Visa rejected after initial approval: Passport not in time

[mbasiri]

Unbelievable! Anyone knows how/where I can complain to this?
My application was approved online and I was asked to send my passport which I did well within the deadline of the passport request letter. I even have the Postal receipt of my registered mail as evidence.
After waiting for many weeks, asking multiple times about the status with no response, today I got a letter in my CIC portal that the the embassy has refused my application for not giving my passport in time!

What!!! I sent my passport 4 weeks ago to the office in Spain as requested by the system since I reside in Portugal and they forwarded it to the embassy in Paris. The vfsglobal tracking showed that there was some postal delays but my passport has been sitting in the embassy for about 14 days. Now they reject my application for not getting my passport in time! The funny part is that the Spain office asked me an additional 61 euros for fast and secure Passport transfer to Paris which I had to pay.

I dont understand this and I am very disappointed. I was going to Canada next week to present at an academic conference. I am not sure where is my passport now and if I will ever get it back.

Is there anyway to complaint to this decision which has not been my fault? How can I find my passport?

 

[Bryanna]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your situation.

A couple of points:
1. The TRV application (visa) is not approved until the visa office receives the passport and makes a final decision. While a passport request is a positive indication, one can never be sure if the visa has been issued or not until this final decision is made.

2. If I understand correctly, you probably did not pay the correct VFS fees for passport transmission.... which is why your passport was not forwarded by VFS Madrid to the Paris visa office. This delayed matters.

Normally, if the correct VFS fees and documents are submitted with the passport to VFS/VAC, it is considered as passport submission. Passport submission is not when the passport reaches the visa office from VFS/VAC.

3. You can email the Paris visa office to explain the circumstances (with evidence).... and request them to reconsider their decision. Also, do inquire if the visa office has returned your passport to VFS Madrid or not.

4. Complaining won't help. If the visa office doesn't overturn their decision, you can reapply from scratch. You can expect to be approved (visa printed in your passport) very quickly


Hope this helps

 

[mbasiri]

Thank you Bryanna for your quick response.

1) In the CIC portal it mentioned under final decision status: Application approved, please send your passport. But I understand your point.

However:

2) I did pay the VFS fee for the transmission of my passport immediately and they approved by email saying that they have received my passport and the fee and will forward it to Paris visa office. This was still before the deadline.
I have their email as proof that VFS have received my passport before the deadline. They even gave me a tracking code which indicated that my passport is being processed at the Paris Visa office. I also have the postal receipt that I sent it to the VFS well before the deadline.

3)The problem is that the Paris visa office has not replied to any of my emails over the past 2 weeks. I had asked them multiple times that my trip is very close and I have not got my passport back. Do you know how I can contact them? I have tried emailing and using the webform of CIC.

4) Unfortunately there wont be enough time. the conference is in 10 days. I applied more than 2.5 month ago to avoid any problems like this.

Thanks

 

[mbasiri]

Just an update: I got a short answer from the embassy: ''your application is approved''.

I guess they have changed their decision and I hope I will get my Passport in time, after all the delay.

 

[Bryanna]

Just an update: I got a short answer from the embassy: ''your application is approved''.

I guess they have changed their decision and I hope I will get my Passport in time, after all the delay.

That's great.

Do check if the 'Final decision' status has changed to 'Approved and closed'. This would mean your visa has been stamped and your passport has been dispatched to VFS Madrid