US outland applicants' thread :)

[US2CanadaEh]

My partner lives in Danville, VA, where I am "visiting" at the moment. My home is in White Rock, BC, where we hope to live together after PR status is granted.

Virginians Unite!
NoVAtoMB here

 

[Amalthea]

Anyone able to use "Check your application status" on CIC website lately? I've been getting "no record" and today get error message that the page after the one where I agree to security policy is unavailable. I'm getting SOOO frustrated. Paid UPS $55.00 to get our package submitted before I left the country to be with my partner here in the USA over 40 days ago and still haven't even received AOR. My tax dollars at work?! Really pisses me off that people filing sponsorship applications for fraudulent relationships are causing such long delays for the rest of us, like my partner and I who have been together for FIVE years.

Getting an AOR seems to be a flag they've miss-filed your application as "Inland" instead of "Outland". Currently only Inland applicants seem to be getting AORs.

If you're Outland you'll most likely get your AOR with your SA. We got 2 emails at once. If you sent it 40 days ago you still have some time to wait, according to CIC they are currently at 58 days which means they are working on Applications received October 14th. If it goes over the wait time (which is updated weekly here http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-fc.asp), then you can call the Call Centre and see what the hold up on SA is.

Hang tight

 

[Evadyrrehs]

I think it's mostly assumed that AOR just happens for Inland because quite a few of us Outland applicants received both SA and AOR, and we received ours together as separate emails that arrived at the same time. I called to make sure just this past Friday and the agent said that she can tell from the application package being sent off to Ottawa that they are being done as Outland because CPC-O only does the Outland applications, hope she is right! :-\

 

[rhcohen2014]

I think it's mostly assumed that AOR just happens for Inland because quite a few of us Outland applicants received both SA and AOR, and we received ours together as separate emails that arrived at the same time. I called to make sure just this past Friday and the agent said that she can tell from the application package being sent off to Ottawa that they are being done as Outland because CPC-O only does the Outland applications, hope she is right! :-\

AOR definitely happens for outland too. before the summer it was the standard way of processing. you get AOR, then you get SA days (or hours) later. EVERY sponsor got this, not just those with missing forms. Actually, when you had a missing form, the request sent is not technically considered an AOR. If you missed something, you'd get a request, then once the package was deemed COMPLETE you'd get the AOR and subsequent SA (of course, this is from my own experience). Since the summer, CIC has suddenly stopped sending AORs to every outland applicant. no idea why.

yes, if your application went to ottawa, it will be processed as an outland application. Inland stays in mississuaga and presumably goes to a different department than outland applications. Ottawa has nothing to do with inland. the reason people think CIC has been mislabeling applications is because when the inland office changed to mississauga (from vegreville) over the summer, it was a big mess and there were some packages sent back, mistakenly being asked for inland paperwork. it seems to have been a learning curve for those agents doing something new. It doesn't mean CIC alway makes this mistake, it really was just a small percentage of applications that had this issue. it does not appear to have happened in some time now, and it doesn't appear outland applications are actually being put in the inland queue, it was just a case of mistaken paperwork.

 

[rockgurl1965]

Hello to everyone, I have a question, I am working on paperwork in anticipation of sending in all paperwork by june 1 2015, how soon should I validate my immigration forms, does the date matter?? I dont want to send it in too early. thank you for your answer.

 

[blueangel371115]

Hello to everyone, I have a question, I am working on paperwork in anticipation of sending in all paperwork by june 1 2015, how soon should I validate my immigration forms, does the date matter?? I dont want to send it in too early. thank you for your answer.

Wait until right before you are about to send them ( month or so max). One of them updated 3 times during my process. The month before I sent it, when I originally sent it, resent it due to a missing signature a month later and sometime after so some are updated very frequently so it pays literally to not do it too early. And double check before you send it.

 

[rockgurl1965]

Thank you for your clarifying, certainly don't want to do it more than once. Understand the double checking, had to bring my Canadian wife to us when we first got married, one mistake will certainly set things back, thank you again

 

[blueangel371115]

you're welcome and good luck. If I can help just one person, I'm happy, this is not an easy process but you'll muddle through.

 

[rockgurl1965]

Both countries are similar in the immigration process, but different enough to not take it for granted. Thoroughness is the key, and not to get discouraged.

 

[IvanP]

Wait until right before you are about to send them ( month or so max). One of them updated 3 times during my process. The month before I sent it, when I originally sent it, resent it due to a missing signature a month later and sometime after so some are updated very frequently so it pays literally to not do it too early. And double check before you send it.

This is really good advice. I double-checked right before sending our application (a habit from working as a lawyer) and re-filled out several new versions of forms. I grumbled a lot about it at the time, and only later did I see how many people get tripped up by new forms, and I was so glad I had done it. Also, I compared the new forms with the old forms and honestly, couldn't find a difference between them other than the dates at the bottom - I really have no earthly idea why they would reject most of the older forms.

 

[blueangel371115]

This is really good advice. I double-checked right before sending our application (a habit from working as a lawyer) and re-filled out several new versions of forms. I grumbled a lot about it at the time, and only later did I see how many people get tripped up by new forms, and I was so glad I had done it. Also, I compared the new forms with the old forms and honestly, couldn't find a difference between them other than the dates at the bottom - I really have no earthly idea why they would reject most of the older forms.

I know right? In one of them all they changed, that I could find, was one or two words in a question that didn't change the meaning or the question being asked, just the grammar. If they had these people processing the visas instead or instead of paying them to needlessly update forms and hire more officers with the funds, I think everyone would be much better off.

 

[rida12]

Thanks, you have shared a very good update on this forum dear, keep it up.......

 

[super11]

Hi everyone!

I was hoping someone can point me in the right direction for the Police Certificate check.
I live in (and have always lived) California.

I know I need to have my police check done but I can't seem to find cover letter and fingerprint card on the FBI website.
Can someone point me in the right direction for this?
-Can I send in my application without the Police certificate? (I hear it is taking several months to process and would like to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.)


Also, I just want to verify again, I can only get my medical check done by a physician that is listed on the CIC website, correct?

Thank you all for your help.

 

[oconnoec]

I was hoping someone can point me in the right direction for the Police Certificate check.


-Can I send in my application without the Police certificate? (I hear it is taking several months to process and would like to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.)


Also, I just want to verify again, I can only get my medical check done by a physician that is listed on the CIC website, correct?

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks
Make sure you click "option 1 submit your request directly to the FBI". You'll include the complete application (one page of personal info), your fingerprint card (also on this link, but i just got mine when i went to get my fingerprints done electronically... they print it on the exact card you need if you go to a government center that has electronic fingerprinting), a money order or other form of payment they request for $18 and then send it to the FBI in West Virginia. Pretty simple. I had to request another one today, even though I submitted mine last summer. It is currently taking about 12 weeks to process, so I would just go ahead and send your app in without the police check and just submit the police check to them when they ask for it later. It might cause a bit of a delay later since they have to ask you for it, but it is probably less of a delay overall than waiting another 3 months to submit your entire application and "get in line," so to speak.

For medicals, you have to have it done by one of their approved physicians on their site. Check around for prices because they can pretty much charge whatever they want to for it since there aren't many physicians that are certified through CIC. Mine was like $425 for the entire thing and I know I've seen other Americans getting their complete exam done for less than that. Good luck!

 

[xg0812]

Does anyone know if the US custom takes ur plate away after u export the car?
we r planning to import the car at Buffalo but not sure whether we should get a temporary plat from the dealer

everything else we are prepared for:
DRL getting installed
getting new tires and letter of recall clearance from dealer
getting letter of experience from insurance company

anything else we might have missed for the car import process?