Thread for people using the Guatemala Office

[ferd2000hn]

From the Canadian Embassy in Guatemala website:

Effective September 1, 2012, the visa office in Mexico City is responsible for processing permanent resident applications from nationals previously served by the visa office in Guatemala City. Applications currently at the office in Guatemala City will continue to be processed at that office. Applicants will be informed if their application is transferred to Mexico City.

Meaning that Guatemala, unless you're notified otherwise, will complete your case. Cases received starting today will be transferred to Mexico. This creates a gray area, those cases submitted before Sep. 1st and received in Guatemala after Sep. 1st. My hunch is that those files will be transferred to Mexico as well. If you do not know where your case is, you can request (through a respectable provider in Canada) a copy of your CAIPS Notes.

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/guatemala/visas/index.aspx?menu_id=2&view=d

 

[Farfelu]

From the Canadian Embassy in Guatemala website:

Effective September 1, 2012, the visa office in Mexico City is responsible for processing permanent resident applications from nationals previously served by the visa office in Guatemala City. Applications currently at the office in Guatemala City will continue to be processed at that office. Applicants will be informed if their application is transferred to Mexico City.

Meaning that Guatemala, unless you're notified otherwise, will complete your case. Cases received starting today will be transferred to Mexico. This creates a gray area, those cases submitted before Sep. 1st and received in Guatemala after Sep. 1st. My hunch is that those files will be transferred to Mexico as well. If you do not know where your case is, you can request (through a respectable provider in Canada) a copy of your CAIPS Notes.

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/guatemala/visas/index.aspx?menu_id=2&view=d

thanks, ferd. that's awesome.

 

[mateo]

have patience people,seems like the guatemala office is moving along quite well.we applied march1 and recieved our passport with the canada stamp sept 1,it took only 1 week to get the passport back but be aware that after sept1 guatemala is sending the applications to mexico

 

[Master7]

From the Canadian Embassy in Guatemala website:

Effective September 1, 2012, the visa office in Mexico City is responsible for processing permanent resident applications from nationals previously served by the visa office in Guatemala City. Applications currently at the office in Guatemala City will continue to be processed at that office. Applicants will be informed if their application is transferred to Mexico City.

Meaning that Guatemala, unless you're notified otherwise, will complete your case. Cases received starting today will be transferred to Mexico. This creates a gray area, those cases submitted before Sep. 1st and received in Guatemala after Sep. 1st. My hunch is that those files will be transferred to Mexico as well. If you do not know where your case is, you can request (through a respectable provider in Canada) a copy of your CAIPS Notes.

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/guatemala/visas/index.aspx?menu_id=2&view=d

People currently using Guatemala office,

Do you think this change of visa office is better or worse for the people formely required to use the Guatemala office? Is the Mexico office any faster??

 

[mateo]

its gonna be worst for all the central american applying,mexican applications will get first priority thats why the wait time has been raised to 26months for guatemala

 

[Master7]

its gonna be worst for all the central american applying,mexican applications will get first priority thats why the wait time has been raised to 26months for guatemala

Does any one know why in the world CIC is closing down the Guatemala office? This will surely bring longer waiting times and just add more problems.

 

[Mez007]

have patience people,seems like the guatemala office is moving along quite well.we applied march1 and recieved our passport with the canada stamp sept 1,it took only 1 week to get the passport back but be aware that after sept1 guatemala is sending the applications to mexico

That's Pretty Fast,
My Wife sent her Passport with additional Documents in Mid August. We home to get something back very Shortly.

 

[Mez007]

Does any one know why in the world CIC is closing down the Guatemala office? This will surely bring longer waiting times and just add more problems.

Base on The Cic Website, It Seems like Guatemala is only taking care Of visitors visa Only for Central America

 

[ferd2000hn]

Regarding the move of Immigration services to Mexico:

To Mateo: Your assertion is ridiculous. It's like saying that Hondurans, Salvadorians, Nicaraguans, etc. are discriminated against Guatemalans, because the Embassy is located in Guatemala. Nonsense. The service is provided by Canadians who do not see you or anyone else different because of their nationality. This will not change in Mexico.

Why the move to Mexico? It is reasonable; if we look at the changes coming to FSW immigration, using the Australian system as a guide, the number of applications that will be processed will come down. QSW, although not a significant number, will change and align with FSW, bringing those numbers down as well. The rest of the economic classes are already very low in Guatemala.

However, the biggest number of applications in Guatemala come from Family sponsorship. With the crackdown on arranged marriages of convenience, there will be a reduction of applications. Just today Kenney announced that 3,100 persons will have their citizenship revoked for fraud in marriages and family sponsorship and that 11,000 are being investigated. New rules are coming for spousal sponsorship. Parent and Grandparent sponsorship has been stopped. Humanitarian classes are very low in Guatemala.

With all these changes being implemented, the immigration case load in Guatemala will probable be reduced to 20% of current numbers. I think we all agree that it is a function of Government to be wise with our tax dollars, so moving this 20% to Mexico is a reasonable measure to reduce costs.

Will these changes impact the current level of services? As stated above, the changes being implemented will reduce the number of immigration cases, not only in Guatemala or CA, but worldwide. This includes Mexico as well. I admit that I do not know the breakdown of cases in Mexico, but I wouldn't expect something wildly different from CA; therefore a similar large reduction in cases will occur there too. The big question is what will be the processing capacity of the Mexico embassy in the future? To this question there is no answer as CIC will not provide this information and our only clue will be through published statistics.

