Dears,
as per Operational Bulletin 089 – December 2, 2008
Section V. Procedures at missions
Upon receipt of a complete application, the visa office will make the final assessment as to whether the applicant meets the Ministerial Instructions. If the applicant meets the Instructions, the visa office will enter code “1” at the paper screening (T-11) stage before the application is processed. This is important because it will clearly separate the eligibility assessment from processing (see section VI below). Once placed into processing, the processing fee is not refundable. Applications assessed by the visa office as meeting the Instructions should then be processed in the usual manner on a priority basis.
If it is determined by the visa office that the applicant does not meet the Instructions, the visa office will enter code “2” at the paper screening (T-11) stage in CAIPS. (Note: missions refusing applications at the paper-screening stage, based on minimum requirements or points, will discontinue this practice in order to clearly distinguish between cases which are not eligible and those which do not meet minimum requirements or the pass mark.) All original supporting documents will be returned along with a letter informing the applicant that they are not eligible and that a refund will be issued. For applications submitted directly to the visa office, the visa office will process the refund. For applications that were created in CAIPS at the CIO, the visa office will send an email to the CIO requesting them to initiate the refund. An email address and template as well as written procedures will soon be provided by International Region.
Missions are requested to do CAIPS runs, based on the A87 BF code, at regular intervals to ensure that files transferred from the CIO are closed after the 120 days have elapsed. If no application is received within 120 days, the visa office will close the file using code “3” at the paper-screening (T-11) stage and request the CIO to refund the fee.
Regards
Amr
