VIENNA OFFICE

[cleo]

Getting married in Quebec is a bit different too. Well, it used to be.

 

[Frida]

We'll do it in Slovenia, but that's gonna happen next fall.
We'll apply outside Canada, so medicals are gonna be done in my country, and as for immigration process, after he's accepted as a sponsor, our papers will be sent to Quebec immigration and to Vienna. Been studying this stuff you know ;D

 

[nika80]

Even if you are applying outland you can do medical in Canada. My husband did his medical here in Canada and we applied outland. In any case you should do it before you submit your application.

 

[tam.1979]

Hi again good people of Vienna forum... It's my time to ask for serious help/advice/words of wisdom....
You all know my situation (Srdj and Vassilika are definitely previewed to it in depth) but here is a new piece of information.... As i've written before Vienna has been for months telling me that my case is in background checks since July of 2010 (16 months now)... I've asked them (Vienna) on a few occasions to follow up with CSIS but they said they don't do that until they cross their allowed time of up to 18months....
As per the advice of some of you, 6 weeks ago today, I sent a letter to CSIS and asked them for a status of the background check... I wrote in a letter that i sent that Immigration Canada told me that our file is in Background Checks with them since July 2010, and any feed back would be much appreciated.
Today I got a letter from them and among other things, this statement came like a knife right to my heart:
"It appears that Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has YET TO RECEIVE a request from Citizenship and IMmigration Canada (CIC) to conduct a security screening investigation concerning your husband. I can only suggest that you redirect your queries to Immigration officials."
WTF?!?!?! CSIS never even got a request for background checks from CIC even though CIC (as well as my MP's office confirmed!) have been telling me for OVER A YEAR that we're in background checks and it takes 12-18 months?!?! WHAT IS THIS?!?!?!
We've hired a lawyer last week to see if they can dig up any information and they were 95% certain that our file or portion of out file is LOST, and this just confirms it.... For 21 months Immigration Canada has been playing with us!
Since I got this letter late this evening I am yet to contact my attorney tomorrow but does anyone here have anything to say to this?
Any help would be much appreciated....
(((((((

 

[krofnica]

thats horrible. i honestly think that the actual background checks dont take that long, it's just that cic sits on it for years in some cases. ours took almost 2 years which i think most of the time was wasted in vienna on someone's desk. so i would definetelly contact vienna and advise them of what u found out and ask them for an explanation. they should speed up your process if they misplaced the file. give the hell. thats crazy. this is your life.

 

[tam.1979]

That makes perfect sense Krofnica (in the real world, which this is definitely NOT). Every time I called Vienna, i ended up speaking with the same person who always tells me that they don't have my papers - they have been sent to Canada so she can't help me.... in the meantime she gives me some false information EVERY TIME... First - your file will take 12-18 months... then - your husband's portion of the file will take 12-18 months.... next time - no i didn't say that, i said that background checks take 12-18 months... and she SPECIFICALLY told me that our case was transferred to CSIS for background checks in JULY 2010 and there is nothing she can tell me until they get back to her, and that it may take even longer than 18 months because my husband was in the mandatory military during the "conflicts" in the balkans...
I will call the lawyer tomorrow and see what the next step is because after our initial consultation she already was convinced that our file was lost, last week she did some digging spoke with the Senior Officer who didn't have any definite answers for her, so she gave him a week to come up with definite answers (that's tomorrow).... In the mean time this letter comes in! So she doesn't even know about this... I think that this just confirms her hunch that our app is lost, she says it happens more often then anyone is allowed to admit!....
I just wanted to see if anyone had any experience.... i'm afraid that if we have to submit from the beginning that this will drag on for another.......... don't even want to say it!

 

[cleo]

There was someone else whose file was lost in Vienna. Who was that? My memory fails me today. I think she had to reapply and then they approved her in 2 months. Anyway, maybe she could offer some advice.

 

[Serdj977]

I'm still struggling to understand and to explain to myself how things work in our processes and why they take so much time... Thing is, we can analyze, but we are not inside those offices and we can only guess what are the main reasons for delays in some cases. Anyway I want to share some thoughts on this issues.

i honestly think that the actual background checks dont take that long, it's just that cic sits on it for years in some cases. ours took almost 2 years which i think most of the time was wasted in vienna on someone's desk.

Krofnica, I second that.

I was in queue for an interview since Jan 2011. Case was practically sitting on desk for 9 months and after two our emails and one from my wife's MP, things started to move a bit. It was just a few days after our case exceeded average processing time for Vienna VO.

