Visitor Visa from Philippines - Gckey or Portal

[ayee]

Please share your timelines for gckey. Please advise if portal is better than gckey. Thanks.

 

[sventhedog]

I already filled out the gckey forms before I found out about the new portal. I just chose which I assumed was the safer option (new portal) instead of convenience of the old portal.

There's already a thread here comparing gckey vs the ircc portal.

2 reasons why I went with the new portal:
- I assumed that they would prioritize the new portal.
- based on the thread I mentioned above, there are people who said that they weren't getting updates with gckey, so they applied again using the new portal.

 

[ayee]

Do you know if we have to pay for biometrics again if we re-apply? Thank you.

 

[sventhedog]

You can check here https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/biometrics.asp

In our case, I'm not sure if we did the biometrics back in 2018. However, upon using that tool on the link, it's saying that our biometrics are not valid anymore. So we just did get new biometrics.

Note: I've also read somewhere that your biometrics should not expire before your visit visa. So if we did it in 2018,, it would've expired in 2028. Our canada visa is expiring 2032.

 

[sani.ph]

Do you know if we have to pay for biometrics again if we re-apply? Thank you.

biometrics are good for 10 years. No need for new biometrics if you re-apply within 10 years

 

[sani.ph]

We applied for our family of 4 ( 2 minor children) through New Portal
Application: May 25, 2022
Biometrics done: June 2, 2022
Review of Eligibility: Processing
still waiting for the result...

for my brother-in-law which we applied together and his family ( they are family of 3), they got refused last May 31, 2022 after 1 week due to work status ( they have own business, sari-sari store) and travel history ( 5 years prior to application, but their last travel was 2015 before they got married). So,, we apply them to the old GCkey last June 24 together with LOE and other proof of travel history (GCkey needs 10 years of travel history of employment which they both have)

Application: June 26, 2022
Biometrics done: June 2, 2022 (scheduled already from first application)
Review of Eligibility: Not processed yet

 

[femirabel]

Can you share your thoughts which is better to use is it the GCKEY or the IRCC portal

 

[sani.ph]

Since I was the one who filled up, for me it’s easier to use the GCkey especially if you’re going to upload a lot of documents. The doc size for new portal is only 2MB while in gckey has 4MB per file.
Also gckey gives you a chance to fill up more details up to 10 years ago while the new portal asks you only 5 years prior.