US outland applicants' thread :)

[proudCanadian15]

Anyone sent their passport to cpc-ottawa recently? How long does it usually take for cpc-ottawa to return the passport to the PA? My wife (She is currently living in US on a study visa) sent her passport with two pictures 2 weeks ago. Not worried yet, but a tentative timeline would be really helpful. Thanks.

 

[tigermilo]

Summary of Experience Completing a Family Sponsorship without Legal Assistance

With my CoPR in the mail, my husband and I were discussing our relief and excitement. The conversation turned to numbers…hours, dollars, months. We chose to complete the application without legal assistance, having faith in ourselves and the system. Looking back, I can say a lawyer would’ve saved us the stress of looking for answers to our MANY questions but not saved me much of the work in compiling the materials. Here’s a summary of our experience that might be relevant for anyone planning to submit an application without legal assistance.

I’m a U.S. citizen married to a Canadian citizen. At the time of application, we’d been together for just about 2 years, married for 7 months. I was living in Canada with an extended visitor visa. There weren’t any red flags as far as I could tell. We had an initial consultation with a lawyer who ultimately told us we’d be fine on our own and didn’t need to waste our money on her. (Hey look, an honest lawyer…) I was able to dedicate significant time to determining which forms were needed, pulling together all of the materials, gathering necessary documents and copying where applicable, copying photos into a Word document, and completing the myriad other little pieces of the puzzle. The biggest concern by far was which forms, which questions, which versions. Oh my goodness! In addition, how much information was necessary? Too little and they may not believe the validity, too much and the VO may be overwhelmed or suspicious. We soldiered through with the help of many Google searches…and this forum.

Lessons learned? We ended up having the medical done twice because we got ahead of ourselves and the first one expired. We paid the Right of Permanent Residency fee midway through the process, which could have set us back by weeks instead of a few days. We took longer than necessary to submit simply because we second-guessed ourselves. Biggest lesson? It was worth every single minute.

Time preparing application 6 months
Approximate hours 200 hours
Approximate number of pages 400
Weight of binder at shipping 4.5 lbs

Total cost $2508.00
broken out:
Visitor extension fee ($100, $100) $200.00
Legal consultation $300.00
Notaries for affidavits $270.00
Medical $388.00
Paper, copies, miscellaneous supplies $200.00
Police clearance $75.00
PR application fees ($475, $75, $490) $1,040.00
Shipping $35.00



I split the submission into two primary sections, Sponsor and Principal Applicant, allowing the application to be easily handled as two different approval steps. I had a master Table of Contents (Toc) at the front, to allow someone to see it all at one glance, and a separate ToC for each section. I created tabs for every form and every separate type of information. From there I tried my best to only duplicate where necessary, to avoid a massive amount of paper. I occasionally made reference to “See Tab XX in Section XX” to be cautious when it seemed as if the information might be relevant. After printing the pages with photos in chronological order, I wrote a description for each photo, drawing lines when needed to specify people or places. For additional pages being added to forms, I made note within the Toc as well as inserted a header on the page indicating the form to which it applied. Again, I tried to make it as easy as possible to navigate. (Side note: I'm a copy editor by profession.)

MASTER TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPONSOR APPLICATION TABLE OF CONTENTS
BAR CODE PAGE
FORMS SECTION A
IMM 5491: DOCUMENT CHECKLIST TAB 1
IMM 1344: APPLICATION TO SPONSOR, SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT, AND UNDERTAKING TAB 2
IMM 5481: SPONSORSHIP EVALUATION TAB 3
IMM 5476: USE OF A REPRESENTATIVE TAB 4
RECEIPT FOR PAYMENT OF FEES TAB 5
IMM 5540: SPONSOR QUESTIONNAIRE TAB 6
includes additional page

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS SECTION B
CANADIAN PASSPORT TAB 7
DIVORCE CERTIFICATE TAB 8
OPTION-C PRINTOUT TAB 9
LETTER FROM EMPLOYER TAB 10


APPLICANT APPLICATION TABLE OF CONTENTS
BAR CODE PAGES
FORMS SECTION A
IMM 3910: SPONSORSHIP OF A SPOUSE, COMMON-LAW-PARTNER, CONJUGAL PARTNER OR DEPENDENT LIVING OUTSIDE CANADA – APPENDIX A (CHECKLIST) TAB 1
IMM 0008: GENERIC APPLICATION FORM FOR CANADA TAB 2
IMM 5669: SCHEDULE A – BACKGROUND/DECLARATION TAB 3
IMM 5406: ADDITIONAL FAMILY INFORMATION TAB 4
includes additional page
IMM 5490: SPOUSE/PARTNER QUESTIONNAIRE TAB 5
includes additional pages
IMM 5476: USE OF A REPRESENTATIVE TAB 6

