I have submitted the outland application. Just waiting to hear back from them. Sponsorship has been approved. Waiting for New York office to process the next step. I am visiting my wife on December 24th for christmas. I am flying from Seattle into Kelowna. My concern is that if they request my passport, will I have enough time to get it to them and back. And more importantly, if i get it back, will I be able to land in Kelowna? I will be flying so not sure how that will go for landing. Anyone have any thoughts?
Michael
msobilo Wrote:I have submitted the outland application. Just waiting to hear back from them. Sponsorship has been approved. Waiting for New York office to process the next step. I am visiting my wife on December 24th for christmas. I am flying from Seattle into Kelowna. My concern is that if they request my passport, will I have enough time to get it to them and back. And more importantly, if i get it back, will I be able to land in Kelowna? I will be flying so not sure how that will go for landing. Anyone have any thoughts?
Michael
Hello, been there on that trip before (Seattle to Kelowna - not in that situation though) :) According to the CBSA site there is no immigration services there. You can land at Osoyoos (around 75 miles away) from 8 am til midnight 7 days a week (nearest to Kelowna, but it's a land border. Vancouver would be the most likely of airports to have immigration services (not sure off the top of my head). If you have a PR app in process though it is better to be accompanied by your spouse through the border. PPR- I've heard 3 to four weeks on the forum it can take to mail it back once they receive it. Our application has begun, we drove from seattle to kelowna, but I'm staying a bit - will be nice to be here for Christmas, are you going back after Christmas?
Well, normally I think they give you a certain amount of time to get your passport back to them after they request it - I don't know how long that is. Probably the most important thing to remember is that your Confirmation of Permanent Residence will have an expiration date that coincides with the date your passport expires, or the one year anniversary of your medical exam (whichever is first). You have to land before the COPR expiration date.
It's really hard to know how to advise you because there's no way to know when you'll actually get a passport request. We don't even know what your timeline is as far as how long Buffalo has had your application in process. The absolutes are that you can't fly into Canada without your passport - AND it takes 3-4 weeks to get it back from Buffalo if it's requested and you mail it to them. So, even if you got a passport request today, you'd probably not be able to count on having it back before Christmas at this point.
If you're coming to Canada for the holidays and you haven't gotten your PPT request before you leave home, have someone check your mail at home every day because the passport request will be time sensitive. Don't know how long you intend to stay - but you could send your passport from Canada, and request that they send it back to you in Canada . . . depending on your travel dates, but I'm afraid everything about your situation is so "iffy" at this point that anything we say is just supposition and not really helpful. Post back if it actually comes to that, when things are more defined as far as time limits, and we can be more helpful.
Ditto.
You do not indicate the sponsor eligibility approval or the AOR date, nor even the date of transfer to NY, but even if you did, there are so many factors that may influence the actual timeline on an individual's app process, particularly ones that have been transferred from Buffalo to another visa office, the best one can predict is, from the date of transfer to NY, that a decision may be made between a few weeks and several months from the date it gets to NY.
In the meantime, yes, the passport request is indeed time sensitive. One can get an extension on it (but not on the PR visa itself). I don't recall, but I think it was at least thirty days and perhaps a bit longer than that. Of course you can and indeed should send it by courier when the time comes, so you only need a few days leeway to get it submitted (time enough for overnight or two day delivery -- but I would never leave it to the last two days, so even if there was four or five days left, I would *overnight* it immediately).
Bottom line:
Foremost: there is not time now to get a passport request, send in passport, and get it back in time for Christmas. That is not going to happen (unless you just happen to receive the passport request today or tomorrow, and even then its too iffy).
So your real concern is the logistics involved if you get a passport request soon, versus whatever that time requirement is for submitting it. You do not say when you are returning to the States. That is the critical time unless you plan to stay for an extended period in Canada and one way or another make sure your mail is forwarded to you. If the latter, which is certainly feasible, just be sure you do indeed get your mail and make appropriate arrangements so you can properly submit the passport when you get your PPR (assuming that is indeed what happens . . . probably, but some cases do go off the rails). If you are returning to the States right after the holidays, you just need to coordinate receiving your mail promptly -- or having someone available to open, read, and convey to you the contents.
If eCas is not showing a "Decision Made" yet, you probably have time to go and return, assuming a return soon after the holidays end (very early January say), but definitely if two weeks from now eCas is not showing a decision made, you have time to go and be back early January.
Actually dpenabill brings up a good point - our eCAS showed "Decision Made" for at least 10 days before we received anything in the mail.
Thanks. My timeline is something like this:
application sent in aug 4
Application approved for sponsorship Aug 31
Forwarded to Buffalo on Aug 31
Forwarded to New York on Sept 17
nothing since. Dont even know if they have my medicals. I sent them in with the original application. Sent all fees too. Was a complete package when it went in. But have heard nothing at all. Have seen people go in after me and already get approved. Know all move at different speeds but its hard to have no idea what is going on. Was hoping that by it going to New York it would be faster. Will be in Canada from Dec 24th through Jan 4th. Just hoping to hear something soon.
Thanks for all the responses.
Did you have any possible "issues" at all?
IE: criminality, dependents (accompanying or not) - did you send in state police certificates?
I know what you mean, have seen people get done before you going the same route (CIC-M -> Buffalo -> NYC) and it seems to go quite quickly - just trying to see if there's anything that might make your case "non-standard"
msobilo Wrote:Thanks. My timeline is something like this:
application sent in aug 4
Application approved for sponsorship Aug 31
Forwarded to Buffalo on Aug 31
Forwarded to New York on Sept 17
nothing since. Dont even know if they have my medicals. I sent them in with the original application. Sent all fees too. Was a complete package when it went in. But have heard nothing at all. Have seen people go in after me and already get approved. Know all move at different speeds but its hard to have no idea what is going on. Was hoping that by it going to New York it would be faster. Will be in Canada from Dec 24th through Jan 4th. Just hoping to hear something soon.
Thanks for all the responses.
I know for me there was nothing in eCas from "in process" until "decision made" with the "medical received" dated the same day as "decision made." So that is no big deal.
But you are right, if all is in order, you very easily could be getting a decision any day now. But even if the passport request goes out tomorrow, you should be able to send it, upon arriving back in the states Jan 4th, in by courier for them to receive it timely -- might be close if the decision is made this week, but I'm pretty sure you have at least a month to send it in and maybe more like 45 days . . . no time to dig out my records to see.
Otherwise it is simply time to be patient. Keep checking eCas.
I thought my case was straight forward. No children for either of us. Sent state and FBI with original app. No history to worry about at all. All clean. Her first marriage. My second but I sent the divorce decree. I would not be able to move there right away anyway, but It would be nice to know SOMETHING. Anything.
I will continue to be patient. :)
And continue to hope for good word.
So that I can do this........
Hey there. I wish I stumbled on your post earlier.
Have you looked into an Enhanced Drivers License? I'm not sure if you'll beable to get that back before you travel to Canada for the 24th, because of processing times, but its an option if you don't have your passport. Although, double check to make sure you can use it for flying. We always drive, so I haven't done my research fully regarding flying.
Good Luck!!
My husbands from Washington state, and it took them about 2 weeks to send the Enhanced Drivers License to him.
Hey Trunky,
The Enhanced Driver's license is not an accepted document for air travel.