Waiting times to immigrate to Canada

QUESTION: Have made an application 18 months ago under the skilled worker category with the London Visa Office an am continually monitoring the CIC web-site to view status and application waiting times. I am frustrated to see that these projections are increasing mainly due to my age as I am now 41 and worry about what age I may be if or when residency is granted. Are there any other routes that could be considered i.e. Is it possible to employ the use of any legal organisation to attain work placement and handle the legalities of attaining some kind of temporary work status so as may try to build some foundation for permanent residency. If so can you inform myself of any that you have positive experience of and would recommend. Obviously any other advice would be greatly welcomed as I do want jeopodize the progression of my current application, many thanks and regards.

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david ingram replies:

Processing times are almost impossible to speed up.

Processing Times at the London Visa Office:
30% of cases are finalized in 20 months
50% of cases are finalized in 25 months
70% of cases are finalized in 43 months and
80% of cases are finalized in 49 months

Processing times (in months) for some other visa offices are shown below:
London 20 25 43 49
Moscow 15 49 62 66
Paris 5 7 11 19
Rome 24 41 50 55
Vienna 3 6 9 14
Warsaw 9 43 59 66
Buffalo 16 21 33 40
Caracas 8 11 15 17
Guatemala City 5 8 11 14
Havana 5 9 13 16
Kingston 3 6 10 14
Lima 4 6 10 12
Mexico City 5 7 11 13
Port-au-Prince 5 7 11 15
Port of Spain 9 13 18 21
Santiago 7 9 13 15
Sao Paulo 6 8 9 11

I don't know of anything else that would speed you up other than making sure that your paperwork is perfect. Of course, if your brother was Stephen Harper, it might coincidently move a little faster but political interference or special treatment is not the norm because of past problems in different offices.

Interestingly, there is little correlation between your desire to come now and processing time. Another person I know received their paperwork in about 18 months much to their consternation. They are just not ready to come that soon and it will be another two years before they have wound down their affairs and can make the move.

Thankfully, Canada allows up to three years (IN THE EXTREME) to make the move.