Closing the file on CIC

I shiver with anticipation to finally announce that my case is now closed, complete, and kaput with CIC. I cannot explain the relief this is.

On November 28, 2007, my husband received a check from CIC in the amount of $975.00. While it wasn't the full refund to which I think we are entitled, it is good enough for me. The check being issued to my husband does also corroborate my earlier suspicions that those paper worshiping government employees are not the most literate individuals walking the planet. If they were adept at their positions, they would have noted that the fees were charged under my card and not my husband's, so the fee is actually owing to me. Regardless, it went into the joint checking account in Canada and promptly withdrawn as cash in the U.S. and deposited to our U.S. savings account.

Which left me with the one issue hanging of this Form IMM 5021, Voluntary Departure Confirmation. Since the refund, formerly known as Nemo, was in hand, I had no worries about informing CIC of my current address in the U.S. So, I replied to their demand with the following correspondence.

December 4, 2007

Citizenship & Immigration Canada
ATTN: D.M. Salmon
5343 Dundas Street West
Etobicoke, ON M9B 6K5

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am in receipt of your letter dated November 16, 2007 requesting me to complete Form IMM 5021 (copy attached).

Please be advised that my son and I have moved to the U.S. prior to your request to complete a Voluntary Departure Confirmation. We departed Canada on land route via Sarnia/Port Huron, Michigan on September 24, 2007. I started a new employment position in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A. on October 1, 2007. I am currently in process for sponsoring my husband into the U.S.

I can be reached at: name
address
address
phone

Please let me know if you require additional information.

Sincerely,

signature

While the letter by no means expresses my true feelings and it definitely does not say what I would like it to say, it does the job. I told my husband a few days ago that I have exactly 2 visits to Canada left in my body. The first is to attend his U.S. immigration interview at the U.S. Consulate in Montreal and the other is to fly there to help him drive down for the final move to the U.S. once he is approved. Therefor, telling CIC how I truly feel about their sorry excuse for an agency could no doubt hinder those 2 final visits into Canada.

Farewell CIC! I hope I never ever ever in my life have to deal with you again.

Even more mail from CIC

Wow, those paper worshiping government employees at CIC are now working overtime on my case. Too bad they couldn't have done this, say ummmm, when I actually applied for the immigration 2 years ago. I withdraw the statement as I forgot who I was talking about.

November 16, 2007

Dear Ms. CXXXX & family

This is in reference to your application for permanent residence under the Spouse or common-law partner in-Canada class, received at our Central Processing Centre-Vegreville on 15Feb'2006.

We have received the correspondence dated 19Sep'2007, from yourself and your sponsor, MXXXX CXXXXX, indicating your sponsor's desire to withdraw or cancel the Undertaking he submitted on your behalf. His request is accepted and a copy our letter to him is attached.

I noted that you also have requested withdrawal of your application for permanent residence and indicate that it is your intention to leave Canada. As such, no further action will be taken on your application for permanent residence.

As you are currently in Canada without Immigration status, you are required to verify your departure from Canada. Please submit the attached Voluntary Departure Letter, for yourself and your son, to the Immigration authorities at your port of exit from Canada. Failure to verify your departure could result in you becoming the subject of a report under section 44 of the Immigration Act.

The cost recovery fee of $700 that was paid on this application is non-refundable. The Right of Permanent Residence fee in the amount of $975.00 will be refunded to your sponsor as he was the payee. This process has been refered to our Vegreville office as that office recieved the original payment.

The client number in the upper right corner of this letter is your personal identification number and it provides access to information on your file. For your own protection, do not allow any other person to use this number. If you require any further information, please contact our Call Centre at 1-888-242-2100.

Yours truly,

D.M.Salmon
Immigration Officer
Citizenship & Immigration Canada
5343 Dundas Street West
Etobicoke ON M9B 6K5

cc: my spouse

Where to start with this.... First, the fees were charged on my card, not my husband's. My daily card limit is at $1,800 while my husband's was at $1,000, so we opted to use mine. No matter, we have a joint account and the measly refund will go directly in our savings account to be used on our soon-to-be house.