I found link on CIC website dated back in 2000. where is explained how things work in Vienna office since year 2000.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/audit/vienna/43program-e.asp

There is detail that explains a lot. It says and I quote :

"Criminality and Security

There is considerable care taken in security screening in Vienna. This care is prompted in large part by the Balkan wars and the exodus of many persons whose history might render them inadmissible. (section removed) and Field Operations Support System databases are consulted routinely for those who fit the profiles. Numerous cases are referred to the Case Management Branch for further checking and opinions. This situation is good, but the responses from NHQ (national headquarters) are subject to delays, which causes considerable frustration on the part of case officers who wish to process cases with more dispatch.

There is a tendency on the part of some case officers to refer cases perhaps too readily to the ICO (immigration control officer) for a further opinion on security matters. There is no inherent value in this tendency, as case officers are equally, or more, informed on the security related issues growing out of the Balkan wars and are ultimately responsible for security decisions for individual cases.

Recommendation 8

Management should encourage case officers to use their own judgment in security cases, when they have the acceptable background to make selection and security decisions.

Management Response

Management agrees that officers should make their own security decisions. That now occurs in almost all cases. Because of the complexity and importance of the interrelated security and war crimes issues, however, we believe it remains prudent to have a second experienced officer review certain prescribed files." end of quote.

There's more info on case processing in Vienna on link above if someone is interested.

As stated above visa officers make their own decisions regarding security issues "in almost all cases" and they just send their opinions and interview results for a review to their superiors or CSIS or CBSA (modern war crime section) if needed. My only explanation is that some of our cases was just on hold, or to use more harsh words "put aside" to be reviewed later and to make room for routine and less complicated cases that can be finished faster. We are practically waiting for VO and not CSIS or CBSA or whoever...

Tam I doubt that they lost your file. They asked for additional doc's from you 3 times, so probably it's not lost, it's there siting on someones desk. Maybe your case is to complicated for them and they need to make decision on their own (security) and send it for a review...I don't know, this is just a guess...I'm looking for something that makes sense for me about your case... The only thing that can give you some answers right now are those GCMS notes that you are waiting.

There was someone else whose file was lost in Vienna. Who was that? My memory fails me today. I think she had to reapply and then they approved her in 2 months. Anyway, maybe she could offer some advice.

That's arunsgirl. Tam try to contact her and ask her how she found out that her file was lost.

 

[Serdj977]

Here's another useful link that I found in some other topic. It's detailed statistics about processing times and cases.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/opendata-donneesouvertes/data/000001-eng.xls

 

[turquoise]

We received a letter yesterday from CIC Ottawa regarding our CAIPS notes request. it seems that in the letter they are notifying us that CAIPS/GCMS notes won't arrive/receive within their usual 30 days timeframe....guess they have to do a lot of digging on my husband's file...doesn't matter to us now.

Tam.1979: I remember when I emailed Vienna & they responded that background check is still in process. I immediately requested an update to CSIS. it only takes a month for CSIS to finish the background check & sent the result to Vienna. Try to email Vienna also include the email you received from them that they respond background checks is still in process & attached/include the letter from CSIS.

 

[tam.1979]

Hey Guys, thank you for all your input and help... Srdj, thanks for the information you dug out, I will have to go through it in more detail when I'm a little more level headed.... Today is just a bad day.
We got CAIPS notes today, and they basically don't say anything. 9 pages of absolutely nothing.
My lawyer told me NOT to contact them, that's what I hired the lawyers for, and now i'm in someone else's hands....
Gave CAIPS notes to the lawyer too - let them decipher them, as we certainly could not nor did we get any helpful information from them.... Will keep you guys posted.
Thanks again

 

[lucky rain]

Wow that is so depressing. We just filed for sponsorship this month ( Oct. 8.), and I was hoping things will go smooth. But I know that this is not first time that Vienna office screw someones papers :-[ .

 

[Serdj977]

Don't be depressed. Every case is different. You are at the Stage 1 of your process, it takes 70 days for sponsorship approval then your file is transferred to Vienna for Stage 2. If your case is routine it won't take long to be finished.

 

[lucky rain]

Amen to that ,

 

[cleo]

Wow, sponsorship approval times have gone up a bit.

Yeah, what Serdj said...the worst thing you can do is compare your application to others. Doesn't do any good and only causes frustration.