Useless MP

[GabbieLovesAya]

Hi Step,

What is an MP? If I may ask?

Hi everybody, I'm new here. Just want to tell you, that an MP is something that is quite useless, at least in my case. You see, I live in Ajax, Ontario, and my MP is Chris Alexander, who happens to be the new immigration minister. Short story: I've been told by his staff, at his office, that he cannot push any case as that could appear as him trying to get a specific case processed ahead of others... and apparently he wants to stay away from any of that.

Long story: I had a discussion with him in person... fall of 2013 he held an event in Ajax. He said "it took my wife also 14 months to get her papers". I asked where is your wife from? He said Denmark. So I said "your wife could come and go as a visitor any time before or after the marriage... as she is from a visa exempt country" He quickly zoomed out from that subject and said he is doing everything to speed up things. Yeah, that is when the 8 month processing time was updated to 14 on CIC's website.

My wife's medical will expire April 2nd. A month ago, I sent an e-mail to Chris Alexander's ministerial office. No answer, not even an autoreply-acknowledgement. Another e-mail to his constituency office, here in Ajax. No reply. Hand delivered a letter to his constituency office - happens to be here in Ajax. No reply. I followed up with a phone call 2 weeks later, they say they are not aware of my letter & can't find it. I made an appointment. I delivered another copy of the letter, this time making the receptionist (Andrea) come out from behind her fortress and sit down with me and go over the papers I was leaving with her. Brought a consent for release of information as well. Andrea promised a callback by Wednesday (this was on Monday, February 10, 2014). No call whatsoever all last week and I was unable to get a hold of her on Thursday or Friday when I tried to call.

I saw many people complaining of the cost of re-doing medical... please also think of how the medical community speaks against unnecessary x-rays. In other words.... x-rays are not good for you. I understand if you need to do it once for this purpose. But will my government make it a 2nd x-ray a condition of entry for my wife?

Also, she used to work in Hong Kong. She needs a police certificate. HK will not issue one without a reference letter from the Canadian Embassy. We have asked for this letter in our application and voiced the same concern with the MP.. but NOTHING IS HAPPENING.

Am I alone feeling that our Government does not care? That they make us jump through hoops, keep us in the dark and we are at their mercy... in effect they play cruel games with our minds and basically deprive us of happy days of our lives.... Instead of being honeymooning newlyweds, we live stressed out for a year or so, praying that next time we look at processing times, it does not suddenly change to 24 months?

I saw this cartoon once showing a politician with his thumbs up.... the caption said "before elections". Another image, same guy with his middle finger up... guess what, caption said "after elections" And the sad story is, no matter who you vote in, they are all the same.

 

[steerpike]

I'm sorry for the difficulty you are going thru. One thing I heard is the best way to get an MPs attention is to write a letter to the editor of a large newspaper and mention his name in your letter. If you letter gets published, he will likely hear about it because they read the papers for those things. I dont think this works for online newspaper forums, but for a letter pyublished in the physical newspaper.

These conservatives are all about appearances and getting relected, not about helping Canadians.

 

[lovindahubby]

Hi everybody, I'm new here. Just want to tell you, that an MP is something that is quite useless, at least in my case. You see, I live in Ajax, Ontario, and my MP is Chris Alexander, who happens to be the new immigration minister. Short story: I've been told by his staff, at his office, that he cannot push any case as that could appear as him trying to get a specific case processed ahead of others... and apparently he wants to stay away from any of that.

Long story: I had a discussion with him in person... fall of 2013 he held an event in Ajax. He said "it took my wife also 14 months to get her papers". I asked where is your wife from? He said Denmark. So I said "your wife could come and go as a visitor any time before or after the marriage... as she is from a visa exempt country" He quickly zoomed out from that subject and said he is doing everything to speed up things. Yeah, that is when the 8 month processing time was updated to 14 on CIC's website.

