored of answering the same questions a zillion times. Andrew and a few others have helped shape it.

It's good to see you and Andrew dedicated and committed into welcoming and supporting others with information in this forum. Kudos to you both!

 

[RKevin]

As SchnookoLoly said, lay off with that. Sharing a figurehead head of state does not entitle UK citizens to a single benefit or advantage in immigrating to Canada. This is coming from a person who waited 9 months for my British partner to become a PR.

@ canuck_in_uk - very sad indeed.

 

[RKevin]

@SchnookoLoly - hopefully the process gets a lot quicker in future.

Budget cuts everywhere results in more work, less personnel. Hopefully the guys doing the administration get the support they need in processing cases.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

@ SchnookoLoly - hopefully the process gets a lot quicker in future.

Budget cuts everywhere results in more work, less personnel. Hopefully the guys doing the administration get the support they need in processing cases.

I have a feeling this is going to turn into a debate that's run in circles, so I'll just engage in this once and then that's it. Canada has one of the overall fastest processing times to get a family member to PR of any other country. To have your husband/wife/whatever as a PR under one year is quite something. As I said, most places might have a faster process to allow for a visa, but actual permanent status takes much longer. London used to be one of the fastest outland processing offices, but has slowed in the past by a few months because of the Islamabad backlog. Other western offices are also averaging 6-8 months (Sydney, Ottawa for US Apps, Paris, etc). Just have a look at the numbers here - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp - and because I'm a nerd and marginally annoyed, I dumped it into Excel.

12 offices have their processing time posted as under one year. A further 22 are between one and two years. Only 6 offices are longer than two years, one of those being London, which we know is only accurate for Islamabad applications and for 'standard' apps is actually still sub one year. USA (LA) is listed in there as well, but that is more for the very complex applications filed by US residents; the majority of straight-forward US applications go to Ottawa where they are processed in 6ish months. The other 4 countries are countries with notoriously high rates of fraud and misrepresentation (Jamaica, Kenya, Singapore, Pakistan).

So really, the process is actually pretty quick for those coming from developed countries, and generally those who have straight-forward applications have their full PR in hand in under one year. Sure they could get working faster if they got a visa first and then PR later, but that is then twice the amount of work for CIC as they have to deal with applications twice (part of the reason inland takes so much longer)... and I'm sure if that were the case then people would be on here bitching about how it takes 3 years to get PR and why can't Canada do it faster, blah blah blah.

And now I'm just angry so I'm going to shut up before I rant more. Schnooks out.

 

[Scotmoose]

@ SchnookoLoly - hopefully the process gets a lot quicker in future.

Budget cuts everywhere results in more work, less personnel. Hopefully the guys doing the administration get the support they need in processing cases.

They don't care, if they did they would do something about it. Doesn't matter to them that they're keeping families apart. If they had any sense, they would send all the backlog London cases to Mississauga to be processed. Rather than sending out PR there for loads of cases which were only applied for in December.

You need to just make peace with the fact, as there's nothing anyone can do about it

 

[kettle]

I have a feeling this is going to turn into a debate that's run in circles, so I'll just engage in this once and then that's it. Canada has one of the overall fastest processing times to get a family member to PR of any other country. To have your husband/wife/whatever as a PR under one year is quite something. As I said, most places might have a faster process to allow for a visa, but actual permanent status takes much longer. London used to be one of the fastest outland processing offices, but has slowed in the past by a few months because of the Islamabad backlog. Other western offices are also averaging 6-8 months (Sydney, Ottawa for US Apps, Paris, etc). Just have a look at the numbers here - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp - and because I'm a nerd and marginally annoyed, I dumped it into Excel.

12 offices have their processing time posted as under one year. A further 22 are between one and two years. Only 6 offices are longer than two years, one of those being London, which we know is only accurate for Islamabad applications and for 'standard' apps is actually still sub one year. USA (LA) is listed in there as well, but that is more for the very complex applications filed by US residents; the majority of straight-forward US applications go to Ottawa where they are processed in 6ish months. The other 4 countries are countries with notoriously high rates of fraud and misrepresentation (Jamaica, Kenya, Singapore, Pakistan).

So really, the process is actually pretty quick for those coming from developed countries, and generally those who have straight-forward applications have their full PR in hand in under one year. Sure they could get working faster if they got a visa first and then PR later, but that is then twice the amount of work for CIC as they have to deal with applications twice (part of the reason inland takes so much longer)... and I'm sure if that were the case then people would be on here *censored word*ing about how it takes 3 years to get PR and why can't Canada do it faster, blah blah blah.

And now I'm just angry so I'm going to shut up before I rant more. Schnooks out.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

I am completely thankful that my partner is able to become a permanent resident based on the validity of our common law relationship. He tried to come as a skilled worker but was ultimately denied by the provincial apprenticeship board that oversees his trade.

I would never in a million years begrudge this system, whether we were still waiting for PR or not.

 

[poggyb]

Hello! I've had a look through the FAQ and can't quite find what I'm looking for so hopefully this isn't something that has been asked over and over...

I (principal applicant) just recieved an email from the High Commission of Canada in London requesting additional documents (new photos, another photocopy of my passport, and an 'updated information chart') - we hadn't ever recieved anything telling us we were passed stage 1 but I guess this is almost the same thing. What I'm wondering though is to do with where this email attachment was addressed to. I was living with my partner in Vancouver when I submitted my application but a few weeks later I moved back to the UK, and I used the online form to let CIC know that my address had changed and what was going on. I never heard anything back but that's apparently the norm, but this request for additional documents has my old address listed rather than the update.

Basically my question is is this normal(ish) and is this the reason they have sent me an 'updated information chart'? There is a section for my current mailing address on that form... I'm just wondering if this is something I need to chase up more aggressively, as there is a nice little segment of the email telling me I need to update Mississauaga in writing if anything like this changes. Does my initial action cover me?! Also can't do it online as I don't meet the stipulations they make on that web page

Very sorry if this has been covered before! Thanks