People under Security Screening - What is your background?

[battylife]

I'll share first.

I'm a Chinese national. I spent both my undergraduate and graduate years in the US. I worked for 2 years for an American institution on matters concerning AI and biomedical drug discovery, and then 1 year at a Chinese no-name startup. I received AOR on 01/16/2023 via the FSW route, and screening began on 05/10/2023 according to CBSA and CSIS notes.

Historically, people of my background were very rarely sent to screening. IIRC starting 2017, applicants educated by certain Chinese schools with links to the military were sent to SS en masse. But it did not take until late 2022 for most Chinese applicants with a STEM background to be sent to screening.

I made this post to assess if my hunch about recent changes are roughly correct: MENA applicants (especially Iranian) are still being sent to SS at a high rate, while SS rates for Chinese applicants have recently exponentially exploded. If so, then backlogs at CSIS and CBSA are going to increase, making mandamus more worthwhile. Historically, mandamus for applicants under SS have mixed results, because CSIS is apparently exempt from being put on the defendant's bench; one had to rely on IRCC to pressure them into action.

 

[xueshen0607]

Same Chinese here. Both of my husband and myself are completely finance background (banking, internal control consulting, financing). We were sent to SS on June 16.
Totally furious and confused at IRCC now. Hope our SS won’t take too long.

 

[apollonoob]

Currently Chinese is one of redflag for background check. Add my WeChat:wenguozexi8877, I can invite you to a background check group, if you want

 

[qdee]

Hi, how did you know that most Chinese applicants with STEM backgrounds are sent through snail security screening?

 

[apollonoob]

Hi, how did you know that most Chinese applicants with STEM backgrounds are sent through snail security screening?

You may check the cases in myimmigrationtracker.com. most of cases which are significantly slower than others are Chinese applicants.

 

[battylife]

Question: Is there some way for me to wait and work in Canada on an open ended permit while waiting for SS to clear? I am currently outside of Canada. To me, the whole point of applying for EE is to avoid having to apply for an LMIA and a closed ended work permit.

 

[qdee]

Same Chinese here. Both of my husband and myself are completely finance background (banking, internal control consulting, financing). We were sent to SS on June 16.
Totally furious and confused at IRCC now. Hope our SS won’t take too long.

Hi, how did you know the date your security screening started? Was it from GCMS/CBSA notes or were there updates on your tracker?

 

[xueshen0607]

Hi, how did you know the date your security screening started? Was it from GCMS/CBSA notes or were there updates on your tracker?

Yeah in Tracker there is a record saying "Background verification status has been updated to In progress". And click F12 I can see a history "Security" with Status "17", which means security is in progress.

 

[qdee]

Yeah in Tracker there is a record saying "Background verification status has been updated to In progress". And click F12 I can see a history "Security" with Status "17", which means security is in progress.

Thanks for this info! I guess I'm in the security pit as well

 

[theodoreyang]

Federal stage from quebec
Medical passed on March and no news since then.
GCMS note shows "SECURITY: 1" but no details.

 

[Leo0215]

Federal stage from quebec
Medical passed on March and no news since then.
GCMS note shows "SECURITY: 1" but no details.

Hi, I got same security = 1 on GCMS note. no news since June.

 

[batman12345]

I'll share first.

I'm a Chinese national. I spent both my undergraduate and graduate years in the US. I worked for 2 years for an American institution on matters concerning AI and biomedical drug discovery, and then 1 year at a Chinese no-name startup. I received AOR on 01/16/2023 via the FSW route, and screening began on 05/10/2023 according to CBSA and CSIS notes.

Historically, people of my background were very rarely sent to screening. IIRC starting 2017, applicants educated by certain Chinese schools with links to the military were sent to SS en masse. But it did not take until late 2022 for most Chinese applicants with a STEM background to be sent to screening.

I made this post to assess if my hunch about recent changes are roughly correct: MENA applicants (especially Iranian) are still being sent to SS at a high rate, while SS rates for Chinese applicants have recently exponentially exploded. If so, then backlogs at CSIS and CBSA are going to increase, making mandamus more worthwhile. Historically, mandamus for applicants under SS have mixed results, because CSIS is apparently exempt from being put on the defendant's bench; one had to rely on IRCC to pressure them into action.

How do you know Iranian applicants being sent to SS at a high rate?

 

[garniita]

I'll share first.

I'm a Chinese national. I spent both my undergraduate and graduate years in the US. I worked for 2 years for an American institution on matters concerning AI and biomedical drug discovery, and then 1 year at a Chinese no-name startup. I received AOR on 01/16/2023 via the FSW route, and screening began on 05/10/2023 according to CBSA and CSIS notes.

Historically, people of my background were very rarely sent to screening. IIRC starting 2017, applicants educated by certain Chinese schools with links to the military were sent to SS en masse. But it did not take until late 2022 for most Chinese applicants with a STEM background to be sent to screening.

I made this post to assess if my hunch about recent changes are roughly correct: MENA applicants (especially Iranian) are still being sent to SS at a high rate, while SS rates for Chinese applicants have recently exponentially exploded. If so, then backlogs at CSIS and CBSA are going to increase, making mandamus more worthwhile. Historically, mandamus for applicants under SS have mixed results, because CSIS is apparently exempt from being put on the defendant's bench; one had to rely on IRCC to pressure them into action.

hi have you gotten your Ecopr?

 

[richardsmile1]

Yeah in Tracker there is a record saying "Background verification status has been updated to In progress". And click F12 I can see a history "Security" with Status "17", which means security is in progress.

You need to order GCMS notes to know when you were sent for security screening because F12 shows the date created or loaded which sometimes has time gap.

 

[xueshen0607]

You need to order GCMS notes to know when you were sent for security screening because F12 shows the date created or loaded which sometimes has time gap.

no gap in my case. Anyways if you are sent for security screening, there is not much really meaningful you can do except waiting.