Info-sharing is used specifically with Five Country Conference (FCC) countries, i.e. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the U.S, and federal agencies as per the agreements in place. The object of information-sharing is to support the effective administration and enforcement of Canada’s citizenship and immigration programs including, but not limited to, such matters as:
- travel to Canada, authorization to enter into Canada, the investigation of matters relating to program abuse, criminality, public safety and health, the coordination and streamlining of enforcement cases and the sharing of services and facilities, i.e., those used for detention purposes;
- the selection of foreign nationals, issuance of visas, protection of refugees, integration of newcomers, support of provincial and territorial immigration programs and settlement services;
- the support of Canada’s public safety and security objectives with respect to the management of the global movement of people and combating international terrorism, war crimes, crimes against humanity and organized crime.
See
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/resources/manuals/in/in01-eng.pdf
However, as a process it is different from criminality. Under criminal admissibility, an applicants applying for permanent residence is considered to be criminally inadmissible if the person:
- was convicted of an offence in Canada;
- was convicted of an offence outside of Canada that is considered a crime in Canada; or
- committed an act outside of Canada that is considered a crime under the laws of the country where it occurred and would be punishable under Canadian law.
If you see page 2 of your GCMS notes, they are processed differently and tare depicted separately.
Even if info-sharing is not passed, or in progress, other stages will continue to progress. Since for criminality biometrics are required, if your biometrics are not on file, that would be a reason for the delay. Also, once the biometrics are on file, they have to be sent to RCMP and RCMP will revert back to IRCC based on their search.
Seehttps://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/corporate-initiatives/biometrics/process-steps-2018.html