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS SECTION B
BIRTH CERTIFICATE TAB 7
DIVORCE CERTIFICATE TAB 8
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE TAB 9
U.S. PASSPORT TAB 10
PROOF OF RELATIONSHIP TAB 11
Relationship Timeline
Facebook Messenger conversation (XXXX XXXX, 20XX, to XXXX XXXX, 20XX)
Travel Documentation and Handwritten Communication
Photos
Emails
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION TAB 12
Current Visitor Record
Receipt for payment of Visa Extension fee
Beneficiary Status
Alberta Healthcare
AFFIDAVITS TAB 13
Description of submitters
XXXX XXXX
XXXX XXXX
XXXX XXXX
XXXX XXXX
XXXX XXXX
XXXX XXXX
FBI BACKGROUND CHECK TAB 14
MEDICAL EXAMINATION TAB 15
PHOTOS TAB 16​

I hope this helps at least one person feel a little less stressed when looking for help. I'm happy to answer any questions or go into more detail where possible.

;D

That was a lot of help, thank you. I do have a question. How did you separate the 2 sections (a and b)?

 

[Sous02]

So I guess I'll stick with Ecas.

Thank you for the answers!

I think your rep is pulling the wool over your eyes. Their paid portal is most likely a shortcut to the same as Ecas or mycic. Cic would not have a third registry of information for paid reps especially as they are not that popular to cic. I do believe though that as long as they are your rep you will have difficulty registering on mycic.

 

[TheyCallMeSuelo]

That was a lot of help, thank you. I do have a question. How did you separate the 2 sections (a and b)?

If there's a way to attach photos I'd LOVE to know. Instead here's my best answer...

I used heavier colored card stock in front of each and every section (what I listed in my previous post), with the title of the section printed centered and bold. The primary sections of Sponsor and Principal Applicant had one color. Any subsequent section had another color. In addition, I used a third color to indicate dates within a specific timeline, e.g. a new email, a new set of travel photos, a new day in our Facebook Messenger conversation. I wanted to make it easy for the VO to flip through to any page he/she might be looking for, or conversely easy to randomly find "moments in time".

 

[ryanntheredhead]

If there's a way to attach photos I'd LOVE to know. Instead here's my best answer...

I used heavier colored card stock in front of each and every section (what I listed in my previous post), with the title of the section printed centered and bold. The primary sections of Sponsor and Principal Applicant had one color. Any subsequent section had another color. In addition, I used a third color to indicate dates within a specific timeline, e.g. a new email, a new set of travel photos, a new day in our Facebook Messenger conversation. I wanted to make it easy for the VO to flip through to any page he/she might be looking for, or conversely easy to randomly find "moments in time".

You are incredibly organized, I just wanted to say to anyone applying that I didn't do anywhere near as much organization with my application and mine went through. I just stacked them all in the order they asked for and put all proof of anything in the PR application. If one of those pieces of evidence was needed for the sponsor side, I just said that the proof was attached to the PR application. I had some extra pages for background declaration and a few others so I did paper clip those to their form. Otherwise, I just put it all in an envelope in the order they asked for and sent it off! I'm sure they much preferred the extra organized ones to mine though!

Feel free to keep asking questions, guys. Now that I'm here answering, I wish I had asked when I was stressing about all the small details in putting mine together.

 

[CDNPR2014]

You are incredibly organized, I just wanted to say to anyone applying that I didn't do anywhere near as much organization with my application and mine went through. I just stacked them all in the order they asked for and put all proof of anything in the PR application.

same here. also, CIC gets rid of most organization of the application the minute it's opened, so it's not worth wasting time making it "pretty". all that matters is that everything is there and forms are signed.

 

[lalicatter]

I think your rep is pulling the wool over your eyes. Their paid portal is most likely a shortcut to the same as Ecas or mycic. Cic would not have a third registry of information for paid reps especially as they are not that popular to cic. I do believe though that as long as they are your rep you will have difficulty registering on mycic.

