redfox05

I'm in same boat. Although my residency time is split with time in Canada and UK with my fiancee (Canadian Citizen).

What kind of evidence did you submit for that part, wanting to get it perfect cos 4 weeks would be cutting it very fine for our flights.

​​​​​FYI, flights wise and applying for PRTD, we're currently in the UK, and return flights booked to Canada to see her parents. We're only there for 8 days so probably not even enough time to apply for PR card renewal. That's another problem. Urgh!

DeanN

Sorry for the slow reply on this, I've been away for the past week.

It was essentially a shorter version of the material I submitted for the initial PR application: around a dozen photographs of us along with rental leases with our names on, shared bills etc. plus a brief note explaining that we were living long term in the UK but likely to return by end of 2023 (I only really included this last bit as I was requesting a multi entry PRTD).

redfox05

Quick update from me: I've got the rather ominous update saying "The decision envelope for your application has been dispatched from the IRCC Office, to the Canada Visa Application Centre in Embassy CVO."

So we have a decision, lets hope its the positive one!
I paid for one way courier, so they'll send it back to me with minimum delay once it arrives with VFS again hopefully.

So time wise for the London office, its only a couple of days, but thats with sending via Special Delivery and dropping straight off at a Royal Mail Delivery Centre. But sitting no longer than a day in any of their offices.
On the phone their call centre for VFS said minimum of 10 days currently as its a "little busier, but still manageable".

DeanN

Good luck! I got the exact same message in advance of my own passport being returned with the PRTD inside.

I suspect / hope that if they did have questions or concerns about a bona fide application they'd be more likely to first of all get in contact to query it rather than to just immediately return the passport.

andy__Bee

let us know when you get it, and the total process time etc. No PR cards arrived for me and just 2 weeks to go.

redfox05

Nearly forgot to update here!
SUCCESS! I received my PRTD, multiple entry until the expiry of my passport, which sadly is only about 2 years away, could have been up to 5 years I read elsewhere. But great I got the multiple anyway! And yes I did request that in a cover letter.
All in all, it was 5 days, but that's including a weekend, so really it was 3 working days.

In case it helps someone, I'll summarise the tracking updates from VFS here:

Day 1: Posted the whole application pack (Including passport) via Special Delivery (Was a bit more complex, as I posted in the evening, 5 mins after the SD collection had come and gone, so I bought a SD bag, and then took this to my local Delivery Office, and they got it scanned into the system, and it was off towards central London that evening (Granted this was posting from Greater London area, so was really hoping next day was still possible even with the late posting).
Day 2: Application package arrived with the VFS Global office in London (Got this through Royal Mail SD tracking info)
Day 2: VFS Update: "Application dispatched to IRCC Office for processing."
Day 3: VFS Update: "Your processed decision envelope has been dispatched from IRCC Office, on transit to Canada Visa Application Centre in Embassy CVO" (I assume this was going back to VFS Global. Note how at this point, still dont know if it was good or bad news...)
Day 3: VFS Update: "Decision envelope is ready for collection at Canada VAC London. If you paid for courier, it will be sent out same day via courier partner."
Day 3: VFS Update: "Decision envelope has been couriered from Canada VAC with the courier partner. To track the status of shipment, please visit courier partner website." (Note that they did not say who the courier partner was, so this was frustrating, I could have called VFS, but I was too busy and figured it should get there next day anyways.)
Day 4: I found the decision envelope in my letterbox. No letter or decision info, just contained my passport and a receipt from VFS itemising the things I paid for with them.

So I opened the passport and found the PRTD full page visa in one of my visa pages. So I guess that means success, and all went well!

Gotta say the whole experience was quite relaxing and well informed, many more updates than I received during the original PR application process, which had much longer waits between updates, but obviously involved a lot more work for them as it was a larger application.

Extra VFS Global PRTD fees that you may not realise you need to pay:
(Call them if you need to check, and sometimes some agents know more than others, I had mixed experiences on different calls with them)

- Package Transmission: 16.15 GBP
- Assisted Service Charge (Because it was a paper based application? Even though there is no online option for PRTD): 8.90 GBP.
- Optional: One way courier fee 18.35 GBP (On the phone they said I could arrange my own courier to pickup when they contact me to tell me its ready, but to avoid delay, I just want them to send it off the moment its ready, not wait for me to arrange and then wait for courier (Same goes for two way courier, I did not want to delay things by having to book a courier to pick up my application pack, and then send it to VFS. I just decided to go direct to Royal Mail and use Special Delivery. It was only 8-9 GBP anyways at the post office.
- Optional SMS service charge: 1.75 GBP. For the low cost of this I thought I might as well, although for the first few updates, I actually got the email updates from VFS much sooner than the texts, but eventually I got updates through both email and text.

