GCMS notes rant.

[solomonwise]

Now for a proper complaint.
The first time I ordered the GCMS notes was Jan 21 I received them Feb 20 but yet it was processed Jan 22, It takes 30 days to send an electronic file to an email address! I think that is something that should be improved upon and take a maximum of two weeks to be sent out. A 2 week turn around would be more then sufficient, We can order things from CRA and have them sent to our houses by mail and normally be in our hands within a two week period. This 30 day turn around for the notes is most likely based on reducing work load as I am sure there would be people ordering every 2 weeks. However that work load is covered by a different department. That department exists for that sole reason for access to information. It would be nice during this lengthy process of sponsorship to have something that has a reasonable time frame when we order/request information.

I have ordered the notes again March 12 and most likely they processed either March 12 or March 13, but yet I have to wait all the way to about April 10 (12 is a weekend) for them to email me. That I think is an unacceptable time frame for an email. Having the notes say by next week could really help us out with some of our decisions that my wife and I need to make by seeing what stages of the application are now completed. Such decisions as Do I have the time to go and visit my wife now? or are we nearing completion? My wife is flying back home early next month, should she just stay there as it could be nearing the time of her COPR/VISA being approved or will she go back to Thailand and wait out the rest of the procedure.

It would help us and many more of you too if GCMS notes could be issued within reasonable time and not 30 days later.

Chris.

The email below will give an idea of how CIC ATIP section operate which gives backing to what @PMM posted earlier :

Thank you for contacting the Access to Information and Privacy Office.


The records you received were printed after your request was received, and were processed within the 30 days allowed by the Act. We do not have the resources to review and send records the day they are printed. If you would like to receive a new version of the electronic notes, you must submit a new Access to Information request.

To learn more about Access to Information and Privacy, please visit us at the following: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/DEPARTMENT/atip/index.asp

Regards,

Client Service Representative | Représentant du service à la clientèle.
Access to Information and Privacy | Accès à l’information et protection des renseignements personnels
Citizenship and Immigration Canada | Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada
Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada

From the email above,it is obvious CIC ATIP Section

1. Print and Review the notes

2. They also edit (redact) some sections of the GCMS note.

3. They are overwhelmed by the number of requests received vis a vis the resources with which they process the requests and this is understandable. You have to appreciate they look through the notes to be sure information to be redacted are not allowed on the notes. You will agree this is a time meticulous process and time consuming process.

 

[Christoph100]

The email below will give an idea of how CIC ATIP section operate which gives backing to what @ PMM posted earlier :

Thank you, however I am already aware how it works. It would be nice if it could be completed faster and more efficiently.

Chris

 

[brucem]

I think the easy answer would be that if they simply took the time to update ecas they would drastically reduce the number of requests for the notes. I'm not asking for War and Peace but a basic sentence giving some indication of where your application is at would suffice. My ecas still reads as 'application received' nearly 9 months after, even though they have asked me for additional information.

I'm sure they are desperately short of resources but the fact they can push through applications in 90 days (as Mississagua has shown....and yes I know all apps are unique but a large majority are straightforward!) shows how chaotic/understaffed the organisation is.

 

[AshleyAnne]

We could pay politicians less and put more budget money into agencies like CIC allowing for more workers
BUT NOW LETS GIVE HARPER A RAISE

 

[Christoph100]

We could pay politicians less and put more budget money into agencies like CIC allowing for more workers

Good idea lets call the Government and tell them we the people are giving them a pay cut lol

Chris

 

[Mariac819]

The person isn't saying THEY should be treated specially, they are saying ALLL notes should be processed faster than 30 days. There is no way in hell that the notes take 30 days to be reviewed. And seems as it is EMAIL, it should be virtually instant.
I'm in the same boat, I need to know if I should pack up and move back to Canada and wait out our application or just wait until its approved. If it will be another 8 months then I will move back, if it will be 1 month to 2 months I'll wait it out until my hubby can move too. A lot of people have their enitre lives on hold until their applications get sorted out. It doesn't seem fair that the only way you can know what is happeneing with your application is if you live in Canada and can call CIC (which from what I've heard is a horrendous process in which you are on hold for hours if you can even get through) or through notes, which take at LEAST 30 days. I completely agree there should be another way. We should at least have a call center that can access our applications online and actually SEE what has happened recently. Or WE should be able to log online and see what exactly is going on with our application versus ECAS simply saying 'received' for the entire process. Why not make it so we can see if documents are missing or if our application has been misplaced online versus requesting notes? The process would be SO much faster this way!

I called CIC plenty of times from NYC.

 

[AshleyAnne]

Yeah someone just posted the number apparently.
Who do you talk to?
What do you ask?
Are you applying through Ottawa also?

 

[agarand8]

I don't know that there's exactly that much to improve upon really. There's a few extra things that they could post in ecas that they don't. Like if they've sent out an email or a letter and are waiting for something from you I think that could be out there and I think even a PDF of the letter could be attached. Those without email access would never have to worry about lost mail that way. If they have you in the queue for an interview they could post that in there along with the average wait time for an interview with their office. Once they post in process they could post once they've started/completed the security and criminality checks.

But honestly if you're seeing "application received" you're essentially just in line for review. You can order notes but unless you're waiting for an interview your notes aren't going to tell you anything. In my case I did get an interview so my notes showed me that I was added to an interview queue, they showed my additional document request, and our communications regarding the birth of my daughter. The only helpful thing it told me was that I was waiting for an interview. they didn't say why, there wasn't a paragraph with notes on our relationship evidence literally all it said was "add to Nicaragua interview queue". So at least I knew that much. But I think if I hadn't needed an interview it would have just been a wasted $5.

