to Shannon

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Subject: to Shannon
  any thoughts why some embassy backlogs have jumped so dramatically in the last 6-8 months. Paris has over doubled their processing time.

I sense you may have some formal CIC experience.

Here is our situation. My fiance is living in North Africa. We were at the ´send medicals and ROLF´ stage in Jan 05. It was done. His house was broken in to, all his immigration documents stolen along with other things. File numbers, copies, reciepts...everything. (we know who did it and exactly why, but police assistance is a dream that will never happen) We found out later that ROLF never made it to Paris.

4 months went by and we thought all the BC checks should be complete and we started wondering where the PP request might be. You well know what it is like to have an embassy answer the phone. To add to the problem, all reference documents were gone. (we now have some back... but still no file number)

Long story short... CIC said sorry, time has lapsed to send in ROLF your file has been closed. So now we are faced with a new application (short of some miracluous intervention)

SW applications are taking forever. I have been professionally advised that I should go to his home country, marry him and initiate a sponsorship application. My immigration process radar is telling me otherwise and you are reinforcing my thinking.

Our relationship is 3 year in duration, primarily long distance,(CAN will not give him a visitors visa- but we have had opportunity to meet in the US!) exclusive, genuine, and extremely unconventional. I am the ´older woman´ and we are of different faiths (at face value). In my mind, a sponsorship application is an invitation to CIC disaster. However he is sitting on 75 clean skilled worker points.

We are ready to send of a new SW application this week. (from Canada instead of his home country - his immigration intentions have now become secret). I am going there at Christmas time with the possible plan of getting married while I am there. (I highly doubt our ´wedding plans´ would be grand enough to satisfy CIC requirements) His medicals are still valid and we will be sending all required fees up front, just in case someone at CIC might be in a good mood.

It has always been my objective to separate our personal relationship from immigration but this saga is dragging on far too long. We both want to get on with our lives.

From your perspective and experience... have you got any wise advise. Should we be including in our application a reference to our relationship and long term plans? will that simply complicate things? Obviously, I am trying to get his application through in record time.

any thoughts?

[12-08-2005,16:40]
[***.20.170.23]
sharon
(in reply to: to Shannon)
Hmmm...let me gather my thoughts for a second and try and make sense of everything fluttering in my head...

if you wanna get married go for it...there are multiple reasons that this would work out

1- i had a client who was 30 years older than her husband he he got his pr within 1 year
2- although his sw application will go thru quicker due to his previous one, it is still a long enough wait because paris is processing appls in a timeframe of 6 months from receipt for spousal appls
3- I have never had a single client interviewed as a spouse while being processed thru paris, they just let everybody go :)
4- being of different faiths, you will not have to prove a full islamic traditional wedding, nor will your family be required to be there and in north africa you can even be married via proxy
5- if you can prove your genuine and continuing relationship through phone bills, photographs, emails, etc for the past 3 years (the period of his SW appl, they will see that he wants to come on his own and not marrying you just to come here) Also, they look at your SW points even if you are a spouse (not OFFICIALLY) but if somebody has a wicked amt of pts and can come with no problem they give the benefit that they were not married for immigration but if he doesnt speak english or french and is not highly educated and has no work experience, etc, they will question the relationship more.
6- in a cover letter, indicate that your husband previously applied but missed the deadline for ROLF and that is the reason taht you chose to sponsor him at this time. That it was your choice not to wait any longer for him to come. That will also speed up his file cause Paris will look into his previous application as a SW and take part of their assessment from there with no need to redo it.

If you chose to go ahead with a SW appl and you marry him, it will just reinforce his appl more and maybe give it some extra priority

If you chose to go ahead with a spousal appl make sure you have done the following:

Have a civil ceremony and make it VERY clear that it was because of difference of faith
Have a reception party and make sure to document through photographs all important aspects such as number of guests, decor and cake
Make sure you are wearing a WHITE dress (i know this sounds crazy but its important in islamic culture in immigration´s eyes....no matter how blind those eyes can be LOL)
Make sure you have photographs of the two of you as a couple out in public with other people at restaurants and stuff (so they see that you are affectionate....sorry im just going based on past letters ive come across from immigration and try to make all applications cover any and all holes immigration has found in the past)

[12-08-2005,17:10]
[**.230.19.138]
shannon
(in reply to: to Shannon)
Shannon are you a lawyer or work for immigration? you seem to know a lot and have a lot of perspectives.
[12-08-2005,17:41]
[***.109.34.92]
GQ
(in reply to: to Shannon)
thanks Shannon. finally a voice of logic.

Oddly enough, his home country requires a civil ceremony. Even the locals do this. I must be in the country 21 days before we can be married. My trip is 25! Yikes.

White dress eh??? This is where I start to struggle. His family is VERY poor. In good conscience, I would prefer to buy them food and new clothes rather than stage a wedding party to satisfy CIC. I am divorced and the fantasy wedding idea really does not cut it. (been there done that) Whatever we do in that regard will be to satisfy his cultural needs, not mine.

