Confusion About CSIS Notes

[caipsnotes]

How did u order gcms from cbsa ?? I got one from ircc bu t i need one from vcbsa

It's the same process as requesting the Gcms Notes; start here https://atip-aiprp.apps.gc.ca/atip/welcome.do?lang=en and select CBSA instead of IRCC. Rest of the process is much the same as requesting Gcms. Usually CSBA will mail (postal delivery) the documents but during COVID-19 they will email instead. You can use the same process and even request the CSIS Notes as well.

 

[StellaArtois]

Yup I did what caipsnotes said to get CBSA notes; also to add to that, if the principal applicant is not in Canada and the request is done on their behalf, then the PA must sign the CBSA consent form (not the IRCC one), and it is found here https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/forms-formulaires/bsf745-eng.pdf

Also note that when I submitted my request to CBSA, they sent me the following message:
"Your request is important to us and we will continue to make best efforts to respond to your request, in accordance with our reduced operational capacity caused by the exceptional measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. In order to process your request at this time, we are proposing that you limit your request to electronic records, thereby making them retrievable remotely. If you agree, our office will task out for responsive records. To be clear, we will not ask employees to go onsite to do this or to obtain secret records from any secure networks not accessible through remote access. If you do not agree to limit your request to electronic records, we will proceed with your request once we are back to normal operations."

So there is a possibility that if there are secret records regarding your application that are only found on their secure networks, you will not receive them in CBSA notes until they are fully reopen... and who knows when that will be.

Also I received my CBSA notes in 28 calendar days. I don't know if this is of relevance to you, but even though our family class sponsorship application was submitted together with a criminal rehabilitation application, my request for notes only gave everything on file for the family class sponsorship application, and there was nothing from the criminal rehabilitation application. So if you do have a CR application in process, be sure to specify that is the one you are looking for information on, not the family class sponsorship one, because the family class sponsorship information will essentially be the same as GCMS notes (and even say GCMS notes on the top) despite being sent to you from CBSA.

 

[caipsnotes]

Yup I did what caipsnotes said to get CBSA notes; also to add to that, if the principal applicant is not in Canada and the request is done on their behalf, then the PA must sign the CBSA consent form (not the IRCC one), and it is found here https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/forms-formulaires/bsf745-eng.pdf

Also note that when I submitted my request to CBSA, they sent me the following message:
"Your request is important to us and we will continue to make best efforts to respond to your request, in accordance with our reduced operational capacity caused by the exceptional measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. In order to process your request at this time, we are proposing that you limit your request to electronic records, thereby making them retrievable remotely. If you agree, our office will task out for responsive records. To be clear, we will not ask employees to go onsite to do this or to obtain secret records from any secure networks not accessible through remote access. If you do not agree to limit your request to electronic records, we will proceed with your request once we are back to normal operations."

So there is a possibility that if there are secret records regarding your application that are only found on their secure networks, you will not receive them in CBSA notes until they are fully reopen... and who knows when that will be.

Also I received my CBSA notes in 28 calendar days. I don't know if this is of relevance to you, but even though our family class sponsorship application was submitted together with a criminal rehabilitation application, my request for notes only gave everything on file for the family class sponsorship application, and there was nothing from the criminal rehabilitation application. So if you do have a CR application in process, be sure to specify that is the one you are looking for information on, not the family class sponsorship one, because the family class sponsorship information will essentially be the same as GCMS notes (and even say GCMS notes on the top) despite being sent to you from CBSA.

Thanks for elaborating; helps the community in their understanding. Correct there is a different consent form to use for the respective govt. agency.

Question - CBSA mentions of limiting the search to electronic records only; did you request the supporting documents as well? IRCC will send a 365 day extension notice in some cases if there is a request for supporting documents for much the same reasons as CBSA.

 

[StellaArtois]

Question - CBSA mentions of limiting the search to electronic records only; did you request the supporting documents as well? IRCC will send a 365 day extension notice in some cases if there is a request for supporting documents for much the same reasons as CBSA.

We actually did not request the supporting documents - we made sure to only tick for the notes and not for what was submitted... but they sent us a total of 166 pages, with the notes on our file taking up the first 67 pages, and the remaining 99 pages being almost our entire file (including the evidence we submitted to support our relationship, the medical that was done on the PA, receipts we submitted to prove we paid their fees, webform inquiries/communications regarding on our case, police certificates, FBI certificate, identity documents, scans of the IRCC forms we had submitted).
The ATIP response to our request was so big that they had to split our file/notes into two pdf files and send it in two separate e-mails... but they did it in 28 calendar days, which I am impressed by given that there has been delays all over the place from the pandemic.

