The Guidelines for Approving the Application

When the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) needs to finalise the case, it would need to:

• Confirm that the applicant and all the applicant’s family members have satisfied all the prescribed statutory requirements and have valid clearances in the Global Case Management System (GCMS)

• Send an electronic draft of the Confirmation of Permanent Residence form (COPR) i.e. IMM 5688 to the appropriate Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inland office for the principal applicant and the family members in Canada

• Include the names of the family members living abroad, the visa office responsible, the file number and the permanent resident category i.e. CG or HMN

• Issue an approval letter to the principal applicant, notifying the principal applicant that the authorities have completed the processing of their application and that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) would be contacting the principal applicant to arrange a landing appointment

• Provide the necessary instructions to the principal applicant on how the principal applicant’s family members would need to send their passports to the visa office in Manila (if applicable) and,

• Enter a final decision in the Global Case Management System (GCMS)

Situations could arise where the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) is responsible for processing the applications of the principal applicant’s overseas family members as well. In this scenario, the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) would need to:

• Provide the relevant instructions to the principal applicant regarding the requirement for the accompanying family members of the principal applicant to submit their passports to the visa office in Manila and,

• Add Manila as the secondary office and remove the application from any active processing groups in the Global Case Management System (GCMS)

Once the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) has completed the activities that it is responsible for, an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inland office would need to complete the remainder of the process. This inland office of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) would need to:

• Print the Confirmation of Permanent Residence form (COPR) and request that the principal applicant and their family members in Canada appear for the landing interview

• Grant permanent residence to the applicant and their family members in Canada and,

• Provide the relevant instructions to the principal applicant on how the family members of the principal applicant would need to send their passports to the appropriate visa office

  • It is worth highlighting that officers usually do this for all visa offices except for Manila

In some cases, the inland office of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) might find that the principal applicant has family members overseas. In this situation, the inland office of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) would also need to:

• Inform the responsible visa office that the authorities have granted permanent residence to the principal applicant so that the visa office can issue permanent resident visas to the overseas family members that the officers are processing concurrently

The Process at a Visa Office

The visa office would typically receive notification from the inland office of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that the authorities have granted permanent residence to the principal applicant. On receiving this notification, the visa office responsible for any accompanying overseas family members would need to:

• Confirm that all the accompanying family members have paid the Right of Permanent Residence (RPRF) fee

• Confirm that all medical and criminality checks and travel documents are still valid and will remain valid long enough for the applicants to gain admission into Canada (when applicable)

• Refer the application back to the processing office for review – in case the officers cannot confirm any of the above-mentioned points and,

• Issue the Confirmation of Permanent Residence forms (COPRs) and the visa counterfoils (when applicable) to all the accompanying family members

For more details on this, officers would need to go through section 8.6 (Roles and Responsibilities in the Final Approval Process) of chapter OP 24 i.e. Overseas Processing of Family Members of In-Canada Applicants for Permanent Residence.

The Guidelines for Refusing the Application

When the officers decide to refuse a case, the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) would need to:

• Send a letter to the principal applicant explaining the reasons behind the refusal

• Inform the applicants who still have valid status that the authorities will not be extending their status and work permits and that they would need to leave Canada at the end of their authorised stays

  • This would typically take place if the applicant is in Canada and the authorities have refused the application for various eligibility reasons

• Take the appropriate actions based on the inadmissibility grounds in case the applicant is in Canada and the authorities have refused the application for inadmissibility

  • In this scenario, the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) would typically refer the case to the inland office of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for writing a subsection A44 (1) report

  • The writing of this report could lead to an inadmissibility hearing or a removal order

  • For more details on inadmissibility and the measures that the officers would need to take, officers would need to refer to:

    • ENF 1

    • ENF 2 / OP 18

    • ENF 3 and,

    • ENF 5

• Show the final disposition on the dependents’ files as:

  • “Refused” for accompanying family members or,

  • “Withdrawn” for non-accompanying family members

Situations could arise where the officers have sent the file to a visa office overseas. In this scenario, the visa office would need to:

• Show the final disposition on the dependents’ files as:

  • “Refused” for accompanying family members or,

  • “Withdrawn” for non-accompanying family members and,

• Inform the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) or the inland office of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) of the refused overseas family members (as applicable)

Note:

• The visa office does not need to inform family members of the final disposition of the case

• As such, it does not need to send a refusal letter

• Rather, it is worth highlighting that the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) or the inland office of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) are responsible for notifying the principal applicant as well as sending the appropriate letter