{"id":373,"date":"2021-06-17T13:53:39","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T13:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getgcms.com\/blog\/?p=373"},"modified":"2021-06-18T13:19:34","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T13:19:34","slug":"new-format-of-the-gcms-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getgcms.com\/blog\/new-format-of-the-gcms-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"New format of the GCMS notes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the report<\/a> tabled before the Parliament by the Information Commissioner of Canada<\/a> on May 26, 2021, it was observed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“MyAccount portal provides little information on the status of the processing of an application, and correspondence outlining the results of an immigration application provides minimal information on the basis of the decision made by IRCC.”<\/p>Access at Issue: Challenging the Status Quo; Special Report to Parliament, pg. 8<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Prospective immigrants therefore resort to filing access to information requests to obtain the information (GCMS notes<\/a>) about their application.

The number of pages in the GCMS notes range between 20-300 or more.\u00a0IRCC officials responsible for the access to information and privacy (ATIP) program have to review all these pages for possible exemptions before they can be released. This is the most labor intensive work of the ATIP process. To address this issue, IRCC<\/a> was recommended to consider\u00a0\u201cpre-ATIPing\u00a0immigration application files as they are created,” providing a more abridged version of the GCMS notes, which would only contain the most relevant information, listing the processing details and the current status of an application. CBSA shared the format of the abridged version in May end with the frequent requestors, and started releasing it in response to the ATIP requests in early June, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UPDATE<\/strong>: IRCC has started releasing the new format of the GCMS notes from June 18, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n