 

[Mariac819]

Yeah someone just posted the number apparently.
Who do you talk to?
What do you ask?
Are you applying through Ottawa also?

Yes i am at the Ottawa VO. When I spoke to CIC it was while my application was at Mississauga. Inquired about SA. Now that it is in Ottawa I have only communicated with the Ottawa VO via email for an address change and a phone number change. I have not heard anything about my application though. I am assuming that because July applicants are starting to hear from Ottawa that they are just running a bit slower than they did last year.

 

[Mariac819]

I don't know that there's exactly that much to improve upon really. There's a few extra things that they could post in ecas that they don't. Like if they've sent out an email or a letter and are waiting for something from you I think that could be out there and I think even a PDF of the letter could be attached. Those without email access would never have to worry about lost mail that way. If they have you in the queue for an interview they could post that in there along with the average wait time for an interview with their office. Once they post in process they could post once they've started/completed the security and criminality checks.

But honestly if you're seeing "application received" you're essentially just in line for review. You can order notes but unless you're waiting for an interview your notes aren't going to tell you anything. In my case I did get an interview so my notes showed me that I was added to an interview queue, they showed my additional document request, and our communications regarding the birth of my daughter. The only helpful thing it told me was that I was waiting for an interview. they didn't say why, there wasn't a paragraph with notes on our relationship evidence literally all it said was "add to Nicaragua interview queue". So at least I knew that much. But I think if I hadn't needed an interview it would have just been a wasted $5.

I have to agree with you. I have ordered notes twice now. Once at 3 months and once at 6 months. The only difference since November is that they checked off two documents are received LOL ... I was like seriously? ... One of them is one that doesn't even apply to us. So I am going to assume that if a document doesn't apply to the application they check it off in the system so that it doesn't cause a problem later on when the application is being reviewed. Aside from those two small differences the notes were identical in November and February. So long story short, I am pretty sure I am just in a line waiting to be reviewed.

 

[mec14]

But honestly if you're seeing "application received" you're essentially just in line for review. You can order notes but unless you're waiting for an interview your notes aren't going to tell you anything. In my case I did get an interview so my notes showed me that I was added to an interview queue, they showed my additional document request, and our communications regarding the birth of my daughter. The only helpful thing it told me was that I was waiting for an interview. they didn't say why, there wasn't a paragraph with notes on our relationship evidence literally all it said was "add to Nicaragua interview queue". So at least I knew that much. But I think if I hadn't needed an interview it would have just been a wasted $5.

That's not actually true... Mine is 'application received' but I know that they've passed me on medical grounds (now expired), assessed our relationship as genuine and recommended we pass, applied and received RCMP record, etc. All this back in August last year. My application was certainly 'in process' for while, but now I appear back in the queue.

If I had seen any update in ECAS to reflect that my application was moving along then I wouldn't have applied for GCMS notes. All I really wanted was some confidence that my application had arrived safely and was being looked at. A few small updates would certainly reduce the number of requests.

 

[AshleyAnne]

Yes i am at the Ottawa VO. When I spoke to CIC it was while my application was at Mississauga. Inquired about SA. Now that it is in Ottawa I have only communicated with the Ottawa VO via email for an address change and a phone number change. I have not heard anything about my application though. I am assuming that because July applicants are starting to hear from Ottawa that they are just running a bit slower than they did last year.

July applicants are still not hearing anything. And June is frozen too.
We've had one person this month go to application in process and one from Darhma or something that got DM last month, outside of that there are a lot of us just waiting. My app was in July 11th and its been frozen since December.

 

[Mariac819]

July applicants are still not hearing anything. And June is frozen too.
We've had one person this month go to application in process and one from Darhma or something that got DM last month, outside of that there are a lot of us just waiting. My app was in July 11th and its been frozen since December.

According to the Ottawa Spreadsheet quite a few of the June applicants already landed. They are starting to move into July. One July applicant already landed and one is in process. I think its only a matter of time before you hear anything. I am sure that some people haven't bothered to enter their info in the sheet though. Plus not to mention all the ones who aren't even on these forums. I do know for sure that the only ones who heard something from the Sept batch either 1. had their applications left in Mississauga or 2. They had visa offices that moved super quick. :-\

 

[ydj_dil]

I believe that they take 30 days to respond to ATIP for two reasons. One is that they are genuinely short of resources. And two, if they responded back immediately via "automated process", then all of us would be requesting ATIP every 5 mins and breathing down VO's neck to give us an update. Its been 5 mins and file hasn't moved!! Get moving! So, to discourage continuous ATIP requests from applicants, 30 day blackout period would serve well. Of course, you can still put in daily ATIP requests for $5 and receive daily notes with 30 day delay, but thats too much now right?

 

[AshleyAnne]

According to the Ottawa Spreadsheet quite a few of the June applicants already landed. They are starting to move into July. One July applicant already landed and one is in process. I think its only a matter of time before you hear anything. I am sure that some people haven't bothered to enter their info in the sheet though. Plus not to mention all the ones who aren't even on these forums. I do know for sure that the only ones who heard something from the Sept batch either 1. had their applications left in Mississauga or 2. They had visa offices that moved super quick. :-\

Yeah a lot of people landed really early, one July applicant got in process last week, a couple landed back in November, same with June, June was flying through. It is just since December that nothing has happened. There A LOT of July applicants that haven't heard a peep since December. If you check the July outland 2014 thread you'll see quite a few people highly concerned. Same with June. We were all really hopeful with how many applicants moved quickly early on, but everything stopped in December.