Hi guys,
I'd like to share with you the experience I have in applying for a TRV.
Just a quick background, I am an Indonesian national currently working and living in Shanghai, China. I have been in Canada multiple times as a tourist. I have also lived there for 2 years for study purpose. So far I never had problems in applying for a simple straight forward tourist visa. I applied once in Berlin and it was same day service, i applied once in Jakarta and it took three days. All under one week time frame. I have also lived in the Netherlands for 5 years, Belgium for 1 year, and USA for 2 years. Perfectly clean record. Purely genuine interest in visiting Canada again because I loved the country. Notice i wrote "loved" not love...
My sister (a holder of PR card) is getting married on October 8, 2012. I planned to leave Shanghai for Toronto where my sister lives on Sep 30, 2012. Tickets booked and paid, I gathered all the required documents and I submitted the TRV application on September 5, 2012. I checked and double checked with the Canadian Consulate General's in Shanghai website that it takes two weeks to process a straight forward completed application of TRV. Because I am a foreigner, every time I go on a business trip to a different city I always have to bring my passport with me as proof of identification. That's why I was only able to submit my application on September 5.
Initially, my intention was to apply through the Visa Section of the Consulate General because the office is closer to where I live and according to the information on the website, I could just come there, hand in my application, pay with bank draft, and that's it. To my dismay, when I went to the address stated on their website (Shanghai Centre on Nanjing West Road), there was nothing. Empty! The Consulate had moved to a new address without any notification. And I was not the only person looking so stupid searching for the non-existent office. The security guard told us that the office moved just 10 minutes down the road. So I went there only to find a piece of paper glued on the main door "the visa section only accepts appointment booking on Tuesday and Thursday from 10.45-11.45" That's it! It does not say how to make the appointment, what documents to bring, whether I can ask someone else to do it for me or I have to come in person, NOTHING! and again, i was not the only clueless applicant.
So i decided to apply through the Visa Application Center. I went to the visa application center in Shanghai, I submitted my documents, and then paid for the fee. While I was waiting for the receipt of the payment, a local staff told me that it takes 2 months, YES TWO MONTHS to process my application. I thought this must be a mistake. Why would it take 2 months to issue a simple tourist visa? I was answered "because we have a lot of applicants". So I replied "It took me just 2 working days to get a US visa and they have way more applicants than you. It took me 1 working day to get a Chinese working visa when I applied in The Hague". The staff just left and ignored my remarks.
So i went home and went online to track my application. It is stated as being processed. It has been in process ever since... I don't know how much longer I should wait. It has been three weeks now and my flight is leaving this sunday. I called them, no one pick up. I sent emails, no one replied. I sent fax, no one answered. Am I wrong to think that this is extremely weird case?
Three things had gone awry at this point and I blame it solely on the extremely unprofessional action on the Consulate's behalf.
1. The information on the website is COMPLETELY misleading. First, they tell you the wrong address. Secondly, they don't say anything about having to wait for 2 months. 2 weeks and 2 months are different! Third, there was no information on the website telling the applicants that if we want to apply at the Visa Section, we need to make appointment first. It's just that piece of paper hanging on the door of the Consulate.
2. I sent e-mails to inquire about the progress of my application since it has been more than two weeks, none of my e-mails was replied.. I sent fax, nothing was answered... I tried to call the visa section, only pre-recorded information was available. To me this looks like the Consulate General just want my money and does not care at all. Literally, I exhausted all communication channel.
3. If you are an employee who travel extensively and need your passport with you, basically Canada will make you go nuts and cannot conduct your job properly (which btw will produce income that some part of it can be used to pay the expensive visa fee) because the CG will hold your passport for up to two months. I think I can say for a lot of people that this is just impossible.
I sent the following:
- completed application form
- education form
- family member form
- sponsor letter from my company stating my job, my grade, my monthly salary,etc
- passport
- two photos
- bank statement and bank pass
- my chinese work permit, chinese residence permit, my working contract
- return tickets from air canada
- my travel itinerary
- my sister's pr card
- her salary stub
- her tax payment stub
- invitation letter
- her employment contract
etc... I even prepared RMB 50,000 just for a 1 1/2 week trip.
All i need is for someone to tell me, "sir sorry you have to wait longer" fine! at least i know what to do. i can reschedule my travel even though it will be completely useless since I will miss my sister's wedding. With only 5 days left before I am scheduled to go, I just basically give up. I cancelled my ticket and I have no intention on visiting this country anymore. Unfortunately, the extremely rude and unprofessional behaviour of the Consulate General in Shanghai caused me to lose all interest in this country... such a pity!
Any thoughts from your side? Did i not make my case strong enough for the visa officer to approve the application? is it really normal to wait for 2 months for a tourist visa? any similar experience when applying from shanghai office? please share your thoughts. maybe you can point out where i made a mistake.
Thanks guys!
