Family Sponsorship Application - HELP

[moushami]

Hi,

I am a Canadian Citizen and I applied for my husband's sponsorship application last year in September 2015. My husband resides in United States, however, he has a Nepalese Citizenship. So does this mean my Visa application might have gone to Delhi since we don't have a Canadian embassy in Nepal? Also I saw the message on cic website on Sep 12, 2016 that "Decision has been made" but I haven't received anything from them yet. Should I be worried? I do have a lawyer but I feel like I know more about this topic than him. Will cic contact my lawyer or will they contact me? How long do they take to contact after Decision Made? And more importantly, who will they contact, my husband or my lawyer?

 

[Riley Haas]

So does this mean my Visa application might have gone to Delhi since we don't have a Canadian embassy in Nepal?

It goes to whatever visa office is responsible for Nepal, which is probably Delhi. However, if he's permanent resident of the US, and has lived there for a while, it might have gone to Ottawa.

Also I saw the message on cic website on Sep 12, 2016 that "Decision has been made" but I haven't received anything from them yet. Should I be worried?

Is this a decision on your sponsoring him or on the entire application? What I mean to say is, did he have his interview yet?

Will cic contact my lawyer or will they contact me? How long do they take to contact after Decision Made? And more importantly, who will they contact, my husband or my lawyer?

You can get some idea of how long the process takes from this crowd sourced spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nQFdDeeLRGrdl_DzlAumwv6nyz-oprHo5rU1bGdDdqs/
They're supposed to contact the representative if you submitted a Use of Representative form, but they don't always. We regularly see mail sent to clients when it was supposed to be sent to us (and vice versa, actually).

Hope this helps.

 

[moushami]

Thank you so much for a quick reply Riley.

He is not a permanent resident of US. He currently has a TPS status which he received it last year after the earthquake in Nepal.

I saw that message "Decision made" after a year of submitting the application so I believe it's for the entire application and not for a sponsorship approval(because that usually takes 2-3 months to approve me a sponsor). And no he hasn't been contacted for an interview. Actually, we haven't been contacted by them at all. I was just wondering how long does it usually takes for them to contact us after that Decision made status. I have read in few forums that they usually contact within 1-2 weeks. I saw the message on Sep 12, 2016 and its Sep 28th today so almost 3 weeks.

 

[Riley Haas]

I'm sorry to say I don't know if that means Ottawa or Delhi. Let me ask one of our consultants.

Will your lawyer charge you if you call to ask them what's up?

 

[moushami]

No problem Riley!

I have asked my lawyer but he never gives me a clear answer. He doesn't know about the decision. Actually, him and I, we both are waiting to hear from Delhi regarding the decision. I was so hopeful to get the passport request letter by this week. Hopefully we get it by next week.

 

[Riley Haas]

Have either of you called IRCC? (1-888-242-2100, by the way)

 

[Riley Haas]

So, the consultant tells me that it depends upon whether your husband was admitted for one year of more. If he was admitted for one year or more (I'm assuming he was) then it's supposed to be processed in Ottawa. However, it's at the discretion of IRCC. If, for some reason, they felt the application would be better reviewed by the Delhi office, it may have gone there instead.

 

[moushami]

Makes sense about the application going to Delhi. My husband has been living in states for about 7 years now and his visa expired about 2 years ago which is why he had applied for TPS.

And yes we have tried contacting IRCC but for any outland application, they do not provide us with any information. They ask us to contact them only if the processing time has passed which in our case hasn't. Also, am guessing I have to check the processing time of Nepal (and not of United states) which is 14 months, and its been only 12 months for us.

So I guess I just have to wait for them to contact us.

 

[Riley Haas]

Yeah, sorry. You have to wait.

 

[moushami]

thanks for your help!

By the way, I am so confused as to which country I need to check to know the processing time for my application? Is it Canada since its ask for ?where are you applying from?? Or is it Nepal or India??? Although my husband lives in States, he has a Nepali citizenship, which is why am guessing our application went to Delhi-India. And when I checked the processing time for visa office in India, its about 18 months. So is this the time, I should be looking at? Which country do I need to pick to check the time? Sorry! I know its a dumb question!

And I still haven't heard from them, Should I be worried now? Its been almost 4 weeks after decision made status. Even my lawyer hasn't received anything yet.

How long they usually take to contact us after DM status?

 

[Riley Haas]

Is this when you log in? Or at this page http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/ ? If the latter, then you want to select "Sponsoring a Family Member" > "Spouse or Common Law Partner Living Outside of Canada" and then either Nepal or USA. And I really don't know which, given that I'm not sure whether or not he falls under one or the other.

That spreadsheet I shared with you earlier is the from the only place I know of which tracks processing times on stuff like this, so maybe have a look at that see to see if that seems to be normal.

 

[moushami]

Yeah, this is the page I was using to check processing time. And I always get confused which to pick because its says "Where are you applying from" and his application actually went to India since my he is a Nepali citizen(and we don't have a Candian embassy in Nepal so all of the application for Canada from Nepal usually goes to Delhi) but then he resides in States. I have been actually checking the time for both USA(15 months) and Nepal(14 months), which has now almost passed. That's why, when I saw the DM status, I thought it was for the entire application and not just for the step 1 , which is assessing my eligibility as a sponsor. I thought they usually ask for passport within 2-3 weeks of DM. The reason why I wanted to know the correct processing time is so that I contact them . As you might know, they won't respond unless the normal processing time for my application has passed. So I cant even call them, will be of no help.

 

[Riley Haas]

When the processing time is over for Nepal, you should call them and if they say it's at the office for the US, feign ignorance.

 

[moushami]

Thanks so much!

The processing time for Nepal has passed already which was 12 months. I will wait till next week(will be 13 months total) then I will fill in the web form. I have been trying to call IRCC for past 3 days now but have had no luck, they hung up due to higher call volume. Oh well...what can we do right beside waiting....

 

[Riley Haas]

Yes, unfortunately they have a big problem with call volumes and the system just cuts you off. It can be quite annoying.