The anatomy of a Background Check? - <<<<<<IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS>>>>>>>

[canadacalling777]

Sure, send me a PM. I may not be able to respond immediately, but will get back to you soon.

Sent.

will be waiting for your response.

 

[nazgul86]

Hello,
I received GCMS and CBSA notes around beginning of July and learned that my wife (2nd applicant) was going through comprehensive security screening. When would be a good time to request additional notes, or is there anything else I could do to learn more what's happening (if anything) on our application?

 

[a16107]

What should I do if CIC didn't receive my HK police cert?

HK Police mail my police cert to CIC directly but CIC still didn't receive it after 3.5 weeks

Canada Post doesn't show any tracking info for registered mail so i have no way to track.

Is there a case that CIC received my police cert but didn't update on system (call center note)?

 

[legalfalcon]

Hello,
I received GCMS and CBSA notes around beginning of July and learned that my wife (2nd applicant) was going through comprehensive security screening. When would be a good time to request additional notes, or is there anything else I could do to learn more what's happening (if anything) on our application?

If you know that you are in security screening there is no point requesting GCMS notes as the security related info is redacted in them.

The CBSA notes are exactly like GCMS with the exception that the activities related to security are not redacted. But it merely informs you of the dates. There are usually 4 security activities before the security is concluded.

The CSIS notes inform you of your application has been sent to CSIS and when it was sent, if they have concluded their investigations and sent the report to CBSA, which will then compile the final report and send it to IRCC.

But if you just wait patiently, the security for most applicants is done within 1-3 months.

If it takes longer, then there is no timeline that is there.

The CBSA and CSIS notes will help you know the dates, but not anything more.

 

[legalfalcon]

What should I do if CIC didn't receive my HK police cert?

HK Police mail my police cert to CIC directly but CIC still didn't receive it after 3.5 weeks

Canada Post doesn't show any tracking info for registered mail so i have no way to track.

Is there a case that CIC received my police cert but didn't update on system (call center note)?

If you can get a letter or some information from HK police confirming that your PCC was dispatched, you can send that to IRCC.

But you will have to wait it out.

 

[nazgul86]

If you know that you are in security screening there is no point requesting GCMS notes as the security related info is redacted in them.

The CBSA notes are exactly like GCMS with the exception that the activities related to security are not redacted. But it merely informs you of the dates. There are usually 4 security activities before the security is concluded.

The CSIS notes inform you of your application has been sent to CSIS and when it was sent, if they have concluded their investigations and sent the report to CBSA, which will then compile the final report and send it to IRCC.

But if you just wait patiently, the security for most applicants is done within 1-3 months.

If it takes longer, then there is no timeline that is there.

The CBSA and CSIS notes will help you know the dates, but not anything more.

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.

 

[torontob]

Hello,
I received GCMS and CBSA notes around beginning of July and learned that my wife (2nd applicant) was going through comprehensive security screening. When would be a good time to request additional notes, or is there anything else I could do to learn more what's happening (if anything) on our application?

That is impossible for one person to go through security per LegalFalcon as everyone has to go to security. False info.

You can order CSIS and see if they are handling her name too or not. If they are its almost certain you will wait 3 months because of them. If they don't have it yet or do not receive it your CBSA work will be done sooner. You will fall in 3 months, 6 months, or a 12 month time slot for CBSA to complete all and send back to CIC. 3-6 months most likely for you if your CBSA started in July.

And your ATIP inquiries won't make it faster.

 

[torontob]

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.

Nazgul, assuming your origin is Iran or Pakistan, I would say gave 6 months for CBSA is more likely the time you have to wait. Somehow, CBSA has 6 months and 12 months clocks set and I have seen few people get answers right on the dot.

 

[nazgul86]

Nazgul, assuming your origin is Iran or Pakistan, I would say gave 6 months for CBSA is more likely the time you have to wait. Somehow, CBSA has 6 months and 12 months clocks set and I have seen few people get answers right on the dot.

I'm from Italy, but my wife is from Iran. From my understanding of the CBSA notes, only my wife was going through comprehensive background check. So which notes would better shed light on where we are with the security step, CBSA or CSIS notes?

