To CAIPS or not to CAIPS

From CAIPS FileCheck:

"What is CAIPS?

CAIPS is short for 'Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System'. It is the computer system used by Citizenship & Immigration Canada to process visa applications, and holds all the information on the current status of every immigration application being processed by overseas offices (i.e. those outside of Canada).

Why is this interesting?

If you are not applying for a Canadian visa, then caips notes are of no interest to you! If you have applied to emigrate to Canada with a PR visa - as a skilled worker, business applicant/investor or as a spouse or other family member of someone already in Canada - then, with our help, you can obtain a copy of your CAIPS report and find out what has happened to your application so far, and get an indication of what will happen next with your file, and when. For more detailed information on what is in CAIPSnotes, see our sample CAIPSfiles. The system also holds information on work permits, study permits and visitor visas, and we can also apply for these reports on your behalf

Should I get my file?

There are many situations where you may want to get your CAIPS file. If you have been asked to attend an interview, then you should definitely get your notes to find out why the interview was requested, so that you can be well prepared for the interview. Any reputable immigration consultant would request the client's notes in this circumstance.

Also, if you feel that your application is taking longer than usual, or you have not heard anything from the visa office for a surprisingly long time, then you should consider getting your CAIPS notes to check that your application is on track. We have often tracked unexplained delays down to missing letters or documents which have been highlighted as soon as the file is obtained. For example, CIC may have written to an applicant requesting additional references, educational transcripts or language tests.

Finally if you have any other worry about your application status or progress, or are just generally curious as to what has happened so far, then you can get your CAIPSnotes to put your mind at rest."

Very tempting...prices are tiered according to level of desperation and correlated to ability to decipher a print-out from an "old fashioned terminal based program...not designed for reading on paper."

Last out of the gate...and yet

I have held off from starting a blog for so long, I'm almost blushing. I'm a late adopter to start with, and on top of that the kind who babbles on and then regrets it all afterwards. And I'll rework a sentence to death.

And yet here I am, a few years after the fact, jumping into the pool. This is more than anything a personal record of our strange adventure, moving home with my Finnish partner after six years abroad. You would think this would be a relatively simple thing. It's not. So I will also post any resources I find along the way that might be of use to anyone reading.

When I moved to Helsinki my fancy new employer handled the paperwork, it cost me nothing (or next to nothing) and it took two months. I figured I'd be here for a year, maybe two. The plan was to hang out and travel around Europe, maybe Asia. Long story short my boyfriend is now my husband, and we're thinking if we want to move back to Canada, it's sort of now or never. I'm getting comfy here in Helsinki, I love my friends, and we have good jobs etc. But Mr. O has always wanted to live in Toronto and I would also love to move back. It's been so long that I can't claim to know it the way I used to, and it will be interesting to see where we end up. I have all kinds of anxieties and at the same time big plans for starting over.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First we have to get there...and this is the reason I started this blog. While our "plan" all along has been to move back, neither of us really realized just what was involved in this - the amount of time, money, and patience. Canada is built on immigration and yet I wonder how many people living there have really experienced the fearsome foe that is the Canadian immigration bureaucracy. One look at the maze of vagaries on the CIC website is enough to discourage many potential new Canadians, I'm sure. Not to rag on public servants - it's obvious the system is overloaded - but the site is light on the kind of details that a good immigration lawyer will tell you for free. Our little case file (now just a zygote, really) will be one of many and relatively straightforward, no refugee claims or extended family members to consider. And yet we're looking at 9 months before Mr. O gets his permanent residence via in-country family class spousal sponsorship. Did I say daunting?