What does that mean background check?
Printed From: Canada Immigration and Visa Discussion Forum
Category: Canada Immigration Topics
Forum Name: Canadian Citizenship
Forum Description: Commentaries outlining important issues in acquiring Canadian citizenship through naturalization
URL: https://secure.immigration.ca/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14710
Printed Date: 30 Jun 2024 at 2:26pm
Topic: What does that mean background check?
Posted By: raincouver
Subject: What does that mean background check?
Date Posted: 17 Dec 2013 at 3:27pm
|
Today I call CIC and ask if they have received the RCMP fingerprint verification report. the agent confirms that and says that CIC is doing background check. After the background check is done, they will send the test invitation letter to me. Does anyone know how long would be the background check before receiving the test invitation? What is the background check for? ------------- citizenship application received (December 2012); In Process (March 2013); |
Replies:
Posted By: EasyRider
Date Posted: 17 Dec 2013 at 3:57pm
|
Nobody knows how long it will take, for the majority of applicants all
checks are straightforward and done in mere days/weeks, but some do get
stuck on some of the checks, supposedly mostly on CSIS check. It can
take months in such cases. Someone posted GCMS/ATIP excerpt, so you can see there are 3 different types of checks here, but the issue with CSIS check is that it's completion date and status are secret and not disclosed, making it harder to figure out what's going on. But if every other check is complete, it's likely a CSIS clearance that is holding the case.
------------- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At5U1gEsWR9CdEo1OXNzdDlQR3NGV2Z5YlBQZVJMVXc - Montreal Citizenship Timelines |
Posted By: raincouver
Date Posted: 17 Dec 2013 at 7:11pm
Thanks a lot, easyrider. ------------- citizenship application received (December 2012); In Process (March 2013); |
EasyRider wrote:Posted By: Chatham2008
Date Posted: 17 Dec 2013 at 9:09pm
|
Hi raincouver, Did you do your fingerprints electronically, and after how long you called CIC to confirm? I have been asked for fingerprint too. My timeline is; Sent Application : Feb 13 2013 In process: April 10 2013 Requested for Fingerprint Dec 10 and submitted fingerprints electronically on Dec 11 Thanks
|
Posted By: Fedup2013
Date Posted: 17 Dec 2013 at 9:49pm
|
Chatham2008, What is your local CIC office? If you don't know, can you mention the city or nearest city you live in? Thanks, Simon ------------- Landed Immigrant: Oct 2009 Sent Application: Mar 2013 In-process: Jun 2013 Received Letter: Jul 2013 File transferred to Mississauga Office: 15 Aug 2013 Written Test: 18 Jan 2014 Oath : 23 Jan 2014 |
Posted By: raincouver
Date Posted: 17 Dec 2013 at 9:59pm
Yes, I did my fingerprint in November. Today I called CIC and got their confirmation. ------------- citizenship application received (December 2012); In Process (March 2013); |
Posted By: Chatham2008
Date Posted: 17 Dec 2013 at 10:53pm
|
My local office is St.Clair
I live in Chatham, ON I feel my file should have gone either to London or Windsor local office as they are closer to me then St Clair office in Toronto. |
Posted By: dpenabill
Date Posted: 18 Dec 2013 at 3:54am
|
Overall, generally, most applicants are not likely to encounter any more than minimal delays due to background clearances. Some will, most will not. There are three formal clearances (background checks) required for grant citizenship applicants. These are: GCMS; RCMP; and CSIS They are essentially, respectively: GCMS: immigration (confirmation of status and admissibility) RCMP: criminal background, which can be more robust than just the name-record criminal history check, which probably means it can involve queries beyond arrest and disposition records, such as into whether any law enforcement body is conducting an investigation or the individual is a suspect or has known connections to those known to be involved in criminality (the name-record criminal history check is done periodically throughout the process, and is similar to one often conducted during any secondary examination at a POE, and it is mostly a query run against an arrest and dispositions database based on individual's name and date-of-birth) CSIS: security background (while obviously the scope of this is not public information, it is readily recognized that it at least involves queries into intelligence sourced databases, and other government security databases, which might reveal activity or ties related to organized crime, terrorist organizations, suspect military history) These clearances are all requested by CPC-Sydney upon the application being placed "in process." The RCMP and CSIS requests are done by referral to, obviously, the RCMP and CSIS. (Thus, the RCMP and CSIS clearances are not done by CIC, but by referral to the respective government body.) Previously, for sure, and probably still the case, the fact that clearances are outstanding does not preclude the application moving to the next step in the process until the test/interview step. It appears clear, though, that any outstanding clearance will delay scheduling the test/interview; note that other participants have recently reported receiving letters specifically indicating their scheduling for the test/interview "may be delayed if security, criminal and immigration background checks are not complete." In this regard, however, there may be a difference between whether the original clearance, in response to the referral from CPC-Sydney, is complete, in contrast to an expired clearance which is in need of an update. For sure, clearances will be need to be current, and thus those expired need to be updated, before the oath will be scheduled. Where the required clearances have been obtained, and are part of the file, the process for updating expired clearances should not involve much of a delay to further processing unless there has been something which triggers a more extensive check since the original one. The referrals for updated clearances are done in batches, up to one hundred applicants in a single referral, and the process appears to be largely perfunctory. The problem for some applicants, as alluded to by EasyRider, is that it is very difficult to ascertain whether the original CSIS (security) clearance has been obtained. When CIC refers to possible delays if "clearances . . . are not complete" they do not distinguish between an original clearance still being outstanding (not obtained) versus the need to update one that has expired. Most applicants have little reason to anticipate the background checks will cause much of a delay, at least not those whose cases are approaching a year old or older. Even if the clearances are expired, again the updating process appears to be (for most, not all) somewhat perfunctory, particularly if nothing has changed (no problematic POE encounters, no criminal investigation or charges, no travel to areas of the world tending to raise security