 

[legalfalcon]

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!

 

[DS1990]

but for some applicants, this starts early in the process. These applicants are PNP applicants.

Hi everyone,

I applied through the PNP program by mail, INLAND. Despite the fact that the first post of the topic says that the security check for the PNP program starts at the beginning of the process - my security check began at the end - on the 11 month from the date of submission.

Could you tell me how long now (2018-2019) this checking takes? What factors can affect it? I heard that the number of countries I visited is very influential. I've been in almost all countries of the European Union, somewhere I studied English, somewhere I just traveled. Will CSIS check each of these countries, or will they request only one check from the Schengen area?

 

[torontob]

All applications have to go through security. The security is the blanket term for Background Checks, which includes criminality, security and many other criterion.

I am happy you took the way out and corrected yourself. You did not mention that ALL applications go to CBSA and CSIS and that is a good thing. I am also assured now that you understand the process and hopefully your wisdom and knowledge continues to help people who seek accurate information here.

Yes, "security" is a general term and CIC officer can reject an application at his own "security" step because for example the applicant said they were part of a terrorist group. So, yes first step is "security" check by CIC officer. IF the officer is not convinced the applicant is 100% clean then he MAY send to CBSA who MAY send to CSIS if they see fit. That is the process now as it happens now. CBSA also has other partners including RCMP who has few posts around the world who. They also get involved at times or help in the background. They are the very practical eye and ears on the ground and I am thinking they do more of local work when needed. They do get involved with immigration cases but also get involved in other espionage and 007 style work (OK not exactly; they use contractors mostly).

 

[torontob]

I'm from Italy, but my wife is from Iran. From my understanding of the CBSA notes, only my wife was going through comprehensive background check. So which notes would better shed light on where we are with the security step, CBSA or CSIS notes?

You are correct that only your wife went to CBSA for a Comprehensive A34 check or other type. It is her origin that unfortunately is discriminated against. For some other counteries it is the mandatory military records that CIC officers send to CBSA for. This is not a rigid written rule but once the officer is in doubt it is easier for them to send to CBSA who most of the time also doesn't find anything. Specially, with Iran where the gov doesn't respond to Canada or USA at all. CBSA runs checks with Interpol etc and maybe runs it by CSIS who else doens't find any info but HEY GUESS WHAT they did their job and one day they can say it was not our fault we looked at everything we had at our disposal. It is a bit of a stupid process because it find very very low number of people. Something around 1% or less. And those are find simply by running a 30 second interpol check for example so this process should be much faster or access should be given to CIC officers to run that check. Anyhow, I am getting off track.

A- You should NOT order GCMS notes through CIC anymore. Simply order any GCMS notes you need through CBSA always. It is the same notes with less details redacted. If you haven't ordered CBSA notes yet go ahead and order it.

B- CBSA only shows their communication tih CIC and not with their other security partners like CSIS. So you won't know when CSIS was requested to look into your wife's file. But I think the date CSIS received the file shows on their letter if your reuqest their letter. I am not sure about Iranians but it is about 3 months for most other people. Probably same applies to Iranians too. Once you have an approximate CSIS date by matching your dates between different documents, wait 3 months, and then CBSA receives the notes from CSIS and compiles their file and sends their *opinion* to CIC. CIC can take few days to couple months maybe to get back to you. By that time if you are left with only a month or so to your medical they will ask for re-medical because visa won't issue for little time left (at least that is 100% the case with Parents applications I know).

If your case is in Egypt or Cairo (deals with Iran), send them an email the moment you see CSIS or CBSA done and ask for Passport Request They will send you re-medical if needed. Even if your case is in Italy do the same. The good thing about Egypt and Cairo is they are very quick. Iranians only get hit with security delay and are not encumbered by lazy local visa offices at least.

Good Luck!

 

[torontob]

Hi everyone,

I applied through the PNP program by mail, INLAND. Despite the fact that the first post of the topic says that the security check for the PNP program starts at the beginning of the process - my security check began at the end - on the 11 month from the date of submission.

