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ALL ABOUT GCMS - HOW TO ORDER, READ, & GENERAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED

mussadsar

Star Member
Sep 22, 2017
197
37
Dear @legalfalcon ,
As it says it takes 30-40 days for GCMS report, therefore, I need to know which date is considered for GCMS report generation and submission. For example, if i order GCMS on 1st of the month, will the request will be actioned on 30th of the same month? or it will give updates on the submission date.
tnx
 

caipsnotes

Champion Member
Jan 10, 2020
2,493
1,059
Canada
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Buffalo, NY
Hello, @legalfalcon @caipsnotes I received my GCMS notes yesterday and I would like some explanation/ clarification please.

1. On the assessment page (page 2) , medicals, criminality and eligibility is passed, security and final are blank. But my most recent notes in the last 3 pages of my GCMS notes (I.e- Note 1 on the 5th of last month says: “OFFICER REVIEW: Eligibility, medicals, criminality, (redacted), passed. All requirements met. Approved. Based on the strength of other officer’s assessments, no reassessment of criminality, eligibility,was made” and the note before this (Note 2, which was sometime in April 2020, says “Ready for Approval”). I also see an entry for correspondence saying items requested (Kit, application forms) were not received. This entry was first created in April and updated on 5/10/20. My questions are: first what does Note 1 mean, can I assume that final review has been done and a final decision is the next step? Furthermore, in light of the latest note by the Officer, do I still need to send a web form inquiring about the supposed correspondence (I never got any request)

2. My medicals is listed as having expired on the 13th of October 2020 (I did them on the 10th of October 2019 but passed on 19th November 2019 on my CIC account) but on page 2 or 3, it’s listed as passed and the validity stated as 27/2/21. Does this mean my medicals have been extended?

3.Sometime in April,I was placed in the COVID Pace group. Then by 5/9/20 I was placed in CPCO COVID RFV. What does this mean?
P.s- I am NOV 2019 AOR and an Outland applicant in a country that requires a visa to travel. Looking forward to a response. Thank you very much!

Hi. In GCMS notes applicants may see RFV (Ready for Visa), which means that the application is ready for the PR visa to be issued subject to any pending assessments.
 
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legalfalcon

VIP Member
Sep 21, 2015
19,030
9,888
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Ottawa
NOC Code......
4112
App. Filed.......
03-09-2015
Doc's Request.
01-10-2015
AOR Received.
03-09-2015
Med's Done....
17-08-2015
Passport Req..
05-04-2016
VISA ISSUED...
12-04-2016
LANDED..........
05-05-2016
Is validity of medicals extended due to Covid-19?
When medicals are about to expire or will expire before an applicant lands, they will be sent for reassessment to the Regional Medical Officer who makes a determination on whether they should be extended or a re-med should be asked.

Due to COVID more number of people are seeing extensions pre-covid they would be in Canada.
 
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legalfalcon

VIP Member
Sep 21, 2015
19,030
9,888
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Ottawa
NOC Code......
4112
App. Filed.......
03-09-2015
Doc's Request.
01-10-2015
AOR Received.
03-09-2015
Med's Done....
17-08-2015
Passport Req..
05-04-2016
VISA ISSUED...
12-04-2016
LANDED..........
05-05-2016
Dear @legalfalcon ,
As it says it takes 30-40 days for GCMS report, therefore, I need to know which date is considered for GCMS report generation and submission. For example, if i order GCMS on 1st of the month, will the request will be actioned on 30th of the same month? or it will give updates on the submission date.
tnx

The GCMS notes are processed and released pursuant to the Access to Information Act or the Privacy Act and as per law. IRCC is obligated to release them within 30 days.

All GCMS notes will have a date of generation listed at the bottom of each page. The GCMS notes are generated a few days after the request is filed and it is as on this date how your application looked like is captured in the GCMS notes. This date varies, it can be a few days, or 1-2 weeks after the request is filed. Ideally you want to have the date of generation as close to the date of release as it will give you the most recent update on your application.

