Make friends with a local and have them contact their MP. My status process sped up pretty quickly with a politician's office on the case. They can probe to ask what's going on with a particular application,etc. (I also believe that my application was 'fast-tracked' because there was an upcoming election too).
It very much depends on a large number of factors that are not under your control. It's basically a lottery. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. I've had the local mayor, a case officer of the Ontario immigration department (from TO) and a whole bunch of others practically beg the office in Buffalo to finally do something and still time ran out (after 5 years we called it quits).
The really sad thing is that it cost a lot of hardworking Canadians their jobs, and the area where we lived jobs, especially well paying ones with employers that have a different view of employees than so many lemons that need to be squeezed are very hard to come by.
That sucks. Just a note to anyone attempting Canadian immigration (at least US->Canada immigration), the Buffalo office is supposedly the best way to 'fast-track' your application instead of sending it to Alberta... Even if all of the paperwork says that In-Canada applications must go through Alberta. But I am not an immigration lawyer so your mileage may vary.
I'm married to a Canadian citizen so that might have helped. Instead of just trying to immigrate 'cold.'
I realize that, but the process was going really slowly until my wife appealed to the local MP and things sped up pretty quickly... at least 'quickly' for immigration.
We know people that were married that took years to get their paperwork through and they were also US->Canada.
We were coming in under the 'entrepreneurial' banner, about 750K invested in to the Canadian economy, 12" of paperwork including 5 years of bank statements for 3 companies and god knows what else.
The weird thing is that as long as we were still in Europe we were assured things would go fast, but after moving everything ground to a halt. Only to speed up again after we threw in the towel, but by then we really didn't feel like going back. We still have 2 100 acre farms and a skeleton business there (about to be wound down). A total waste of time and money, but the time spent there was quite enjoyable (even though the winters are terribly harsh).
