The Mystery of Security Screening for Canadian Visa Applications Unravelled: All You Need to Know.

‘Security Screening’ is one of the stages of an application that has been shrouded in complete secrecy. For permanent resident applicants, security screening shows up as a part of the Background Check (BGC) in their MyCIC account.  The background check is a catch-all phrase for Criminality, security and info sharing.
Background Check status in MyCIC account will change from “not applicable,” to “in progress,” then again to “not applicable,” and again to “we are processing your background check” during the processing of an application. Since BGC encompasses criminality, security screening and info sharing, the BGC status changes once early in the processing of an application when the criminality checks are done and then again when the security screening is initiated.

Security Screening: GET GCMS

1. What is Security Screening?

Any foreign national who wants to enter Canada as a permanent resident has to obtain a Canadian Visa. Foreign nationals who want to enter Canada temporarily also have to obtain a Canadian visa, unless they are from a visa exempt country. To obtain the visa, a foreign national should meet all the requirements as stipulated under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) for the category under which they are applying and must be deemed to be admissible.

Three federal bodies work together to do immigration and citizenship screenings:

To determine the admissibility of a foreign national, it has to be ensured that the foreign national would not presents a risk to the health, safety, or security of Canadians. Primarily, Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) are tasked with the administering the various provisions of the Act. Before a visa is issued, an IRCC official must determine that the applicant is admissible to Canada. IRCC is supported in making this determination on admissibility by the CBSA, which is helped and supported by Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which coordinate and provide intelligence information related to the foreign national.

CSIS and CBSA provide security advice to IRCC to make sure applicants are not a threat to national security. They do not make decisions on applications. IRCC will make a decision on your application if you’re applying for:

  • citizenship
  • permanent residence
  • refugee status from outside Canada
  • a visitor visa
  • an eTA
  • a study permit
  • a work permit
  • a temporary residence permit

2. When does security screening start?

Different applications for entry to Canada merit different levels of scrutiny. For Express Entry applications, the the application is sent for security screening after the eligibility is passed. Security screening could either start after the eligibility is “recommended passed” or “conclusively passed.”

Security will continue to be redacted, even after the application has been approved. The Immigration Control Manual mandates that the officers involved in the screening process do not provide or discuss specific elements of the screening process.

One of the indicators that show that the security has been initiated is the assessments section on page 2 of the GCMS notes. When the security has been initiated, it is blanked and on the top right corner of the page, will have the section of the Access to Information Act under which the information has been redacted.

Security screening process is initiated by IRCC and is completed with the help of partner agencies. IRCC officers assess the information provided by applicants, collect additional information as needed, consult and seek advice on health and security issues from federal partners, and make a final decision based on their knowledge, judgment, and use of the tools available to them.

3. How is security screening done?

Security screening procedures identify persons seeking admission who are, or have been, involved in espionage, subversion or terrorism, organised crime, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The security screening process includes the collection of information form a variety of sources, including open search research and classified systems. Once collated, the information is analysed to determine if it is sufficient to support an inadmissibility recommendation pursuant to section(s) 34, 35, and/or 37 of the IRPA.

Officers who have a reason to believe that an applicant may be inadmissible pursuant to section(s) 34, 35, and/or 37 of the IRPA, but need additional information to make a determination, send a request to the National Security Screening Division (NSSD) and screening partners. The NSSD is located within the Intelligence and Enforcement Branch at CBSA HQ and is responsible for screening temporary and permanent resident applicants as well as refugee claimants for involvement in organized crime, crimes against humanity, genocide, terrorism, espionage and subversion. The NSSD also develops assessments and provides recommendations on security screening referrals to IRCC offices (both domestically and internationally) and CBSA offices.

3.1 Security Screening Request

A security screening request is a message transmitted to NSSD and screening partners to request in-depth screening of a person’s background.

