Chronology of events: Immigration of Dominican

Hi everyone!

As most of you know already having seen some of my posts before on DR1, I am married to a wonderful Dominican man. We are presently going through the process of having him come to Canada through sponsorship. I thought it would be a good idea if I posted a chronology of events of our process so it can give you a good idea of how it goes down in Canada. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me. This email is pretty long so be patient.

Chronology of events
Immigration

1) July 17th, 2000 : Sent sponsorship application to Immigration Canada in Mississauga, Ontario together with $500.00 fee;

2) August, 17th, 2000 : Received letter from Immigration Canada accepting my sponsorship;

3) August 29th, 2000 : Received form IMM 0008 from Immigration Canada (to be filled and signed by Wilson);

4) August 30th, 2000 : Received application for sponsorship sent by MRCI (Quebec);

5) Sept. 2nd, 2000 : Left for DR (1 week);

6) Oct. 3rd, 2000 : Sent form IMM 0008 to Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti by ExpressPost;

7) Oct. 3rd, 2000 : Sent sponsorship application to MRCI in Quebec City by regular mail together with $250.00 fee;

8) Oct. 9th, 2000 : Canadian Embassy in Haiti received form IMM 0008;

9) Nov. 9th, 2000 : Received letter from MRCI accepting my sponsorship and received " Certificat de s?lection " which allows wilson to enter the province of Quebec;

10) Nov. 15th, 2000 : Called Embassy in Haiti and spoke to Immigration Officer Gina Ranger and found out my file number. She also confirmed having received my application;

11) Dec. 23rd, 2000 : Left for DR (2 weeks);

12) Jan. 9th, 2001 : Spoke to Immigration Officer at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti (Gina Ranger) whom informed me that certain documents were missing, i.e. original of both Wilson's birth certificate and our marriage certificate. These documents were already in my file in Haiti but they asked for them again. She confirmed having those documents but needed more information;

13) Jan. 15th, 2001 : Spoke to Immigration Officer at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti (Gina Ranger) concerning the missing documents. She confirmed having sent a letter to Wilson on Jan. 5th, 2001;

14) Jan. 25th, 2001 : Received original of both birth certificate and marriage certificate from Wilson by Federal Express;

15) Jan. 26th, 2001 : Sent missing documents by ExpressPost to Canadian Embassy in Haiti;

16) Jan. 29th, 2001 : Canadian Embassy in Haiti received missing documents;

17) Jan. 30th, 2001 : Spoke with MP; She will do a follow-up and call me back;

18) Jan. 31st, 2001 : Sent email to the Canadian Embassy;

19) Jan. 31st, 2001 : Received email from the Embassy saying they got my email and will give it to whome it may concern;

20) Feb. 8th, 2001 : Sent another email to Embassy;

21) Feb. 8th, 2001 : Received email from Embassy saying same thing as Jan. 31st;

22) Feb. 8th, 2001 : Sent email to someone at the Embassy;

23) Date uncertain but around mid-feb. : Wilson received letter sent by the Embassy on Jan. 5th, saying that some documents were missing and we have 45 days to send them this documentation; We have already sent them at the end of Jan.;

24) Feb. 12th, 2001 : Sent email to same person at the Embassy;

25) Feb. 14th, 2001 : Received an email from Canadian Embassy informing me of Wilson's interview scheduled for March 12th, 2001 at 8 a.m. at the Canadian Consulate in Santo Domingo;

26) March 12th, 2001 : Wilson's interview in Santo Domingo;

27) March 13th, 2001 : Wilson's medical in Santo Domingo;

28) March 28th, 2001 : Telephone conversation with MP. She called Immigration Canada and her contact there informed her that the only thing missing in my file to finalize it was the fee of $975.00 which wasn't yet paid;

29) April 3rd, 2001 : Paid fee of $975.00 at the Royal Bank of Canada and sent receipt to Immigration Canada in Mississauga, Ontario;

30) April 3rd, 2001 : Faxed a copy of the receipt to MP;

31) April 17th, 2001 : Spoke to MP. She doesn't have any new info on my file. She has been trying to fax the Embassy in Haiti but is having trouble. She will try her contact at Immigration Canada again in the next few days;

32) April 17th, 2001 : Received letter dated April 10th, 2001 from Immigration Canada confirming they received the fee of $975.00 and that an Immigration Officer will be finalizing my file soon;

33) May 3rd, 2001 : Spoke to MP again. Hasn't been able to reach Embassy in Haiti. Didn't hear from her contact at Immigration Canada yet. Will call her again on May 4th;
May 8th, 2001 : Called Immigration Canada in Montreal myself. The officer told me that the only info she has on my file at this point is that they received the fee of $975.00;

Katia

Way to go Katia. I hope this helps anyone who is going to sponsor their husband or wife from the DR. I must add that to anyone going throught the same process as Katia and myself "PATIENCE IS A MUST" GOOD LUCK

Thanks for posting the chronology Katia! I'm sure this will be helpful to many of us Canadians who are either starting or considering to start this process.

