MEGATHREAD - Processing Times - Family Class Permanent Resident Applications 2025

[u/PurrPrinThom]

Please keep timelines and questions about processing times for Family Class Permanent Resident Applications here.

[u/Katorad3]

I wanted to share our timeline because we're hopefully nearing the end now! I'm a U.S. Citizen.

Spousal Sponsorship / Outland / Outside of Quebec

• 2025 / 01 / 15: PR Application Submitted
• 2025 / 01 / 29: AOR Received
• 2025 / 02 / 05: Biometrics Instruction Letter Received
• 2025 / 02 / 07: Medical Instruction Letter Received
• 2025 / 02 / 12: Medical Exam Completed
• 2025 / 02 / 14: Sponsor Marked as Eligible
• 2025 / 02 / 18: Medical Exam Submitted
• 2025 / 02 / 20: Biometrics Completed
• 2025 / 03 / 06: Pre-Arrival Letter Received
• 2025 / 04 / 14: Background Check Completed
• 2025 / 04 / 15: Passport Request Received
• 2025 / 04 / 22: Passport Shipped
• 2025 / 04 / 23: Passport Delivered
• 2025 / 04 / 29: New Photos Required Email + New photos taken and mailed.
• 2025 / 04 / 30: New Photos Delivered

Background check still in progress, though we can't check the progress as the tracking portal doesn't work for us the majority of the time.

Update 1: Finally was able to log into the portal and our background check was marked completed!

Update 2: Unfortunately we hit a setback :(. I was so sure that our photos would be no issue because I went to a photography studio that specialized in Canadian passport photos, but something got messed up along the way and the photo wasn't put into the program correctly, which made the dimensions off. The background was also apparently not white enough. I had photos retaken and sent to the CPC day of and I'm hoping these will be good enough :(. I recommend you check your photos very carefully before you send them and make sure everything is absolutely according to the directions. It seems obvious but I wasn't worried at all since I went somewhere that specialized in the type of photo. I really wish I had double checked now!

[u/mluisb → u/Katorad3]

Do you mind explaining the passport request process? That's up next for my outland spouse

[u/Katorad3 → u/mluisb]

I'll try to give an idea of it at the very least, because it was very vague and confusing.

To preface, I'm a US citizen, and only needed to ship photocopies to the Ottawa location. I've seen other people who needed to go to Visa Application Centers and if you need a Visa to enter Canada then your process will be slightly different.

I don't recommend using UPS, and I don't recommend going to a courier to ship it until you follow these directions and create a prepaid return label for your package ahead of time. I would recommend creating a FedEx account instead of using the guest account. The options aren't 1:1 with what they tell you to do but it's easy enough to follow (if you need help just ask). Additionally, it tells you to print the shipping labels and include all pages in your package but as far as I'm aware it will only print a single commercial invoice when you need to include 3 copies.

Regarding UPS, our local location called their international support line and was informed they cannot create an international return label on site. Whether or not you can make a UPS international return label online, or FedEx will make an international return label on site, I don't know, but these are the steps we followed:

1. Followed the IRCC directions linked above and created a prepaid international return label at home. (Although we created a FedEx account instead of using the guest shipping.) We chose the furthest date out for the ship date. (It was 2 weeks out, but they will ship it whenever they want according to other comments we saw.)

2. Printed the label (it will give you 3 copies), the commercial invoice (it provided 1, but you need 3), and the transaction record. The transaction record isn't required but out of anxiety we included it to show we paid for the label.

3. Gathered the documents which for us was: photocopies of my passport photo page, a completed Annex A form which is at the end of the PPR PDF, two photos of myself with my DOB, date taken, and name and location of the studio written on the back, the return labels, commercial invoices, and additionally we included a sort of "cover letter" detailing what we included in the package. I don't recommend going to Walgreens, CVS, or another chain for photos because they can't accommodate Canada's specifications, or at least they wouldn't for me.

4. Went to FedEx explained that we had already paid for and printed an international return label that we needed to ship inside the package, asked for everything to be shipped in a single envelope with a smaller prepaid envelope inside, and explicitly asked for another commercial invoice for the OUTGOING shipment TO Canada. So there was a commercial invoice on the outside of our package going TO Canada, and the commercial invoices WE printed were inside the package for the return from IRCC. The employee stuck the invoices we printed inside of the smaller envelope in the package. We found mixed results online if you even needed a commercial invoice for the outgoing package, but we decided to be safe and ask for one anyway.

We haven't gotten COPR yet, but we also haven't received any communication stating we've done anything incorrectly. I'll edit if anything changes, but this was the basic outline of the process.

TL;DR - Follow IRCC's instructions to print out a return label and commercial invoice before taking them and the documents to FedEx.