My wife's medical will expire April 2nd. A month ago, I sent an e-mail to Chris Alexander's ministerial office. No answer, not even an autoreply-acknowledgement. Another e-mail to his constituency office, here in Ajax. No reply. Hand delivered a letter to his constituency office - happens to be here in Ajax. No reply. I followed up with a phone call 2 weeks later, they say they are not aware of my letter & can't find it. I made an appointment. I delivered another copy of the letter, this time making the receptionist (Andrea) come out from behind her fortress and sit down with me and go over the papers I was leaving with her. Brought a consent for release of information as well. Andrea promised a callback by Wednesday (this was on Monday, February 10, 2014). No call whatsoever all last week and I was unable to get a hold of her on Thursday or Friday when I tried to call.

I saw many people complaining of the cost of re-doing medical... please also think of how the medical community speaks against unnecessary x-rays. In other words.... x-rays are not good for you. I understand if you need to do it once for this purpose. But will my government make it a 2nd x-ray a condition of entry for my wife?

Also, she used to work in Hong Kong. She needs a police certificate. HK will not issue one without a reference letter from the Canadian Embassy. We have asked for this letter in our application and voiced the same concern with the MP.. but NOTHING IS HAPPENING.

Am I alone feeling that our Government does not care? That they make us jump through hoops, keep us in the dark and we are at their mercy... in effect they play cruel games with our minds and basically deprive us of happy days of our lives.... Instead of being honeymooning newlyweds, we live stressed out for a year or so, praying that next time we look at processing times, it does not suddenly change to 24 months?

I saw this cartoon once showing a politician with his thumbs up.... the caption said "before elections". Another image, same guy with his middle finger up... guess what, caption said "after elections" And the sad story is, no matter who you vote in, they are all the same.

Hi there,

We are in the same boat. I'm also from Ajax. I wanted a Mp to do some inquiring since my husband police record and medical as been expired. I emailed Chris Alexander and ummmm a week past nothin. I called called and all I get was answering machine, then behold I call one early morning and lady picked up..lol.. She was polite, I explain to her what the situation was and this was her reply" I'm sorry buy chris alexander doesn't deal with immigration purposes" but funny on his website it states he does. So I said oh really, I guess the info on the website is misleading then!!!! No answer!

But then she told me he has an assistant who deals with immigration issues, and she took my number and name and said she will be passing it on, I said ok and hang up... And I think 2 days after someone called from his office and she sent me a consent for for my hubby to sign and send back.. Hopefully I get something

 

[gosia]

go to the newspapers if you can

 

[Nevaeha]

I tried getting help from two Conservative MP's (I moved while I was in the Immigration process) and they didn't do anything for me. It was my understanding that you should only go to them if your application has exceeded the Stage 2 processing timeline. Then I started reading on the forum about how some people were very successful with their MP's in the early stages of their processing so I thought I'd give it a try. It did absolutely NOTHING for me.

Please remember this when it's time to vote in the next Federal election. The Progressive Conservative Party does not care about family reunification and it is not a top priority to them like they claim it is.

 

[Soleil2020]

Hi everybody, I'm new here. Just want to tell you, that an MP is something that is quite useless, at least in my case. You see, I live in Ajax, Ontario, and my MP is Chris Alexander, who happens to be the new immigration minister. Short story: I've been told by his staff, at his office, that he cannot push any case as that could appear as him trying to get a specific case processed ahead of others... and apparently he wants to stay away from any of that.

Long story: I had a discussion with him in person... fall of 2013 he held an event in Ajax. He said "it took my wife also 14 months to get her papers". I asked where is your wife from? He said Denmark. So I said "your wife could come and go as a visitor any time before or after the marriage... as she is from a visa exempt country" He quickly zoomed out from that subject and said he is doing everything to speed up things. Yeah, that is when the 8 month processing time was updated to 14 on CIC's website.

