FPAT question
- Thread starter Tjam3
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Hello Tjam3Tjam3 said:
( FPAT ) means = File Preparation Analysis Template. It is a form filled out by( CO ) a citizenship officer after reviewing your file and before referring it to ( CJ ) a citizenship judge. It means there are concerns with your application that have been raised by the officer.
Good luck!
haody said:
NOT necessary a JH , could be additional documents required , you could never know until they contact you !
Hope it goes well
Good luck!
The File Preparation Analysis Template is specifically used in residency cases to make the referral to a Citizenship Judge.
As already said, this does not necessarily indicate there will be a hearing with a Citizenship Judge.
But, I am curious if there is a date, since the date this was done might illuminate a difference. If after August 1st, it is more likely that it is indeed a case destined for a hearing with a Citizenship Judge, a residency case hearing. (After August 1st there is no need for a referral to a Citizenship Judge unless it is a residency case to be determined by a CJ rather than a CIC Citizenship Officer. So my sense is that a FPAT after August 1 will only happen in cases CIC is not satisfied the applicant met the residency requirement, and the applicant is entitled to a hearing before being denied citizenship, so the case is referred to a CJ for a determination.)
There are probably more than a few older RQ'd cases in which the FPAT was prepared prior to August 1 but have not been referred and CIC is still assessing whether or not to grant citizenship (perhaps, as has been suggested, after obtaining additional information, either from the applicant or other sources like inquiries referred to CBSA). These older cases, thus, may or may not go to a CJ, may or may not involve a CJ hearing.
As already said, this does not necessarily indicate there will be a hearing with a Citizenship Judge.
But, I am curious if there is a date, since the date this was done might illuminate a difference. If after August 1st, it is more likely that it is indeed a case destined for a hearing with a Citizenship Judge, a residency case hearing. (After August 1st there is no need for a referral to a Citizenship Judge unless it is a residency case to be determined by a CJ rather than a CIC Citizenship Officer. So my sense is that a FPAT after August 1 will only happen in cases CIC is not satisfied the applicant met the residency requirement, and the applicant is entitled to a hearing before being denied citizenship, so the case is referred to a CJ for a determination.)
There are probably more than a few older RQ'd cases in which the FPAT was prepared prior to August 1 but have not been referred and CIC is still assessing whether or not to grant citizenship (perhaps, as has been suggested, after obtaining additional information, either from the applicant or other sources like inquiries referred to CBSA). These older cases, thus, may or may not go to a CJ, may or may not involve a CJ hearing.
Provisions in Bill C-24 transferring much of the decision-making in citizenship cases to the Minister (in practice meaning CIC Citizenship Officers), and reducing the role of Citizenship Judges, took effect on August 1, 2014.look4d said:
All citizenship applicants were referred to a Citizenship Judge before August 1st. Only residency cases, cases in which the CIC Citizenship Officer is not satisfied the applicant met the residency requirement, are referred to Citizenship Judges after August 1st.
CIC has undoubtedly implemented new operating practices and guidelines attendant this, but this is only minimally shared with the public; so the only insight anyone outside CIC and lawyers working citizenship cases will have for some time to come will be dependent on what we can learn from anecdotal reports.
My guess (and it is just a guess) is that the FPAT is still in use, and specifically is used as it was before, to compose the referral to the Citizenship Judge in a residency case. But, nonetheless, I am curious to see whether anyone is reporting actually seeing a FPAT get prepared after August 1st.
I would note, while I am not at all sure, my sense is that if an applicant's file has had a FPAT prepared after August 1st, the odds are fairly high that CIC opposes the grant and the applicant will need to go to a CJ hearing prepared to fully make his or her case, or else get denied.
My guess (and it is just a guess) is that the FPAT is still in use, and specifically is used as it was before, to compose the referral to the Citizenship Judge in a residency case. But, nonetheless, I am curious to see whether anyone is reporting actually seeing a FPAT get prepared after August 1st.
I would note, while I am not at all sure, my sense is that if an applicant's file has had a FPAT prepared after August 1st, the odds are fairly high that CIC opposes the grant and the applicant will need to go to a CJ hearing prepared to fully make his or her case, or else get denied.
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Ottawa2013, what's your opinion on above guess?
