Citizenship and Immigration Canada

As most of you guys know, I've had quite a long wait to finally become recognized as a landed immigrant here in Canada. No of course the process is not finished. I'm just waiting and loosing faith in the Canadian immigration system.

For me, CIC seems to be a never ending battle. So here's an update on what Immigration Canada hasn't done. I'm writing this post in hopes that many other countries and people see what is going on with Canada's immigration process.

For many other people who immigrate to other countries, such as Switzerland, being recognized as a landed immigrant takes merely a marriage certificate/ceremony and a few other forms. THAT'S IT! You can get on with your life, find a job and can travel.

This is definitely not the case in Canada. Some 2 years of almost planning our immigration, we are still waiting to see the landing papers. It's not a fun process. I'm wondering if we might make it to our 2 year wedding anniversary before this process is completed!

In fact, there are many horror stories of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) from honest people like myself who is from the US originally. I think the worst, is a 4 year wait time at one of the local immigration offices.

So you can imagine my grief right now as I see more and more people becoming landed immigrants much after the time which I applied. My application was received in Jan 2006!
So why not work on the backlog!!! Backlog people at CIC, backlog!


Can't we just work on making a decision instead of waiting around CIC Vancouver!

A former Washington DC'er who is in the immigration process had a few unique quotes which I totally share in agreement. "The way CIC handled my concern makes it crystal clear that things are not always done in the best interest of the clients to whom they are providing a service for; instead it appears that CIC, at least in this example, does what is in the best interest of themselves."

Which absolutely is leading me to believe this is happening with us. First off, I was denied AIP in September because of a mix up of addresses. Now who in their right minds from people that know us would ASSUMED P and I don't live together???? An immigration officer did when she caught me off guard at work one day not remembering my address... Really remembering 3 addresses can be challenging at times folks! What other mistakes are costing it to take so long?

To make matters worse, I've seen people who applied in Feb, to July already get their landing papers.. What about going in order for your applications? Does the nice guy always have to get screwed? OR better yet, why not concentrate on cases which you know need thorough background checks, so you don't deal with the immigration problems later on? Stop the backlog!

My point is that I've become part of Canadian society, yet I'm still not accepted by CIC. In fact, right now I've had to postpone representing Canada Masters swimming at the US Nationals in Seattle, Washington next month because I can't leave the country. It's said that I can't travel for swimming as a result of a long wait on Citizenship and Immigrations part...

If I actually had an answer why immigration was taking so long to do my background checks, I'd be happier. But a response of yes we are still working on it when CSIS had finished their checks since Jan 2007 and my application was in process since June 2006. Any logical person in a real work environment would be fired for such poor turn around time...

Maybe someone at Citizenship and Immigration Vancouver will read this and see that P and I are actually a genuine couple (married in fact) and that all we want is to have my status changed to landed immigrant. After 1.5 years, is that too much to ask for?

Read this post on The Backlog Problem - Canada Immigration Backlog Not a Priority Despite Statistics Canada Data?

And how Media Attention gets things done - Media Helps to Progress Canadian Immigration Status?

I'm wondering still what has to be done before this situation gets better.