Background checks---are they why some peoples application take so long

[robertbola]

I'm just curious to find out who the CIC contact when doing background checks? For example I have attached an FBI report and my local police letter saying I have no criminal records.....do they contact the same departments as well?

The reason I ask is because a lot of people tend to say that the reason a lot of application take so long is because of the above....

[cchabert]

What I hear is that CIC send the info to the Canadian Intelligence Agency and this guys verified with the other countries your background, this is maybe why it take so long for this step.

[Rasha]

This is something I was just speaking with my MP about yesterday. There are two major reasons for otherwise acceptable applications to be delayed:

1. the time it takes for a case file to actually be assigned to an I/O [this varies on each visa office, workloads, staff available etc...] )In my case it took two months just to be assigned....so basically our file was sitting there collecting dust.)

2. background checks. These are not just conducted with CIC but through external agencies [CSIS, RCMP and the local security offices of the home country of the applicant, as well as any *other* countries that may have been visited for an extended amount of time]. The length of time can vary depending on where the home country is, and how agreeable they are to quickly pass information back to Canada.

[robertbola]

So the fact that most of our evidence was sent back to us after a few days is a sign that a IO has our file. I was telling my spouse how once our application got to New York it would just sit there until an IO office grabed it....apparently our file got there the 23 and on the 28th they were sending evidence back....they all have one hole punched (as it had been in a binder)..they had looked at the photos as there was a seal around them....and now we have everything back..

[Suin]

send back? why? do they give any explanation to that?

[mitamata]

Normally they do that when they don't need them anymore. So if they've already decided their relationship is genuine, they no longer require evidence that it is. It's been reviewed, they're done it with and have returned it. Probably a good sign.