All right, so I had promised myself that I would stop this bad habit I have gotten into of checking my MyCIC account every day.

Because, every day, I check it, and there is nothing new. And every day, I get a little more anxious, and the more anxious I get, the more disappointed I get, and the more disappointed I get, the grumpier I get.

Z has already pointed out quite a few times that this checking of the MyCIC account has become an unhealthy obsession for me, and one of these days he is either going to have to check me into a retreat for my own well-being or have to take us completely off the grid for at least a month for the same reason.

But…. it’s tough to do.

Some people can happily go about their normal lives, and wait patiently for any updates or news regarding their application. After all, the CIC does clearly state on their website that it takes SIX (6) months to process an application once it’s submitted – and that’s if everything is provided and there are no additional documents or extra verification required.

Do I seem like I’m one of those people? (Psst, I’m not.)

Anyway, usually, if my day is busy with other things, I can manage not to check my account and not think about it. The past few days have been like that, so yesterday evening was the first time in about 3 or 4 days that I got to check the account. And honestly, I logged in with no hope of seeing anything different from all the other times I had logged in lately.

But I was wrong.

When I logged in to my MyCIC account around 9.30pm (UAE time) last night, there were the words “Application/Profile Updated” on my current status. 😮 *squeeeeeeeeee*

Amazingly, I did not scream, I did not jump up and down, I did not yell for Z to come and see the message. I calmly clicked on “Check full application status” and went through the details section thoroughly to see what had changed/updated.

And nothing had. Everything was just the same as it was the last time I had checked my account.

😐 😐 😐

Seriously?

I know I didn’t make a mistake in seeing the “Application Updated” status because I immediately took a screenshot of that status just so I could make sure I was not dreaming. So what was going on? When I went back to the account main page, the Current Status had changed back to “Submitted”. Gaaaaahhhhh.

I decided to forget about it for the moment, and check again this morning, which I did. And still there was no change/update in anything. I even checked the “Submitted Documents” section in case a new placeholder had appeared for an additional document (even though I hadn’t received any ADR since the RPRF request). Nope. Nothing.

So I had to accept that, for the first time since my application submission, I had received (what is called) a ghost update. At least this meant that someone in the CIC was checking on our application, even if nothing else happened.

(By the way, a “ghost update” is not an official IRCC term. It’s used by poor, anxious applicants like us, who basically stalk their MyCIC accounts in the hopes of any of sort an update from the CIC on our applications. A ‘ghost update’ means the VO assigned to the case either checked up on something, or updated something. Most of the time, this is good news, and usually means the process is moving forward. It’s just that sometimes, moving forward means getting an ADR.)

In the forums, people usually report getting ghost updates (can be one or two, or more) just before they receive the PPR email from CIC.  Although a part of me can’t help but be excited and hope, the more practical side of me does not want to expect too much. After all, our application is only on day 70, which is not even halfway through the normal processing times.

So really, it’s back to playing the waiting game for us, and praying hard that everything will continue to be processed smoothly, in Sha Allah, and hopefully soon we will get the news we have been waiting for.