Former Lancastrian

BINGO. During the last round of Government cuts CIC lost over 1000 employees.
They have shut numerous offices and now basically everything is done by online communication. Try walking into a CIC office anywhere and asking to speak to an officer or even trying to find a phone number to actually speak to someone.
This is the time of year where thousands of students will be applying for study permits and visas for travel. Add into this all of the spousal applications, Express Entry applications, work permit applications and a host of others you now know how much work the department is faced with. Pretty it isn't but the Minister and department heads say everything is fine and working.

debhinds

I know this has been asked before,PR cards are taking up to 12 weeks to get.We are planning on travelling back to UK beginning of Oct,would the Paper PR and passport suffice.Thank you.

Former Lancastrian

That will depend on the airline. Read the sticky thread on travelling without a PR card.

aknuge85

So after long conversations on the phone with the help line I established that a mistake on my sponsors address on my COPR is not an issue and as long as I tell them the correct address at the border I'm good to go. This means my COPR was delivered 3rd July for sure (for the spreadsheet.)

They also told me it's a three week wait for an appointment in Calgary so we're doing that instead of heading to the border.

Thanks all for the support/advice over the last 18 months and good luck all still battling through.

SchnookoLoly

aknuge - updated! Glad you were able to get an appointment in a reasonable amount of time, saves a long trip!

Jim Humphries

Most mistakes can indeed be corrected at the border when proper evidence is presented.

cadinsmore

woohoo! We have been contacted by our local MP to say that London advised via email today that my husband's application for PR has been approved. Guess it paid off having the MP chasing it for us! Now we just have to wait for the paperwork...

re the spreadsheet (line 94, 2014) - we applied in June 2014, sponsorship approval in August, PR fee requested in December...CIC website still says 'application received' re the PR status!

Jim Humphries

There's a story here but we'll never know it. Congrats.

AncasterBrit

Hi Cadinsmore. Congratulations ! Looking good. By looking at the spreadsheet, it would appear that our applications are on a similar timeline. SA 6 Aug vs 7 Aug, Asked to pay RPRF and provide new police cert in early Dec.... I also had my MP (Canadian) enquire on my behalf. Hoping that approval will be consistent too.

Question: When your MP enquired, were you given a file review date ? I was told that my file was scheduled for review by an officer on 15 July (1 weeks time). Was wondering if your approval followed your review date closely. Anyone else given a 'review date' and did this correlate in any way to their final approval / COPR ??

SchnookoLoly

Updated! Congrats!

chrisco87

Hi,

I just see that some of you have had their MPs involved. I applied in September 2014, got approved as a sponsor on October 27th 2014, and my application has been in London since then, the status being "application received" on Ecas. Would you recommend getting my MP involved? And if so, what is the procedure?

Thanks!

AncasterBrit

I doesn't hurt to ask your MP to enquire on your behalf. Due to the fact that London are publishing processing times of 29 months, you are unable to make case-specific enquires directly (until past 29 months of course)

Princesstigger

My MP was not particularly helpful... I am on a similar timeline, but paid all fees upfront to avoid any delays (kinda ironic seen as we are all around a year into this)

We were told our case was due to be reviewed on the 30th May but have heard diddly squat since SA in Aug last year. We were told not to apply for notes as it slows down the progress (?????) and that they wouldn't inquire on our behalf again for another 6 months

SchnookoLoly

This is answered in the wiki: Spousal Sponsorship-Canada/FAQ : British Expat Wiki - At what point do I get my MP involved?

It does if you consider that you only get so many "uses" of your MP. In this case, chrisco has not yet surpassed the average (11.5 months from applying) and there are buckets of other applications between June and Sept who have still not heard, so my opinion is that OP should wait to get the MP involved until the 1 year mark passes. After that, yes, have a shot at getting the MP involved.

Getting the MP involved too early is likely to just result in a frustrating, stonewalling answer, which is the kind of response princesstigger and andrew-brit ran into.

Jim Humphries

There is always a Summer slowdown for reasons of staff postings, vacations, time sensitive student and visitor visa applications so the above is good advice. There is not much to be done in the circumstances.