My wife's medical will expire April 2nd. A month ago, I sent an e-mail to Chris Alexander's ministerial office. No answer, not even an autoreply-acknowledgement. Another e-mail to his constituency office, here in Ajax. No reply. Hand delivered a letter to his constituency office - happens to be here in Ajax. No reply. I followed up with a phone call 2 weeks later, they say they are not aware of my letter & can't find it. I made an appointment. I delivered another copy of the letter, this time making the receptionist (Andrea) come out from behind her fortress and sit down with me and go over the papers I was leaving with her. Brought a consent for release of information as well. Andrea promised a callback by Wednesday (this was on Monday, February 10, 2014). No call whatsoever all last week and I was unable to get a hold of her on Thursday or Friday when I tried to call.

I saw many people complaining of the cost of re-doing medical... please also think of how the medical community speaks against unnecessary x-rays. In other words.... x-rays are not good for you. I understand if you need to do it once for this purpose. But will my government make it a 2nd x-ray a condition of entry for my wife?

Also, she used to work in Hong Kong. She needs a police certificate. HK will not issue one without a reference letter from the Canadian Embassy. We have asked for this letter in our application and voiced the same concern with the MP.. but NOTHING IS HAPPENING.

Am I alone feeling that our Government does not care? That they make us jump through hoops, keep us in the dark and we are at their mercy... in effect they play cruel games with our minds and basically deprive us of happy days of our lives.... Instead of being honeymooning newlyweds, we live stressed out for a year or so, praying that next time we look at processing times, it does not suddenly change to 24 months?

I saw this cartoon once showing a politician with his thumbs up.... the caption said "before elections". Another image, same guy with his middle finger up... guess what, caption said "after elections" And the sad story is, no matter who you vote in, they are all the same.

Before I sign off of this forum, I had to respond to your post. I really can feel your pain, especially in the second to last paragraph. You are not alone. Although, I know it doesn`t help matters..(what would besides the landing papers in your hand, right?)
What you described is exactly how my husband and I have been feeling. We've been married for a year and half but we've not started really living our lives as husband and wife in OUR home.

Anyway, good luck to you. I hope things work out soon.

 

[lovindahubby]

I tried getting help from two Conservative MP's (I moved while I was in the Immigration process) and they didn't do anything for me. It was my understanding that you should only go to them if your application has exceeded the Stage 2 processing timeline. Then I started reading on the forum about how some people were very successful with their MP's in the early stages of their processing so I thought I'd give it a try. It did absolutely NOTHING for me.

Please remember this when it's time to vote in the next Federal election. The Progressive Conservative Party does not care about family reunification and it is not a top priority to them like they claim it is.[/color

This is so true Nev. They don't care anyways cause its not them. In the position...

 

[Abe1004]

Hi everybody, I'm new here. Just want to tell you, that an MP is something that is quite useless, at least in my case. You see, I live in Ajax, Ontario, and my MP is Chris Alexander, who happens to be the new immigration minister. Short story: I've been told by his staff, at his office, that he cannot push any case as that could appear as him trying to get a specific case processed ahead of others... and apparently he wants to stay away from any of that.

Long story: I had a discussion with him in person... fall of 2013 he held an event in Ajax. He said "it took my wife also 14 months to get her papers". I asked where is your wife from? He said Denmark. So I said "your wife could come and go as a visitor any time before or after the marriage... as she is from a visa exempt country" He quickly zoomed out from that subject and said he is doing everything to speed up things. Yeah, that is when the 8 month processing time was updated to 14 on CIC's website.

Hi GabbielovesAya.

I want to say beforehand, you may take this post as something directed personally against you, but please dont. This is what I think about this whole situation.