The various types of requests and the security screening partners to whom the request for permanent resident applications are sent is as follows:

Section of
IRPA
Screening Values – GCMSCriteriaCase goes to
34Security screening
record check
Most inland applicationsCSIS
34Security screening
Comprehensive check
Inland and overseas applications that meet
one or several of the following:
• the applicant is subject to a lookout related
to section 34 of IRPA
• the applicant meets one or more of the
iapplicable screening indicators listed in the
Immigration Control Manual – 2
• the officer suspects that the applicant may be inadmissible pursuant to subsection 34(1) of IRPA
CBSA, CSIS
35Human and International Rights Violations (HIRV)• the applicant is subject to a lookout related
to section 35 of IRPA
• the applicant meets one or more of the
iapplicable screening indicators listed in the
Immigration Control Manual – 2
• the officer suspects that the applicant may be inadmissible pursuant to subsection 35 of IRPA
CBSA
37Organised Crime• the applicant is subject to a lookout related
to section 37 of IRPA
• the applicant meets one or more of the
iapplicable screening indicators listed in the
Immigration Control Manual – 2
• the officer suspects that the applicant may be inadmissible pursuant to subsection 37(1) of IRPA
CBSA
Sending a Security Screening request to NSSD and screening partners

3.2 Record Check vs. Comprehensive Check

Officers have an option to send applications for security screening via a ‘record check’ or a ‘comprehensive check’.

3.2.1 Record Check

A record check is a standard check that is conducted by CSIS for most inland applications for permanent residence.

3.2.2 Comprehensive check

A comprehensive check is conducted by all security screening partners, including the CBSA.

3.3 Inland vs. Outland applications

IRCC officers must refer most applications for permanent residence that are made from within Canada (inland) to CSIS for a ‘record check’. CSIS screens these applications to assess current or future threats pursuant to paragraphs 34(1) ( a), ( c ), ( d) and ( t) of IRPA only. Prior to sending an application to CSIS via a ‘record check’, officers should also check the PR application against the indicators in the IC 2 indicator manual. PR applications that hit on an indicator and/or where an officer suspects that the applicant may be inadmissible should refer the application via a ‘comprehensive Prior to sending an application to CSIS via a ‘record check’, officers should also check the PR application against the indicators in the IC 2 indicator manual. PR applications that hit on an indicator and/or where an officer suspects that the applicant may be inadmissible should refer the application via a ‘comprehensive check.’

For outland applications, including those that are being processed at Case Processing centre Ottawa (CPC-O), “comprehensive” checks is the preferred option. CBSA only screen applications that hit on indicators as outlined in section 3 of the IC-2. Applications that are referred for section 35 and 37 screening are screened by the CBSA.

4. How much time does it take to complete security screening?

As per the Security Screening Process manual the service delivery standard for screening permanent resident application within which 80% of the applications are processed is 110 Calendar days.

For some permanent resident applicants, the security screening takes a very long time to complete making them wonder if there is anything missing or concerning about their application. Most likely even you might have landed on this post looking for answers on why your security screening was taking this long. The last public statistics that is available on the processing of security screening is from the governor general fall 2011 audit. This audit talks about an agreement between IRCC and CBSA from 2006 which indicates CBSA can take 9-18 months (part 2-51 to 2055). There is no statistics since then. The relevant part of the audit report states:

2.51 Timeliness of security screening. We also examined whether the results of the CBSA’s security screening provided to Canada-based officers are timely. We found that, for the most part, the Agency responded in a timely manner for temporary residence cases.

2.52 The temporary residence screening manual indicates that the CBSA will reply to a visa officer’s referral within 10 working days. Our file review showed that the CBSA responded to the missions within 10 working days in 80 percent of the cases. However, we found that in at least 25 percent of those cases, it had not waited for CSIS input before providing the security screening results. Therefore, the results provided to Canada-based officers did not include the CSIS review. This occurred because the CBSA’s data system automatically sends a response to the missions after 10 days, unless an analyst has put a hold on the file. We were told, however, that if a concern is identified by CSIS after 10 days, the CBSA would notify the mission to stop the visa issuance. Nevertheless, the current practice allows for the exclusion of potentially important information due to the possibility that CSIS is unable to provide a response within 10 working days.