I'd like to share with you the experience I have in applying for a TRV.
Just a quick background, I am an Indonesian national currently working and living in Shanghai, China. I have been in Canada multiple times as a tourist. I have also lived there for 2 years for study purpose. So far I never had problems in applying for a simple straight forward tourist visa. I applied once in Berlin and it was same day service, i applied once in Jakarta and it took three days. All under one week time frame. I have also lived in the Netherlands for 5 years, Belgium for 1 year, and USA for 2 years. Perfectly clean record. Purely genuine interest in visiting Canada again because I loved the country. Notice i wrote "loved" not love...
My sister (a holder of PR card) is getting married on October 8, 2012. I planned to leave Shanghai for Toronto where my sister lives on Sep 30, 2012. Tickets booked and paid, I gathered all the required documents and I submitted the TRV application on September 5, 2012. I checked and double checked with the Canadian Consulate General's in Shanghai website that it takes two weeks to process a straight forward completed application of TRV. Because I am a foreigner, every time I go on a business trip to a different city I always have to bring my passport with me as proof of identification. That's why I was only able to submit my application on September 5.
Initially, my intention was to apply through the Visa Section of the Consulate General because the office is closer to where I live and according to the information on the website, I could just come there, hand in my application, pay with bank draft, and that's it. To my dismay, when I went to the address stated on their website (Shanghai Centre on Nanjing West Road), there was nothing. Empty! The Consulate had moved to a new address without any notification. And I was not the only person looking so stupid searching for the non-existent office. The security guard told us that the office moved just 10 minutes down the road. So I went there only to find a piece of paper glued on the main door "the visa section only accepts appointment booking on Tuesday and Thursday from 10.45-11.45" That's it! It does not say how to make the appointment, what documents to bring, whether I can ask someone else to do it for me or I have to come in person, NOTHING! and again, i was not the only clueless applicant.
So i decided to apply through the Visa Application Center. I went to the visa application center in Shanghai, I submitted my documents, and then paid for the fee. While I was waiting for the receipt of the payment, a local staff told me that it takes 2 months, YES TWO MONTHS to process my application. I thought this must be a mistake. Why would it take 2 months to issue a simple tourist visa? I was answered "because we have a lot of applicants". So I replied "It took me just 2 working days to get a US visa and they have way more applicants than you. It took me 1 working day to get a Chinese working visa when I applied in The Hague". The staff just left and ignored my remarks.
So i went home and went online to track my application. It is stated as being processed. It has been in process ever since... I don't know how much longer I should wait. It has been three weeks now and my flight is leaving this sunday. I called them, no one pick up. I sent emails, no one replied. I sent fax, no one answered. Am I wrong to think that this is extremely weird case?
Three things had gone awry at this point and I blame it solely on the extremely unprofessional action on the Consulate's behalf.
1. The information on the website is COMPLETELY misleading. First, they tell you the wrong address. Secondly, they don't say anything about having to wait for 2 months. 2 weeks and 2 months are different! Third, there was no information on the website telling the applicants that if we want to apply at the Visa Section, we need to make appointment first. It's just that piece of paper hanging on the door of the Consulate.
2. I sent e-mails to inquire about the progress of my application since it has been more than two weeks, none of my e-mails was replied.. I sent fax, nothing was answered... I tried to call the visa section, only pre-recorded information was available. To me this looks like the Consulate General just want my money and does not care at all. Literally, I exhausted all communication channel.
3. If you are an employee who travel extensively and need your passport with you, basically Canada will make you go nuts and cannot conduct your job properly (which btw will produce income that some part of it can be used to pay the expensive visa fee) because the CG will hold your passport for up to two months. I think I can say for a lot of people that this is just impossible.
I sent the following:
- completed application form
- education form
- family member form
- sponsor letter from my company stating my job, my grade, my monthly salary,etc
- passport
- two photos
- bank statement and bank pass
- my chinese work permit, chinese residence permit, my working contract
- return tickets from air canada
- my travel itinerary
- my sister's pr card
- her salary stub
- her tax payment stub
- invitation letter
- her employment contract
etc... I even prepared RMB 50,000 just for a 1 1/2 week trip.
All i need is for someone to tell me, "sir sorry you have to wait longer" fine! at least i know what to do. i can reschedule my travel even though it will be completely useless since I will miss my sister's wedding. With only 5 days left before I am scheduled to go, I just basically give up. I cancelled my ticket and I have no intention on visiting this country anymore. Unfortunately, the extremely rude and unprofessional behaviour of the Consulate General in Shanghai caused me to lose all interest in this country... such a pity!
Any thoughts from your side? Did i not make my case strong enough for the visa officer to approve the application? is it really normal to wait for 2 months for a tourist visa? any similar experience when applying from shanghai office? please share your thoughts. maybe you can point out where i made a mistake.
Thanks guys!
