I was wondering if anyone that had been through the long, slow process of sponsoring their parents for PR could set my mind at rest about something.

I initially applied to sponsor my parents back in December 2010 and received confirmation that the CIC had received it in January 2011. Pretty much as expected I didn't hear anything back for a long time until, in July of this year, I was notified that they were ready to process my application and that further information was required.

I submitted all the necessary documentation in September and then this week a letter came acknowledging that everything was complete and that my application was now in the processing queue.

But what exactly does this mean? How far along in the process is my application? Does this mean that I've been approved as a sponsor and that my parent's file has been sent to London? Or does it mean that I haven't been approved yet and that there's still going to be another long wait for that?

Many thanks!

According to CIC website:

Part 1:
Sponsorship Approval: 41 months*

(working on applications received on or before April 30, 2011**)

Acknowledgements of Receipt have been issued for all sponsorship applications received and accepted by CPC-M before the Temporary Pause on Family Class Sponsorship Applications for Parents and Grandparents came into effect.

**Sponsors who submitted sponsorship applications to CPC-M between May 29, 2010 and April 30, 2011 should have received a letter by the end of August 2014 requesting additional forms, documents, and information required for case processing.


Part 2:
Assessment of Person Being Sponsored (applicant)
London - 68 months.
Status available online

I think you will be in for a fair wait yet, unfortunately.

Processing Times: Family Sponsorship

I wonder what exactly takes so much time? I assume it's a case of these visas getting low priority, but even so... 9 years to process seems excessively long. I've never even worked for one company for 9 years, let alone spent 9 years looking at one project.

As said on your other thread, it's just not a priority for CIC, as the vast majority of parents and grandparents bring little to Canada's economy, unlike foreign workers.

But really the reason the wait is so long is that there are just too many people in the queue! There is a small quota of visas available each year (5000), and the demand far outstrips supply for these visas (for example, last year 18,282 applications were received for parent/grandparent sponsorship, so 13,000+ more than the quota), so there's an awful lot of people waiting for them.

HTH.

Same timeline as yours...

I'm afraid this is just another AOR. As far as I can see it does not mean that anything has been approved yet, as all it says is that the application is complete. It also says "You have the option to withdraw your application [...] You may be eligible for a refund of the sponsorship fee [...] if the processing of your file has not yet begun." Which must mean that processing of the sponsorship application had not begun at the time the letter was being mailed.
On the other hand, CIC processing times say that the first stage takes 41 months- it's been 49 months for us and no end in sight....

I try not to think about it at all, nothing to do but wait...

Wow!!

Just out of curiosity, where do you get this sort of info from? You always seem very knowledgeable, but I'd like to start answering my own questions, so wondered where you had gathered all your knowledge from? Or is it simply experience from answering hundreds of questions on the same thing!

I'm a fount of all knowledge, didn't you know? At least, that's what I tell my husband.

Simple really, several years of working in immigration and therefore knowing where to find stuff in the CIC Op Manuals, statistics, news releases, etc. I certainly get things wrong sometimes, but I can usually lay my hands on the right bit of the CIC website for stuff at least!

A quick Google search for 'CIC statistics' will take you to this.......Statistics

And this website is useful for immi data - http://open.canada.ca/en

HTH.

Awesome, thanks ChristmasOompa. Didn't realise you worked in Immigration. Thanks for the links.