Operational Bulletin 538 – August 12, 2013

The Destruction of Visa Security Seals

Summary

The authorities have ascertained that the visa security seal offers limited use at present. Therefore, it has instructed officers at missions abroad to destroy most of the visa security seal inventory retained at these missions. In addition, it has declared that there is no impact on the use of security seals by offices located in Canada.

Issue

This Operational Bulletin (OB) provides instructions concerning the destruction of visa security seals. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) offices located overseas would need to destroy the visa security seals they currently possess.

Background

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) began issuing a visa counterfoil (IMM 1346B) that offers higher levels of security with effect from April 01, 2012. As a result, it renders redundant the visa security seal (OB 397).

Therefore, the authorities have decided that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) offices located overseas would need to destroy the visa security seals they currently possess.

The Instructions

The use of visa counterfoils and security seals has experienced a significant change. Therefore, the authorities have determined that missions abroad do not need to retain large inventories of security seals any longer.

At the same time, they have declared that the use of these security seals will not affect operations in Canada. This is because many offices in Canada continue to use the security seal for affixing photographs to:

• IMM 1442s and,
• Temporary Resident Permits

Overseas however, missions use the security seal only for affixing applicant photographs to:

• Single Journey Travel Documents (SJTDs) [IMM 5565] and,
• Single Journey Documents for Resettlement (SJDs) [IMM 5485]

However, emergencies do tend to arise, where missions situated overseas need to facilitate travel by issuing:

• Single Journey Travel Documents (SJTDs) [IMM 5565] and,
• Single Journey Documents for Resettlement (SJDs) [IMM 5485]

Therefore, these missions would need to retain a small number of security seals for emergency purposes.

In addition, the authorities have also identified a potential security issue concerning the use of these security seals. They have found that the adhesive used for the seals tends to become less stable over time. Therefore, situations might arise that could possibly undermine the assurance of security.

To address this situation, the authorities have issued instructions to missions situated overseas concerning the destruction of security seals in their local inventory. However, it has also instructed the missions to retain one package (comprising 250 seals) with them. They could retain the possession of this package of security seals for dealing with emergencies, as and when they might arise.

The authorities have also realised that some visa offices might be using these security seals for issuing a high number of:

• Single Journey Travel Documents (SJTDs) [IMM 5565] and,
• Single Journey Documents for Resettlement (SJDs) [IMM 5485]

Therefore, it has instructed these offices to retain a larger quantity of security seals. However, the visa offices would need to decide on the quantity of the security seals that they choose to retain, based on their recent local pattern of use.

In addition, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Forms Management (the Solutions and Information Management Branch) will also retain several security seals. They would need to retain these seals for dealing with emergencies, as and when they might arise.

The authorities have published a document titled “SA 6 – Annex L – Security Arrangements for Controlled Forms”. This documents the procedures that missions and visa offices would need to adhere to, when they destroy the security seals in their local inventory.

Officers might have various questions regarding the details published in this OB. Therefore, they would need to contact Forms Management for any questions that they might have regarding the destruction of visa security seals. They could do this by sending an e-mail to Forms Management at: forms-management@cic.gc.ca.

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)