Introduction & question about Immigration Canada

bjnissa · Sep 15, 2008

Hello all,

Been following pretty well every thread on the boards the past 6 months or so and though I would finally join up and make an account for me and my wife. I am a Canadian citizen, 29 and she is a Dominican citizen 23.

We married last February and have now applied for a spousal sponsorship. Have a few questions maybe some can help us out with. Here are our timelines so far:

- Married February 16,2008
- Sent our completed application in to Mississauga May 12th, 2008
- Approved as a sponsor and sent to the overseas office for processing June 17th, 2008

Now have not heard a lick back since, not even a confirmation of receipt in Haiti. Today is now September 15th, 2008. In anyone's experiences, is almost three months with no confirmation reason to be concerned ? I'm thinking it would just be nice to know they got it there ok.

We decided to hire an immigration lawyer and have him looking into it, but figured it would be more helpful to hear your opinions due to the fact that some on the boards have actual first hand experience. Needless to say my MP was completely useless and told me that since I hired legal representation, they should handle everything for me.....

AnnaC · Sep 15, 2008

Welcome to DR1

We should be hearing from those that are going through the process at this time .

I would like to say that hiring an immigration lawyer will not make the process go any faster. Normally you will never hear from Haiti unless they are asking for more documents or they are ready to give your wife an interview or ask her to bring her passport to SD.

When you get the client number you can look it up online but other than " in progress" it will never change until she has the visa in hand.

Good luck

lexi · Sep 15, 2008

Hi bjnissa!

When you received your approval letter to sponsor from Mississauga you would have been given a Client ID number. You can use this number ot go on the CIC website and check your application process.

Once your papers are gone to Haiti you won't hear from them for many months - until they want something. Don't worry yet, it is far too early for that. Haiti has only had your papers for 3 months.

Check out the "Sticky" on Completed timelines - it is interesting to see the differences in timelines.

Good Luck with everything!

bjnissa · Sep 16, 2008

AnnaC said:
Welcome to DR1

I would like to say that hiring an immigration lawyer will not make the process go any faster.

Not making the process go any faster, but making sure that the application was sent in properly and all documents were in order........ That in itself was worth the few grand we paid him for sure!

bjnissa · Sep 16, 2008

lexi said:
Hi bjnissa!

When you received your approval letter to sponsor from Mississauga you would have been given a Client ID number. You can use this number ot go on the CIC website and check your application process.

I have my client ID number already, but no information is available on the CIC website.......

caredbl84 · Sep 16, 2008

good luck for you. I started my process in January 21st, they "started in their system" on february 12th and haiti got the documents april 15th, they asked my wife for additional info and documents (letters, pics, bank accs, phone bills, etc) on april 22dn and she send everything to them on may 14th. they got all that May 15th and since then I have sent 2 emails, engaged my Mp and I havent heard from them at all. it has been 4 months since they got all the documents and I even have proof of receipt and all that.. This message is not to discourage you or something like that (by the way I am dominican living in montreal and my wife is in barahona , dominican republic) and we talk every day and all that... we also use skype to talk online every night... and we are just praying all this is over so she comes here asap. but yeap, I havent heard from haiti nada de nada. I really hope her process is over before the end of this year since her medicals will expire next january 3rd. but again, good luck

caredbl84 · Sep 16, 2008

and other thing is that I am 23 and my wife is 20 (yest we are young) and we are a very mature couple and love each other like nothing else on earth. just to give you an idea we have been appart since 2004 and I went there over 3 times to be with her every end of the year and we got married last december. we have patiently waited all this time to finally live here together.

in regards to your process, i think its very early for you to hear back from them. ussualy they will send a letter to your sponsored person asking for additional info and them when they get that, if you are lucky, they will probably respond to your emails when you ask them for a confirmation of receipt. but you have to wait... just look at the other timelines to have an idea of how long this process could take. I am already planning a trip to Dominican in December or January to be at least 3 weeks with my wife... anyways good luck!

AnnaC · Sep 16, 2008

I'm sure this doesn't need to be said but just in case, I hope when people write to Haiti they are stating their full name, the name of the applicant, whatever ID number they gave you, when you when they approved you as a sponsor and why you are writing.

Write down as much info as possible so that they can Identify who is writing,the applicant or the sponsor.

