processing times
 

Hi,

Are there any recent applicants of the skilled workers visa who have just had their application accepted. I would like to know the current waiting time before being issued with a visa. It says on the CIC website 13months. Can any1 confirm that.

Many Thanks,

Chris

Re: processing times
 

Can you be a bit more specific - have you applied, and if so, when? And under which category?

There are timeline threads in the immigration forum which should help you, but bear in mind that processing times will depend on when people applied i.e. there are some that applied in 2007 that still haven't had PR, but others that applied mid 2010 have already had med requests. Cases are processed at different timescales depending on the rules in place at the time.

HTH.

Re: processing times
 

If you happen to be Federal Skilled Worker, I can offer you this information.
After the changes last June, there was a waiting time of up to 140 days just to get through the Sydney CIO stage. That has now come down to the point where recent applicants are getting their Positive Eligibility Review as quickly as a month, assuming you send everything correctly and you have the points.
After that, it is anybody's guess, as no-one I have heard of has completed the process and has had their Visa from London yet. A few London applicants have had their medical requests, but that is it so far. Buffalo have been similarly slow.
If you are a New Delhi or Manila applicant for instance, though it is a different story. Visas have been flowing thick and fast there - as little as 8 months from initial application to Visa received.
Sorry! Just noticed that you are FSW! Hope this helps you then!

Re: processing times
 

As Helen said, getting PER from CIO now only takes around a month. And yes it is a complete lottery once you get to the visa office. Applicants whose applications arrived 2 months after ours, got their medical requests a month before us. But also some applicants whose applications arrived a month or so before ours have not even gone into process yet.

It's crazy!!!!

To add a bit more info to the end of those timescales - the first post-June-2010 London applicant (at least the first we know of, there are probably others out ther!) has just received passport their requests, and that was approximately 5 weeks after medical results reached CHC London.

So if you chose to go down to London to deliver and then collect your passports 2 weeks later, you are looking at around 2 months to get your visa after the medical results reach the visa office.

As a rough ballpark I reckon you are looking at these kind of timescales:
- 1 month at CIO to get your PER
- Up to 1 month for CIO to mail your application to CHC London
- 2 months for CHC London to get round to putting your application In Process
- 1 month from then to get your medical requests
- 2 months from then for you to do your medicals, get RPRF to them and to get PPR
- 2 to 8 weeks after PPR to get your visa depending on how fast you go down to London to hand in passports or whether or not you post them instead

So currently I think for new applications it's about 7 to 9 months to get the visa, since the CIO process is much faster now. For early bird applicants like us, who had to wait 3 to 4 months at CIO - it's probably looking like 10 to 12 months.

Hope this info helps.

Wayne.