At this point, how close are you to bringing your husband here? Also how long have you been married?

Good luck! I hope they speed up this process for you two so you can be together soon

Dear Katia--

There is one piece of advice that I give everyone who is dealing with any governmental or organizational bureaucracy (and this goes for anywhere in the World) ...ALWAYS SEND EVERYTHING VIA CERTIFIED OR REGISTERED MAIL OR VIA AN INTERNATIONALLY RESPECTED CARRIER THAT REQUIRES THAT WHOMEVER THE THING IS ADDRESSED TO MUST, AND I UNDERSCORE MUST, SIGN THAT THEY PERSONALLY DID INDEED RECEIVE WHATEVER YOU SENT...AND KEEP EVERY SINGLE RECEIPT AND ALL DOCUMENTS (in mulitple originals) AND A DIARY OF EACH ACTION YOU HAVE TAKEN AND THE RESULTS OF EACH THING...YOU CAN LATER HAVE THAT DIARY CONVERTED INTO A NOTARIZED STATEMENT IF NECESSARY....

That way you take away their *wiggle room* and it hands the responsibility back to them for their inability (or unwillingness) to *find* whatever you sent. Then they are left exposed for being incompetant or telling lies and you may be able to take it higher up the chain of *command* and hopefully get better results, or simply have a bit more leverage with the indivudal involved, providing of course, that you have not seriously offended them in some way. Remember, the *little guy* has quite a bit of power to make sure his boss never sees what you sent, or of slanting their description of how you are to deal with in a negative way.

And no, I am not a lawyer, but a former legal secretary who quickly learned to keep my own dairy of everything I did on every case that came across my own desk. Good luck to you both!

Sharon,

I am a paralegal and I know about keeping track of everything, in detail.

I have sent, as you can see in the chronology, all documents via Federal Express or ExpressPost and have kept all the receipts with the name of the person who signed for them.

Good luck to all going through this.

Katia

Deb:

Wilson and I got married on May 18, 2000, so tomorrow is our first wedding anniversary. Unfortunetaly, I cannot be with my husband to celebrate. We are at the point of waiting for that call from the Embassy telling us that the visa is ready. I hope it won't be too long.

Patience is not my best virtue!!!

Katia

Dear Katia--

I didn't miss that you had sent things and got a signed receipt back...what I perhaps should have stressed more was that you should consider restricting delivery so that the addressee is the one that is personally required to sign.

Being an *old* Legal Secretary, the job description of paralegal did not exist then, we were expected to do that job as well as the secretarial work, plus witness preparation, legal research, sometimes even serving subpoenae, etc. We didn't make what you newer gals make, but, it was a lot of fun.

Best of luck to you and Wilson!

I have to agree with all of the posts here. The Canadian government claims that it give priority to REUNITE families as quickly as possible. 12-18 months is RIDICULOUSLY LONG. As Katia and myself know very well how frustrating this process is.

I truly believe that the Canadian government (American process very similar) on purpose keeps couples apart as long as possible to "WEED OUT INDIVIDUALS FROM CERTAIN COUNTRIES"

I am sure that these individuals take great delight in delaying the process as long as possible.

I would like to here from someone in the IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT either a bonafide immigration officer or someone who works at one of the conulates. Lets here your input!!

It also seems that there is no consitency in this process. Everyone fills out the same applications, they ask everyone for the same documents. However, I believe that the majority of people who apply to have their spouses immigrate to Canada, submit the documents on a timely basis.

However, it seems that some people get their visas much quicker than others. Seems to be a process that is in serious need of streamlining.

The time frame and delay takes a tremendous toll on married couples.

While others slip through the cracks, honest people eager to start their lives are not given much consideration.

Chronology?

