Thank you for sharing your detailed experience. Did you also apply at the Ottawa Embassy? When did you apply?
For me, it took 11 days to get the request for the Itinerary. If this is a common request shouldn't it be part of the e-Visa system? I prepared a document and send it same day. It has been 4 days since then and I have not heard anything. I have not received any confirmation email that they successfully received the document and the e-Visa system status has not updated. Is this typical? If they take 11 days after every request I will likely be unsuccessful.
When I applied the recommended application time was "up to 15 days". That page was updated in the meantime to state "visa approval takes up to 20 business days once complete application with all supporting documents have been submitted."
So really this effectively means you need to apply 2 months in advance to be safe:
- 20 business days = 1 month with weekends
- If they take 11 days to review each document then that is another week for the initial review and 1 week to review each additional document.
Were you ever able to reach a person or leave a message when you called? I wrote to them asking for clarification regarding one of the the e-Visa system requests when I started the application on September 11th and they never answered.
Thanks, have you had a successful result using this new system? I started the process 6 weeks ago but I fear even this may not be enough time. I have held several METV's in the past also issued from Toronto and I have never had to provide the employee documentation that @BritTim mentioned let alone bank statements, residency permits etc. It was a simple one page application, it took 3-5 days max.
Also, they used to be prompt at answering email questions within a day or two. This new system is much more burdensome as I have had to research the meaning of the different requests and error messages the system generates, restart twice as the system deleted my application and work on gathering the documents with no official guidance available.