2.53 For permanent residence cases, we noted that there was a formal agreement on service standards in the 2006 memorandum of understanding between CIC and the CBSA, which stated that advice will be provided to visa officers within 9 to 18 months. Through our file review, we found that the CBSA had completed its analysis in less than 9 months in 67 percent of the cases and exceeded 18 months in 19 percent of the cases.

2.54 We also reviewed a sample of 10 percent of the 72 permanent residence cases analyzed by the CBSA after CSIS had completed its review for national security concerns. In the cases we examined, we found that CSIS took an average of 34 months to provide its results to the CBSA when there was information requiring further investigation. We noted that the CBSA concurred with the advice provided by CSIS but, on average, it took an additional 9 months to send the advice to the visa officer without adding specific details about the individual.

2.55 In responding to our survey, 46 percent of the Canada-based officers indicated they were concerned with the length of time it can take to obtain information or advice from security partners. The CBSA has recognized that timeliness is a concern and, at the end of our audit, had initiated measures to improve the timeliness of its screening.

Some applicants from certain nationalities find themselves disproportionately affected from the processing delays. The Star reported that “according to immigration data, China and Iran make up more than a third of the security screening requests sent to the Canada Border Services Agency, which conducts the checks along with the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. In the first eight months of 2017, almost 11,000 Iranian nationals – 825 permanent residence applicants and the rest for study, work and travel visas – were subject to security checks, just short of the 13,300 for those from China.” The Iranian Canadian Congress raised this issue before then Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. In response, the minister released a letter. Things have slightly improved, but more needs to be done.

Release-Package-A-2018-11867-1

5. Mandate of Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)

CBSA is responsible for enforcing and administering the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. CBSA officers work on the front lines, screening persons entering the country and removing those who are unlawfully in Canada, as well as play a vital role in assessing temporary and permanent immigration applications.

The CBSA maintains a robust and comprehensive Intelligence program, which is mandated to provide timely, accurate and relevant intelligence support to operational decision makers at all levels within the Agency. Information is lawfully collected from a variety of sources, including open and closed source materials, domestic and international intelligence partners, joint operations with other law enforcement agencies, sophisticated technical means, covert surveillance, and informants/human intelligence. Intelligence officers and analysts are deployed within Canada—along the borders and throughout the country—as well as overseas.

CBSA turns the information it collects into intelligence by using automated risk analysis, analytical tools, and risk management. This allows it to work toward its objective of balancing security concerns with the need to facilitate the flow of people and goods. The agency seeks to manage risks through a number of means; including the collection and analysis of intelligence information; the use of detection tools; the analysis of indicators and judgment of front-line officers; and random checks.

In addition to the border and port risk assessment processes, the intelligence directorate provides daily, weekly and monthly updates on specific threats and trends in unlawful activities. Intelligence officers and analysts frequently participate in tactical and operational law enforcement activities such as search warrants, arrests, surveillance, the recruitment and retention of confidential informers, interviews of detainees and the analysis of seized goods and evidence.

 6. Mandate of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)

CSIS in its publication has introduced itself with the following statement:

“With the large number of homeland conflicts throughout the world,
preventing the importation of these conflicts into communities
in Canada is of particular concern to all Canadians.”

The mandate of the CSIS concerning security screening of immigrants is laid down in Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act and the IRPA. Sections 14 and 15 of the CSIS Act authorizes CSIS to provide security assessments for the review of immigration applications to the IRCC. These assessments relate directly to the security inadmissibility criteria contained in the IRPA, with the final decision resting with the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

Unlike other intelligence services across the globe, CSIS until early 2000 did not operate on foreign soil and its operations concerned the protection of Canadian national security mainly against internal threats. However, since threats to the security of Canada can come from criminals or terrorists using Canadian soil to perpetrate attacks of terrorist activities, both within Canada and target foreign nations, CSIS was tasked with screening all applicants seeking admission into Canada through IRCC.

CSIS is tasked with conducting security clearance for all applicants in addition the police clearances certificates furnished by the applicants, for all applicants between the ages of 18 and 65 years. The BGC is conducted to detect applicants who are, or have been, involved in espionage, subversion, or terrorism.