I also REALLY struggle with laying 3 years of intimacy out there for some synical CIC officer to judge. How many emails would they like to see? I have about 1800. Often we talk about immigration - some how, some way... swimming across the ocean, do something!...

My other concern is that a potential wedding is 4.5 months away. I cannot begin any application until after I get back. Add 6 months for processing and we are pushing a year. Toss in a potential interview, refusal, appeal and everything goes out the window. (never mind $$$ and anguish)

What happens when a SW applicant marries a Canadian citizen mid application? They notify CIC and it adds 5 points to the total. Does it do anything else? Does it slow things down with another piece of information!

I welcome your thoughts.

[12-08-2005,18:21]
[***.20.170.23]
sharon
(in reply to: to Shannon)
It seems Paris Spousal class is processed much faster than the SW. 80% done in 10 months as opposed to 43. If I were you I´d go ahead with the spousal and never mind ´...laying 3 years of intimacy out there...´. I laid out 5 years of ours. Your objective is to get your man into Canada, nothing else. So be focused and forget about your personal privacy for now. Make the work of that ´cynical CIC officer´ as easy as possible.

Submit every bit of info that will substantiate your case. Take lots of lots of digital pictures, explain on each picture when, where, what event/occasion it is taken, and who are taken on the FRONT of each picture in a clearly visible font. That way the officer doesn´t have to flip the pix to see what´s written in the back. Depending on the background, change the colour of font if needed so that it´s easier to read .

For e-mails, rather than sending them all, printout the significant ones but cover the whole duration of your relationship. Also print the list of all your e-mails with the dates, FROM/TO, and Subject lines clearly visible.

Highlight your man´s phone numbers and duration of calls on your phone bills. It is very helpful if the number matches with the phone number your man submits as his personal, cause CIC seems to dismiss the long distance calling card numbers.

When you come back after marriage, immediately add your man to your RRSP, any life/ death insurance as your beneficiary. Submit the evidence.

Make a list of all the gifts you was given or gave by/to your man. CIC does not care how you or he feels towards each other. They need EVIDENCE to make their decision easier. in CIC´s eyes you´re guilty/lier/cheat/scumbag/human trafficker until proven otherwise. Get 3-4 reference letters from people who know about your relationship. It is good if they are government employees, your boss, professionals such as doctors, lawyers and engineers, who are members of professional associations (yhey have to abide by ethical guidelines, meaning they don´t usually ´lie´). Get your mom or your mom-in-law do the same.

Submit all the bills, flight boarding passes, itinenaries,... In short, swamp them with evidence so that there would be no room for doubt.

Lighthouse Family

Clock is ticking


[13-08-2005,01:57]
[**.57.227.81]
Lighthouse Family
(in reply to: to Shannon)
Hi Sharon,

Have you considered applying for BC Provincial Nominee. The processing time might be a little bit faster.

goodluck

[13-08-2005,03:19]
[**.39.44.102]
Joe05
To shannon (in reply to: to Shannon)
Shannon, I am in a similar situation. Can I email you offline.
[13-08-2005,03:44]
[**.226.91.113]
Sam
(in reply to: to Shannon)
Nominee program is a loooong shot. He is a software engineer. How many of those are floating around this site. He is wanting to do something different when he gets here but we will be crossing that bridge later.

I am hoping we will see new processing times released in the next few days. they say it is every 3 months and the last update was may 18.

I am curious what else Shannon can add.


[13-08-2005,03:45]
[***.20.170.23]
sharon
(in reply to: to Shannon)
Sorry Sharon, I was in hibernation over the weekend...I like the advice from lighthouse family BUT...you have to show that your relationship is genuine, but dont be TOO obvious.

If his family is poor and you would rather buy food, go for it. Explain that in the file "due to financial reasons, we were unable to have a large party and therefore had a smaller gathering in his family´s home. The following people attended:..."

If he is "poor" they look at whether you support him financially. They also take into consideration your income, so they dont expect large sums of money going to him if you dont have it. You can also state that you "sent money with friends going to his country"...they dont require proof of that.

Be careful with emails that you send to immigration. Make sure you send ones dating back to when you first began talking and send only the ones that show more or less a timeline of the progression of your relationship (especially if you have some that talk about marriage prior to the "abandoning" of the skilled worker file).

I know this is a very tough time to go through but in the end things work out and everything will be fine, im sure of it. Dont feel too bad...I had to prove my relationship to the Lebanese officials before they would even issue our official marriage and civil status documents. Those people actually go to the house and call you a liar to your face and demand that you prove why you got married. It took my husband months to prove it to their satisfaction and I couldnt even apply until I got all those docs.

[15-08-2005,12:34]
[**.230.22.29]
shannon
(in reply to: to Shannon)
thanks for the great advice.

this CIC struggle is really putting a strain on our relationship. The wait is simply destroying us. Right now it feels like it is all just too much.

[15-08-2005,15:55]
[***.20.170.23]
sharon
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