Oct 15, 2015 – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada frequently publishes immigration policy manuals for its personnel to provide guidance in the exercise of their functions. Below we include annotated summaries of Canada immigration policy manuals.

Canadian Economic Classes – The Procedures at the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) for Paper-based Applications (Non-Express Entry Applications)

This section provides instructions on how officers would need to:

• Review the Paper-based applications of Canadian Economic Classes for completeness
• Assess the applications against the relevant Ministerial Instructions (MIs) and,
• Put the applications into processing

Completeness Check for Paper-based Applications’ Canadian Economic Classes 

Applicants would need to submit their complete applications at the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney, Nova Scotia. This includes submitting the applications along with the required:

• Forms
• Fees
• Information and,
• Supporting documents

The officers would initially review the applications received for completeness. For this, they would examine the applications according to the document checklist requirements in place at the time the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) receives the application. If the officers at the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) find that:

• The application meets the requirements pursuant to Section 10 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) [refer to Appendix A] and the document checklist requirements in place at the time of receipt of the application by the Centralised Intake Office (CIO), the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) will:
  • Enter the application information into the Global Case Management System (GCMS) and,
  • Recover the processing fee
    • It is worth highlighting that the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) will assess the application against the applicable program eligibility requirements and / or the relevant Ministerial Instructions (MIs) for:
      • The Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) Class
      • The Federal Skilled Trades (FST) Class
      • The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and,
      • The Start-up Business Classes
• The application does not meet the requirements pursuant to Section 10 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) and the document checklist requirements in place at the time of receipt of the application by the Centralised Intake Office (CIO), the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) will:
  • Return the application to the applicant as incomplete and,
  • Refund the fees to the applicant
    • In addition, whenever it comes across incomplete applications, the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) will record the receipt of an incomplete application. It will also mention that it returned the application to the applicant. Further, it will take no further action unless the applicant submits a complete application, as the guidelines given above specify

For provincial nominees, the authorities have specified that the lock-in date for the age of a dependent child is the date on which the province or territory receives the complete application. Readers would need to refer to the section titled “The Lock-in Date for Age of Dependent Children of Provincial Nominees” given subsequently in this document.

Note:

• Officers at the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) will date stamp the applications once they receive them
• Thereafter, the officers will check the applications for completeness based on the date of receipt
• It is worth noting the application received date at the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) is the lock-in date
• Therefore, processing offices would need to ensure that they do not change the application received date that the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) enters at the time of creating the file.