PR Card Issue

Hi All,

Hi,

This is not in answer to the original post, but it is related to the subject, so I thought I'd try to avoid the endless proliferation of new topics for related questions.

Has anyone had any experiences with delayed delivery of a renewed PR card?
My application for renewal was approved 6 weeks ago. CIC website and call center says that cards will be delivered (or available for pick up) within 4 weeks.

I've gotten no word. Last week I contacted the Call Centre. They said they'd send an inquiry but they couldn't tell me if a notice had been sent to me (and lost or delayed in the mail).

Let me know if any others have experienced similar situations. I know it's probably just a hiccup, but of course, unexplained delays are concerning.

eileen wrote: Has anyone had any experiences with delayed delivery of a renewed PR card? My application for renewal was approved 6 weeks ago. CIC website and call center says that cards will be delivered (or available for pick up) within 4 weeks. I've gotten no word. Last week I contacted the Call Centre. They said they'd send an inquiry but they couldn't tell me if a notice had been sent to me (and lost or delayed in the mail).

Foremost, as best I understand things, there is NO cause for concern, not as yet anyway (and, actually, worst case scenario is having to visit the local office, present some documents such as ID and passport, answer a few perfunctory questions, and then given your new PR card -- techncially you could be referred for a residency examination but that would be extremely unlikely unless there is overt evidence you have made misrepresentations as to presence).

Unfortunately we do not have a lot of reports about the process involved in renewing PR cards, and the current process, pursuant to which the card is routinely mailed to most PRs, is actually a fairly recent change (time flies and I do not recall specifically, but no more than a year and a half or so ago all PRs had to go to the local office to obtain the PR card in person, after being notified that it was available).

The experience reported by canuck25 is similar to experiences reported by others. Also see, if you can find them, posts incuding reports of personal experience by jogruni.

I think the information you have simply reflects that Sydney has approved the issuance of the new PR card. The new card has to be physically issued as well, and that will ordinarily be mailed directly to you, but it may be mailed (referred, transferred) to the local office.

The few reports we have had here have indicated that it is not uncommon for PRs to see a status in eCas, or be told something by a call centre representative, indicating they would have to pick up the card from the local office, only to next get the PR card in the mail, not a notice to pick it up. So, there is no reason to worry as yet.

Additionally, because CIC's mailing practices are less than optimal, it is not uncommon for GCMS to reflect that something has been mailed when actually it is still just in a queue to be mailed. But, the information you have does not even yet indicate it has been mailed; there may be some additional delay involved between the date of issuance and the date of mailing, and again, the "date of mailing" may reflect the date the item goes into a queue to be mailed and the actually mailing will follow, and the time involved in this tends to be longer than what most would expect.

Frustrating: yes.

Of course I do not really know, but my sense is that when the call centre says that the card will be "delivered" that is likely to mean the date it will be mailed as opposed to actually delivered, which again is probably the date it is queued to be mailed, actual date of entering the mail system to follow. Moreover, as many have seen, such timelines indicated by CIC are often understated estimates.

If the card is not mailed to you directly, while it technically should be physically in the local office not much longer than the time they state, the few reports we have seen about this suggest that it will not be available for you to pick-up that soon. Even if you have to go to the local office to pick it up in person, that should not be a big deal. It would not surprise me that PRs who happen to also have a citizenship application in process are randomly selected to have to appear in person to pick up new PR cards, just as a quality control measure.


One caveat/caution:

PR cards are not mailed to any address other than the PR's residential address. CIC does look for indications that an address being used is that of a third party (including, for example, family or friend, or representatives authorized or not) and not the PR's actual residential address. PR cards will not be mailed to a P.O. Box.

For more information in this regard, see the various operational bulletins issued this year and last:

-- Operational Bulletin 536 – July 30, 2013
-- Operational Bulletin 491 - January 14, 2013
-- Operational Bulletin 412 - April 27, 2012

Update: I received a letter from CIC yesterday telling me to report in person to CIC on Nov. 26 in order to receive my PR card.
Timeline:
Applied: 26 July
Decision made: 4 Oct
Called CIC (inquired about status of my card since ecas states that cards or letters will be sent within 4 weeks of decision being made): 8 Nov
Letter sent: 15 Nov
Appt at CIC: 26 Nov