For now let's hope that the rush to complete cases in Guatemala keeps up and that we all get to move to Canada soon.

Good luck!

 

[mateo]

to ferd,i never said anything about discriminating against central american,u ASSume i did,the only reason why they gonna take a little longer is because they still have to mail them,while the mexican application are already there,dont ASSume

 

[mateo]

to mez007,yeah we were in shock that we recieved the passport in 5 business days after sending it to guatemala,total time 6 months, so be patient,u should be getting your passport back soon

 

[HDS27]

Hey All ,

I can be sure that this process is as frustrating to you as it is to us... here my case maybe you can guys can help me out . Applied for spousal sponsorship July 2010 ... got approved novemeber 2011( had some documents missing so package got sent back) application was recieved in guatemala december of 2011 .. febuary 2012 sent in rcmp fingerprints and additional information new birth certifice eg ( my husband in in costa rica currently he used to live in canada). June 2012 we heard from them asking for his passport ,prepaid air waybill , medicals , readmission fee to canada . Now it is september 2012 and we still havent heard back from them its been about 8 weeks since the documents where recieved in guatemala . Does anyone know how much longer it takes???

Thanks!!

 

[ferd2000hn]

Mateo:

You are right, you never stated that CA cases where going to be discriminated. However you did say that Mexicans will get first priority (see below, my emphasis). If they do, based solely on their nationality, that is discrimination.

its gonna be worst for all the central american applying,mexican applications will get first priority thats why the wait time has been raised to 26months for guatemala

If your rationale was that cases sent from Guatemala to Mexico will take longer since they have been in Guatemala for a while and now are going to get in queue in Mexico, then you are misguided. Only new cases (From Sep. 1st onwards) are going to be sent to Mexico and they are going to be processed in Mexico just as another case. All pending cases up to Aug 31st will still be processed in Guatemala, except if by some extraordinary reason your case needs further attention, then it might get sent to Mexico.

I might misinterpreted your message, but you could have made it clearer too.

Regards,

Ferd

 

[Mez007]

Hey All ,

I can be sure that this process is as frustrating to you as it is to us... here my case maybe you can guys can help me out . Applied for spousal sponsorship July 2010 ... got approved novemeber 2011( had some documents missing so package got sent back) application was recieved in guatemala december of 2011 .. febuary 2012 sent in rcmp fingerprints and additional information new birth certifice eg ( my husband in in costa rica currently he used to live in canada). June 2012 we heard from them asking for his passport ,prepaid air waybill , medicals , readmission fee to canada . Now it is september 2012 and we still havent heard back from them its been about 8 weeks since the documents where recieved in guatemala . Does anyone know how much longer it takes???

Thanks!!

We don't have enough people using the Guatemala Visa Office on this Forum to use a time Frame. It's Very Hard to know how long know how long it takes Guatemala to Return Passport.
Base on the users here I seen from 1 Week To about 6 months.

I Hope we all get an answer soon ...

 

[Master7]

Regarding the move of Immigration services to Mexico:

To Mateo: Your assertion is ridiculous. It's like saying that Hondurans, Salvadorians, Nicaraguans, etc. are discriminated against Guatemalans, because the Embassy is located in Guatemala. Nonsense. The service is provided by Canadians who do not see you or anyone else different because of their nationality. This will not change in Mexico.

Why the move to Mexico? It is reasonable; if we look at the changes coming to FSW immigration, using the Australian system as a guide, the number of applications that will be processed will come down. QSW, although not a significant number, will change and align with FSW, bringing those numbers down as well. The rest of the economic classes are already very low in Guatemala.

However, the biggest number of applications in Guatemala come from Family sponsorship. With the crackdown on arranged marriages of convenience, there will be a reduction of applications. Just today Kenney announced that 3,100 persons will have their citizenship revoked for fraud in marriages and family sponsorship and that 11,000 are being investigated. New rules are coming for spousal sponsorship. Parent and Grandparent sponsorship has been stopped. Humanitarian classes are very low in Guatemala.

With all these changes being implemented, the immigration case load in Guatemala will probable be reduced to 20% of current numbers. I think we all agree that it is a function of Government to be wise with our tax dollars, so moving this 20% to Mexico is a reasonable measure to reduce costs.

Will these changes impact the current level of services? As stated above, the changes being implemented will reduce the number of immigration cases, not only in Guatemala or CA, but worldwide. This includes Mexico as well. I admit that I do not know the breakdown of cases in Mexico, but I wouldn't expect something wildly different from CA; therefore a similar large reduction in cases will occur there too. The big question is what will be the processing capacity of the Mexico embassy in the future? To this question there is no answer as CIC will not provide this information and our only clue will be through published statistics.

For now let's hope that the rush to complete cases in Guatemala keeps up and that we all get to move to Canada soon.

Good luck!

Something else worth mentioning what if the applicant requires an interview? will that person have to go to Mexico? again, this will come to create a hassle why? not only because of the trip to Mexico but because ALL Central Americans require visas to go to Mexico. Mexico is a sovereign state they can grant visas to whoever they want. If on the other hand to "solve" this situation CIC decides that Guatemala office will hold the interviews, it will be a totally different office who will handle the interview hence creating confusion. In my opinion the change is bad for the people using the Guatemala office.