1) I feel your pain. Seriously, I am in a same boat, my wife (happened to be my sponsor) is on short-term disability at the moment and we have been apart for a better part of almost a year now (6 months in process, since our lawyer has sort of screwed us). I get your point about "your wife was able to come and go as she pleased". I am sorry but thats how world is made. Some people are born in Denmark, while some are born in HK. Not everyone can be bornt in Europe and enjoy the visa-exempt status that is offered by it. I know its unfair, but life is not fair. I dont think its very nice to point out that to the guy (even if he has a good salary and his wife can visit anytime), because buying a ticket is still worth a shit ton. To make your pain more tolerable, I will tell you that I am not from visa-exempt country and likely contributed more to the canadian economy than minister's wife, however I am also waiting for 15 months (well for 6 atm, but likely will have to wait for whole 15,theres always that possibility right?).

2) I think the governmental rules and in place for a reason and if they require your wife to do x-ray and get police check, then its something they have to do. X-rays dont hurt you even if you do them 2-3 times a year. I know its costly and it sucks ( I have gone through it myself) but honestly you dont have a choice. This is beaurocracy and you have to deal with it. As for police check, I wouldnt blame the Canadian government, but rather blame the HK government for not giving your police background check. That is a real piece of s hit act on their part and blaming canadian embassy for that is sort of childish.

3) In the end I want to ask you, did you go through whole 15 months already or are you just being squirmy because you are 8-9 months in? I understand your impatience because every day is hell for most of us here, but I dont believe you have a legitimate case here against your MP/immigration minister. If it hasnt been full stage yet its really not worth the effort. I dont want to sound pessimistic but I have never contacted the MP and likely would never contact him. If someone got lucky with their MP, good for them. I would guess 10% of those MPs are really nice people and 90% are someone from within community who "feel" for these people are help them. Doesn't mean you will get treated the same (double standards sorta speak if you know what I mean)

I would suggest to get as patient as possible, stop harassing the MP and give them whatever documentation they ask for, so they can't bother refusing or prolonging this matter for you.

Regards

 

[Nevaeha]

I believe police checks and medicals should be requested by the visa officers when they are ready to process them. In most instances each Applicant would only have to do them once and they more than likely wouldn't expire. Why should one person have to pay more than another person for the same service?

 

[Abe1004]

I believe police checks and medicals should be requested by the visa officers when they are ready to process them. In most instances each Applicant would only have to do them once and they more than likely wouldn't expire. Why should one person have to pay more than another person for the same service?

Because they can't be responsible for how many student/work permits, tourist visas will arrive in timespan that you application is being held on to and how long will it take to process applications prior to yours.

Just so you know, you dont have to send in your medical or police check. You can wait till they request it and then send it in, which slows down your process by 6 weeks on average (which is normal, noone is going to sit there and wait when your checks will come in). So technically speaking, if you take a chance and submit medical+police check yourself of your own free will, what exactly are you complaining about?.

Not to mention, that of course if the time span of processing is 16 months, though medical issues are not viable reason to be refused (unless you are terminally ill), you could be committing crimes within that year and I am a firm believer criminals should not be let into the country.

 

[Nevaeha]

There are several visa offices that request the medical and the police check to be submitted with the application when you first apply in which case the entire application will be sent back to you at Stage 1 as incomplete if they are not included in the package.

I do believe CIC knows the higher traffic times for TRV's, student visa's, etc. and they should hire more people to process during these times.

 

[Abe1004]

There are several visa offices that request the medical and the police check to be submitted with the application when you first apply in which case the entire application will be sent back to you at Stage 1 as incomplete if they are not included in the package.

I do believe CIC knows the higher traffic times for TRV's, student visa's, etc. and they should hire more people to process during these times.

I would like to see which visa offices are those, if you got that informtion, I am just curious.


As far as them hiring more staff, good luck with that, lol...its beaurocracy.

 

[Nevaeha]

I would like to see which visa offices are those, if you got that informtion, I am just curious.


As far as them hiring more staff, good luck with that, lol...its beaurocracy.

Off the top of my head -- the Caribbean, Africa, etc. You can check on the CIC website at the case specific guides and it is on the checklists that they have to be submitted with the the application.

Don't we know it!