When I was thinking of marring my future wife (Dominican), the consulate suggested me to marry her here in the DR and later apply for a spouse visa in my county (europe)! But I insisted on a tourist visa with the reason to marry and got it in three month! I believe, if I have married her first and then asked for a visa, if would have taken me a rather long time aswell!

So my principal question - is this not possible with the US an Canada and could this not be realized easier that way?

Henry

Re: Chronology?

Yes, this is called a fiance visa, takes less time. However, from experience with the Canadian consulate,embassy, what is to stop them from denying a couple this visa?

I applied when my wife was my fiance for a visitor's visa, provided all kinds of documentation. Final result: DENIED!!

Now since we are married they cannot deny my wife entry into Canada, they can only delay the process. If you read my earlier post,you could read my opinion as to why it takes so long.

Re: Chronology?

Is it this difficult and long of a process for a US citizen marrying a Dominican?

Re: Chronology?

The Candian process in modeled after the American process. I have read a book on Family Class Applications for the US. Basically the same process.

The process is not difficult, only the time away from a loved on is difficult. Be prepared to have your patience tried.

Good luck

Re: My advice having gone through it....

My Dominican husband has been here in Toronto with me now for about a year and a half. The total process from application to his arrival in Canada took one and a half years.

If I could do it all over again, I would have started the process before we married. Unfortunately, I was given incorrect information from someone at the Immigration Case Centre in Mississauga. (I know you're all shocked that a government employee would give out incorrect info!) I asked them if I could go ahead and start the process as a fiance application and then change it to spousal once we got married. They said no. I found out later that it's no problem to do that at all. So we could have started the process November '97 when we became engaged rather than April '98 when we married.

Although we've been together here for a year and a half now and we have a beautiful son, I will never forgive Citizenship & Immigration Canada for the time we were kept apart.

Canadian immigration

Thanks for the input Jodi, I am going to the DR on Saturday, my wife has the interview on the 24, after 6 months of waiting. I too along with Katia and many others will never, never, never,ever forgive the Canadian immigration department for the time they have kept me from my wife.

I to was given incorrect information. I first applied for a vistors visa for my wife. I called the immigration office in Miss. then I also called the Canadian consulate in SD.

Everyone that I spoke too gave me different information. The person that I spoke with(I will not mention names because of the interview next week)gave me different information. I could tell by the way that the person spoke that this person probably was not ever Canadian.

A year and a half seems like a long time, most take up to 9 months. Even this period of time is way, way way too long.

Question for Jodi

Hi how long did it take once the interview and medical were completed to receive a call and get the visa and paperwork?

Suggestion

Once all of our respective spouses and here in Canada, perhaps a letter signed by everyone to Elinor Caplan would be in order.

The Canadian immigration process for spouses is in serios need of adjustment.

Re: Answer from Jodi

Hi Joachim,

His interview was on a Friday then the medical was the following Monday. He had his papers in hand about 4 or five weeks later.

One of the reasons it took one and a half years for us is that the first completed application we submitted was "lost". (It's far too long a story to go into here.) So we had to do the whole thing over again. I'm calculating how long it took from the time we sent the first application. The process took about 9 months if you calculate from when we sent the second application. Also, my husband has two children in the Dominican and I believe immigration was stalling because they suspected he would want to bring them here (even though we repeatedly declared in writing that we would NEVER bring them here.)

I believe the process would have been dragged out even longer for us had it not been for the intervention of the Liberal MP for Peterborough, Peter Adams. He got involved in the case personally which made a big difference. It was also (October '99) when Elinor Caplan had just taken over the CIC portfolio and I believe she was instrumental in getting some old files cleared out.

The delays seemed endless though....Not that THIS is Immigration's fault, but once my husband had his papers and airline ticket booked to come to Toronto via Miami....wouldn't you know there was a hurricane in Florida and he was delayed a further 3 days!!! When I went to pick him up at the airport I thought I must be dreaming. We were already married for a year and a half and I was already 3 months pregnant by the time we were finally living together.

Jodi

Re: Answer from Jodi

What an ordeal Jodi...

See every story have a happy ending (sometimes)

Saludos a todos en tu familia....

Visa

That was really an ordeal. However, Katia, has been waiting now 10 since her husband has had the medical for the visa. Yet still no phone call. Odd!!

Embassys dont loose paperwork, and I am sure that you sent all the necessary documentation. However, I wonder if that was just another way of "Weeding out people from the DR.