2020 applicants with Background verification- In Progress
- Thread starter Canadiann2020
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Already gave my fingerprints in March and criminality is set to passed in my notes. My file is stuck in security screening.
Ok got it. I know some who people get stuck in security get an interview request with CSIS eventually… perhaps that could be your case too.
They take like years to get back to you. I have read in this forum that ppl are waiting from 3 to 4 years. I have completed 14 months. I don’t know how many more to go.
Unfortunate but you can’t do much until you reach a threshold, then you can file for madamus through a lawyer (I hope you don’t get there tho). Do you consider yourself a high-profile person? Have you ever held a foreign government job?
No never held that position. All
I can think is of my several trips to back home. More than 7 trips in last 5 years. But I calculated properly and kept a buffer of more thn 3 weeks. I haven’t got any RQ.
My file was transferred and received by my local office while my BG is still in progress.
At the time of posting, there weren't reports I saw about applications moving to local office before BG checks. After that, I've seen several posts where applications were moved to local office before BG checks are complete.
Thanks for posting.
Assuming you are referring to the RCMP and CSIS clearances, those are done in parallel, INDEPENDENT of the path the citizenship application takes. There is NO connection between when CPC-Sydney completes its processing and the application is referred to a local office (which does not always promptly show in GCMS; sometimes an application appears to still be in CPC-Sydney hands, until the local office takes some affirmative action on the file, despite being in-process, which means it has been referred to the local office) and when the RCMP and CSIS clearances are completed.
With some exceptions. Such as where the GCMS screening done attendant the completeness screening (which must be passed for the application to go into AOR status) shows a security flag or a criminality hit (remember, the GCMS screening, done repeatedly throughout the process, includes a name-record check of at least the RCMP and U.S. NCIC (FBI) databases); how it goes for these applications is a rather different tale.
Other than the exceptions, there is NO significance, none whatsoever, to be gleaned from what the applicant's copy of GCMS shows in regards to the RCMP or CSIS clearances.
Not sure why there is such persistence in chasing this ghost, the specter of learning something about the status of application processing based on GCMS entries about the background clearances.
FWIW . . . REMINDERS -- Focusing on just the RCMP and CSIS clearances:
For the vast majority of grant citizenship applicants, there is little or nothing to be learned from information about the status of the formal RCMP or CSIS clearances. Whether the applicant's copy of a GCMS report shows these complete or not complete is NOT indicative of where the application is at in the process, NOT relevant to what the next step in processing will be, and NOT relevant to how long it will be to when the next step is done, and NO indication, virtually NONE at all, about much longer it will take overall.
Moreover, even if GCMS shows these to be complete, that is never for sure final until the oath is taken.
There can be a big difference between those applicants for whom there are no criminality or security issues, no concerns, VERSUS those for whom there is some concern or issue. For the vast majority of applicants there are no concerns. Again, for these applicants, for the vast majority, there is NOTHING, ZERO, to be learned from what the applicant's GCMS records show in regards to the RCMP or CSIS clearances.
And, for those with concerns, they are NOT going to learn much if anything from this information either. They might get confirmation something is holding things up, but even that tends to be an inference mostly rooted in what these applicants know about about their situation, no GCMS notes necessary.
The difference is that for the vast majority the clearances also have near ZERO impact on the processing timeline. Despite appearances and claims otherwise, despite the occasional rather glib and not really honest call centre agent's statement that an application is waiting for background checks or these clearances, for the vast majority of applicants neither the RCMP or CSIS clearance will be holding up the next step in processing.
Note: It can be true that completion of the application processing is waiting for these clearances to be checked off, but it is rarely true that they are in any way holding up the process. That is, the processing agent handling the application is not waiting for the clearances to take the next step. Moreover, by the time the application has had any action taken on it in the local office, but for the exceptions, the RCMP and CSIS clearances are done and sent to the file, whether a processing agent has noted that and checked them off as complete in the citizenship application checklist or not.
WHEREAS, in contrast, for applicants with criminality or security concerns or issues, yes, their application processing can indeed be stalled waiting on a clearance, and this can amount to a rather lengthy delay. What the applicant's copy of GCMS records shows will still reveal LITTLE or NOTHING useful for the applicant, and no hint about how much longer it will be. But yes, for these applicants, further progress in processing their application can indeed be held up (for emphasis: actually held up) pending either a RCMP or CSIS clearance (it is the latter which typically causes the longer delay, assuming a *clearance* will eventually be issued; obviously, if these checks result in identifying a prohibition, things go in another direction).
With perhaps some rare exception, applicants generally understand whether or not they are among the majority for whom there is no criminality or security concern. Protests to the contrary are almost always not credible. NO need to obtain a copy of GCMS records to figure this out.
Repeat of REMINDERS -- for emphasis:
Background screening involves a lot more than just these clearances (RCMP and CSIS), and the GCMS/immigration clearance is different because it is is repeated EVERY time any action is taken on a file, even when the applicant is being scheduled for the oath AFTER a grant of citizenship has been approved. And the GCMS clearance includes a name-record check which, at the least, runs against information in the RCMP and U.S. NCIC (FBI) databases.
