rudolph6

I have a question! Please direct me to the correct feed on the forum if I'm in the wrong place.

When is it a good time to call if your sponsorship approval has not been approved by the date on the CIC website? It currently says 61 days and my wife's application (she's the sponsor and Canadian citizen, I'm the applicant and UK citizen) is at 77 days and counting.

I know it's just over 2 weeks late but we haven't been emailed for any new documents and when I look at your spreadsheets, the ones that seem to take long are the ones where someone didn't submit an application correctly! Ours was a straightforward application, we believed.

Any phone numbers to call? I don't currently live in Canada so can I contact the call centre?

SchnookoLoly

Yeah, worth giving them a call to try to chase it up, you're 10 days over the posted processing date, which usually is pretty accurate. Contact info is all in the FAQ in my signature, last section.

andykelly

Just noticed a slight error on the 2015 spreadsheet. In the "Processing Time Stats" section, the "Fastest" cell for Stage 1 is calculating J1:L38 rather than J1:J38, so it's putting the 10 days from cell K6 in there.

lakoquine

Hi all!
Thank you all for the usefull info in this thread. I thought I'd add our stats for the spreadsheet.

I am sponsoring my husband. I am Quebecoise, so we have the added "bonus" to have the MIDI to deal with ...
15 October 2014-Application received AND sponsorship approved
It would appear that our application is being processed in ottawa.
10 March 2015 we received our Certificate of Selection from Quebec.
9th April Email from CIC Ottawa requestion further info : 1- A copy of CSQ (thank Quebec for not forwarding! ) 2- Evidence that I, the sponsor, intend to live in Canada (now, seriously, would I do all this if I didn't plan to live in Canada?!?!)

So that's where we are. I posted all the docs on 10th April.

Foolishly, way back when last autumn, we decided we were going to jump on a great deal for single flights to Montreal. We bought tickets for me, hubby and the 3 little munchkins for 2nd June 2015, 34 days from now. If we haven't heard back, my husband can enter Canada as a tourist while we wait, right? Please someone, tell me it'll all be ok...

SchnookoLoly

Ah yes, good spot! Corrected now, thanks!

This part first... it's not possible that you got sponsor approval the same day that your application arrived in Mississauga. simply not possible as part of the sponsor approval process is background checks for the sponsor... so there's just no way. When did you actually post the application to Mississauga? Then when did you get the letter saying that you were approved as a sponsor? Those must have been at least one month apart, and based on October applications more like 3 months.

Short version, your husband CAN wait in Canada as a visitor (read the Dual Intent section of the Spousal Sponsorship wiki page)... but unless you have your COPR in hand, he will probably be denied boarding by the airline as he does not have a return ticket. Not for sure, but probably.

I would suggest either cancelling his one-way and booking a return ticket, OR booking an additional one-way ticket and having proof of that booking with you when you go to board. You can always book a refundable ticket as well and then cancel it later, but he should not show up for the flight without any evidence of a return trip in hand.

Assuming all your kids are Canadian then they won't have an issue - I assume you have all their Canadian documentation sorted?

lakoquine

Thank you very much for your reply ShnookoLoly.
Sorry, I was not clear with my dates. They received the application on 4th Sept, but did not communicate with us until the 15 Oct, when they sent 2 back to back email confirming reception and accepting me as sponsor. Sorry for the confusion.

As for the kids, I was informed by the Directeur de l'etat civil that they can be added to the national register upon our arrival in Quebec. Now with what you said I am slightly freaking out and rather regretting having relied on Quebec... Come to think of it, I almost regret writing on here, my blissfully naive ignorance was a lot more comfortable... Now my happy countdown to the day we fly seem particularly stupid.

SchnookoLoly

Those dates make way more sense, I'll add you in! Where are you currently living? Just missing that part for the spreadsheet.

As for the kids... what passports do they currently carry? Have you applied for their Canadian citizenship certificates? Are you certain they are Canadian citizens? Basically if you show up at the border with only their British passports and nothing else they can be admitted as visitors (or possibly refused entry, as with any visitor, but highly unlikely!)... but it may cause you problems for things like registering them in school and such if you can't prove they're Canadian. So I'd get things rolling with applying for their Canadian documentation, there's lots of info about this in the wiki.

As for not being excited -- it's honestly going ot be fine. Your husband has to just get himself a return ticket, and you need to sort some paperwork for your kids. A faff, yes, but certainly not the end of the world!

Make sure you read those wiki articles, though - they will help.

shooey

Hi all,

An update :-

Sponsor approval: 23/04/2015 (by post)
Processing office - Stage 2: London

andrewbrit

Thank you, spreadsheet updated.

lakoquine

Thanks ShnookoLoly, I just think I'm getting way too emotional about everything...
We're in Northampton, by the way, for the spreadsheet.
I'll just go and do my wiki readings now...

Princesstigger

I'm not surprised you are getting emotional, it's a stressful process!

I feel for you, but this forum and the expert advice is here to support you. Even if you find you don't have all your ducks quite in that neat little row you thought you did.... Its ok! You are finding out now, and can do something about it.

Take a deep breath, it's all ok, better to check these things out now, rather than get a shock after a long stressful flight at the immigration desk.

I'm sure it'll all be ok :-)

kazhaz79

Hi all,

I have continuously referred to this site and the timeline spreadsheet for answers to my many questions while completing my application to sponsor my husband and feel it is about time I posted a thank you to all who take the time to upkeep the spreadsheet and reply to posts.
Can my stats be added to the spreadsheet please? I am sponsoring my husband, our application was received in Mississauga on 21 March 15' and we are living in UK at the moment.

andrewbrit

I have added you to the spreadsheet, whereabouts in the UK are you? Closest city is fine.

kazhaz79

Thanks, we are in Glasgow.

andrewbrit

Thanks, updated.