I understand they have a job to do and I agree with it wholeheartedly, I just don't agree with it taking a year and longer for clear cut cases.

 

[lovindahubby]

Off the top of my head -- the Caribbean, Africa, etc. You can check on the CIC website at the case specific guides and it is on the checklists that they have to be submitted with the the application.

Don't we know it!

I understand they have a job to do and I agree with it wholeheartedly, I just don't agree with it taking a year and longer for clear cut cases.

She is indeed correct.. Because most VO ask for medicals and other things upfront

 

[GabbieLovesAya]

Hi GabbielovesAya.

I want to say beforehand, you may take this post as something directed personally against you, but please dont. This is what I think about this whole situation.

1) I feel your pain. Seriously, I am in a same boat, my wife (happened to be my sponsor) is on short-term disability at the moment and we have been apart for a better part of almost a year now (6 months in process, since our lawyer has sort of screwed us). I get your point about "your wife was able to come and go as she pleased". I am sorry but thats how world is made. Some people are born in Denmark, while some are born in HK. Not everyone can be bornt in Europe and enjoy the visa-exempt status that is offered by it. I know its unfair, but life is not fair. I dont think its very nice to point out that to the guy (even if he has a good salary and his wife can visit anytime), because buying a ticket is still worth a *censored word* ton. To make your pain more tolerable, I will tell you that I am not from visa-exempt country and likely contributed more to the canadian economy than minister's wife, however I am also waiting for 15 months (well for 6 atm, but likely will have to wait for whole 15,theres always that possibility right?).

2) I think the governmental rules and in place for a reason and if they require your wife to do x-ray and get police check, then its something they have to do. X-rays dont hurt you even if you do them 2-3 times a year. I know its costly and it sucks ( I have gone through it myself) but honestly you dont have a choice. This is beaurocracy and you have to deal with it. As for police check, I wouldnt blame the Canadian government, but rather blame the HK government for not giving your police background check. That is a real piece of s hit act on their part and blaming canadian embassy for that is sort of childish.

3) In the end I want to ask you, did you go through whole 15 months already or are you just being squirmy because you are 8-9 months in? I understand your impatience because every day is hell for most of us here, but I dont believe you have a legitimate case here against your MP/immigration minister. If it hasnt been full stage yet its really not worth the effort. I dont want to sound pessimistic but I have never contacted the MP and likely would never contact him. If someone got lucky with their MP, good for them. I would guess 10% of those MPs are really nice people and 90% are someone from within community who "feel" for these people are help them. Doesn't mean you will get treated the same (double standards sorta speak if you know what I mean)

I would suggest to get as patient as possible, stop harassing the MP and give them whatever documentation they ask for, so they can't bother refusing or prolonging this matter for you.

Regards

No offence taken. But some of your statements and observations just amazed me.... I don't understand how can you be so patient and resigned to whatever the government throws at you... you say this is what it is and I should wait it out & you are OK to wait 15 months? I say the process is absolutely dismal and unacceptable.

Do you really think that x-rays are not harmful? Is that why they don't x-ray pregnant women at the dentist? Is that why they cover your body up with a heavy lead apron when they x-ray your teeth?

Do you really think it is ok that your application is taking 15 months? It used to be much less. Does the fact that the processing time changed late last year not bother you? What happened to the service that used to be provided by our government to us? Please wake up, we are being shafted and short changed, our quality of life is on a slippery slope.

Do you really think my MP should ignore an inquiring citizen's attempt to communicate with him? Do you really think that I am harassing him by trying to get in touch with him? (And I would stop at the first attempt as long as they would reply!) Gosh, the government should be there to serve us and not the other way around.

Do you know that my checklist explicitly listed the medical exam as a required document? Do you know that your checklist might have been different, due to country-specific requirements?

Do you know how much they stress to "send in a complete application" - so I crossed all the t-s and dotted all the i-s. I sent in the medical. The processing times were 8 months back then, now they are 14 at my specific outpost.