Landed!

My day trip to Burlington finished successfully - I landed at the St-Armand border post at around 2pm on February 12th. It was a breeze, took about 15 minutes, nothing special to report about. I even managed to get a SIN later during the day. On Monday, I should be able to apply for a carte soleil (health insurance card) and will probably get it around May 1st. The immigration officer at the border told me that I will be getting the PR card in about 3 weeks.

All in all, from the first letter to get a CSQ to the landing procedure, it took exactly 8 months. It could have been 7 months in all if they didn't suddenly require a new document (proof that I passed my PhD qualifying exam) in order to give me a CSQ and maybe even 6 months if I had all the police certificates right after I got my CSQ. In any case, I cannot complain, as it was much faster than I had expected.

In any case, the journey is now over! Btw, today my eCas was updated: "You entered Canada at the Saint-Armand office on February 12, 2009 and became a Permanent Resident."

Passport, CORP and visa received!

Yey, the voyage is almost over! Fedex delivered the envelope containing and passport+visa and the Confirmation of Permanent Residence. The visa's all shiny and new, albeit a bit crooked :)

The COPR is an official document which I will have to sign in the presence of an immigration officer when doing the landing. I plan on landing in Philipsburg / Highgate Springs, on the way back from a sightseeing tour of Burlington (VT). Tomorrow :)

The wait is almost over!

eCas updated

Two new lines have appeared on my eCas:

Medical results have been received.
A decision has been made on your application. The office will contact you concerning this decision.

The first one is usually there once the PPR is ready and the second one is supposedly there once the visa itself is issued (i.e. once the case is finalized). No sign of the return Fedex envelope.

PS: Btw, I had written a small script in Python/twill that would log itself automatically to eCas once every 30 minutes (at 10 past and 40 past) to check what's written in the eCas file. The update happened between 6:40am and 7:10am today (Monday, February 9th). So Mondays at 7am seems like a good candidate for when eCas updates itself!

How long does it take to get the passport back?

According to the reply to my email inquiry: "Once a passport is received, a visa will be issued in 2 to 3 days, and the passport mailed out within 4 to 5 days later".

My passport's been there for 2 business days, so I'm still waiting. Fedex tracking shows no sign of the return envelope being posted so I guess they're still printing that visa :)

Passport Fedexed

Barring weather delays, it should be there by 10:30am tomorrow. (January 30th). It's impossible to know how long it will take Detroit to stamp the visa, but hopefully not more than 10 days (which is what it takes if you go there and leave the passport, even though it seems that a lot of people have done it in just one day).

I included a return envelope as well, with Fedex and my account number on it (including a completed airway bill that has my address and phone number if the From and To fields). The waiting game still continues, but I suppose it's not that bad anymore.

EDIT (January 30): Passports were received by the reception at 9:31am today.

Passport and Photos Request!

The journey is almost over - I just got the Passport and Photos Request (PPR) today! Dated January 21st, it says that my visa is ready for issuance. I need to get a $490 money order, couple of photos and send the envelope ASAP to Detroit (all can be done in one morning, thankfully).

Figuring out how to get the envelope via Fedex is a bit too much trouble. I think I'll just let Canada Post deliver my passport. Mail seems to have about 6-7 days to come from Detroit, it's not really as bad as they make it sound. Hopefully my passport won't be lost anywhere :)

CAIPS notes, revisited

So I got the second part of the CAIPS notes today and it doesn't say anything interesting in there. The reason is probably because they are dated January 5, the date at which the Montreal office processed my query. However, somewhere in there it does say:

RCMP NAME CHK SENT
RCVD: RESULTS RCMP NAME CHK - NR/SUBJ

As far as I can say, they checked the RCMP database for anyone that matched my name and got a result saying "NR/SUBJ". Presumably this means "no record / negative result on subject", but I can't know for sure. If that is the case, it probably means that they won't need a fingerprint check on me.

They also acknowledge the fact that I did my medicals upfront, but don't contain the actual medical results (cause by that time they had not received them; they confirmed it receipt by email though). Also, the BFD date is still 19.12.2008 and that has to have changed since my file has been transferred since then.

In any case, in a few days from now I should receive the Initial Assessment letter from Detroit. I'm basing this on the totally unfounded generalization - that one guy one some forum, who got his transfer letter a week before me (and who applied a week before me to Buffalo), got the IA letter on the 21st of January. Maybe I'll get a nice gift in the mail on Wednesday (my birthday :) ).