@Skuiggs

When people do their own personal letters, they are not aware of the red flags.

I mentioned one. Why point out things you were even convicted for?

Another is Canadians can't shut up about the following red flags:
-I own a house in the US (great, so you could stay illegally?)
-My relatives all live there (great so they could let you live illegally?)
-My parents live there and are old/sick (great so if they took a turn for the worse you would obviously not leave)
-I do lots of business in the US (great so you will work illegally)
-My kids live in the US (great so you could stay illegally)
-I'm not in good health (great so if you fall ill or get worse, we are stuck with you overstaying?)

The reason you WANT to go is less than 1% of the application. 99%+ is all about what is STOPPING you. Of course they geared the application to trip you up and make you reveal red flags. And honest Canadians cannot WAIT to reveal way more information than they are asked for.

NO ONE Gets a waiver because they NEED IT. You get a waiver because the US has decided, your record is old enough, or you won't overstay, your not a threat, you look law abiding etc.

Be SMART. Honest is good. SMART is better.

@J Rogers Hearing that caution makes me a bit nervous as I too was very honest in my letter in regard to drug usage at the time of arrest. I am hoping the 4 years of education since, complete life turnaround and current employment letter requiring travel to the states will be enough to push me past the rejection wall. Guess all will be said within the next few weeks.

@J Rogers well a 6 month waiver is a start. It helps him get back to the USA.

6 MONTH WAIVER
This is a cautionary tale.

2015-Fraud Over $5000
In 2019 he applied on his own. Well spoken guy. Unfortunately, he was very honest in explaining the Fraud was to get money for his serious cocaine addiction.

So a borderline waiver (probably too soon) became an absolute NO.

He hired me, but I was completely "stuck" with the narrative he created with his first application. So I had to make the waiver mainly about beating the addiction. He was refused in 2021. Waiver denied.

This is the re-application, and he had very good, focused rehabilitation. Clean drug test too. Only 6 months.

Why is this a cautionary tale? Had he not told them about the drugs, and waited until after the pandemic, this is an easy 1 year waiver, with a 5 year following.

Instead, its 2 waivers denied, then 6 months. Probably a 1 year next, and then a 5 year waiver.

2 lessons.
1. DYI an easy waiver with old convictions. Probably not a lot you can mess up.
2. Recent convictions, or recent immigration problems? Get help. But GOOD help. If a company is making you write the personal letter, then don't use them.

Documents Shared With You
ARO Decision
Please review the documents
Status History (5)
4/4/2023, 08:00 AM EDT : Status changed to Completed
11/28/2022, 04:30 PM EST : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
11/11/2022, 02:20 PM EST : Status changed to Paid
11/11/2022, 02:19 PM EST : Status changed to Signed
10/31/2022, 09:35 AM EDT : Application Created

1 year waiver

Client was a dancer, and they seem suspicious about she might try and work in the States. She also confessed to working in 2018 in the US for a short time.

Documents Shared With You
ARO Decision
Please review the documents
Status History (5)
4/3/2023, 12:02 PM EDT : Status changed to Completed
11/23/2022, 04:00 PM EST : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
11/18/2022, 11:49 AM EST : Status changed to Paid
11/16/2022, 03:36 PM EST : Status changed to Signed
10/20/2022, 03:32 PM EDT : Application Created

5 year waiver.
IMPORTING – 1998 APPROX – 18 months
Re-application.

Documents Shared With You
ARO Decision
Please review the documents
Status History (5)
4/3/2023, 01:01 PM EDT : Status changed to Completed
11/28/2022, 03:00 PM EST : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
11/21/2022, 04:07 PM EST : Status changed to Paid
11/21/2022, 04:02 PM EST : Status changed to Signed
11/10/2022, 11:10 AM EST : Application Created

5 year waiver

Reapplication - had a 1 year waiver.
2010 BREACH OF TRHE CONTROLLED DRUGS AND SUBTANCES ACT
But there were more serious charges withdrawn that alleges ties with a criminal organization, Also it involved a kilo of cocaine.

