Thanks to advice from several people on this board, I finished my application for Independent Immigration several months ago. Yesterday, I received a notice of Initial Assessment from Canadian Consulate. It says that interview is waived, and advises me to take a medical exam, and pay the landing fee now. It also says that the finalization of my case would take 4-6 months. My question is what does this mean in regard with my application? Does this mean that they practically approved my application as long as my medical is fine, or does this mean a decision has not been made yet and they will use the 4-6 months to evaluate my case? By the way, I am finishing my dissertation in humanities in a U.S university (soon) and has several years of teaching experience in my university as a Teaching Assistant and instructor, and also has a couple of years of research/company experience outside of school while being in Korea. I would appreciate if anybody can answer my question. Thanks in advance. ~ ~