Program: FSW-Outland
AOR date: 26 Nov 2020
Medical: 07 Jan 2021 Passed
Biometrics: 21 Jan 2021 Completed
Eligibility: Under Review
Background Check: Application is in progress
Country of residence: USA
Welcome your suggestion to my questions.
1. Should I order GCMS notes to get to know the progress of the eligibility review? if yes where should I order them?
2. When and what will be my next update?
3. Expected timeline to receive a PPR.
Highly appreciate your suggestions. Thank you.
Ideally GCMS notes should be requested 3-4 montsn pps
Program: FSW-Outland
AOR date: 26 Nov 2020
Medical: 07 Jan 2021 Passed
Biometrics: 21 Jan 2021 Completed
Eligibility: Under Review
Background Check: Application is in progress
Country of residence: USA
Welcome your suggestion to my questions.
1. Should I order GCMS notes to get to know the progress of the eligibility review? if yes where should I order them?
2. When and what will be my next update?
3. Expected timeline to receive a PPR.
Highly appreciate your suggestions. Thank you.
When to order GCMS notes?
The GCMS refer to the programmed called Global Case Management System (GCMS) used by IRCC that holds the entire processing record of your application, including the the notes pertaining to eligibility by an officer evaluating your file.
All applications go through the following stages:
R10
Medicals
Criminality
Eligibility
Security
R10 or the completeness check is the first stage of the processing, wherein it is verified that your application is complete and all documents are submitted. Filing a complete application is the responsibility of the application, and if a document is missing, a reason and an exemption request should be filed.
If an application is incomplete, it will be rejected. R10 usually happens within 30-45 days of filing your application, around the time when medicals are passed. The exact date will be available in your GCMS notes.
There is no point requesting GCMS notes at this stage, since if your application is incomplete, it will be rejected anyway, and for the medicals, the MyCIC account does inform you of when your meds are passed.
GCMS notes become important only for the eligibility stage, which does not start until 3-4 months. Eligibility takes place in 2 stages. First a case assistant or an analyst will review and make a recommendation. This is then reviewed by an officer who makes the final decision on the eligibility. Since each document you submitted has to be reviewed twice, this is the most time consuming stage.
Only for this stage are the GCMS notes relevant.
While GCMS is a great tool, use it sparingly and only after 3-4 months have expired.
GCMS notes from IRCC vs CBSA?
For the 2019-2020 reporting year, 49% of requests filed with IRCC were delayed. So you may be better off requesting GCMS notes from CBSA, instead of IRCC. CBSA and IRCC provide the same information, except a few redactions that are agency specific. To read on how to obtain GCMS notes from CBSA, see
https://bit.ly/3sk4vqy
Processing time
After each year, IRCC publishes processing times. As per 2019 processing details:
As per IRCC's annual 2019 annual report it takes 8-9 months for an application to process, which IRCC already knew at the end of 2019, but continued to show 6 months average time frame.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-report-parliament-immigration-2019.html
How long did it take to process an Express Entry application?
Table 35 displays the time, in months, that IRCC took to process 80% of applications under each program. In 2019, IRCC did not meet the processing standard of finalizing 80% of all applications sourced via Express Entry within six months. The processing time for Express Entry, overall, was eight months. As an alternative measure of processing times, 60% of applications finalized in the 12-month period ending on December 31, 2019, were completed within the six-month service standard.
Table 35: Processing Times for Express Entry applications finalized by year and immigration category, in months
| Program | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|
| Canadian Experience Class | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| Federal Skilled Worker | 4 | 6 | 9 |
| Provincial/Territorial Nominee | 6 | 6 | 9 |
| Federal Skilled Trades | 6 | 7 | 12 |
| All Programs | 5 | 5 | 8 |
Source: CIC_EDW (MBR) as of January 3, 2020
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.
- Processing times refer to the time in which 80% of applications were finalized by IRCC. The processing time is measured from the day a complete application is received until the time a final decision is made by an immigration officer.
