seem to suggest that the DL or Health Card are used as residency checks. This is not the case. They serve the sole purpose of proving your identity. The idea is "It might be possible to forge a single government-issued ID, but if someone has a Passport, a DL and a Health Card, one can reasonably believe that they are who they claim they are".
I agree with the vast majority of observations made in that post.
However, this part is contrary to the historical use of such documentation, and it is quite likely that IRCC continues to examine and use every item of information and documentation for
multiple purposes, including especially in assessing the credibility of the presence calculation.
Particular information and documentation is typically requested for a specific purpose. That purpose, however, has never limited how it is examined and used. Almost everything in the application is at least cursorily compared to other information and documentation, with an eye to spot discrepancies, inconsistencies, and incongruities. How thorough this is done is something which probably varies a great deal, ranging from a rather cursory examination for many (those whose applications look solid) to a potentially intense scrutiny for some. Obviously, if an incongruity is spotted, the processing agent is likely to elevate the degree of scrutiny, and proportionately so as more significant anomalies or concerns are identified. For the vast majority of applicants, there is nothing in their information or documentation which invites further inquiry, and the scope of cross-checking remains relatively cursory.
We know that in past, for example, CIC had a specific practice of comparing signatures on identification with the signature and any handwriting on the application or other documentation. Indeed, all handwriting in the application package was compared. Use of this ranged from confirming identity (same person's signature in all signatures) to spotting potentially undisclosed assistance preparing the application.
If there is an address in the identification, it is virtually certain that IRCC compares that to the applicant's current address and address history.
At times the date the identification was issued was specifically examined to see if it was recent, and there was criteria employed based on how recently the ID had been issued which definitively triggered RQ (in 2012, for example, if the applicant's ID had been issued within the preceding three months, that automatically triggered a pre-test RQ). While it later became apparent that CIC at least modified its approach relative to this criteria, whether CIC merely modified it so it was no longer a definitive trigger and rather treated it as a potential "risk indicator" to be considered in context with other information, or it dropped giving weight to how recently ID had been issued altogether, is not certain, since around that same time CIC pulled the curtains shut on a lot of its internal policies and practices (up to early 2013 there were many among us regularly obtaining internal CIC memos through the ATI process, those memos becoming increasingly redacted until just about every aspect of application assessment was categorized as investigatory methods and thus confidential). My impression is that the date ID is issued continues to be examined and considered, and compared with other information, but that it is not given nearly the same attention let alone weight as it was several years ago.
Especially as to the presence requirement, it is well apparent that IRCC cross-checks ALL the information and documentation in every part of the application, looking for any indication that something is awry.
Remember, while IRCC has developed many new tools and methods to verify applicant information, the core methodology continues to be rooted in cross-checking information looking for discrepancies, inconsistencies, and even mere incongruities. That was long the main fraud-detection tool employed by CIC and one of the main tools employed by CBSA as well.
But what forms of identification are required are quite certainly based on what actually proves identity, and not what other information it can provide, what other uses it might serve. What IRCC requires in an application must specifically derive from the requirements for citizenship. Moreover, the most important element is that it provide the information which will meet its purpose. So, yes, the priority for required identification is that it establish the applicant's identity. IRCC cannot go on fishing expeditions. Its requests must meet a reasonableness standard.
Of course not every wrinkle in the information is going to send IRCC into serious investigative mode. Just as we have discussed about minor mistakes, IRCC is well aware of the complexity and variability of immigrant's lives, including things like many will need to change addresses quite often and many will not keep their drivers license current. So some discrepancy between an address in a drivers license and in the address history is not likely, not in itself, to trigger a full blown presence case. Again, if deviations and incongruities are noticed, they will likely be weighed in context with all the other information in the application. But make no mistake, IRCC is looking at and comparing all parts of an application with all the other parts. Few have any reason to worry due to this. But this is part of the background underlying why I often caution prospective applicants that there is far more to consider, when deciding what is the right time to apply, then merely passing the threshold for meeting the presence requirement.