Thank you guys so much!!! As expected, here is to wrap up everything: my Application for a Permanent Residence of Canada was sent through Xpresspost by Canada Post under the Spousal and Common-law Partner Class within Canada from Vancouver, BC to Mississauga, ON on Sep 10th, 2018, just 1 day before the official infamous Canada Post strike. Along with the application, I submitted an Open Work Permit application, Schedule A and Police Certificates from Mongolia (my home country) and Canada upfront as I've been an international student here since 2014. Luckily, it was delivered just on time on Sep 12th, and I was able to link my application online on the MyCIC/GCKey account on Oct 11th, a few hours before receiving my AOR.
My OWP, however, couldn't be linked until Oct 14th and the strike did affect me in a way (assuming interdepartmental transfers) that my AOR took about 4 to 5 days longer than the applicants whose applications were received just a day earlier than mine.
In due course of almost 3 months, I received my Medical Request on Dec 6th (85 days to be precise). I managed to do the exams on the same day and noticed the "Passed" mark on Dec 13th, exactly a week after my initial exam.
My Background (security and criminality) check was commenced on Dec 12, 2018 (91 days after receipt), and according to my GCMS notes, it was completed on the same day as well.
On Jan 2nd, my OWP was reviewed but was randomly selected (booooo!) and transferred to a secondary office to be re-examined in 22 weeks on June 5th, 2019 (not nice!)
Nevertheless, on Mar 14th (183 days after receipt), I had a "Ghost" update on MyCIC/GCKey account, and noticed a change on eCAS from "In Process" to "Decision Made" on both sides on Mar 20th. There was also an update on MyCIC/GCKey a few hours later stating that my review of eligibility has been started and eCAS status had an extra line added stating that they've started processing my application on Mar 19th, 2019.
Subsequently, my husband received his SA letter on Mar 23rd and I received my AIP and DM letters on Mar 29th, 6 months and 17 days after receipt.
Unfortunately, my local immigrations office, Vancouver, happened to be the busiest in the country and had some backlogs. So I had to wait 65 days since DM on eCAS and 56 days since my DM letter (email) to receive my Landing Invitation while other applicants from different areas were getting theirs on the same day of DM or a few days after (not to mention that some of the applicants who reside in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were even asked to present themselves
without any appointment to their local immigrations offices).
As my OWP application re-examination was due on June 5, I was expecting to get an update but had nothing so I assumed it was just one of their administrative errors (not complaining
).
On June 6th (13 days after the Landing Invitation and 267 days = 8 months and 25 days after the initial application receipt), I became a Permanent Resident of Canada. YAAAY!!!! My appointment was set at 10AM but my husband and I showed up at 9:50AM, 10 minutes before the scheduled time.
There were 22 people waiting in the sitting area already, including
@rabidjess (I think
) who had an appointment at 9:30AM. 5 of them were sitting together as a family who I assumed to be refugee claimants, 5 couples, 4 singles and a family of 3.
@rabidjess went in at 10:15AM. There were 4 booths but only 2 of them were operating (number 2 and 4). While
@rabidjess was doing their interview, we spoke to one of the commissioners who was very friendly and nice. He said the office was working overtime on every other Saturday to keep up with the demand of over 3000 applicants' backlog with the majority being refugee claimants and the number was increasing nevertheless. He also said that there were 2 officers and 1 "pick up" officer working at the time but the 2nd officer (an East Indian or Persian descendant female) didn't interview anyone during our time and locked her casket at 10:20PM.
We were hoping to get the same Asian officer in booth number 2 who interviewed
@rabidjess as he sounded very friendly; however, at 10:45AM, we were called in at booth number 4 by a different officer. His accent sounded Eastern European. He was very slow and thorough with the previous applicants so we assumed the same; however, he was surprisingly friendly and fast with us. He verbally declared my Permanent Residency as soon as we reached the counter, which we found very interesting. He then asked the 4 mandatory questions:
- If I have any criminal history in the world.
- If I've ever been denied entry or refused a visa to Canada.
- If I have an undeclared dependent.
- If I am travelling outside the country in the next few weeks (8 I think).
He printed my CoPR and had me write my initials behind the 4 questions (next to his initials) and congratulated us. We shook hands and were done in 10 minutes. When we came out, we texted and called all of our friends and family, and thanked them for their support.
We, then, went to Service Canada at Sinclair Centre to have my SIN number updated, and had a coffee and a doughnut at Tim Hortons to celebrate (we never liked Tim Hortons much but did it just to make it official LOL).
Also just so you guys know that my MyCIC/GCKey account was updated right away to "Final Decision has been made and the application was approved". And I was able to link my PR Card on MyCIC/GCKey right away using my UCI number and Family Name. And today at 11AM, I received a "Ghost" update and email on the PR Card application status. Now it is a PARTY TIME!!!
Oh BTW, I ended up submitting a cancellation request and a refund on my OWP yesterday but haven't heard back from them yet.
