 Hi everybody and welcome to our channel. Today I'm going to make a video about what it means when you see on the online tool on the IRCC website the wording decision made. So this is a question that we get a lot in our office. So basically when you have filed it could be various different types of immigration applications. Most of them you're able to go on the online tool on the IRCC website, put in your information with your name, date of birth, client ID or file number, and you can see some steps. So you could see when you filed your application, when correspondence was submitted by immigration, when you provided documentation it was received. It's not a very elaborate tool in the sense that it's not like you can click on these titles and then get more information. In our practice, I've always told clients and I always also train my staff at the office to not, we do check it at the office when we file application, but that's not what we rely on to get the actual information or to get concrete information about what's actually happening in your file. The reason for that is that sometimes we might have three, four back and forth with immigration about different things on an application and we get those correspondence usually by email these days, whereas in the past was more mail. Sometimes we still get mail, but it's mostly by email and when we go on the online tool that information is not there or it's not as detailed as we hope it would be. So that's why we actually also tell our clients that if they retain their services to not check what's going on online and leave that part to us just because in all these years that I've been practicing, most of the time it confuses clients because they might see information, they don't understand, they might see correspondence has been sent and then they think, oh, that's a decision or that's a refusal or that's an approval, but sometimes it's just, for example, a correspondence was sent to confirm that you paid your biometrics or a correspondence was sent for you to do a medical which was already done a long time ago, but now the online tool indicated it later, like a month or two later. So it's not something that's really reliable, I would say. So I always suggest that if you have a lawyer, call your lawyer if you have a question about the processing of your file. So you call our office and you ask us because we are handling hundreds and hundreds of files. We've done this for a very long time and we know how the system works and how things get updated. If there's something that looks odd or it's been a longer processing time than expected, then me or my team will call the call center and ask questions and even then with respect to the call center, we often advise our clients not to call themselves because you could call the call center five times and you get five different answers. Not because necessarily the person is not giving you the right information, it's just different clerks have different levels of training and they might see or understand things differently on your file. So instead of getting nervous and getting stressed, looking online, calling and getting odd information that you might not understand and then you tend to panic, then it's much better to just call us, ask all your questions and then we can clarify everything. And if we're not able to, then we'll look into it further. So one of the things that often appears on the online tool is the wording decision made. And I think if you click on it, it doesn't really say much or it might give a dig or something like that. And a lot of clients thinks that, oh, my application was approved or refused, I'm going to get a decision tomorrow or the next day. My experience has shown me that most of the time that decision or sometimes it's not a decision, it's just a correspondence, unfortunately, can come weeks or sometimes even months later. I mean, I can go on some of our files that we filed PR card renewal or H&C and I can go on the online tool and it says decision made and we filed the application maybe a year and a half ago and different things are happening or sometimes I have the approval of the H&C and I go on the online tool months later and it says it doesn't say decision made or it doesn't say approval. So it's really not something reliable. So if you see the decision made, I mean, most of the time it most likely means that something is about to happen soon or we might get some correspondence, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get something that same day or we're going to get something the next day, it depends if it's being an email being sent out. It depends if it's by mail, then sometimes it could take a few weeks to get the correspondence. So when you see the decision made, if you have a lawyer, I recommend you call your representative and ask what this is about. I mean, we're always happy to explain what it means, which is essentially doesn't really mean anything. And also, we also recommend a lot of our clients see that and they say, okay, well, that means the decision is on the way. I'm going to call the officer. I'm going to send an email. I'm going to send the web form to ask them to send me a response right away and tell me what's happening. And they call the call center and then the call center can't really give information. And then you start getting worried about something that first hasn't happened. And second, you as human beings, we always expect the worst. So we're always thinking that something happened. It must be negative. And we start ruminating and we start panicking and we think of all the different scenarios so that when we get it, we're kind of psychologically prepared for it. But I mean, if you have a good representative, a good lawyer, the representative should explain to you the process from the beginning. At our office, we spend a lot of time during the intake appointment, during the consultation to explain how things work with immigration, to explain that it might take a long time, it could be short, it could be long. Unexpected things can happen, but we know how to navigate the system. We put all of this in writing in our contract. We put all of this in writing to you when we submit your application. We also have a lot of information on our website and a lot of instructions and tips and guidelines that we provide to you in writing so that reading it many, many times, you kind of understand that, OK, I'm hired an expert. They know what they're doing. And if I have questions, I can call my representative. Now, if you're not, you don't have a representative. Of course, what you're going to do is you're going to check the online tool. And of course, you're going to call the call center. I mean, me, myself, last year, I filed my own spousal sponsorship after having practiced immigration for over 10 years. And I didn't use a representative. Me and my husband, we prepared it ourselves. And I also go on the online tool and I check what's happening because now that it was my file, I think I always understood what clients felt. But this time around, it was really like a reality to really know when it's happening to you. So I was also going and checking, even though I was basically not taking my own advice, but I would see correspondence sent. And then sometimes it was accurate. Sometimes it wasn't. I also called the call center a few times and, oh, did you receive my file, even though I saw in my FedEx that it was received? And just to see if I can get something more. So sometimes the exercise, so if you don't have a representative, the exercise of calling and the exercise of going online, just that act in itself might make you feel better. And if it does, it's OK to go and check and call if it's going to bring down the anxiety level. But if it's going to make you feel even worse, if you have a tendency to panic, if you're going to take that and extrapolate into a conclusion that's very unrealistic, then I recommend to not call or not call as often or not check as often and be very patient and always go by the processing time that's online. I mean, more or less, it's often the processing time. I would say always a few months less. And if you don't think about it, then often you get a wonderful surprise when the decision does happen. So having lived it myself personally, I can now confirm that I truly understand my clients even more. So if you have any questions about what your online tool is saying, if something happened in your file and you really feel there's something wrong, you can contact us, we'd be happy to assist. But in general, the point of this video was to talk to our clients, but also talk to the general public, whether you have a lawyer or not, just to know that the online tool is not always the best tool. Because you have to rely on the correspondence that you receive. You have to rely on the processing time. And it's not always updated in real time. And when you know this, you're not going to place all of your concentration on that and think about the worst. So hopefully this will allow you to be a little bit more positive while you're waiting for your application. Thank you.