imported_1248B
23-06-2004, 20:17
On May 20th my gf applied for a Quebec Acceptance Certificate, needed to get a students visa, at the embassy in Quebec. The application said the papers were going to be mailed to the consulate at which the visa was going to be processed and to check at least 4 weeks after the mailing of the application. So, she waited 4 weeks. She called, and the clerk said the QAC had been approved and that the consulate was already notified. She went to the consulate and found out; nothing was said from the Quebec Offices.
Paid a cool 100 C$ for it....
And now it is June the 23rd...
Let's see what happened, shall we? :)
June the 21:
Gf calls Quebec Embassy: Has my QAC been approved?
Cleric #1: Yes, and that the consulate is already notified. In fact we send the paperwork directly to the LA Consulate.
She next went to the consulate only to discover that the consulate had not received anything.
Next day...
Cleric #2: No, we DON'T notify or mail anything to the Consulate. We only send it to the applicants' home address. And we mailed your papers on May the 27th.
The next day she decided to call again to request the papers to be sent again.
Cleric #3: But we already mailed it. We mailed it on June the 1st.
The request to fax or send it to the consulate was denied "We don't do that!” This, I find, most peculiarly irrational, because they would end up with that certificate anyways.
Thing is that the application is only valid for 30 days. And at this rate this means that thanks to Canadian incompetence it is virtually impossible to get a visa...
BUT WAIT!!! THERE'S MORE!!!!!....
In October I applied to McGill University in Montreal. Send all the requested manuscripts way before the deadline. After a few months they still had not been registered as accounted for on the online application site. So I call.
Turns out that no transcripts ever arrived... riiiiiiiiight!! Why not just admit that they lost or tossed them?
When I applied online I had to fill in my names, no biggie you'd say, right? Not in Canada though. You see, I have a very long first name and the application won't accept that many characters, nor will it accept just the initials. So I was left with no alternative but to use the name that I use in my daily life. When I called McGill and they heard that I hadn't filled in my complete name I got a bitchy "Well, how can you expect us to know that is you?" And when I pointed out that I couldn't fill in my complete name because the system won't accept that many characters, did she apologize? No sireeeee.
Next I asked if maybe they could change the name online for me. I was reassured they could. "Just fax us a copy of your passport and McGill ID." You guessed it!! I faxed the requested stuff three times. To no effect. That’s right, the name appears unchanged to this very day.
In short, I send all the transcripts 4 times, some even 5 times.
But... then one day I check the status of my application online, and to my utter surprise and profound happiness I see that all the requested transcripts are registered as received :)
Next day however I see that what had been registered as received the day before is suddenly registered as unaccounted for.... Not only that, but they had added an additional request to the list. And cancelled my application on the ground of me not having presented them with all the requested transcripts before the deadline...!!!!!!
I call and ask them "How can I fulfil a request before the deadline if the request is made AFTER the deadline?!"....
As an answer I got a rather long and uncomfortable silence. Next..."We don't make requests. That's another office."....
So now I have to apply all over again thanks to Canadian incompetence.
With such incompetence, and I heard from quite a few others that they had similar experience with the Canadians, it comes as no surprise that Canada is not a superpower but the USA's wife.
Anyways, this about sums up my frustration with what I thought was a very good country, with an efficient and functional system.
Paid a cool 100 C$ for it....
And now it is June the 23rd...
Let's see what happened, shall we? :)
June the 21:
Gf calls Quebec Embassy: Has my QAC been approved?
Cleric #1: Yes, and that the consulate is already notified. In fact we send the paperwork directly to the LA Consulate.
She next went to the consulate only to discover that the consulate had not received anything.
Next day...
Cleric #2: No, we DON'T notify or mail anything to the Consulate. We only send it to the applicants' home address. And we mailed your papers on May the 27th.
The next day she decided to call again to request the papers to be sent again.
Cleric #3: But we already mailed it. We mailed it on June the 1st.
The request to fax or send it to the consulate was denied "We don't do that!” This, I find, most peculiarly irrational, because they would end up with that certificate anyways.
Thing is that the application is only valid for 30 days. And at this rate this means that thanks to Canadian incompetence it is virtually impossible to get a visa...
BUT WAIT!!! THERE'S MORE!!!!!....
In October I applied to McGill University in Montreal. Send all the requested manuscripts way before the deadline. After a few months they still had not been registered as accounted for on the online application site. So I call.
Turns out that no transcripts ever arrived... riiiiiiiiight!! Why not just admit that they lost or tossed them?
When I applied online I had to fill in my names, no biggie you'd say, right? Not in Canada though. You see, I have a very long first name and the application won't accept that many characters, nor will it accept just the initials. So I was left with no alternative but to use the name that I use in my daily life. When I called McGill and they heard that I hadn't filled in my complete name I got a bitchy "Well, how can you expect us to know that is you?" And when I pointed out that I couldn't fill in my complete name because the system won't accept that many characters, did she apologize? No sireeeee.
Next I asked if maybe they could change the name online for me. I was reassured they could. "Just fax us a copy of your passport and McGill ID." You guessed it!! I faxed the requested stuff three times. To no effect. That’s right, the name appears unchanged to this very day.
In short, I send all the transcripts 4 times, some even 5 times.
But... then one day I check the status of my application online, and to my utter surprise and profound happiness I see that all the requested transcripts are registered as received :)
Next day however I see that what had been registered as received the day before is suddenly registered as unaccounted for.... Not only that, but they had added an additional request to the list. And cancelled my application on the ground of me not having presented them with all the requested transcripts before the deadline...!!!!!!
I call and ask them "How can I fulfil a request before the deadline if the request is made AFTER the deadline?!"....
As an answer I got a rather long and uncomfortable silence. Next..."We don't make requests. That's another office."....
So now I have to apply all over again thanks to Canadian incompetence.
With such incompetence, and I heard from quite a few others that they had similar experience with the Canadians, it comes as no surprise that Canada is not a superpower but the USA's wife.
Anyways, this about sums up my frustration with what I thought was a very good country, with an efficient and functional system.