Even when GCMS records show a formal clearance, the RCMP or CSIS clearance , to be "complete," that means little or nothing. These can be and fairly often are subject to referrals back to the RCMP or CSIS for updates. Moreover, once the file is actually being processed by a local office, these clearances are often complete EVEN if the GCMS records do not show them to be complete . . . the referral has been returned but the processing agent responsible for the file has not formally checked them off.
The initial referral to the RCMP and CSIS for a clearance is done by CPC-Sydney somewhere in the process between AOR and putting the application into an in-process status (my uncertain impression is that it is part of the AOR step attendant successful completeness screening). The application itself then PROCEEDS through the process INDEPENDENT of the formal clearance referrals. They proceed in parallel.
Since they proceed in parallel, subsequent action in processing the application generally does NOT depend on the status of the RCMP and CSIS clearances, except those steps involving a formal decision. That is, an application will not be approved unless the clearances are in the file. An applicant will not be scheduled to take the oath unless the clearances are in the file. But, it warrants noting, for the vast majority of applicants the clearances are done and checked off before the file is reviewed by a Citizenship Officer (who is the one making the decision whether to approve the application, which of course precedes scheduling the oath).
What confuses or misleads some is that there are some occasions in which it appears IRCC is waiting for a clearance. Typically, usually, this is what I mentioned above: the clearance referral has been returned but the responsible processing agent has not checked it off as yet.
Which leads to the more significant exception (there are almost always exceptions of varying sorts; while most are peculiar to the particular individual case, some exceptions involve significant tangents in the process). That is, the difference between the vast majority of applicants, those with no concerns or issues, VERSUS, again, those for whom there are indeed some criminality or security issue, at least potentially an issue. That, again, is a different tale.
5 months since BC stated and counting..... Requested ATIP from CSIC, know they wouldn't provide any info but atleast someone will bother to look into my file atleast.
Thank you @dpenabill for the always informative and thorough explanation. I remembered speaking to the call centre agent a few months ago (very friendly, transparent and seemed very knowledgable), where he mentioned that the "security clearance" would be a must before any future steps (test, interview, oath) could be taken. What you describe really now explains, as the "security clearance cleared" is when the CIC agent actually links the feedback from CSIS/RCMP to our CIC application. As such, I was wondering if a "completed" status of Background Check signals the case officer has restarted working on our file again now?
@SNGHL_2013. I know a few people that received this (and only this) from CSIS in response. "CSIS PPU 005 -- your security screening case is still in progress." It is followed by the next sentence listing all the sections that exempt the office from disclosing more info "until your case is completed". I wondered if more info will be disclosed AFTER "your case IS completed".
It is my observation that people who have not immediately applied for their citizenship (after Year 2 as a PR) are now those who wait for long to get their security clearance. I was requested to do a fingerprint, and my security clearance has been lapped for a little over seven months now. Almost 15 years after my PR, I finally applied for my Canadian citizenship last year, and my home country is considered Canada-friendly. I am rather confident (or so I hope) that my "background" and "prohibition" should be straightforward, as I have rarely been elsewhere than in Canada. I have all my undergrad, grad and medical training and teaching and working experience in Canada, and I have to also get all those clearances every now and then for my university work and licences without any problems/delays. Interestingly, my colleague who is from the U.S. also got stuck with the same timeline as mine, and more ironically, she had to do the IELTS English test to show proficiency in her mother tongue. I think that all this is rather a result of that the CIC (and its "partner agencies") are probably too overwhelmed by the large backlog of applications, rather than there is anything wrong with our own application/profile.
@SNGHL_2013. I know a few people that received this (and only this) from CSIS in response. "CSIS PPU 005 -- your security screening case is still in progress." It is followed by the next sentence listing all the sections that exempt the office from disclosing more info "until your case is completed". I wondered if more info will be disclosed AFTER "your case IS completed".
It is my observation that people who have not immediately applied for their citizenship (after Year 2 as a PR) are now those who wait for long to get their security clearance. I was requested to do a fingerprint, and my security clearance has been lapped for a little over seven months now. Almost 15 years after my PR, I finally applied for my Canadian citizenship last year, and my home country is considered Canada-friendly. I am rather confident (or so I hope) that my "background" and "prohibition" should be straightforward, as I have rarely been elsewhere than in Canada. I have all my undergrad, grad and medical training and teaching and working experience in Canada, and I have to also get all those clearances every now and then for my university work and licences without any problems/delays. Interestingly, my colleague who is from the U.S. also got stuck with the same timeline as mine, and more ironically, she had to do the IELTS English test to show proficiency in her mother tongue. I think that all this is rather a result of that the CIC (and its "partner agencies") are probably too overwhelmed by the large backlog of applications, rather than there is anything wrong with our own application/profile.
Call centre agents are not always right. I have completed my test already and file is still stuck in security clearance. Criminality is already passed according to my GCMS. I will agree with one point that I applied right after I completed two years as a PR.( counting one additional year from temp residency) Whats the point of counting one year of temporary residency when you are gonna keep us stuck in processing for two years lol. I guess we all have our own timelines . Some are lucky and some are not.
When was your application recieved? I am also near 15 months. Have you done your test?