Specifically CSIS, in accordance with section 2 of CSIS Act, that deals with threats to the security of Canada. The IRPA in Division 4, specifically section 34 deals with the inadmissibility based on security, which is assessed by CSIS. Section 34 includes accessing the applicant for the following:

Security

34 (1) A permanent resident or a foreign national is inadmissible on security grounds for

a) engaging in an act of espionage that is against Canada or that is contrary to Canada’s interests;
b) engaging in or instigating the subversion by force of any government
a. engaging in an act of subversion against a democratic government, institution or process as they are understood in Canada;
c) engaging in terrorism;
d) being a danger to the security of Canada;
e) engaging in acts of violence that would or might endanger the lives or safety of persons in Canada; or
f) being a member of an organization that there are reasonable grounds to believe engages, has engaged or will engage in acts referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (b.1) or (c).​

CSIS does what is known as risk management in the processing of security checks on prospective immigrants, role of CSIS focuses on those applicants who, on the basis of analysis and experience, are most likely to present a security risk. The advice provided by the CSIS assists the IRCC in determining whether prospective immigrants are inadmissible persons under the Immigration Act.

The Immigration and Citizenship Screening (ICS) program conducts investigations and provides security advice to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) regarding persons who might represent a threat to national security. Through this program, CSIS provides security advice on permanent residence and citizenship applicants; persons applying for temporary resident visas; and persons applying for refugee status in Canada. Decisions related to admissibility into Canada, the granting of visas or the acceptance of applications for refugee status, permanent residence and citizenship rest with IRCC.

Requests received*2016-20172017-2018
Permanent resident applications58,50043,400
Refugees (front-end screening)**20,10037,700
Citizenship applications93,000166,500
Temporary resident applications52,00058,400
Total222,600306,000

Security screening is all about collecting as much data about the applicant and analyzing it. CSIS gathers intelligence information and disseminates it to appropriate government clients using a five-phase process, known as the “intelligence cycle”.

6.1 Requirements and Direction

The CSIS Act gives CSIS the mandate to investigate activities suspected of constituting threats to the security of Canada, including espionage, sabotage, terrorism, foreign influenced activities detrimental to the interests of Canada and subversion of government through violence.

In keeping with this mandate, CSIS receives direction from the Government of Canada on the intelligence requirements of most importance, through multiple sources:

  •  Government Intelligence Priorities as established by Cabinet through discussion and consultation with the relevant Ministers and the Security and Intelligence community.
  • Minister’s Direction on Intelligence Priorities, which translates the Government Intelligence Priorities into specific collection direction for CSIS
  • Regular meetings with domestic partners, such as Communications Security Establishment and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as with clients within the Government of Canada who are intelligence consumers.

6.2 Planning

The Government and Ministerial Direction on Intelligence Priorities, the CSIS Act and the needs of domestic partners and clients are all taken into consideration when developing the annual collection strategy.

Responding to this direction, CSIS establishes internal direction and annual collection plans to meet the intelligence needs of Canadian government departments and agencies.

6.3 Collection

CSIS uses a variety of methods to collect information on individuals and groups whose activities are suspected of constituting a threat to national security.

The information necessary to conduct an investigation is collected from various sources, including:

  • Open sources such as newspapers, periodicals, academic journals, foreign and domestic broadcasts, official documents, and other published material; and
  • Members of the public, human sources, foreign governments, Canadian partners, as well as through technical interception of communications and inquiry. Any intrusive measure, or those affecting the privacy of Canadians, requires obtaining a warrant, approved by the Minister, and authorized by the Federal Court.

6.4 Analysis

CSIS analysts use their knowledge of regional, national and global trends to assess the quality of all types of information gathered, analyze it and produce useful intelligence for clients and consumers.

CSIS analysts examine the information provided by other Canadian government departments and agencies, foreign intelligence agencies, intelligence collected through investigations, as well as open sources. The analysis process results in intelligence reports and threat assessments.

6.5 Dissemination and Feedback

CSIS disseminates intelligence products and assessments primarily to the Government of Canada and supporting law enforcement authorities. CSIS also disseminates intelligence to Five Eyes partners – a global intelligence alliance comprised of Canada, USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand – as well as other foreign allied partners. An integral part of the intelligence cycle is collecting feedback on intelligence products from our partners. CSIS gathers product specific feedback from all partners, and routinely gathers requirements from the Government of Canada partners to help shape and drive collection and production efforts.

