The following points were determined following a Canadian Bar Association meeting with the assistant manager at the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville. It should be noted that the CPC does not handle the processing of the PR applications referred to.
Vegreville does NOT have a policy of refusing visitor’s extensions for people who have applied for permanent residence. However, having filed an application for permanent residence is not sufficient reason in itself to grant an extension. The Immigration officer must still be satisfied that there is a legitimate temporary intent and the applicant should therefore address dual intent in the application. The fact that a PR application has been filed is not a negative factor and, in fact, will often swing the benefit of the doubt in favour of the applicant (but make sure you indicate a temporary purpose). The confusion over their policy may have arisen because of an apparent former practice in the Toronto area of granting extensions merely on proof of an application for PR having been filed.
Processing times: Average processing time for visitors is two weeks and for permanent applications (to the point of referral or Approval in Principle) is 4 weeks.