There is no set timeline as how many days after requesting the notes will be generated.
 

mussadsar

Star Member
Sep 22, 2017
197
37
Dear @legalfalcon,

My application was reviewed by Prog Assistant, and in the end of gcms there are few things which i need to understand pls.
  1. In my GCMS, PCC's for myself shows as - Provided - NRT
  2. Right after this, it says, R10 OK, Recommendation: Review Required
  3. Then, for my spouse it says "Stat Question Spouse UAE PCC: Provided NRT , R 10 OK
  4. Right after this, it says, Recommendation: Review Required
  5. Stat Question Spouse Pakistan PCC: Provided, under client information
  6. And in the end, it says Documents set for review ---- Client information.
Please advice if there is anything to be concerned of when it says "review required". Why there is no R10 OK after my spouse Pakistan PCC.
Also, I dont see my employment records in the notes. Is it normal?

My current details as of now stand as follows:

Eligibility, BM & Med: Passed

Security & Criminality: Not started.

Thank you.
 

legalfalcon

VIP Member
Sep 21, 2015
19,030
9,888
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Ottawa
NOC Code......
4112
App. Filed.......
03-09-2015
Doc's Request.
01-10-2015
AOR Received.
03-09-2015
Med's Done....
17-08-2015
Passport Req..
05-04-2016
VISA ISSUED...
12-04-2016
LANDED..........
05-05-2016
Dear @legalfalcon,

My application was reviewed by Prog Assistant, and in the end of gcms there are few things which i need to understand pls.
  1. In my GCMS, PCC's for myself shows as - Provided - NRT
  2. Right after this, it says, R10 OK, Recommendation: Review Required
  3. Then, for my spouse it says "Stat Question Spouse UAE PCC: Provided NRT , R 10 OK
  4. Right after this, it says, Recommendation: Review Required
  5. Stat Question Spouse Pakistan PCC: Provided, under client information
  6. And in the end, it says Documents set for review ---- Client information.
Please advice if there is anything to be concerned of when it says "review required". Why there is no R10 OK after my spouse Pakistan PCC.
Also, I dont see my employment records in the notes. Is it normal?

My current details as of now stand as follows:

Eligibility, BM & Med: Passed

Security & Criminality: Not started.

Thank you.
  1. NRT means no reportable trace, as in there are no criminal concerns and everything is good.

  2. R10 refers to the first stage of processing also called completeness check. If you have RR, then there may be a document pending or a LoE that you may have submitted. To read on the stages of an EE see https://bit.ly/388r7Uh

  3. See 1 and 2. Stat questions refer to the questions about prior visa refusal, criminal case etc in the application, If you answered yes to a prior visa refusal, you will have a RR.

  4. See 3.



  5. This note is your completeness check and "documents set for review" means that your application is ready to be assessed for eligibility, which is the next stage.
As of now, based on what you have posted, everything looks good. The R10 is only a completeness check where they see that all documents have been provided and the application is complete. In the next stage, i.e. eligibility, each document will be individually reviewed and an assessment on the eligibility will be made.


The eligibility takes place in two stages. First an analyst or an assistant will review and make a recommendation. This can be recommended passed / Met / etc. This recommendation is then reviewed by an officer who makes a final determination. The terminology used such as met / recommended passed / passed an no relevance.

Instead see your assessment on page 2 of the GCMS notes and see the corresponding notes in the last 2-5 pages.

See , my previous post on eligibility and what to expect in your GCMS notes at #2,521

Be advised that the review required that you see here is usually in an eligibility note. It seems as though a preliminary eligibility and R10 was done together.


Reposting my older post on RR:


Understanding “Review Required”

A lot of applicants see “review required” in their GCMS notes for eligibility. There are many theories floating around with regard to what “review required” means and if it is alarming.

Before I venture into explaining the significance, it is important to understand that each application goes through the following stages as per the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the regulations (Canadian Immigration Law):

R10 – Completeness Check
Criminality
Medicals
A11.2 – eligibility
Security

Out of the above, the most important stage is eligibility. This is also the most time-consuming stage because your documents have to be verified, evaluated and assessed to ascertain that you meet the eligibility criteria for the program you have applied (FSW / CEC / FTW). To stream line this process and make it easier for an immigration officer (decision making authority), all applications are first evaluated by case analysts or program assistants. They review the documents and summarize it in the GCMS. If they have any concerns with any document or want the immigration officer to carefully look into a specific document, they will flag it as “review required.” It is the content of the note that is important here. If the review required is for a specific document, while the summary of the note says that an applicant has met the eligibility, or “ready to finalize” it simply means that while the applicant has met the eligibility criteria, but the specific document needs a careful examination form the officer before promoting (eligibility pass) by the officer.