Could you tell me how long now (2018-2019) this checking takes? What factors can affect it? I heard that the number of countries I visited is very influential. I've been in almost all countries of the European Union, somewhere I studied English, somewhere I just traveled. Will CSIS check each of these countries, or will they request only one check from the Schengen area?

I don't know when PNP security check starts but you could be right that most people get it earlier because some application types are privileged like that (same is spousal cases). That is not to say that every case must go that way. Every visa office and every visa officer has their own mind and all them can be lazy and disorganized so anything can happen to a file.

You question about "what factors" and "how long" are lengthy so I can't answer but your can read the forum and search for that info.

Country visits could delay things OR send you to CBSA for a Comprehensive A34 check which can delay you for a 1, 3, 6, or 12 months. If you only traveled Europe, I highly doubt anyone would care to send you to CBSA. But if you are from Iran for example and only traveled to Europe you will still go to CBSA.

"Will CSIS check each of these countries?" <<< they may or they may not. At least their computers are connected to 5 Eye computers (google the 5 eye countries). What they unearth on you should not be damaging if you just traveled there. If you are asking the details of their methods and what they find I would hope they don't disclose that ever but their manuals and audits gives away a lot. Checking social media, interpol lists, etc...is a common thing. What I doubt happens is that they will send a file to each country and that country has an officer waiting to respond on you. This doesn't happen for sure because no country helps another that much. Computers connected to each to *some degree* yes. If one is not a criminal the result of what they do doesn't matter. If one has had a history then best to match the charges to Canadian laws and see if that makes them inadmissible and move forward based on that. It's important to be truthful because misrepresentation can ban the applicant from Canada for some years or for good.

 

[nazgul86]

You are correct that only your wife went to CBSA for a Comprehensive A34 check or other type. It is her origin that unfortunately is discriminated against. For some other counteries it is the mandatory military records that CIC officers send to CBSA for. This is not a rigid written rule but once the officer is in doubt it is easier for them to send to CBSA who most of the time also doesn't find anything. Specially, with Iran where the gov doesn't respond to Canada or USA at all. CBSA runs checks with Interpol etc and maybe runs it by CSIS who else doens't find any info but HEY GUESS WHAT they did their job and one day they can say it was not our fault we looked at everything we had at our disposal. It is a bit of a stupid process because it find very very low number of people. Something around 1% or less. And those are find simply by running a 30 second interpol check for example so this process should be much faster or access should be given to CIC officers to run that check. Anyhow, I am getting off track.

A- You should NOT order GCMS notes through CIC anymore. Simply order any GCMS notes you need through CBSA always. It is the same notes with less details redacted. If you haven't ordered CBSA notes yet go ahead and order it.

B- CBSA only shows their communication tih CIC and not with their other security partners like CSIS. So you won't know when CSIS was requested to look into your wife's file. But I think the date CSIS received the file shows on their letter if your reuqest their letter. I am not sure about Iranians but it is about 3 months for most other people. Probably same applies to Iranians too. Once you have an approximate CSIS date by matching your dates between different documents, wait 3 months, and then CBSA receives the notes from CSIS and compiles their file and sends their *opinion* to CIC. CIC can take few days to couple months maybe to get back to you. By that time if you are left with only a month or so to your medical they will ask for re-medical because visa won't issue for little time left (at least that is 100% the case with Parents applications I know).

If your case is in Egypt or Cairo (deals with Iran), send them an email the moment you see CSIS or CBSA done and ask for Passport Request They will send you re-medical if needed. Even if your case is in Italy do the same. The good thing about Egypt and Cairo is they are very quick. Iranians only get hit with security delay and are not encumbered by lazy local visa offices at least.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the reply, I believe our case is in Canada (that's what agents told me on the phone) as my wife is a temporary resident in Vancouver, Canada and I'm a resident in Seattle, WA.
Just to clarify, I did order CBSA notes before and that's how I got to know my wife was going through Comprehensive background check. What I am still not clear is how long this normally takes (I'm seeing a big range from 3 months to 2 years), but I guess it depends on case by case.
I will go ahead and order CSIS notes and see where we are at!
On a side note, since of this delay, we are planning to be relocated by my company to Toronto and obtain a Canadian work permit (for both), while waiting for the PR to finish. Do you see any issues with that?