helcat12

I got the impression that this is going to be the case for a while. There is nothing to imply that it is just an interim measure.
I believe that London VO have a dedicated team to deal with the Islamabad applications, presumably because of the language issues and time difference with following up their work references and suchlike, which is probably how come they are processing them faster than Cat 1 applications from UK citizens. There is at least one Cat 1 applicant on another forum who was processed surprisingly fast and when we queried how come they were getting meds well ahead of all the other London applicants they revealed that they were in fact Pakistani and here on a temporary study/work permit. Since then, it has been clear from the timelines that Islamabad applications are definitely having faster processing than others at London from the sample that I am aware of on canadavisa. London also processes applications from other countries but not in such large numbers (there are significant numbers from Pakistan and even more recently, as you might imagine) and quite a few of the other countries they only deal with from the meds results submitted stage rather than from the start.

CANADIAN CARPERS

They know how to rub salt in, I'll give them that.

helcat12

Yes, this is why, although I in no way doubt that james received the information he said he did from London, I do not believe that is in practice what is happening. I and others have also received assurances from CIC that all applications at the VOs are processed strictly in order of receipt, but that is blatantly at odds with the statements they gave to james and also with the evidence on the ground with applications at individual VOs post June 26th 2010.
The evidence all round just doesn't support their claims.
Offices such as New Delhi are cutting their processing times, so what is London doing (or not doing) that they are?
I also think it is worth noting that London is still quoting the original time scales on its own website, which is not only confusing but puts into doubt everything they tell anybody or post on their site in my opinion.
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca...raitement.aspx

james.mc

Concerning the information I posted. It is clear that, in the London, UK Visa Office Islamabad applicants are being processed before UK applicants. As for a Pakistani citizen in the UK on a temporary work permit getting processed and visa'd up by the London office before the rest.... well that's that's pretty sad IMHO.

The rest of the processing timing does seem to be a bit at odds with the response we received.

All I see, from a personal perspective, is that CIC London could not have cooked up a more disappointing way for us MI 1 applicants if they tried. They are processing applicants from an other country (Islamabad) before us and processing later applicants under MI 2 before us. So, somehow us MI 1's ended up at the back of the whole system, originally on a 13 months processing time and now on 20 months

There are always losers in any system but I struggle to see how the solution CIC London have come up with is in anyway way fair, time wise or otherwise.

sdo1982

The thing to remember... and this could be positive or negative depending on your mood...

These times are historical, not projected, what they are saying is that 80% of the cases finalised between july 2010 and july 2011 had taken 20 months.

So they might get quicker

Or we might still be waiting in 50 years time.

james.mc

helcat12

I don't think that the intention was that Pakistan applicants would be processed before UK ones, but the very nature of processing applications from such a far-flung country with a big time difference and potential language barrier has meant that setting up a separate work team for these is the most sensible way to deal with them. However, the practical result of this has been very fast processing at London for these applicants in contrast to all the rest of he applicants from European countries which can all be processed together. There has been much discussion about this on the canadavisa forum. If you look at their tracker (these are all post June 2010 applications but it shows the situation London is in relative to the rest of the world at the moment) https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?...=CLDXsFA#gid=0 you can see that other countries VOs are getting through their workload of 2010 applicants much faster than London, which still seems to have most of their 2010 applications still outstanding.
This is not only bad news for anyone who applied last year (like us, even though we are supposed to be priority at the moment) but also for everyone else waiting for us to be processed before they can be looked at.
Basically, London's work rate sucks in comparison to that of other VOs and there is no excuse for that. Whatever the reason, something should be done to bring their processing rate into line with the rest of the world. At the moment I feel that this huge disparity is so big it is actually bordering on discrimination against UK applicants just for being UK citizens.
CIC should look at the current processing data i.e. from June 200-2011 for each VO and then it would be clear that London just isn't keeping up, but their practice of looking at data over a very long term of several years for their average processing time is masking the current situation at London and that will only lead to greater build up of applications and future problems. CIO Sydney is pushing initial reviews through very quickly now - in a month rather than the 4 months it took them to do ours and so all the VOs are receiving applications from Sydney faster than before. These applications are not being processed by London promptly because they are still backlogged and so it is getting worse.
Not only that, but the average is becoming meaningless for everyone, as there are some people, i.e. the Pakistan applicants, who are getting their Visa well within a year and yet some people who have been waiting for 4 years and still no visa. The only way that the average processing time can be brought down is to process very recent applications in a very short time - this has the effect of bringing down the average but does not help anyone waiting. I see every day Cat 1 applicants who have been at the VO for only a month or so going IN PROCESS while it has taken us almost 5 months to reach the IN PROCESS stage.
We cannot influence this, but it is very frustrating. How is the class action thing going? Has anyone heard anything more about it?

sdo1982

I am just waiting on advice from my Immigration Lawyer, he is doing some research around the class action, I actually mentioned to him that if it does not go ahead I think we may well have to wait many years, so fingers crossed. :fingers crossed:
I will keep you updated as and when I find out more.

Mac2

Latest update released today FSW through London

Last quarterly update: October 27, 2011

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/informa...killed-fed.asp

London - United Kingdom - average processing time for FSW
58 months for applications received BEFORE February 27, 2008
27 months for applications received BETWEEN November 28, 2008 and June 25, 2010

helcat12

Still no information on Post June 26th 2010?
There have been may visas issued this past 18 months (although ours is not amongst them) so why no data from that period?

Mac2

Don't get these figures either! They are historical yet no one on this forum or Trackitt has taken that long to be processed. Even Malco who just got their PPR's and are one of the last March 2010 AOR's to be processed only took 19 months to PPR from AOR. The only way this makes sense (sort of) is if the average time is taken from first submission to CIO right through to visa issue, even then it seems excessive!!

helcat12

I have just seen a London applicant on the canadavisa forum who applied in March 2011 and has just received their PPR by e-mail.

They are a Pakistan applicant.
Here are their details;
shah0207
Hero Member


Category........: FSW1
Visa Office......: LONDON
Pre-Assessed..: Yes
App. Filed.......: March 2011
Doc's Request.: SENT WITH APPLICATION
Med's Request: 4 Aug
Med's Done....: 23 AUg
Interview........: waived
Passport Req..: 31 October,11



Hi Dear friends.

Today I recieved PPR by email (through agent) dated 31st october.

Please update my status.

Pray for all
Report to moderator Logged
I turn up all my worries over to Allah,.


So, it seems that London can get their finger out and take only a few months for foreign applicants but not for us British Citizens.

This makes me very depressed indeed and not a bit angry when they repeatedly say they are following "procedural fairness" by processing applicants in order of their application date.
It is a downright lie.

Mac2

Thats "Kazmart" they are on BE as well. London would say they are on the priority list of post 25th June 2010 applicants. But it does seem incredible London can process anyone in that timeframe yet keep earlier applicants holding on so long. They do seem to be processing pre-june 25th 2010 applicants in rough date order when they actually get round to doing it. They seem to be up to about March / April 2010 AOR's now but with a few exceptions such as canadiancarpers!

misskatpaw

So, this has gone up from 20 to 27 months? I feel even more sorry for pre Feb 08 applicants than I do for myself though

tracys

THIS SUCKS!!!