But I'm sure I don't need to say that, it did pop into my head when I thought of why some people get a reply from Haiti and some don't.

bjnissa · Sep 16, 2008

caredbl84 said:
good luck for you. I started my process in January 21st, they "started in their system" on february 12th and haiti got the documents april 15th, they asked my wife for additional info and documents (letters, pics, bank accs, phone bills, etc) on april 22dn and she send everything to them on may 14th. they got all that May 15th and since then I have sent 2 emails, engaged my Mp and I havent heard from them at all. it has been 4 months since they got all the documents and I even have proof of receipt and all that.. This message is not to discourage you or something like that (by the way I am dominican living in montreal and my wife is in barahona , dominican republic) and we talk every day and all that... we also use skype to talk online every night... and we are just praying all this is over so she comes here asap. but yeap, I havent heard from haiti nada de nada. I really hope her process is over before the end of this year since her medicals will expire next january 3rd. but again, good luck

Thanks for your input, it's great to hear others experiences! I will not let these people ( ironically enough my own government ) discourage me from being with my wife........ I have been with her in the US, Japan, DR for pretty well the whole time this has been going on and will continue to do so until it's over and done with. Funny thing how all these other countries have no problem letting her travel to, but when it comes to Canada where I pay more taxes where I can count each month and had my ancestors build the place NO GO!

Anyway, enough ranting...... anymore experiences you guys and gals can post would be appreciated.

sangria · Sep 16, 2008

there are hundreds of post with lots of advice & experiences from the last few years in the visa forums.

typically updates don't seem to appear until after the process is over if ever at all.

lexi's advice to read the "completed timelines" sticky is very good...it will give you an idea of how long people have waited before any updates appear as well as what kinds of additional info they have been asking for lately.

this process is not easy, extremely lengthy and in many cases is not fair.

it will be over soon enough though & an immigration lawyer is only taking your money right now.

anything the lawyer can do, you can do yourself through the specific case enquiry form on the cic website or through request by your MP.

Best of luck to you both,
Sangria

bjnissa · Sep 16, 2008

From what I see in the completed timelines thread, on average it takes 1 month for Haiti to confirm the application is in progress. I am now at three months with no confirmation they even recieved it. I'm sure they have, but would just like to make sure.

Anyone know how I get confirmation ? I checked the CIC website and put in my client ID number but it just comes up unavailable.

sangria · Sep 17, 2008

i am sure this has all been said before but....

as per a rep from the cic call center....

once your sponsorship is approved, you are given a client id #.

your file is electonically sent to haiti & they have it immediately.

you are to assume they have it because you wouldn't have a client id# without it being in the system.

i know that doesn't make any of us feel better but this is the only info we are given.

you will only know they are working on when they email/call/write you with an information request or to set up an interview or to tell you to bring the passport to receive your visa.

if you need more info, you go to your MP who can make an email request on your behalf and hopefully get you the B file number that may give you more updated info online.

there are no straight answers because so far, each person who has already gone through this has had a different process.

best of luck
sangria

bjnissa · Sep 17, 2008

That's good information, thank you. I didn't know it was sent electronically.

sangria · Sep 17, 2008

i would also assume they send all of our supporting documents by courier after the application is scanned in their system because some people get their personal items returned at the end of the process...

Ellie2008 · Sep 17, 2008

This is all great information. My question would be at what point do people find it helpful to get their MP involved? Is it after 6 months no contact? Or earlier to try and get the B number?

Just wondering if I was able to have the B number now at this point, would I have a better idea of the progress? Just a thought

lexi · Sep 17, 2008

When I spoke to Immigration several months ago they said the files get sent immediately to Haiti electronically. Then the hard copy and everything you sent goes via Diplomatic Handbag. So yes, they eventually get everything you originally send in.

The B file number is not a necessary right away and even then later it usually doesn't show anything different than your Client ID. I have both and they say the exact same thing.

You do not need to get your MP involved unless there is a problem. Especially time wise. The Immigration website shows that the times they get the cases finished are anywhere between 8-17 months.

I spoke to my MP the other day and they said that they can't even get involved right now as there is an election coming up and all the MP's are now considered "candidates" and right now they do not actually have any rights to check on cases at all.

bjnissa · Sep 17, 2008

lexi said:
I spoke to my MP the other day and they said that they can't even get involved right now as there is an election coming up and all the MP's are now considered "candidates" and right now they do not actually have any rights to check on cases at all.

That's what my MP told me as well

eve_bebe00 · Sep 17, 2008

I spoke to my MP the other day and they said that they can't even get involved right now as there is an election coming up and all the MP's are now considered "candidates" and right now they do not actually have any rights to check on cases at all.

mmm too bad, we were going to ask an update in 2 weeks..... thanks for the info lexi.

Vintage · Sep 18, 2008

the election had allready started when i visited there last thursday
my mp sent a request and he had an interview arranged by the next business day

so im not sure why a few of the mps are saying this to the clients.
mine helped me

lexi · Sep 18, 2008

What?? I am calling my MP back tomorrow! As if they can't send an e-mail, how hard is it to do that?? Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Introduction & question about Immigration Canada

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