Hi
From the http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/2008/2008-11-28a.asp, I understand that my occupation is in the NOC category. 2113 Geologists, Geochemists and Geophysicists

I am 40 years old with 2 kids and a wife. I am trying to understand the immigration process and the timeline. Given that I am in the NOC category what will be the timeline for application processing. CIC website provides timelines for all applicaitons (from 60 months to 75 months) but does not clearly spell out if applications with NOC occupation get priority.
Thank you for any inputs

Here are couple of links to work with. Please follow them exhaustively and see where it takes you.

1) These people help new immigrants to settle down here in Canada and they are located in New Delhi also, besides other locations. :
http://ciip.accc.ca/

2) Please look for entries after the 1st of April 2009. That is the time they changed the system and brought in the New locations for processing.

http://www.trackitt.com/canada-immigration-trackers/federal-skilled-workers

Hope this helps you a little.

Freddie.

Thanks Freddie for the response. I am ready to fill in paperwork for Skilled visa category. I am wondering if I can apply for myself later and then add the rest of my family once there is some hope that I will get accepted (and also I am more confident of being able to settle there). Since the process is 3 year long in New Delhi, I was hoping to add them after 1.5 years when things are clearer. However, I did not see any guideline regarding that.
Do I have to include my family right in the beginning or can I postpone it for some time.
Thank you
PS: Sorry I sent a PM to you accidentally. I clicked on the link to PM you instead of posting a reesponse at this website.

Hello. Sorry for the delay in my response. See if I can make it up.

You must include the whole family when you apply to get in. They will ask you for the fees when they are ready to process. Please pay that also and get through. It is a small sum and it will save you a lot of agony later. You will ask later why didn't some one tell me before??

The main reason is, if later, your spouse wants to join you, she will have to FULLY QUALIFY all by herself to get in and the red tape will be excessive. But you will have to say that you are married currently, anyway. What happens if she does not have enough points to get herself in? Now she will ride on your coat tails and enter here, based upon your points that you scored at the time of application.

Hope this helps you a little.

I was away on a holiday and had little or no access to the internet. That is another story.

Freddie.