 

[caipsnotes]

We actually did not request the supporting documents - we made sure to only tick for the notes and not for what was submitted... but they sent us a total of 166 pages, with the notes on our file taking up the first 67 pages, and the remaining 99 pages being almost our entire file (including the evidence we submitted to support our relationship, the medical that was done on the PA, receipts we submitted to prove we paid their fees, webform inquiries/communications regarding on our case, police certificates, FBI certificate, identity documents, scans of the IRCC forms we had submitted).
The ATIP response to our request was so big that they had to split our file/notes into two pdf files and send it in two separate e-mails... but they did it in 28 calendar days, which I am impressed by given that there has been delays all over the place from the pandemic.

Thanks again for sharing, much appreciated. CBSA has been more accommodating during the pandemic; noticed the same that large files are being split into multiple emails. That's far better than IRCC which is still sending CD's via postal mail for large files.

All the best with the next steps.

 

[Al Saudi]

It's the same process as requesting the Gcms Notes; start here https://atip-aiprp.apps.gc.ca/atip/welcome.do?lang=en and select CBSA instead of IRCC. Rest of the process is much the same as requesting Gcms. Usually CSBA will mail (postal delivery) the documents but during COVID-19 they will email instead. You can use the same process and even request the CSIS Notes as well.

Hello,

Please, can you help me with the correct link to CBSA and CSIS forms or is both requested with same form? Kindly help and with many thanks.

Regards!

 

[Al Saudi]

Yup I did what caipsnotes said to get CBSA notes; also to add to that, if the principal applicant is not in Canada and the request is done on their behalf, then the PA must sign the CBSA consent form (not the IRCC one), and it is found here https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/forms-formulaires/bsf745-eng.pdf

Also note that when I submitted my request to CBSA, they sent me the following message:
"Your request is important to us and we will continue to make best efforts to respond to your request, in accordance with our reduced operational capacity caused by the exceptional measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. In order to process your request at this time, we are proposing that you limit your request to electronic records, thereby making them retrievable remotely. If you agree, our office will task out for responsive records. To be clear, we will not ask employees to go onsite to do this or to obtain secret records from any secure networks not accessible through remote access. If you do not agree to limit your request to electronic records, we will proceed with your request once we are back to normal operations."

So there is a possibility that if there are secret records regarding your application that are only found on their secure networks, you will not receive them in CBSA notes until they are fully reopen... and who knows when that will be.

Also I received my CBSA notes in 28 calendar days. I don't know if this is of relevance to you, but even though our family class sponsorship application was submitted together with a criminal rehabilitation application, my request for notes only gave everything on file for the family class sponsorship application, and there was nothing from the criminal rehabilitation application. So if you do have a CR application in process, be sure to specify that is the one you are looking for information on, not the family class sponsorship one, because the family class sponsorship information will essentially be the same as GCMS notes (and even say GCMS notes on the top) despite being sent to you from CBSA.

Hello,

If I have someone in Canada who can help me request for the CBSA and CSIS Notes, which form would be required or if I am inside Canada, which form will I fill. Please, I will appreciate it if I can get the link also to the form I can use to request for the CBSA and CSIS Notes myself within Canada. I believe the link you gave is for those outside Canada?

Kindly help and with many thanks.

Regards!

 

[caipsnotes]

Hello,

Please, can you help me with the correct link to CBSA and CSIS forms or is both requested with same form? Kindly help and with many thanks.

Regards!

Hi. As follows. Each request has to be made separately at https://atip-aiprp.apps.gc.ca/atip/welcome.do?lang=en

CBSA consent form
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/forms-formulaires/bsf745-eng.html

CSIS consent form
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/csis-scrs/documents/forms/individual-consent-form.pdf

 

[Al Saudi]

Hi. As follows. Each request has to be made separately at https://atip-aiprp.apps.gc.ca/atip/welcome.do?lang=en

CBSA consent form
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/forms-formulaires/bsf745-eng.html

CSIS consent form
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/csis-scrs/documents/forms/individual-consent-form.pdf

I sincerely appreciate your kindness. Thanks a milli.

 

[StellaArtois]

Hello,

If I have someone in Canada who can help me request for the CBSA and CSIS Notes, which form would be required or if I am inside Canada, which form will I fill. Please, I will appreciate it if I can get the link also to the form I can use to request for the CBSA and CSIS Notes myself within Canada. I believe the link you gave is for those outside Canada?

Kindly help and with many thanks.

Regards!

I saw that someone else has already given you the links, so I won't repeat that, but in your post it sounded like you wanted to also be able to request the notes for yourself from within Canada?
If you are in fact within Canada, then you do not need the consent forms because you can request the notes for yourself and thus you do not need to provide consent for your information to be given to a third party.

