Dear All,
I would like to update you all with my Experience
I applied TRV online my Base country is Saudi Arabia, City Jeddah and my Nationality is Pakistani.
I submitted my TRV online with my Family (Wife and a Child) on MAY 30 2015, same time I received Submission confirmation letter for all 3.
Same time I received my biometric submission letter too, but for my Wife it didn’t appeared and child is exempt from it.
Next day on 31st of May I submitted my biometric and within 3 hours it got updated in CIC online account too, for some individuals it may take 24 hours to get it updated at their CIC online account it all depends upon VFS center when they upload it online.
I waited for 4 days but for my wife biometric request didn’t came, I emailed to riyadh.visa@international.gc.ca and informed them of my situation after 3 days they emailed me that the letter is ready and you can find it at your CIC account then on 8th of June my wife gave Biometrics at VFS Jeddah.
Then started the long wait, as per online the average processing time is 21 days I waited till 25 days then sent an email to the above give email address an automated reply came which stated that Riyadh Canadian Visa office will not respond to any query related to TRV if 30 days are not passed.
I waited and on 31st Day(July 1 - 2015) I sent an email and the reply came to me after 3 days (Riyadh office replies to your email almost between 48-72 hours) that “Your application is still under processing. Please note that we cannot give you an exact date on which your application will be finalized”
On same day I again emailed them and telling them my situation that I need to travel on 17th of July, after 5 days they replied me with this message “We have not yet received the necessary clearances to finalize your application. As most applications are finalized within 15 days, we could not have foreseen this delay, nor can we speculate as to the reasons for it. We realize that this delay is a significant inconvenience, and can only ask for your continued patience.”
Well after this reply I gave up hope and started to plan for an alternate itinerary, the thing to note is that I keep on getting email that there is an update in your cic account but upon checking you will not find any update as such, it is just an notification that some action have been taken on your application in the background.
Out of nowhere on 12 July 2015 I got an email that there is a new message in your CIC account, I checked there and found Passport submission request for all 3 of us, another thing to note is that on 10 July I received and email saying that there is an update under my application and on 11 July another email came that there is an update under my wife’s application I assume that the final remarks for clearance were set under each of our application and on 12th of July early morning I received the passport request.
Now the situation was that I have to leave KSA on 17 July for my USA trip, so I had only 5 days to submit/receive the passport, I was not comfortable but still I went to VFS Jeddah office and met with the Supervisor for Canadian VFS operations section, he is a nice guy and said he will try his best to make sure that I will get it by Thursday in addition he told me to email the same to the above given email address too.
I took the risk and submitted my passport on 12th of July, and emailed the Riyadh Canadian Embassy about my situation with the soft copy of my confirmed booking for US and Canada which were 17 July 2015 onwards.
The Canadian embassy in Riyadh replied to my email on 14th of July and to my surprise they said if you can visit us at the embassy today or by tomorrow along with passports we will issue the visas at the same time, as I was in Jeddah so I submitted the passport already here at VFS and informed them that by today you will receive my passport just make sure you dispatch them today after issuing the visa so they can reach to me max by 16, they immediately replied to my email that they will issue the visa and dispatch it today and to my surprise they did the same and I received my all passports on 15th Of July with multiple visas for 4 years.
Note that usually it takes 5 to 7 working days to get the passport back once you submit it at VFS after receiving the passport submission request.
After doing a lot of R & D during this days I found that each and every individuals case is different in 2014 for my friend it took total of 27 days for me it took 43 days and for another fellow during the same period this year it took for him 36 days also note that MAY , JUNE, JULY and August are considered as a peak season.
Someone at VFS suggested me to submit visa application for TRV in KSA via VFS instead of doing it online, I will submit for my parents TRV application via VFS during coming August, I will post its experience and outcome here too.
IF you have any question please do shoot here, If I have the info I will love to share with you all.
Best of Luck to everyone.
I would like to update you all with my Experience
I applied TRV online my Base country is Saudi Arabia, City Jeddah and my Nationality is Pakistani.
I submitted my TRV online with my Family (Wife and a Child) on MAY 30 2015, same time I received Submission confirmation letter for all 3.
Same time I received my biometric submission letter too, but for my Wife it didn’t appeared and child is exempt from it.
Next day on 31st of May I submitted my biometric and within 3 hours it got updated in CIC online account too, for some individuals it may take 24 hours to get it updated at their CIC online account it all depends upon VFS center when they upload it online.
I waited for 4 days but for my wife biometric request didn’t came, I emailed to riyadh.visa@international.gc.ca and informed them of my situation after 3 days they emailed me that the letter is ready and you can find it at your CIC account then on 8th of June my wife gave Biometrics at VFS Jeddah.
Then started the long wait, as per online the average processing time is 21 days I waited till 25 days then sent an email to the above give email address an automated reply came which stated that Riyadh Canadian Visa office will not respond to any query related to TRV if 30 days are not passed.
I waited and on 31st Day(July 1 - 2015) I sent an email and the reply came to me after 3 days (Riyadh office replies to your email almost between 48-72 hours) that “Your application is still under processing. Please note that we cannot give you an exact date on which your application will be finalized”
On same day I again emailed them and telling them my situation that I need to travel on 17th of July, after 5 days they replied me with this message “We have not yet received the necessary clearances to finalize your application. As most applications are finalized within 15 days, we could not have foreseen this delay, nor can we speculate as to the reasons for it. We realize that this delay is a significant inconvenience, and can only ask for your continued patience.”
Well after this reply I gave up hope and started to plan for an alternate itinerary, the thing to note is that I keep on getting email that there is an update in your cic account but upon checking you will not find any update as such, it is just an notification that some action have been taken on your application in the background.
Out of nowhere on 12 July 2015 I got an email that there is a new message in your CIC account, I checked there and found Passport submission request for all 3 of us, another thing to note is that on 10 July I received and email saying that there is an update under my application and on 11 July another email came that there is an update under my wife’s application I assume that the final remarks for clearance were set under each of our application and on 12th of July early morning I received the passport request.
Now the situation was that I have to leave KSA on 17 July for my USA trip, so I had only 5 days to submit/receive the passport, I was not comfortable but still I went to VFS Jeddah office and met with the Supervisor for Canadian VFS operations section, he is a nice guy and said he will try his best to make sure that I will get it by Thursday in addition he told me to email the same to the above given email address too.
I took the risk and submitted my passport on 12th of July, and emailed the Riyadh Canadian Embassy about my situation with the soft copy of my confirmed booking for US and Canada which were 17 July 2015 onwards.
The Canadian embassy in Riyadh replied to my email on 14th of July and to my surprise they said if you can visit us at the embassy today or by tomorrow along with passports we will issue the visas at the same time, as I was in Jeddah so I submitted the passport already here at VFS and informed them that by today you will receive my passport just make sure you dispatch them today after issuing the visa so they can reach to me max by 16, they immediately replied to my email that they will issue the visa and dispatch it today and to my surprise they did the same and I received my all passports on 15th Of July with multiple visas for 4 years.
Note that usually it takes 5 to 7 working days to get the passport back once you submit it at VFS after receiving the passport submission request.
After doing a lot of R & D during this days I found that each and every individuals case is different in 2014 for my friend it took total of 27 days for me it took 43 days and for another fellow during the same period this year it took for him 36 days also note that MAY , JUNE, JULY and August are considered as a peak season.
Someone at VFS suggested me to submit visa application for TRV in KSA via VFS instead of doing it online, I will submit for my parents TRV application via VFS during coming August, I will post its experience and outcome here too.
IF you have any question please do shoot here, If I have the info I will love to share with you all.
Best of Luck to everyone.