I think any old case will have to sent to citizenship judge for approval even after August 1st. If there is concern, the CO will prepare FPAT to judge. Doesn't matter if it is prepared before or after Aug 1st. The new law doesn't apply the old case, or the new law does not effect how to handle the old case.
I would note, while I am not at all sure, my sense is that if an applicant's file has had a FPAT prepared after August 1st, the odds are fairly high that CIC opposes the grant and the applicant will need to go to a CJ hearing prepared to fully make his or her case, or else get denied.
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Ottawa2013, what's your opinion on above guess?
I think any old case will have to sent to citizenship judge for approval even after August 1st. If there is concern, the CO will prepare FPAT to judge. Doesn't matter if it is prepared before or after Aug 1st. The new law doesn't apply the old case, or the new law does not effect how to handle the old case.
For clarification:haody said:
The new procedures do apply to processing, regardless of when the application was made. Thus, regardless of when the application was filed, or RQ was issued, there will be no referral to a Citizenship Judge if a CIC Citizenship Officer approves the grant of citizenship. There is no referral to a CJ for language or knowledge of Canada issues either.
Only cases which will be referred to a Citizenship Judge after August 1st are those with residency issues, applicants for whom the CIC Citizenship Officer is not satisfied.
Previously, all so-called "residency cases," which applied to any applicant issued RQ unless there was a subsequent decision determining it was not a residency case, involved using the FPAT to prepare the referral for the Citizenship Judge, even if CIC was in effect submitting it for a file review (sometimes called a "paper review"), which would not involve a CJ hearing, let alone a referral which in effect enumerates CIC's reasons why the applicant should not be approved.
So, prior to August 1st, the mere fact that the application involved a referral using the FPAT did not necessarily indicate there would be a hearing with a CJ.
As I noted, my guess is that after August 1st, the FPAT (or a revised version thereof) is still in use, but perhaps only for those cases actually being referred to a CJ . . . which most likely means it is a residency case in which CIC is not satisfied the applicant met the residency requirement. Thus, probably, a post-August 1 FPAT is not good news for an applicant. It quite likely means that CIC opposes the grant of citizenship, although the applicant still has an opportunity to go to a hearing with a CJ and make the case why the applicant is qualified, in particular to make the case that the applicant met the residency requirement.
By the way: when there are changes to law it is typical for the new law governing procedure to apply to matters already in process, but new substantive law (what the requirements or qualifications are for example) only applies to new matters (new applications) after the substantive provisions take effect. So, it is entirely normal that applications already in process are now being processed pursuant to the new procedures, including in particular the so-called one-step decision-making process, pursuant to which the Minister (CIC Citizenship Officers in practice), decide all citizenship applications except those for which CIC is not satisfied the applicant met the residency requirement.
dpenabill- Thank you for the explanation. I fully agree with your comments regarding the FPAT issue. I believe the term of FPAT effective 01 August means that the CO is not convinced with all the details he has. In this case a face to face interview with a judge will sort things out. My question is what if the file's notes section does not indicate a FPAT term but indicate a note like " File is assigned to ED for review and analysis". Are those two terms means the same in term of being referred to a judge.
Sorry, I do not know. There are others more knowledgeable about what particular entries in GCMS mean.echorael said:
My knowledge about the FPAT is derived from CIC's responses to a number of non-personal Access to Information requests, submitted by various parties and mostly related to RQ, OB 407, and subsequent clarifications and revisions of these, considered in context with the relevant provisions in the Citizenship Act, the operational manuals for citizenship application processing (no longer available), and of course reports in this and other forums (I have been following reports in this forum since joining it in 2010, and in other forums going back a couple years prior to that). I have only had access to a few responses to personal ATIP requests (which mostly, for at least a few years now, mostly generates a copy of query-based report from GCMS unless physical files or more specific information is requested).
In the meantime, it is almost certain that there have been and will be new checklists, forms, and templates, or at least substantial revision to the existing ones, as CIC continues to implement changes, particularly those changes made by statute (Bill C-24). As I said, I was curious whether anyone is reporting a FPAT completion since August 1st, since that may be one of the templates being replaced. As I also said, I guess (meaning I do not know for sure and really am guessing) that it, or a revision of it, is still being used for actual referrals to Citizenship Judges, which now are made only in residency cases.