7. Steps to take when your application is stuck in security screening to too long?

The first order of business is to check your GCMS notes and see if your eligibility has been conclusively passed. (see 2. When does security screening start?). It has been more than 110 days since your eligibility was conclusively passed, then there is a high likelihood that your application may be in comprehensive screening and may take longer.

Next is to determine whether CBSA or both, CBSA and CSIS, are involved in the security screening. To find when the security screening request was sent or when an agency concluded its involvement, request CBSA notes or CSIS notes. With the help of the notes you will be able to know where your application is and whether CBSA / CSIS have provided their reports to IRCC and if the delay is at the end of IRCC.

If an inordinate amount of time has lapsed and your application is stop pending in security screening, you must consult a lawyer to review whether your case is an appropriate one for a “Humanitarian & Compassionate application” or for a “Writ of Mandamus.”

7.1 Humanitarian & Compassionate application

In very rare cases, Humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) grounds can be pleaded to request an expedited screening. H&C applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis.

7.2 Writ of Mandamus

A writ of mandamus means “we command” in Latin, is the name of one of the prerogative writs in the common law, and is issued by a superior court to compel a lower court or a government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly. Mandamus is a judicial remedy which is in the form of an order from a superior court to any government, subordinate court, corporation or public authority to do or forbear from doing some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do or refrain from doing, as the case may be, and which is in the nature of public duty and in certain cases of a statutory duty. It cannot be issued to compel an authority to do something against statutory provision.

The applicant pleading for a writ of mandamus to be enforced must demonstrate that s/he has a legal right to compel the respondent to do or refrain from doing the specific act. The duty sought to be enforced must have two qualities:

  1. It must be a duty of public nature; and
  2. The duty must be imperative and should not be discretionary.

For the court to issue a writ a mandamus a number of conditions must be satisfied. The Federal Court in Apotex Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General) [1993 CanLII 3004 (F.C.A.)] laid the criteria when the write of Mandamus can be issued.

  1. There must be a public legal duty to act.
  2. The duty must be owed to the applicant.
  3. There is a clear right to the performance of that duty, in particular:
    1. the applicant has satisfied all conditions precedent giving rise to the duty;
    2. there was:
      • a prior demand for performance of the duty;
      • a reasonable time to comply with the demand unless refused outright; and
      • a subsequent refusal which can be either expressed or implied, e.g. unreasonable delay.
  4. No other adequate remedy is available to the applicant. (5) The order sought will be of some practical value or effect.
  5. The order sought will be of some practical value or effect.
  6. The Court in the exercise of discretion finds no equitable bar to the relief sought.
  7. On a “balance of convenience” an order in the nature of mandamus should issue.

Requesting a Federal court for a Write of Mandamus is case specific and needs in-depth analysis by a lawyer. Cases requesting Mandamus have received mixed results. In Abdolkhaleghi v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), where a sponsorship application filed by the petitioner had been pending with CSIS for 4 years, the federal court held:

” if there is a long delay without adequate explanation, then mandamus can follow. To simply state, in response to the applicants’ requests for information as to why their applications are taking so long to process, that a security investigation by CSIS is ongoing is not an adequate explanation. What will constitute an adequate explanation will of course depend on the relative complexity of the security considerations in each case. A blanket statement to the effect that a security check investigation is pending, which is all that was given here, prevents an analysis of the adequacy of the explanation altogether. And security concerns instead appear to be lacking as a result.

However, in Golestaney v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), the federal court while refusing to grant mandamus held:

mandamus is a discretionary form of relief and should issue to compel performance of a statutory duty, but also should be confined to cases where no other more suitable remedy is available.

TRACKING THE APPLICATION – The online IRCC portal does not accurately inform as to which stage the application is at, and therefore the only way to track your application is through GCMS notes / CBSA notes / CSIS notes. You can order your GCMS / CBSA / CSIS notes online.

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