RoyK

As per David Manicom Director Operational Coordination International Region

The following message about the entry into force of the
new Simplified Application Process (as discussed at our most recent
meeting) was sent to all visa offices last week. The materials will be
available on the CIC main web site in coming days.
Subject: Simplified Application Process for Federal Economic Classes:
Operational Instructions
1. Definition
The “Simplified Application Process” for Federal Economic Classes means
that applicants will provide only fees plus a modified IMM8 at time of
initial application, and will be asked to provide supporting
documentation only when the visa office is ready to assess.
2. Entry into Force
The new procedure is an administrative, not regulatory change, and will
come into effect 1 September 2006.
3. Applicability
The Simplified Application Process will apply to most applicants in all
Federal Economic Classes (Skilled Workers, Investors, Entrepreneurs,
Self-Employed). It will not apply to applicants in any other class at
this time. It will not apply to Economic Class immigrants destined to
Quebec and holding CSQs, and will not apply to Provincial Nominees.
These applications continue to use the regular process, and must
include CSQs and PN certificates respectively. Exception: Federal SW
applicants with Arranged Employment Opinions should always be processed
as a priority (proceeding immediately to selection assessment) on
timeframes consistent with the processing of Provincial Nominees and
Quebec cases. These applicants should submit regular Skilled Worker
applications, with supporting documentation.
4. Where
By policy, the Simplified Application process will be the norm at all
visa offices except Buffalo. The regular application process will be
the norm at Buffalo. Supporting documentation submitted with regular
forms after 1 September is to be returned to applicants until such time
as it is requested by the processing office. However, since both the
regular and the Simplified Application forms constitute legal
applications per R. 10, either must be accepted at any visa office.
See below for procedures to follow if a regular application, with
documents, is received.
5. Background and Context
At the present time, the inventory in the Federal Economic Classes
(Skilled Workers and Business) is over 500,000 persons. This is
equivalent to about 4 years of processing at current Levels targets.
The majority of all applications in these classes are received at visa
offices with inventories equivalent to 3 years or more at their current
rates of processing.
In the past, it was considered most efficient to require a complete
application with all supporting documentation. CIC currently asks
applicants to submit a full set of forms about all family members, and
supporting documents necessary to demonstrate that selection and
admissibility criteria are met. These documents include: police
certificates, employment histories and references, marriage and birth
certificates, financial and business documentation, diplomas and
degrees, evidence of abilities in English and French, and so forth.
Many files are 100 pages or more, as applicants or their
representatives seek to provide all possible information to strengthen
their case.
However, in the current context, this approach has become frustrating
for clients, and inefficient for the Department, as visa offices store
multi-year queues of increasingly dated documents. The shelving space
used to store this inventory is expensive and adds to space constraints
in many offices. Applicants update files during the years their
application waits to reach the front of the queue, sending CIC
information on new jobs, new diplomas, births, marriages, divorces and
so forth. Each time, CIC staff must pull the physical file from the
shelf to add the document, and update the electronic record. The time
spent by visa office staff updating files in this queue is ineffective.
By the time the visa office is able to review the file, much of the
documentation is so dated that it cannot be used for a comprehensive
and legally valid decision. The office must frequently ask for most or
all documents to be updated.
In response, and while continuing to pursue solutions to the current
inventory situation, the Department has introduced a Simplified
Application. A three-page form, plus fee, will secure a place in queue.
All supporting documents will be requested later, “just in time” for
assessment. An enhanced acknowledgement of receipt letter will provide
advice on labour-market preparation to encourage prospective immigrants
to make maximum use of this waiting period. Application materials,
guides, and instructions about the new process will be posted on the
internet approximately 1 July, 2006. At the same time, the umbrella
organizations of immigration representatives will be advised that the
new process (on which they were consulted in March) has now been
approved and will enter into force in September, 2006.
6. Procedures
These procedures apply to all visa offices except Buffalo. Procedures
for Buffalo are below, at item 6.9.
6.1 Receipt of a Simplified Application and Acknowledgement of
Receipt: When a Simplified Application is received, a standard
Simplified Application Acknowledgement of Receipt letter must be sent
to the applicant, using the template text in Annex A below. Minor local
modifications are permitted where needed, but the text must otherwise
closely follow the standard.
6.1.1. Electronic Acknowledgement of Receipt Letters: where an
applicant has provided an e-mail address, visa offices may wish to send
the AOR letter by e-mail. When doing so, the standard AOR below must be
modified to include prominent text at the beginning of the letter which
indicates, “This letter serves acknowledgement of receipt of your
application and the correct fee.” The cost-recovery receipt should be
retained on file, and provided to the applicant at time of final
decision.
6.1.2 Acknowledgement of Receipt Letter--Waiting Time: The Simplified
Application AOR must indicate an approximate time frame as to when the
applicant should expect to next hear from the visa office. This is
“waiting time,” not “processing time,” since no processing of the
application will normally take place during this period. This time
frame should be expressed as a 6-month range (e.g. “within 24-30 months
of date of receipt of application”). At most visa offices, the time at