Secondly, I left Canada in September 2007. Kind of hard now to provide this form they want. I am debating calling the Call Centre and informing them of such, but as is the completely inefficient CIC way, their toll-free number doesn't work outside of Canada and I do not feel like putting one more ounce of money (long distance fees) or time (an hour on hold is fairly average) into this process.

Thirdly, CIC will not issue refunds outside of Canada. So, if I give them my true and correct address in the U.S., I do not get a refund. Go figure this logic out, someone, and get back to me because I just cannot get my mind wrapped around it.

My husband's correspondence is nearly identical to mine with a few minor and unimportant changes so I will not bother with it.

The form they want to me to have completed is an IMM 5021. It just requires me to sign it and for some immigration officer to verify my airline flight number, date and time of departure and location of departure. So, bring on the report under section 44 of the Immigration Act and let us see if these officers can reach me here in the U.S. is what I am thinking now. I certainly won't make any effort to have it completed anytime before the Right of Landing Fee has been deposited and cleared our bank account.

Yippee! More mail from CIC

It appears that the one sure fire way to get a response from CIC, since it isn't by filing an immigration application, is to withdraw an application. I received this letter recently:

16 November 2007

This refers to your request for a refund of fees paid for Right of Permanent Resident Fee.

A refund in the amount of $975.00 has been requested. This refund cheque will be sent to the original payer of the fee who in this case is your sponsor MXXXXX CXXXXX.

The client number shown in the upper right corner of this letter is your personal identification number. This number provides access to information on your file and for your own protection you should not allow any other person to use it. If sending correspondece to Citizenship and Immigration Canada please include your personal identification number. Failure to include this number could result in the return of your correspondence unanswered.

Please note that if another person has paid the fee on your behalf, the reufnd will be issued to that person.

If you require further assistance, please telephone the Citizenship and Immigration Canada Call Centre, toll-free at 1-888-242-2100 and be prepared to quote your client number and your date of birth. General information and application kits may also be obtained throught our Internet Web site at http://www.cic.gc.ca.

Please notificy this office, in writing, or any Citizenship and Immigration Call Centre, by telephone, of any change in your address.

Yours truly,

Officer LWE/CSU
Case Processing Centre
Vegreville, Alberta

Very disappointing, but not unexpected, indeed.

Take your vegemite and shove it.

I still have outstanding issues with CIC, namely Moby. But aside from Moby, let me move forward today's issue. I still frequent a certain message board which I found to be helpful when I was attempting to immigrate to Canada. My husband and son are still there after all, and I still have this outstanding refund. More recently, my husband received courtesy copy of a letter issued by his Member of Parliament, the Honourable Roy Cullen, directed to the Minister of Immigration, requesting improvements to the system and not allow overdrawn cases, such as mine. The MP thoughtfully attached a copy of my withdrawal letter for the Minister to reference. Not to mention, I still remember processes and people ask for help, and occasionally I do have an answer. Nonetheless, there are always those rude individuals who like to think they rule the world from their keyboards on those forums just to make everyone else look bad. Guilt by association may definitely apply here.

Here was my post today: Finally started on U.S. immigration

---

I arrived back in the U.S. late Sept and started work Oct 1. I love being a productive member of society again. I like that I can walk into the SSN office and get a name change on my card and have the card mailed to me in less than 2 weeks. I love knowing that some Immigration ijit on the other end of the phone can't threaten to deport me (but they are still very rude to me at CIC, but that's another story). I love being able to register my car and go to the doctor and the dentist. I love feeling like a 'real' person again.

Just dropping in to let you know that yesterday, I dropped off that paperwork to start my husband's U.S. immigration paperwork. I am doing the happy dance. A time line tracker for U.S. immigration estimates his file should be adjudicated in May 2008. I am trying not to get my hopes up on that part, but that would be awesome.

Hope everyone here is doing ok!

And here was his/her response:

And its all Canada's fault right? They forced you to take the long immigration route didn't they? All you ever do is post negative stuff so why don't you just leave already! And don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!

Sadly, in case the responder hasn't read up, I haven't had too much positive feedback from CIC, which was 99% of any of my topics in my original posts. I haven't found relief in writing letters, seeking assistance from politicians, or any other avenue I had tried. I guess the responder would of been happier if I posted fairy tales and complete fiction, rather that post my own true experiences. But some people are just like that.

