Canada Visa

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone whose passport reached on the 29th of Nov has heard back from NYC-VAC ? I have an urgent travel coming up on 14th and I am really worried at this point.

Hi ,

Just wanted to share my experience. I mailed the applications along with VAC Consent Forms,Transmission Fees,Passport Request Letter from IRCC,Prepaid UPS Return Envelope to VAC New York for me and my wife and they were delivered on 13th Nov. Then on 28th Nov i got 2 emails--

1st Email-- VFS Global- Requested Additional Details, in which the tracking id number was there but upon checking the tracking id on there website it showed up as No Records Found.

Then immediately after sometime on the same day that is 28th Nov. I got another mail for me and my wife that our applications have been dispatched to IRCC for processing with incomplete date as YYYY-11-DD 23:11:SS GMT Standard Time for processing.

But till now that is 10th Dec i haven't got any other update from them. Last week i figured out that by mistake i sent them the Bank Cheque which i realized was not acceptable. So i mailed them 2 Money Orders also. I am really worried now that why the hell they are taking so much of time.
I need someone's guidance on this . As i am really freaking out regarding this.

I can see that people are struggling here like I was.
I have a few tips
1. If you need your passport urgently go to NYC VFS Global office. I had to take an overnight bus(9-10hours) to go there, since I had no other valid ID to travel by flight.
2. Once you reach the office take the token and wait for someone behind the glass window to come out. Tell them your problem. If the listen and help you out then all is good. If they don't tell them you will wait after 5pm and only leave the office with the tracking ID.
3. Once you get the tracking ID you must know that it is useless. You can't track **** with that ID. But generating the ID means your passport has been sent to VAC for stamping.
4. Based on what I read and my experience, it takes 3-4 business days for stamping and then passport is sent back to VFS and then to you.
They are highly under staffed and hence it has become an issue. VFS has pathetic customer service. The people working at the NY VFS office are good and helpful. It is the company VFS that sucks as they cannot transfer more people to NY for help.

If you go to the NY office either take your passport back or take the tracking ID from them. They may ask you to leave the office. Roam in NYC for few hours go back at 430 and do not leave without your passport(not stamped) or tracking ID otherwise the trip is a waste of time.

My timeline.
Iapplied on 6th nov
Passport request 15 nov
Passport delivered 19 nov
Went there on 28 nov
Got passport back within 1 week.

Hi - I had quite an ordeal with the application process that I thought I'd share.

November 27 - My passport reached NY VAC
November 30 - contacted via Chat and was told to just wait. I was worried and found this forum. Some people said their package was only unpacked 15 days later when they showed up to VAC in person. My business trip to Canada was scheduled for Dec 6 but more importantly I am traveling home on December 12.
December 3 - flew from Indianapolis to New York to check on the status of my case.
    - Got there at 7:30, 1 hour before they open. I was one of the first ones there but people started to show up. By 10am, there must be around 100 people, most of whom wanted to check on their passport status. Many of them traveled great distances to get to NY.

    - 8:30am - I filled out the tracking sheet and the officer said I have 3 options, (1) check on my case, which will take 24 hours (2) withdraw and I will get my passport on the same day (3) expedite, will take 8-10 business days to process. I told him I wanted to withdraw

   - 12:30am - A lady came out with my passport since it has not been processed. For some people, they only received a tracking ID because their passport had been process and sent out to Embassy for stamping.

They seemed to be significantly understaffed and overwhelmed. It probably takes 2 weeks to receive a tracking ID and one more week to receive your passport so 3 weeks total.

If you submitted passport in person, it would only take 3 days for it to be ready to pick up at the VAC.

I sent my passports to LA VAC on Dec 3 rd . Today i got the tracking id . when i am try to track the id it is saying no records found. Any one got the same issue . How ong will it take to activate my tracking id.

Looks like they are working today too (maybe because of that news article).
Anyways, my passport reached there on 28th around 2 pm and i just got my tracking ID.
Should I expect more emails within the next few hours?

Finally, my pre-paid envelop has been updated on USPS. Thank god. My passport is coming back :)

I applied for Canada transit visa and sent my passport to VFS office at Los Angeles. The visa application got approved from IRCC and it came back to VFS office on 12/06. On 12/07, I received an email saying:

" Decision envelope has been couriered from the Canada Visa Application Centre, on 2018-12-07 06:09:43 PM GMT Standard Time vide courier partner. To track the status of the shipment, please visit courier partner website."

I didn't provide any courier label with my passport submission envelope. I submitted a fee to get my passport back. Which courier service do VFS use to send my passport back to me ? How many days it generally takes to receive the passport via this courier service ?

I am getting worried as my travel plans are from next weekend (12/15). Please help.

Hello All,

I just received my passport request letter yesterday (Dec 6th) and was asked to send my passport to one of the VAC. I see a lot of posts here regarding the delay in NY location, so I was planning to send it to LA location. I have a flight on Jan 2nd (not to Canada), so I'm a bit doubtful whether I should start my process now, as there is a lot of delay in terms of getting back the passport.

Does anyone have any leads or suggestions regarding the estimated processing times for LA office through mail?

Thanks!

Hello Everyone, my passport was received on nov 26 at 6 pm. and i also got email says "has been dispatched to the IRCC Office, on 2018-12-06 12:05:15 AM GMT Standard Time for processing.Please note this is an auto generated e.mail. Please do NOT reply to this email" and this is the last email i received until now. How long it would take me to receive passport back at my place. I have provided return fedex label. I have flight on 16 dec, 6 am. Thanks