However, if there are concerns, they will be clearly mentioned in the note. If there is nothing specific and still you have a RR, then it merely indicates that the CPA or analyst is requesting the officer to review the documents once before finalising it.

The specific reasons would be that the job duties do not match, or the employment cannot be verified, or the number of years of work experience claimed cannot be verified. This is where an application can land in muddy waters. But the final decision rests on the immigration officer. He may override the decision of the analyst / assistant or go with the analysis of the analyst / assistant.

If you answered yes to a statutory question, about a prior visa refusal etc, you will have RR. This only indicates to verify if you have criminality or inadmissibility issues based on the refusal.

Even in cases where the analyst / assistant is of the opinion that the applicant has met the eligibility, and there is no “review required,” the officer can replace it with his own opinion. Though rare, but it does happen. This is why the eligibility is only passed when an officer conclusively marks the eligibility as passed.

Finally, there is “review required” for PoF. This is the most common in many applications. This is because, the financial and banking practices of each country are different. Eg. Fixed deposits are know as Certificate of Deposit (CD) in the US. Similarly, treasury bonds, mutual funds, stocks, and many other investment vehicles are there. If your PoF anything other than a bank deposit, it is more likely that it will be marked as “review required.” Also, IRCC does not go by day to day fluctuations in FOREX. Instead, the Canadian federal government issued a quarterly conversion rate for all FOREX vis-a-via CAD. If your PoF is in a foreign currency, then you may have “review required” for the officer to make a determination.

Just because you have “review required” does not mean that you hit the panic mode. Instead, read the context in which it is there. If there is a concern regarding a document, you can send a replacement document via CSE. The most common reasons for RR are:

1. Work reference letter without job duties
2. Work reference letters missing all the details requested by IRCC
3. If you submitted a letter from a colleague because you were unable to get one from your employer, but did not have a LoE on file, this too will lead to RR.
4. Not sufficient work experience in the primary NOC.
5. Inability to verify your employment as your employer details are missing.
6. Answering yes to statutory question.

There are just some of the scenarios.

Hope this helps.
 

Plol

Full Member
Nov 4, 2020
35
1
@legalfalcon Hello house, just got my GCMS notes Eligibility, criminality, medical- passed, info sharing -complete, security -not started
i dont seem to understand this below
Special Program: yes
Special Program : PRBIO
 

mussadsar

Star Member
Sep 22, 2017
197
37
  1. NRT means no reportable trace, as in there are no criminal concerns and everything is good.

  2. R10 refers to the first stage of processing also called completeness check. If you have RR, then there may be a document pending or a LoE that you may have submitted. To read on the stages of an EE see https://bit.ly/388r7Uh

  3. See 1 and 2. Stat questions refer to the questions about prior visa refusal, criminal case etc in the application, If you answered yes to a prior visa refusal, you will have a RR.

  4. See 3.



  5. This note is your completeness check and "documents set for review" means that your application is ready to be assessed for eligibility, which is the next stage.
As of now, based on what you have posted, everything looks good. The R10 is only a completeness check where they see that all documents have been provided and the application is complete. In the next stage, i.e. eligibility, each document will be individually reviewed and an assessment on the eligibility will be made.


The eligibility takes place in two stages. First an analyst or an assistant will review and make a recommendation. This can be recommended passed / Met / etc. This recommendation is then reviewed by an officer who makes a final determination. The terminology used such as met / recommended passed / passed an no relevance.

Instead see your assessment on page 2 of the GCMS notes and see the corresponding notes in the last 2-5 pages.

See , my previous post on eligibility and what to expect in your GCMS notes at #2,521

Be advised that the review required that you see here is usually in an eligibility note. It seems as though a preliminary eligibility and R10 was done together.


Reposting my older post on RR:
Thank you so much @legalfalcon for detailed answer. I did had a visa rejection in 2005/2006 when i had applied for a UK student visa for Master's program. I have highlighted this in my application and stated that " the visa officer was not satisfied with the application and did not granted the visa". I hope this does not affect my application, even though my BM's
  1. NRT means no reportable trace, as in there are no criminal concerns and everything is good.

  2. R10 refers to the first stage of processing also called completeness check. If you have RR, then there may be a document pending or a LoE that you may have submitted. To read on the stages of an EE see https://bit.ly/388r7Uh

  3. See 1 and 2. Stat questions refer to the questions about prior visa refusal, criminal case etc in the application, If you answered yes to a prior visa refusal, you will have a RR.