which an applicant's file is assessed and given a selection decision is
similar to their median processing time to final decision. This is a
somewhat shorter period of time than overall processing time, as it is
the period between application receipt and selection assessment. So,
for example, at the present time the CIC web site, based on recent
decisions, lists the processing time for Federal Skilled Workers in
Nairobi as a median of 24 months, with 80% finalized within 44 months.
In advising applicants when they will be asked to provide documents for
selection assessment, it will often be reasonably accurate to use the
current median processing time as the lower end of a six month range.
Nairobi therefore would normally advise new applicants that they will
be asked to provide documents in “24-30” months.
Visa offices should normally use the currently posted median
processing time as the starting point for their six-month range, unless
they have clear indicators within their office that a shorter or longer
timeframe is desirable. It is understood that due to changing intake
and target trends, some visa offices will not correctly estimate the
approximate waiting times. The objective should be to provide an
accurate picture for applicants to enable them to plan, but to err on
the side of caution so as not to raise unreasonable expectations. The
letter also advises applicants that during this waiting period they may
withdraw their application and receive a fee refund.
6.2 Acknowledgement of Receipt Letter: Documents to be submitted:
The Acknowledgement of Receipt letter must also indicate to applicants
the documentation they will subsequently be asked to supply in support
of their application. Alternatively, visa offices may wish to provide
a link to their website where an up-to-date list of required supporting
documents is maintained. Visa offices are strongly encouraged to
review their standard request lists at this time, for completeness, but
also to ensure they are not requesting unnecessary documents or
unnecessary “notarization” of documents. The Simplified Application
AOR should clearly indicate to applicants that, once these documents
have been requested and the time provided has elapsed, their
application will be assessed based on the documentation on file and
without further correspondence.
6.3 Acknowledgement of Receipt Letter: Standard Text: See Annex A,
below.
6.4 Documents Received During the Waiting Period. The standard
letter advises applicants not to update their file during this period
with the exception of a change in address or change in representative,
and not to send documents. When visa offices receive such documents,
they should be returned immediately to the applicant with a brief
standard letter saying: “Documents in support of your application
should not be submitted at this time. We are returning the documents
to you. When supporting documentation is requested for your
application, all pertinent documents you submit will be considered by
the visa officer at that time.” Visa offices must consistently convey
the message that they are not refusing to consider documentation in
support of an application; rather, the visa office will not store such
documentation, and will take into account any and all pertinent
documentation provided by the applicant, as requested at the next stage
of processing, prior to rendering a decision.
6.5 The Processing Stage: Visa offices must put into place bring
forward systems so as to identify needed Federal Economic cases 4-6
months before the visa office will assess the case. At that time, the
applicant is to be sent a standard request for all supporting
documentation, that is, a list similar to that sent with the Simplified
Application Acknowledge of Receipt, plus, if necessary, an updated IMM8
and any needed schedules. The applicant should be provided with 4
months to submit the supporting documentation, and the file marked to
be brought forward in 4-5 months. Because visa offices will therefore
be able to manage the volume of incoming “completed” applications, it
is reasonable for applicants to expect assessment to begin immediately.
It is expected that visa offices will normally approve (pending any
needed verifications), refuse, or convoke to interview within several
weeks of the end of the 4-month document request period and/or of
receiving the supporting documentation. If the office finds it is
unable to do so, they should reduce the volume of cases being asked to
provide supporting documents, until the correct flow is established.
6.6 Handling of “Simplified Applications Received Before1 September”
Application kits, guides and press releases will indicate 1 September
as the start date. However, some applicants may submit Simplified
Applications prior to 1 September. Visa offices should accept such
applications and process as indicated above.
6.7 Handling of “Regular”Applications, and supporting documentation,
received after 1 September. In this situation, visa office should
retain the IMM8 plus schedules on file, and return all supporting
documentation to the applicant, along with the standard Simplified
Application Acknowledgement of Receipt letter.
6.8 Language Test Results: as per OP6, language test results must
not be more than one year old at time of application (not at time of
document submission). An applicant who submits a language test result
where the test was taken 8 months prior to (simplified) application,
and who submits supporting documentation to this effect 3 years later
at our request, has submitted a valid test result.
6.9 Special Instructions for Buffalo and the US Network: The US
network processes primarily Economic class applications from persons
meeting a current labour market need in Canada. As a policy objective,
given the labour market situation within Canada, the US network will
attempt to process its economic class caseload promptly. Thus the US
network will continue to use the regular application process at this
time. NHQ will work with the US network to ensure adequate resources
and target space to meet this policy objective, and will review the
continued use of the regular application process from time to time to
ensure it remains appropriate. When Buffalo receives a Simplified
Application, they must accept it. They should promptly send a modified
Acknowledgement of Receipt letter requesting all needed supporting
documents within 4 months.

They must be out of storage space as most visa posts.

Roy
canvisa@bellnet.ca
www.cvimmigration.com