If you are requesting notes for yourself and not needing someone else to do it on your behalf, then you can simply use the first link https://atip-aiprp.apps.gc.ca/atip/welcome.do?lang=en without submitting any other forms.

Hope that is clear and makes sense. All the best! I requested notes again last month and it was about 30 calendar days, so it looks like even with the worsening situation of the pandemic, they are still keeping close to their 30 day notes request fulfillment standard.

 

[Al Saudi]

I saw that someone else has already given you the links, so I won't repeat that, but in your post it sounded like you wanted to also be able to request the notes for yourself from within Canada?
If you are in fact within Canada, then you do not need the consent forms because you can request the notes for yourself and thus you do not need to provide consent for your information to be given to a third party.

If you are requesting notes for yourself and not needing someone else to do it on your behalf, then you can simply use the first link https://atip-aiprp.apps.gc.ca/atip/welcome.do?lang=en without submitting any other forms.

Hope that is clear and makes sense. All the best! I requested notes again last month and it was about 30 calendar days, so it looks like even with the worsening situation of the pandemic, they are still keeping close to their 30 day notes request fulfillment standard.

Thank you for this, I do appreciate your time.

 

[Al Saudi]

I saw that someone else has already given you the links, so I won't repeat that, but in your post it sounded like you wanted to also be able to request the notes for yourself from within Canada?
If you are in fact within Canada, then you do not need the consent forms because you can request the notes for yourself and thus you do not need to provide consent for your information to be given to a third party.

If you are requesting notes for yourself and not needing someone else to do it on your behalf, then you can simply use the first link https://atip-aiprp.apps.gc.ca/atip/welcome.do?lang=en without submitting any other forms.

Hope that is clear and makes sense. All the best! I requested notes again last month and it was about 30 calendar days, so it looks like even with the worsening situation of the pandemic, they are still keeping close to their 30 day notes request fulfillment standard.

Please, one more thing, how did CBSA/CSIS contact you to verify your status or right to request for the Notes, was it by email or phone call?

Thanking you again for your time.

 

[Al Saudi]

Hi. As follows. Each request has to be made separately at https://atip-aiprp.apps.gc.ca/atip/welcome.do?lang=en

CBSA consent form
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/forms-formulaires/bsf745-eng.html

CSIS consent form
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/csis-scrs/documents/forms/individual-consent-form.pdf

Re: I need your opinion in this as well.

Please, one more thing, how did CBSA/CSIS contact you to verify your status or right to request for the Notes, was it by email or phone call?

Thanking you again for your time.

 

[StellaArtois]

Please, one more thing, how did CBSA/CSIS contact you to verify your status or right to request for the Notes, was it by email or phone call?

Thanking you again for your time.

Re: I need your opinion in this as well.

Please, one more thing, how did CBSA/CSIS contact you to verify your status or right to request for the Notes, was it by email or phone call?

Thanking you again for your time.

They never actually contacted me directly to verify my right to request the notes... This was what happened for me for my requests:
1. I sent in the request through the ATIP link, and uploaded the consent form (I was requesting for my husband who is living in the USA)
2. I received an automatic e-mail confirmation after my payment was processed that my request was received
3. About 30 calendar days later, I received an e-mail containing the requested notes (CSIS is faster than CBSA; I think CSIS gets less requests)

I am a Canadian citizen and I actually never submitted proof of my citizenship in any of my ATIP requests for any of my sets of notes (IRCC, CBSA, and CSIS), even though it is listed as a required document (I forgot; it was not intentional). Despite the, they still processed my requests without asking for this proof. However, I'm not sure if they would do the same for you if your qualifying status giving you right to request ATIP is different than mine.

Also, the first time that I made requests for CSIS and CBSA notes, I used the wrong consent forms - I used the IRCC consent form for both of them. After 1-2 weeks, I got an e-mail from a representative from each agency with a link to the correct consent form to use for them and telling me to get it filled out and e-mailed back to them. They seem like they are quite reasonable about asking for more information/proof/documents if they need it instead of simply denying your request outright.

By the way, CBSA specifically notified me of some special COVID circumstances where the notes they give you in response to your request may not be complete - see this post https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/confusion-about-csis-notes.698398/post-8815047

Hope that helps!

 

[caipsnotes]

Re: I need your opinion in this as well.

Please, one more thing, how did CBSA/CSIS contact you to verify your status or right to request for the Notes, was it by email or phone call?

Thanking you again for your time.

To prove that you have the right to make a request, you must provide one of the following documents: a copy of your Canadian passport or your permanent resident card, or an official document that demonstrates you are currently living in Canada (i.e. a driver's license, bill with proof of address, work/study/visitor permit, etc). Only one (1) document is required. Your Social Insurance Number (SIN) will not be accepted.

A consent form is NOT needed for a Privacy Act request if you are requesting your own information.