Difference between a Temporary & a Permanent AOR

AOR and its mystery

Difference between a Temporary & a Permanent AOR

Sukhpreet Singh
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Acknowledgement of Receipt and its mysteries at IRCC where in past couple of years, various definitions and details have been represented.

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What is an AOR?

Obviously its an abbreviation of Acknowledgement of Receipt.Its an official acceptance by IRCC for your application. An applicant applying for Immigration, Visit, Work, Study, Citizenship and many other programs, will receive an AOR which confirms that IRCC has received the application and its complete.

Why an AOR?

AOR is not just the confirmation of your application being received at IRCC. Its a legit document which allows you to pursue your future actions in case of a rejection or refusal. Till now, most of the applicants were filing through RCIC registered consultants and the only way to assure the application submission is AOR. By issuing an application number (part of AOR) also starts an ETA before which IRCC has to complete an application.

Let us list out some of the considerations from an AOR:

  • Application is Received by IRCC
  • The Immigration fee is paid in Full
  • Documents outlined in the checklist are received
  • Application is ready for a review

A couple of variables are locked-in with AOR which are:

  • Age of Primary applicant and dependents is locked-in and will not change throughout processing
  • IELTS result date is locked-in and it will not expire even if the application takes more than 2 years for an outcome
  • ECA evaluation date is locked-in

Paper based or Online Applications

Year 2021 is about to end still there are a number of paper based applications being submitted at IRCC. And it will continue to be as the immigration department keeps running a couple of Pilots every year. On the other hand, Online applications are being submitted for most of the programs and have faster processing speeds than the former. AOR is being sent for both paper based and Online applications.

What is a Temporary AOR?

Since COVID pandemic has impacted the IRCC resources, the department has started issuing temporary AORs. It is basically issued to the applicant to ensure that the application is received. It does not mean the application is complete and it does not mean that the review has started.

How to Identify if its a Temporary or a Permanent AOR?

The document will itself has a word “Temporary” written at a couple of places. Lets look at below Temporary AOR:

Lets look at below Permanent AOR:

What if the applicant received only Temporary AOR?

IRCC has different ways of contacting them to get an update on an application. The most easiest way is to submit a Webform The standard response time is 2-5 business days. The applicant should submit the Temp AOR details in the webform request and can expect an update from the immigration department. The email responses are sometimes received in the spam folder of a mailbox, so the applicant should keep an eye on it.

What if the applicant received no communication?

Again, the answer is submit a Webform. In this request, the applicant should submit the Payment Receipt numbers, first/last name of the primary applicant along side type of application submitted. The customer support executives should then search for the application and can share further updates.

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