  4. See 3.



  5. This note is your completeness check and "documents set for review" means that your application is ready to be assessed for eligibility, which is the next stage.
As of now, based on what you have posted, everything looks good. The R10 is only a completeness check where they see that all documents have been provided and the application is complete. In the next stage, i.e. eligibility, each document will be individually reviewed and an assessment on the eligibility will be made.


The eligibility takes place in two stages. First an analyst or an assistant will review and make a recommendation. This can be recommended passed / Met / etc. This recommendation is then reviewed by an officer who makes a final determination. The terminology used such as met / recommended passed / passed an no relevance.

Instead see your assessment on page 2 of the GCMS notes and see the corresponding notes in the last 2-5 pages.

See , my previous post on eligibility and what to expect in your GCMS notes at #2,521

Be advised that the review required that you see here is usually in an eligibility note. It seems as though a preliminary eligibility and R10 was done together.


Reposting my older post on RR:
Thank you so much @legalfalcon for detailed answer. I did had a visa rejection in 2005/2006 when i had applied for a UK student visa for Master's program. I have highlighted this in my application and stated that " the visa officer was not satisfied with the application and did not granted the visa". I hope this does not affect my application, even though my BM's are clear and PCC says NRT.

Thanks again.
 

legalfalcon

VIP Member
Sep 21, 2015
19,030
9,888
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Ottawa
NOC Code......
4112
App. Filed.......
03-09-2015
Doc's Request.
01-10-2015
AOR Received.
03-09-2015
Med's Done....
17-08-2015
Passport Req..
05-04-2016
VISA ISSUED...
12-04-2016
LANDED..........
05-05-2016
Thank you so much @legalfalcon for detailed answer. I did had a visa rejection in 2005/2006 when i had applied for a UK student visa for Master's program. I have highlighted this in my application and stated that " the visa officer was not satisfied with the application and did not granted the visa". I hope this does not affect my application, even though my BM's

Thank you so much @legalfalcon for detailed answer. I did had a visa rejection in 2005/2006 when i had applied for a UK student visa for Master's program. I have highlighted this in my application and stated that " the visa officer was not satisfied with the application and did not granted the visa". I hope this does not affect my application, even though my BM's are clear and PCC says NRT.

Thanks again.
A prior visa refusal has no impact on your PR application, however, it will be marked as RR for an officer to review if there were any concerns related to criminality. This happens when a person commits a crime in a country because of which the person is removed from the country or refused a visa. The officer assessing your application will have to ensure that it was not your case, hence RR.
 

legalfalcon

VIP Member
Sep 21, 2015
19,030
9,888
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Ottawa
NOC Code......
4112
App. Filed.......
03-09-2015
Doc's Request.
01-10-2015
AOR Received.
03-09-2015
Med's Done....
17-08-2015
Passport Req..
05-04-2016
VISA ISSUED...
12-04-2016
LANDED..........
05-05-2016
@legalfalcon Hello house, just got my GCMS notes Eligibility, criminality, medical- passed, info sharing -complete, security -not started
i dont seem to understand this below
Special Program: yes
Special Program : PRBIO

Is your eligibility marked passed by an officer.

See my previous post on this at #2,521

PRBIO refers to the bio data, of eye colour, height etc, collected before the issuance of PR.
 

Plol

Full Member
Nov 4, 2020
35
1
Is your eligibility marked passed by an officer.

See my previous post on this at #2,521

PRBIO refers to the bio data, of eye colour, height etc, collected before the issuance of PR.
its not been passed by an officer, just the case processing agent... but the page 2 of my GCMS note says Eligibility passed....
so i need not worry abt the PRBIO?
 

legalfalcon

VIP Member
Sep 21, 2015
19,030
9,888
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Ottawa
NOC Code......
4112
App. Filed.......
03-09-2015
Doc's Request.
01-10-2015
AOR Received.
03-09-2015
Med's Done....
17-08-2015
Passport Req..
05-04-2016
VISA ISSUED...
12-04-2016
LANDED..........
05-05-2016
its not been passed by an officer, just the case processing agent... but the page 2 of my GCMS note says Eligibility passed....
so i need not worry abt the PRBIO?
PRBIO is generic.

As regards your eligibility, it will be conclusively passed only after a final determination by an officer. However, if it is passed by an agent or assistant, the officers go with it in most cases. So no need to worry and everything seems to be on track.