TheMapleLeaf

Hi friends,

I am about to land in UK and would be sending my PR application to CHC London as soon as I land .

I would appreciate if you could share your timelines. I've referred to many info sources which indicate that applicants from middle-east countries have a longer than 18 months wait time at CHC London...I could not see many cases of Indians in UK and so was just was curious about their timelines.

Appreciate your sharing...thanks!

Andrew Miller

First of all - to be eligible to apply through London you must be lawfully admitted to UK (or any country under CHC jurisdiction) for at least 12 months. If you are coming there as tourist then you simply cannot apply through London as you won't be admitted for at least 12 months.

The difference in processing times for Indian nationals (or any other nationals for that matter) will be based on on several factors and processing times are not fixed nor guaranteed. If you check here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/departm...illed-fed.html

you'll see that London's reported averages range from 19 months to over 3 years. Averages mean that there are cases processed also faster than 19 months and longer than stated 37 months average.

Why such big difference? Mainly due to 2 factors -

1. Quality, completeness of application package and conclusiveness of supporting evidence; and

2. Time needed to complete background/security check.

You have no influence over the time needed for security check and this task alone may take anywhere from few months to well over a year to conclude, depending from your nationality, countries you resided in, your background, activities and associations. Security check will start after positive selection decision is made in your case - after interview waiver (8 to 16+ months from application) or after successful interview (18 to 30+ months from application).

So, your main concern should be to prepare the best application it can be. Well prepared and documented case, not leaving any margin for doubts and follow-up questions (all of them which are usually case and/or circumstances specific must be addressed and conclusively documented in the package) with all claims conclusively proven will help you getting interview waiver, thus saving you 8 to 14 months of the process. Case and/or circumstances specific evidence may also help with background check.


Do not pay attention to timelines reported by others as there are no 2 identical cases, thus there are no 2 identical timelines and you cannot predict your timeline on the basis of someone else's timeline.

As you see on the page linked above there is no "18 months wait time" - there is a wait time anywhere between 12 months and 4+ years in London.

If you read reports here and other forums you'll see that there are cases in London completed recently in about 12 - 14 months and there are applicants who applied in 2001 who still wait.

TheMapleLeaf

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your prompt informative reply. Yes I am aware that I need minimum 1 year visa from wherever I am applying. I plan to go to UK on a WHMaker visa which should be valid for 2 years.

I have been researching a lot and understand the differences in individual cases and hence the timelines. I wrote 18 months as a few days back the webpage was showing 18 for London...it recently incereased to 19 . I would like to have more informative views from you about my case and would appreciate your guidance.

Actually currently I am in Canada on a visitor permit (valid till 30 July) but plan to leave for UK by mid-June. I had come to Canada on student visa about 2.7 years back and since the completion of my course extended my stay here as a visitor. I committed the mistake of not appying earlier for PR as I wasn't sure I would want to spend the rest of my life in Canada..anyway I've changed my mind now.

I am a bit confused whether I should submit my application to Buffalo or London as i am in a position to apply for both...which one would be better for my case in your opinion.

Let me give you an assessment of my own case: I think the fact that Canada is the only country I've lived in apart from India would help limit the Bgrd.check and moreover I have been continuously living here since then. Going to UK will probably increase time for b.check mariginally but if I choose to apply to Buffalo my location would be a problem as I am going to leave Canada anyhow by June.

So this was my case in brief kindly let me know your thoughts on it. Thank you.

Andrew Miller

It is not how long your UK visa will be valid for - it is for how long you will be admitted there what counts.

Buffalo and London are quite the same as far as processing time goes, although lately London is slowing down more than Buffalo.

And again - those 19 months are not for the majority of cases, so don't make predictions based on the fastest reported average.

TheMapleLeaf

Sorry Andrew, I could not understand what you meant by this- "It is not how long your UK visa will be valid for - it is for how long you will be admitted there what counts."

Aren't they going to be the same? I understand that at the port of entry the Immigration officer has the right to change the period of admittance but generally shouldn't they be giving the same time as stated on the visa? Does it all depend on the wish of the officer?

Well incase I do not get 1 year admittance to UK, I am thinking that I would send my complete package to a close relative in Canada who can then post it to Buffalo. Atleast it will be better than getting it processed at New Delhi (3-4 years ). CIC Buffalo wouldn't be aware of the fact that I have landed in UK and would send communication at my relative's address. What is your opinion kindly let me know. Thanks!

JAJ

There is a difference between how long the period is for *seeking* admission, and actually being admitted.

Usually working holiday makers are admitted to the UK for 2 years.

Quote:

Well incase I do not get 1 year admittance to UK, I am thinking that I would send my complete package to a close relative in Canada who can then post it to Buffalo. Atleast it will be better than getting it processed at New Delhi (3-4 years ). CIC Buffalo wouldn't be aware of the fact that I have landed in UK and would send communication at my relative's address. What is your opinion kindly let me know. Thanks!

Never lie to CIC.

And also be aware that if your case takes more than 2 years to process, and CIC London want to interview you, you will need a UK tourist visa to attend the interview. This may or may not be easy to obtain.

Also be aware that as an 'out of jurisdiction' application (even a legal one) CIC London may take longer to process your file, and an interview is more likely.

Jeremy

TheMapleLeaf

Thanks Jeremy for your reply. Ya I just hope to get the “admittance� to UK for 2 years. From a self-assessment and my research I am quite confident that mine is a pretty straight fwd case. Plus my Canadian masters degree and more than 2 years stay would also have a positive bearing. My guess is if I require an Interview at all, it would be within a 2 year time frame. Even if it is later than that (God forbid) I can take the risk of reapplying for UK visa which I think would not be that difficult given the past history of stay.

Most of the cases in Buffalo (& probably other posts too) are of ‘out of jurisdiction’- students, foreign workers in US & Canada- but this is totally normal and doesn’t make any difference if the cases are straight forward.

I do not intend to lie to CIC for things which matter but like all sane humans would look for the best possible harmless option available. IMHO CIC Buffalo would not credit me for personally posting the application from Canada so practically speaking it doesn’t make any difference as long as the package is complete. Probably I could appoint my acquaintance as the representative for my case.