This is incorrect. They do have a special paid portal that is different than both ECAS and myCIC. It allows them to manage multiple applications at once. They also have the benefit of having direct digital communication with the case processing centre. I'm also not sure where you got the idea that paid representatives are not popular with CIC.

Here is more information about it from the CIC website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/e-services/apr-enrolm.asp They actually pay for the portal, and have to enrol via a specialized process that checks them out as a legitimate authorized immigration agent. During the process they must provide a membership ID of the Immigration Consultants Canada Regulatory Council.

Here is an operational bulletin from May announcing the updated functionality regarding myCIC - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2016/ob622.asp. Here's a brief excerpt explaining that APRs must use their own portal and must not use myCIC:

"It should be noted that authorized paid representatives must use the Authorized Paid Representatives Portal to register their client’s application. The ability to view case status updates and provide information electronically will also be available in this portal. Representatives must not use the myCIC account." There are additional memos that can be found on Google from immigration law groups explaining it.

Many APRs might not even be aware that spousal paper apps can now be linked online, mostly because if they're an actual APR they cannot use myCIC.

 

[tigermilo]

!
Feel free to keep asking questions, guys. Now that I'm here answering, I wish I had asked when I was stressing about all the small details in putting mine together.

Where did you put the checklist?

 

[ryanntheredhead]

Where did you put the checklist?

If I remember correctly, I put the barcode page as the very first thing when you open the package and the sponsor checklist was next. I think there was a PR checklist too and I did the same thing.

 

[Juniorrlopez]

Just chipping in my name to the US bunch =)

Sept 6 app received, SA received today 10/13/2016

GL everyone!

 

[tigermilo]

If I remember correctly, I put the barcode page as the very first thing when you open the package and the sponsor checklist was next. I think there was a PR checklist too and I did the same thing.

So it was the barcode page, checklist, and then all the forms?
I wasn't sure if I should put the barcode page and then the sponsorship agreement and undertaking form after since it was the form that gave the barcodes.

 

[ryanntheredhead]

So it was the barcode page, checklist, and then all the forms?
I wasn't sure if I should put the barcode page and then the sponsorship agreement and undertaking form after since it was the form that gave the barcodes.

Yea I was confused about that too but since it says put the barcode pages on top of everything, that's what I did. I put all sponsor barcode pages at the top, then sponsor checklist, then all sponsor forms. Then all PR barcode pages, PR checklist, PR forms. Keeping each application contained since they're processed separately.

 

[tigermilo]

Yea I was confused about that too but since it says put the barcode pages on top of everything, that's what I did. I put all sponsor barcode pages at the top, then sponsor checklist, then all sponsor forms. Then all PR barcode pages, PR checklist, PR forms. Keeping each application contained since they're processed separately.

Thank you for clearing that up for me. I do have another question. I remember you saying that you waited 4 months for your FBI clearance and then read that you couldn't use a third party. So did you wait another 4 months for your FBI clearance before you sent your application? Or did you send it without the FBI clearance and sent it in when you received it?

 

[ryanntheredhead]

Thank you for clearing that up for me. I do have another question. I remember you saying that you waited 4 months for your FBI clearance and then read that you couldn't use a third party. So did you wait another 4 months for your FBI clearance before you sent your application? Or did you send it without the FBI clearance and sent it in when you received it?

I actually waited 4 months then found out that I COULD use a third party. I'm not sure what the current rule is but third party is definitely quicker. I think the rule changed during my 4 month wait. I waited for my FBI sheet because I wanted to see exactly what it was going to say because of my situation. But if you know for a fact that his arrest will be on the record and exactly what the charge will be, then you could probably write up your full explanation and attach all documentation of sentencing being complete and it being a misdemeanor and then send your FBI sheet when you get it.

Can anyone confirm that a third party is now available as an option to get FBI clearance? And are they faster than doing it yourself?

 

[CDNPR2014]

I actually waited 4 months then found out that I COULD use a third party. I'm not sure what the current rule is but third party is definitely quicker. I think the rule changed during my 4 month wait. I waited for my FBI sheet because I wanted to see exactly what it was going to say because of my situation. But if you know for a fact that his arrest will be on the record and exactly what the charge will be, then you could probably write up your full explanation and attach all documentation of sentencing being complete and it being a misdemeanor and then send your FBI sheet when you get it.

Can anyone confirm that a third party is now available as an option to get FBI clearance? And are they faster than doing it yourself?

yes, 3rd party channelers are now accepted by CIC. i believe the website has this information on it.