My topics and my beliefs, even to this minute, are simple: The Canadian Immigration system is seriously broken. Nothing much will be done about this and for one simple reason: the people most directly effected by these problems cannot vote. But the newspaper coverage is there. There are articles all over the place about the problems with the system. Just within the last few days, this article was published about the scam of Canadian immigration. There are many others, if one cares to do a bit of internet surfing.

Today, I have moved on and do my best to boycott Canadian products. Fortunately, I don't see much with the 'made in Canada' label, so it's not that hard. I do, however, have incredible sympathy for any person, regardless of their origin, attempting to start a new life in Canada. whether it be to reunite a family, a refugee, or a skilled worker.

God be with them.

Nemo was swallowed by Moby

Yes, in my preparations for moving back to the U.S., I have that one last open issue with CIC: Nemo. Since I now am withdrawing my application, Nemo has since met with an unfortunate demise. Nemo was swallowed whole by Moby. Now Moby, is huge compared to poor little Nemo; Moby is $1,600.00 wonderful, Canadian, monopoly colored, dollars. Moby is the entire set of fees that I paid to CIC back in October 2005 (including the $975.00 Right of Landing Fee). I almost feel bad for Nemo, but I have bigger fish to fry (pun very much intended).

I decide that CIC, just like every other person or entity on this planet, does not get to have their cake and eat it too. According to CIC's website, the refund of the overpayment is automatic once the file begins processing; there is no need to request the refund, no forms to fill out, no paper to send the friendly paper worshiping Canadian government employees. Recall, that I have been around this circular logic with the Call Center employees already regarding getting an overpayment refund that is still outstanding. I decide now is the time to put it to paper and post it for all the world to see. Either way, at a minimum, I am obligated to receive the Right of Landing fee of $975 refund, since I will not be landing. To add insult to injury, I was informed by the friendly Call Center employees, that CIC can take up to 1 year to refund the Right of Landing fee. I do not think I have ever come across anyone or anything that thinks it is ok to hold a refund that they don't dispute for 1 year, but whatever.


So, I sit down and pen this letter:

September 18, 2007

Citizenship & Immigration Canada
5343 Dundas Street W
3^rd floor
Etobicoke ON M9B 6K5

RE: Withdrawal of Application & Request for Refund of Fees
Client ID 563XXXXX
my name, DOB: XXMarXXXX
my husband's name, DOB: XXFebXXXX

To Whom It May Concern:

We would like to withdraw our applications for In Canada Application for Permanent Residence. This would also include withdrawal for Spousal Sponsorship application and all other related applications for the primary applicant, spouse, and dependents. The file was originally filed with the CIC Vegreville office on February 11, 2006 and noted as received by Vegreville on February 15, 2006. The file was transferred to your office on November 7, 2006.

Due to the time it has taken for your office to even start processing the file, we have elected not to pursue residency in Canada and have instead decided to move out of country. Additionally, the utter lack of communication from your office regarding this file has made this immigration process frustrating and completely unproductive. I hope, for the benefit of future immigrants, your Ministry can find ways to improve the efficiency of this system.

We also request a full refund of fees (excluding the $75.00 processing fee). Enclosed please find a copy of our receipt of payment of $1,675.00 made October 9, 2005. This refund can be mailed to our current address:

our address
our address

Please note that we have not received the refund of overpayment of the right of landing fees in the amount of $485 to which we became eligible in May 2006, although several requests have been made for that refund. The basis for our full refund request lies with the CIC itself that advised that the $485 overpayment refund is issued automatically when the file begins processing. Obviously, since we have not yet become eligible for the overpayment refund due to the file not being processed, it only stands to reason that as such, we should be eligible for the full refund for the file not being processed.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact either of us at our phone.

Regards,

me

my husband

CC: Citizenship & Immigration Canada
Case Processing Center
6212 55^th Ave
Vegreville, AB T9C 1W5

Office of Hon. Roy Cullen, MP
815 Albion Road

I figure Len at our MP's office might appreciate a copy, so why not?

Moreover, I have a note in my calendar for April 15, 2008. I will start resending this letter on a weekly basis to the parties listed if I have not received a refund by that date. I am sure they will appreciate the regular reminders. I think 6 months is gracious on my part, and occasionally, I can be nice and accommodating (tongue firmly set in cheek).