issues). Applicants are aware what has been happening in their life and thus most should easily discern if there is much of a chance that an admissibility, criminal, or security concern might be lurking when the respective agency does the background update. (Applicants who have recently traveled to Yemen, for example, might anticipate there could be some delay in updating their CSIS clearance; the applicant who has a former roommate or business associate who has ended up on a no-fly list, anticipate a delay; and so on.) Some applicants will suffer delays related to the RCMP or CSIS background checks. And, again, it is difficult to know if the original CSIS clearance has been completed or not, and it appears that for some this can be outstanding for quite some time, as in years. This is an area that CIC is most secretive about and CSIS is even more secretive, but my sense is that the delays, if there is one (again, this only affects some applicants, probably not a large number), are often related to CSIS making a referral to an overseas office for further inquiry, and the delays derived from that . . . whether a referral to a non-Canadian government body is involved, and thus there is no control on compelling a timely response, is not clear but seems to be a likely suspect. The main take-away, though, is that for the large majority of applicants, particularly those for whom there was no delay involved in obtaining the security clearance in their original PR application process, by the time they are a year into the process all the clearances should be initially complete, so only an update of expired clearances would need to be made before proceeding to the test or oath, and those are routinely done in batch-processing, so usually (which is not always) this is not something which delays things much at all. (Although, I suppose by the time a year and a half has slipped into the past, another two months or so may seem like a significant delay.) ------------- Bureaucracy is what bureaucracy does, or When in doubt, follow the instructions. Otherwise, follow the instructions. BTW: Not an expert, not a Can. lawyer, never worked in immigration |
Posted By: raincouver
Date Posted: 18 Dec 2013 at 1:59pm
|
wow, thanks for the detail. ------------- citizenship application received (December 2012); In Process (March 2013); |
Posted By: raincouver
Date Posted: 18 Dec 2013 at 3:24pm
|
I just called CIC today and asked if the background check is the security background check done by CSIS. The agent confirmed that CIC has received the verification report from RCMP after I done the electronic fingerprint. She said that my security background check has already been done before and CIC now sent my fingerprint to the agency who will do the background check for other things. When CIC receives the report from the agency, they will schedule the test for me. so it is the last step before the test. Does anyone know what the other things mean? and how long it will take? ------------- citizenship application received (December 2012); In Process (March 2013); |
Posted By: dpenabill
Date Posted: 18 Dec 2013 at 5:21pm
How long it takes for even routine cases on the most routine course to proceed through the process is still no better than a wild guess, ranging from slightly less than a year to more than two years; any wrinkle in the process and in particular anything that takes it out of the "routine" case parameters (including fingerprint requests) extends the potential range to possibly several years, albeit you could be scheduled for the test in the coming month. That is we know, in only the most vague sort of way, that it is likely you will be scheduled for the test sometime between soon and years from now. That's the best we know. As for the background check for other things . . . : As I said, CIC is most secretive about the security clearance aspect of background checks, and CSIS is even more secretive. So, it is nearly impossible to figure out what is going on behind the curtains in regards to the security background check. If, acknowledging though this is a big if, the call centre representative accurately reported to you that there already was a completed CSIS clearance and thus all you need is an update, unless you have been associating with persons connected to organized crime, terrorist activities or organizations, or traveling to suspect parts of the world, there is probably no reason to be anxious about what is involved in doing the update or how long it will take. Sure, there are some exceptions; if, for example, you have had problems or delays obtaining immigration related clearances in the past, something like that could trigger a more thorough check in effect revisiting the earlier clearances to verify things. But, as I said in my previous post, most applicants have no cause to worry about the update process . . . and those who do should have a good idea why and thus be aware that they are potentially among the exceptions. ------------- Bureaucracy is what bureaucracy does, or When in doubt, follow the instructions. Otherwise, follow the instructions. BTW: Not an expert, not a Can. lawyer, never worked in immigration |
Posted By: sedben
Date Posted: 19 Dec 2013 at 10:30am
Hi, I am exactly in the same case as you. I received a request for finger prints late september and did it on the beginning of oct. When I called CIC they told me they received my fingerprints and they are doing some other checks and it might take up to 1 year !  |
Posted By: Chatham2008
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2013 at 9:23am
|
Hi Sedben,
I am in the same boat, but received the fingerprints on December 11th and send it electronically next day. After how long did you check if CIC has it? Do you mind sharing your local office? Mine is St.Clair
|
Posted By: raincouver
Date Posted: 23 Dec 2013 at 5:58pm
Hi, what is your local office? ------------- citizenship application received (December 2012); In Process (March 2013); |
Posted By: dalida
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2014 at 12:56pm
|
Posted By: Seemen
Date Posted: 14 Nov 2017 at 3:47pm
|
Hello My name is Semeen. We sponsored my family through group five , and they did their medical examination and background check. However it seems there is a problem with my father background check. he is 56 yrs old and he was never involved in politics or anything else. I have no idea what is going on. Does anyone know how long this will take in maximum??? Is there anywhere i can contact and find out about it??? Thanks
|
Posted By: proutray
Date Posted: 30 Nov 2017 at 11:25am
|
Hi , I have my own canada corporation company and my company has contract with other companies for whom i worked. All my T4's are generated from my own company and i am the director and the employee of my own company. My questions are. 1. should i put my company name as the employer or the company where i works as a contractor. 2. whose name,phone number and email id should i put under the contact details on point number 11? Thanks, proutray
|