Total came to 45.15 GBP which I was fine with to be honest, given the urgency for needing to get this done too.
And of course, this is in addition to the IRCC charge which you pay to Canada direct.

Tips: Make sure you understand how the courier stuff works, and what other items you need to pay VFS for. I actually ended up finding out via their call centre that you also need to pay for a few extra things which were not clear from just reading the website.

Don't forget to include receipts for both the above payments. AND don't forget there is the IRCC checklist AND the VFS Checklist that you both need to print out and include. I almost missed the need for the VFS checklist, so I was lucky I ended up reading that in the many pages in different sections of their website.
So thoroughly comb through the IRCC website AND through the VFS Global website to make sure you don't miss anything. (Check the VFS one is the right one, different country ones look VERY similar. To make sure you are using the right one, click on the 'Attend a centre' link and make sure the local office is the one you are expecting it to be. But also make sure its not just the right local centre, but also the info pages for the correct destination. London VFS will for example handle more than just Canada, other countries too.

Hope the above helps!

redfox05

You said no PR cards arrived for you. Did you apply for the actual card, or a PRTD. Probably the cards will take much longer.

Side note, I'm assuming I now don't need to worry about renewing the actual PR card anytime soon, as the multiple entry PRTD should do the exact same thing right? I'll just have to make sure to do the renewal before my passport expires.
Or does anyone think I could just renew my passport and then get another multiple PRTD? What would they expect those with long term out of country accompanying Canadian citizens to do as normal process?

Applying for PR card renewal in my case and needing to be in the country for that, will be quite tricky and potentially expensive / issues with time off work etc. But I'm sure they must know this must be a common situation for many?

christmasoompa

Yes, that's exactly why they have the multi-entry PRTD, for people in your situation (those who aren't living outside Canada/accompanying a spouse will only get a single entry). If you move back to Canada you should get a PR card, otherwise you can reapply for a PRTD again if needed.

HTH.

andy__Bee

Firstly, thanks for the detailed info. Really useful and has put my mind at rest. Still have two weeks to travel, so I suppose we could get our PR cards by then, but given we haven't had any notifications, I don't have much hope.

We live in Canada, we applied in February, been chasing, but not heard anything. We plan to fly to the UK on the 18th, so will either have everything to courier the second back from the airport or the next day.

redfox05

Hopefully it'll be as quick as mine and you shouldn't have any worries?

Mark the parcel as urgent and also include a cover letter explaining why it's urgent. You'll need to include proof of this, and also details of your booked flights etc.

There's templates online on this forum or Canada visa, can't remember which, my fiancee found it and wrote it out. But I'd highly recommend cover letter if you don't have one already.

andy__Bee

fingers crossed. I've given up hope on actually getting our PR cards by then.

We fly on the 18th, arrive Sunday 19th so will submit the PTRD then, either via a courier before we leave the Heathrow area or once we are at our base in Glos' that night. Doing it near Heathrow hopefully guarantees its there the next morning LOL.. I believe you can only submit a PTRD outside of Canada anyway.

Will make the payments before we leave though, then I can add paper copies to our paperwork.

Deff do a cover letter. will have to search for a template letter, did a good search before LOL


Thanks for all the info, much appreciated.

Carolin H

Thanks so much for taking the time to post this. It is difficult to obtain necessary information from the websites. Can I clarify that from the time you submitted your paperwork via courier to the time you had PRTD was 5 days? Not 3-6 weeks (which is what is listed on the London website). thanks!

redfox05

Yes, the duration in my table was days not weeks. But please remember ours was urgent and we included a cover letter explaining the reasons for such.

The VFS Global agent on the phone said minimum 10 days at the moment.

It also really depends on the amount of checking they need to do, and sometimes your application can be sent to Canada too, which will add some more time.

P.s. minor forum note, when quoting a reply, try to just quote only the part you need, rather than the whole message. Just makes it easier to read.

andy__Bee

When do you fly?

redfox05

In approx 3 weeks.