Thanks
@legalfalcon and yes, I meant to order CBSA/CSIS notes, not GCMS at this point. I have ordered CBSA before, but not CSIS, perhaps it would be more useful to order CSIS at this point?
When you say that security for most applicants is done within 1-3 months, do you mean also for applicants that go under "comprehensive" security screening? From previous posts on this thread I read it may delay things 1 year or more, so it would give me hope to know if it may just be a matter of 1-3 months extra instead.
All applications have to go through security. The security is the blanket term for Background Checks, which includes criminality, security and many other criterion.
There are a number of reasons an applicant can be found inadmissible to Canada, including the following:
- security,
- human or international rights violations,
- criminality,
- organized criminality,
- misrepresentation,
- non-compliance with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA),
- having an inadmissible family member.
The specialised agencies are tasked with the authority to look into these and provide inputs to IRCC, who makes the final decision. Usually, the criminality is decided based on PCCs, which is done early in the application processing. Whereas the security screening is the final stage, and may be prolonged for some applicants. There is no time frame for this. Some see it being wrapped up within 6-10 months after it starts, others wait for 2 years, and in some cases longer.
In most cases, IRCC sends the application for security screening to CBSA via National Security Screening Division, which is part of CBSA. At the same time the applications are also referred to CSIS, and other screening partners, on a case by case basis.
The security related details are never disclosed, and are exempt from disclosure under section 13(1)(a) -information obtained from a government of a foreign state, s. 16(1)(c) disclosure that may be injurious to the enforcement of any law of Canada or a province or the conduct of lawful investigations etc. of the Access to Information Act or the corresponding provisions of the Privacy Act.
Since the usual flow is that CSIS will conclude its investigations and send the report to CBSA, which then compiles the final report after other screening partners have sent the reports, and sends it to NSSD which is then transmitted to IRCC.
In applications where information from foreign governments cannot be readily obtained, or there is an apprehension, on reasonable grounds, about the applicant's involvement in factors listed above, those applications will go to CSIS. This is one of the many criterion in the Operational Manual among others.
The CSIS notes will merely inform you whether they have concluded the security screening or not, and if they have, on what date was your report sent to CBSA. It will also contain a bunch of personal information, based on which CSIS conduced security, but the final report is never disclosed.
The CBSA and CSIS notes are exactly the same. The only difference is that the CBSA note do not redact the security related activities, which helps you know the dates when the security screening commenced. Most, but not in all cases, there will be a minimum of 4 security related activities. Most applicants see progress after 4 security related activities in CBSA notes.
However, since the security related activities are never disclosed, and no one knows how it is conduced, except what is available in the operational manual, which was released by CBSA in a redacted version, all you can do is wait, or request the CSIS / CBSA notes to see the dates.
A lot of applicants compare times lines with others, and claim that CBSA takes x number of months, where as CSIS takes y number of months, this is all BS and anecdotal.
CBSA or any of the security screening partners have never submitted any formal timelines before any Parliamentary committee or relased any such timeframe in any of its reports.
There are inter-agency memorandums, such as those that exist between CBSA and RCMP, CBSA and CSIS, which to refer to some times lines within which the agency has to respond, but since these are MoU's, and not law, so they are not a rigid timeframe. Also, all information disclosed by security agencies is old, as the most recent reports and filings before the Parliament are exempt from disclosure.
The bottom line, you have to be patient. You can request CSIS notes and see if they have concluded their involvement in your case and submitted the report to CBSA, and then wait for the 4 activities to show up in your CBSA. There are many other applicants that are in the same situation as yours, so instead of relying on anecdotal evidence, or relying on self proclaimed know it all pseudo immigration gurus, be patient for the process to finish, read the operational manual and be informed, and if you feel the need to know the dates, you can consider requesting CBSA / CSIS notes.
Hope this helps!