My god, security screen can take this long!!!
This is from Auditor General of Canada report for 2011
2.51
Timeliness of security screening. We also examined whether the results of the CBSA’s security screening provided to Canada-based officers are timely. We found that, for the most part, the Agency responded in a timely manner for temporary residence cases.
2.52 The temporary residence screening manual indicates that the CBSA will reply to a visa officer’s referral within 10 working days. Our file review showed that the CBSA responded to the missions within 10 working days in 80 percent of the cases. However, we found that in at least 25 percent of those cases, it had not waited for CSIS input before providing the security screening results. Therefore, the results provided to Canada-based officers did not include the CSIS review. This occurred because the CBSA’s data system automatically sends a response to the missions after 10 days, unless an analyst has put a hold on the file. We were told, however, that if a concern is identified by CSIS after 10 days, the CBSA would notify the mission to stop the visa issuance. Nevertheless, the current practice allows for the exclusion of potentially important information due to the possibility that CSIS is unable to provide a response within 10 working days.
2.53 For permanent residence cases, we noted that there was a formal agreement on service standards in the 2006 memorandum of understanding between CIC and the CBSA, which stated that advice will be provided to visa officers within 9 to 18 months. Through our file review, we found that the CBSA had completed its analysis in less than 9 months in 67 percent of the cases and exceeded 18 months in 19 percent of the cases.
2.54 We also reviewed a sample of 10 percent of the 72 permanent residence cases analyzed by the CBSA after CSIS had completed its review for national security concerns. In the cases we examined, we found that CSIS took an average of 34 months to provide its results to the CBSA when there was information requiring further investigation. We noted that the CBSA concurred with the advice provided by CSIS but, on average, it took an additional 9 months to send the advice to the visa officer without adding specific details about the individual.
2.55 In responding to our survey, 46 percent of the Canada-based officers indicated they were concerned with the length of time it can take to obtain information or advice from security partners. The CBSA has recognized that timeliness is a concern and, at the end of our audit, had initiated measures to improve the timeliness of its screening.