Documents Shared With You
ARO Decision
Please review the documents
Status History (5)
4/3/2023, 10:01 AM EDT : Status changed to Completed
11/29/2022, 10:30 AM EST : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
11/22/2022, 04:23 PM EST : Status changed to Paid
11/22/2022, 04:21 PM EST : Status changed to Signed
11/11/2022, 03:19 PM EST : Application Created

@J Rogers thank you for the clarification, the only fix I struggle with is the letter of recommendation since I lived in 3 different province last 3 years.

Always appreciate your advice

@Kev

When you renew a waiver, you are in fact re-applying again. So if its been 5 years, absolutely do everything brand new. You can replicate the wording etc. Court docs absolutely just use copies. New fingerprints of course. Remember, every administration has a different perspective. So put in the effort.

@SouthernBBQ I am wondering about the same thing do we need new reference letters and letter of circumstance ?!?!

5 year waiver 4 months 1 week,
1993 - Aid Person to use citizenship card for fraudulent purpose (not a very common offence in Canada)
His first application.

Documents Shared With You
ARO Decision
Please review the documents
Status History (5)
3/29/2023, 12:31 PM EDT : Status changed to Completed
11/21/2022, 07:30 PM EST : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
11/16/2022, 09:40 PM EST : Status changed to Paid
11/16/2022, 09:38 PM EST : Status changed to Signed
10/21/2022, 10:28 AM EDT : Application Created

@SouthernBBQ enjoy the waiver already. You’ve had the waiver for two days and stressing over reapplying already.

When you reapply, what do you need to do again?
1. new prints
-what if you got a pardon.. this would come up blank?
2. updated personal reference letters
3. updated letter explaining situation

@TomMa

Well, truthfully, it doesn't actually matter. The state of the waivers right now is 4 months plus a couple of days. Will it get faster? Possibly, but 4 months its a pretty accurate barometer right now. When summer hits I expect a lot more applications once again.

@TomMa 4 months ago it was about 3 months, 10 days.

[ Tiffany appended this reply on March 28, 2023 @ 5:02 pm ]

To be more precise, waivers submitted in early August were being completed in middle of November.

@J Rogers Have you seen any waivers approved less than 4 months in the last 6 months?

1 year waiver
First time waiver.
16 Convictions 12 year span.
Last conviction was 2015 (a full 8 years ago)
-2015-Assault last conviction
-3 assaults
-Robbery
-1 trafficking
-1 possession
-some gun charges.

This is to give some context as to why he only got a 1 to start. Note as well it did not go to a supervisor, (you can tell by the timeline) so its a pretty solid 1 year waiver. Probably has a great shot at a 5 year waiver next time.

Documents Shared With You
ARO Decision
Please review the documents
Status History (5)
3/28/2023, 11:31 AM EDT : Status changed to Completed
11/22/2022, 05:30 PM EST : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
11/16/2022, 09:06 PM EST : Status changed to Paid
11/7/2022, 08:30 PM EST : Status changed to Signed
10/13/2022, 02:40 PM EDT : Application Created

5 year waiver
First time applicant.
Fraud (conditional discharge)
2015-Impaired

Documents Shared With You
ARO Decision
Please review the documents
Status History (5)
3/28/2023, 07:00 AM EDT : Status changed to Completed
11/22/2022, 03:30 PM EST : Status changed to Submitted to ARO
10/20/2022, 04:29 PM EDT : Status changed to Paid
10/20/2022, 04:28 PM EDT : Status changed to Signed
9/23/2022, 09:57 AM EDT : Application Created

Esafe… when it first came out it really seemed like they entered a new era of timely applications. They were coming back within a week of submitted to ARO.

Now we are back to 4 months plus, same wait as snail mail.

@SouthernBBQ that’s good to hear, I’m happy for you, I actually brought my application at this border, their agent were pretty nice so far.