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Tips on applying for landed immigrant status
- The final authority is CIC Canada. Their webpage can be found at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.html
 . They have a phone # at 1(888)242-2100, which is open M-F 8am to 4pm, local time. As a warning, going through their automated system will never result in speaking to a human. If you want to speak to a human, pick English or French, and then dial "0" at any time to speak to a human. This may result in a busy signal, but it's your only hope.
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- Eventually you'll need to get letters of police clearance from every place that you've lived in for 6 months or longer for the last 10 years, as long as you were 18 years old when you lived there. You do not need one from Canada. Exactly when you need to get this done seems to change regularly; currently it's when you submit your application. For people who have lived in the US, theoretically this process holds for both the FBI and each state you've lived in that meets the above qualifications. You can find out some info about how to deal with each state at http://www.geocities.com/canadian_immigration_club/state.html, but call to verify the information is correct. The FBI info can be found at http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/fprequest.htm. * Canadian fingerprints and Canadian fingerprint forms seem to be just fine. The right placeto go to get this done is: International Fingerprinting Services Canada: 619 - 470 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1V5. Phone: 604-708-3315 Fax: 604-602-3081 Web: http://www.policecheck.com. This is the fingerprint agent of the Vancouver Police Department. The Vancouver Police info on this is at http://vancouver.ca/police/clearances/index.htm. They list an additional option for fingerprinting, but recommended the above service as having shorter lines. Don't bother just going to the RCMP nearest you, they won't help you.
- Corrections: You no longer need to get cleared state by state, they changed the rules before 2005 so you now just need a single federal clearance from the FBI. For people who need US clearance, the answer in 2005 was that you do not submit it with the application, they later send you the forms for both the fingerprinting and the medical exam. And the people at IFS told me that I did need to send a form to the RCMP too. I was very happy with IFS, no waiting at all and great service. (Tamara, 2/22/06 - landed as of four days ago!)
- You can probably have the process sped up by using the BC Provincial Nomination process. More information about it is at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/skilled/provnom/index.html. The folks at Faculty Relations can help. Anyone else know more about this? I heard the person who replaced Jennifer Cox is now in charge, but I don't know who that is.
- informationaboutpermanentresidenceapplicationsandthebcprovincialnomineeprogram.doc: Information from the faculty association on applying for Landed Immigrant status
- There's a somewhat confusing end game: you eventually get documents in the mail telling you to send your passport off to get the immigration visa put into it. If you send by courier both ways, you'll get it back in a few weeks. During this time it's more difficult to leave the country, of course. After you get your passport back, the next time you enter the country you will go through Immigration Canada and get yourself officially landed. It's quick if there's no lineup, the whole process only took under 30 minutes. The confusing part is whether you can leave the country between that time and when your permanent resident card arrives in the mail. The web site implies that you cannot. In fact, I was told that it's almost certainly fine to leave and return - Immigration Canada doesn't care, it's just that the airlines may theoretically balk at letting you on, but apparently that's highly unlikely to happen in practice.
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- Faculty Relations has a handy website about immigration: http://www.hr.ubc.ca/faculty_relations/immigration/permanentresidents.html.
- There are three likely scenarios for which you're likely to apply. In each of these three scenarios, your procedure may vary slightly, and they change the rules fairly often, so do call the folks at CIC if you're confused.
- Eventually you'll need to get letters of police clearance from every place that you've lived in for 6 months or longer for the last 10 years, as long as you were 18 years old when you lived there.
- To get your clearance, you'll need to be fingerprinted. The right place to go to get this done is: International Fingerprinting Services Canada (IFS) : 619 - 470 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1V5. Phone: 604-708-3315 Fax: 604-602-3081 Web: http://www.policecheck.com. This is the fingerprint agent of the Vancouver Police Department. The Vancouver Police info on this is at http://vancouver.ca/police/clearances/index.htm. They list an additional option for fingerprinting, but recommended the above service as having shorter lines. Don't bother just going to the RCMP nearest you, they won't help you.
- You may not need one from Canada - but either talk to the folks at CIC or ask the folks at IFS - they're pretty up to date. Exactly when you need to get this done seems to change regularly and depending on what class you're applying under.
- For everywhere other than the USA, you should submit this at application time
- For the USA:
- Submit whenever you submit your medical records. Anecdotally, those applying for family class were told to do this at application time, and those in other classes were told to do so later, but your mileage may vary.
- you will need finger prints from the FBI. Information on the FBI process can be found at http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/fprequest.htm. The FBI is perfectly happy with the forms given to you by IFS, so don't worry about getting a US form.
- Currently they are not requiring clearance from each state that you've lived in (that met the above criteria), but if they change their minds, you can get some help about the state process at http://www.geocities.com/canadian_immigration_club/state.html, but call to verify the information is correct.
- There are two likely end games:
- The more common, somewhat confusing end game: you eventually get documents in the mail telling you to send your passport off to get the immigration visa put into it. If you send by courier both ways, you'll get it back in a few weeks. During this time it's more difficult to leave the country, of course. After you get your passport back, the next time you enter the country you will go through Immigration Canada and get yourself officially landed. It's quick if there's no lineup, the whole process only took under 30 minutes. The confusing part is whether you can leave the country between that time and when your permanent resident card arrives in the mail. The web site implies that you cannot. In fact, I was told that it's almost certainly fine to leave and return - Immigration Canada doesn't care, it's just that the airlines may theoretically balk at letting you on, but apparently that's highly unlikely to happen in practice.
- You have to do an interview. They'll send you a letter telling you when and where to appear about 2 weeks ahead of time. It is possible to get this rescheduled, but you have to communicate with the local office by fax (the number will be on your letter), and they're very bad at getting back to you. If you do this, call the main CIC number as well, and they'll put a note on your file.
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by="rap" date="1113172302" from="Faculty.ImmigrationTips" to="Faculty.LandedImmigrantTips" |
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