Parent's supervisa rejection on ridiculous grounds - help!

[doriangray27]

Hey guys!

I'm feeling rather unsettled right now - angry and perplexed in equal measure.

My parents applied for the supervisa, and after the inordinately painful process that included filling out a dozen forms, collecting wide-ranging documents, tracking down the addresses and personal details of long-forgotten relatives, getting finger-printed, and passing the medical examination - they got a rejection today.

The reasons for the rejection are:
-) You have not complied with our request for information, as per section 16(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. To date, you have failed to comply with our request for: Request for Military Record.
-) Other reasons: Not satisfied that you are not inadmissible

My dad served in the military for a few years in his youth, and we truthfully indicated his military service in the form. They never requested any military record to be shared, and during the 6-month processing of the application never sent us a correspondence to that effect. Suddenly, today, we get rejected on these inane grounds.

Question: What are the options available? Is there an appeal process? Are there any avenues to escalate cases where CIC is clearly at fault?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi

6 months is longer than the normal processing time, which indicates that they may have sent a request for more information and were waiting for an answer before they made the decision. People often miss emails from IRCC that go straight to their spam folder, so that should be checked.

You can contact the VO and ask when and how the request was sent. You should also order GCMS notes, though it will take at least 30 days to recieve them; that will give detailed information about the app.

Also, in future you should be posting in the Visitor section of the forum.

 

[scylla]

Did you give them an email address in the application? Is it possible the request for more information ended up in the spam folder by accident or was overlooked? Unfortunately this does happen quite a lot to people and they miss key messages from CIC. When you get the kind of refusal reason you've received, it's definite they have tried to contact you by email or mail or through your representative (if you used one) - typically at least twice.

You really have two options: (1) Submit a request to the visa office that processed the application and let them know you missed their request for additional information - and ask they resend it. Also immediately send the military record and request if it's possible to reopen the application since you weren't aware that a request for more information had been made. Up to the visa office if they say yes or no - but sometimes this can work. (2) Reapply and include the military record.

Best bet may be to try #1 and then if that fails, try #2.

 

[doriangray27]

Scylla and CanukinUK,
Thanks for your replies - and i will be more careful to post in the right forum next time.

I submitted the applications online, and have the full correspondence history on the CIC system. They did not request this information at all. Just to be sure, I have re-checked the relevant email account, and there is nothing there either. I am quite certain that they did not request this document at any point.

To be honest, other than the fact that my parent's visa got declined, what's really unsettling is that my faith in the fairness of the system has been shaken. If there is an additional document they need to process the visa, one would expect them to ask - rather than rejecting the visa outright. This is especially disappointing given the cost, paperwork and medical tests involved. There should be a way to hold CIC to account, so they do not treat people outside Canada with such disdain.

 

[scylla]

I would order the application notes and/or contact the VO as suggest to see where the request for more information was sent (perhaps the email or address used was incorrect). I think it will be difficult to make any sort of arguments without this information. I also agree with canuck_in_uk's comments that a six month processing time is very long and is the sort of thing we typically see with applications where additional documentation has been requested. I think there were very likely information requests sent. It's a matter of whether they went to the right place / whether they were received. Good luck - hope things work out.