Thousands assigned to inactive immigration officers and IDs. Are you one of them? | 24CA News
Canada’s Immigration Ministry has assigned tens of hundreds of candidates to immigration officers or placeholder codes which might be inactive and now not working inside their system — some who’ve final logged in and processed recordsdata as much as 16 years in the past, and from airports and visa workplaces around the globe.
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) knowledge on “inactive users” on their Global Case Management System (GCMS) — its worldwide inner system used to course of citizenship and immigration purposes — present 59,456 open, pending or re-opened purposes that had been assigned to 779 former staff or dormant laptop placeholder codes used to carry candidates in queue as of this February.
The division informed CBC as soon as a person is about as inactive, “it means they are no longer using the system and their access is no longer available.”
The knowledge additionally exhibits when every worker or code final logged into the IRCC system.
IRCC staff are solely identifiable publicly through codes, which encompass a mixture of letters and numbers (like AB12345, for instance).
The oldest login dates again to Oct. 6, 2006, with one utility assigned to that Montreal-based code. Nineteen purposes are assigned to a code or worker in Edmonton who final logged in on May 9, 2007.
“I’m pretty much appalled that their system would even … do that,” mentioned Andrea Bote, a everlasting residency (PR) applicant at the moment assigned to an inactive code.
“How could something like this just like go unnoticed for so long? … That’s a lot of applications just stuck between the cracks.”
It’s alarming and it raises questions … about transparency. – Jamie Liew, Immigration lawyer and professor
Earlier this 12 months, CBC News shared the tales of a number of individuals caught in immigration limbo whereas assigned to the identical IRCC officer — solely recognized to them as DM10032 — who left their purposes largely untouched for years. After the story went public, candidates assigned to that officer, who the division confirmed was an lively worker, lastly noticed vital motion on their recordsdata inside months.
CBC filed an entry to info request to IRCC this January asking for all inactive staff and placeholder codes at the moment assigned to candidates.
In October, the division lastly despatched the information that confirmed an inventory of tons of of codes — “a mix of former employees who are no longer active and computer placeholders” as of February 2022.
Those codes are primarily based all around the globe — from Canadian airports, border ports and processing centres, to embassies and consulates within the U.S., Philippines, India, Haiti, Poland, Brazil and Tunisia, to call a couple of.
Ottawa had probably the most variety of inactive codes, adopted by Edmonton, Vancouver, then Sydney, N.S. (CBC didn’t embrace unknown places on this calculation.)
Code SM10353 was probably the most egregious with 9,540 purposes assigned to it. This former worker or placeholder primarily based in Sydney, N.S., final used the system on March 23, 2021.
It’s adopted by:
- TD7976, primarily based in Ottawa, with 5,782 purposes assigned, final login in October 2020.
- TH04332, primarily based in Edmonton, with 3,937 purposes assigned, final login in February 2011.
- CB01126, primarily based in Sydney, N.S., with 3,756 purposes assigned, final login in December 2014.
- CB00580, primarily based in Edmonton, with 3,388 purposes assigned, final login in January 2012.
- RK01404, primarily based in New Delhi, India, with 2,201 purposes assigned, final login in March 2021.
- CA9999, primarily based in Edmonton, with 2,167 purposes assigned, final login in August 2015.
- LB6660, primarily based in Sydney, N.S., with 1,897 purposes assigned, final login in December 2016.
- RA9519, primarily based in Vancouver, with 1,864 purposes assigned, final login in February 2016.
- RL7901, primarily based in Ottawa, with 1,710 purposes assigned, final login in November 2015.
- D9151, primarily based in Edmonton, with 1,702 purposes assigned, final login in August 2013.
“The user code is a unique ID. Once assigned, no other user would have the same one,” defined an IRCC spokesperson in regards to the knowledge. “If a user was no longer required to use GCMS, the code would become inactive.”
The division mentioned it is unable to delete these non-functioning person accounts “as we would lose traceability.”
It’s unclear why IRCC assigns individuals to inactive IDs, or what occurs to purposes underneath these codes. The division didn’t present these solutions to CBC by deadline.
IRCC identified in an earlier response that the processing of purposes “may involve more than one officer” and purposes might be shifted from one centre to a different for effectivity.
People pegged to inactive codes need solutions
Bote came upon she was assigned to RA9519 final month from her GCMS be aware from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), after “almost zero communication” from IRCC for 18 months.
Bote, who utilized by means of IRCC’s particular pathway for worldwide college students in May 2021, is one in all 1,864 purposes caught with this explicit code.
Many of her pals who utilized the identical time have turn out to be everlasting residents in 2021 or early 2022. Meanwhile, Bote solely received a request to submit her biometrics info, reminiscent of fingerprints, this April (one of many earlier phases of the applying course of).
“I’ve honestly become the meme of the server at this point,” mentioned Bote, referring to her on-line Discord neighborhood of PR candidates.
Bote described placing her additional schooling on maintain, dealing with obstacles getting OHIP protection throughout the wait, in addition to not with the ability to journey to see household — because the particular pathway requires candidates to be bodily in Canada when authorised.
“All I really want is for them to … just pinpoint all these dormant [codes], just open them, reassign all those cases somewhere just so they start moving,” mentioned Bote.
“Just tell us what’s going on … We just want to know that … it’s not just stuck in limbo.”
In response to Bote’s case, IRCC mentioned her utility “is active and continues to be processed” however offered no timeline. It pointed to its pandemic-induced backlog of a “substantial inventory of applications.”
Joey Lao came upon he was assigned to SM10353 this October by means of his CBSA be aware.
Lao utilized in July 2021 underneath a necessary employees pathway for his PR, and solely received his receipt of acknowledgement a full 12 months later.
Meanwhile, he watched his cousin who utilized across the identical time progress steadily and obtain her PR in August.
“I don’t mind waiting,” mentioned the latest grad, whose work allow continues to be legitimate for a couple of extra years. “But without knowing the timeline at all, it’s just a little bit frustrating.”
Lao has one request for SM10353, who at the moment has 9,540 recordsdata assigned to them: “I hope that [they’re] able to delegate some of the cases … or release a timeline.”
Lawyer requires audit on recordsdata in ‘purgatory’
Jamie Liew, an immigration lawyer and affiliate regulation professor on the University of Ottawa, mentioned she was “completely taken aback at the scale” of recordsdata assigned to inactive codes.
“It’s alarming and it raises questions, not only about transparency, but also the efficiency [of IRCC’s system],” mentioned Liew. “How can anyone expect an answer, regardless of what that answer is, if their file is now in purgatory?”
WATCH | Lawyer involved about non-existent employees behind codes:
Because of the “huge transparency problem,” Liew questions whether or not the federal government is greatest utilizing its sources to course of recordsdata in a humanitarian method.
“There are people behind these [applicant] files,” she mentioned. “I would hope that the government does some reflection on how they can ensure that this doesn’t happen to another 60,000 applications in the future.”
Liew desires the federal government to start to prioritize these purposes assigned to inoperative codes, and “at the very least, [take] an audit of how this occurred.”
Search your GCMS code right here
Applicants are capable of get info on IRCC’s exercise on their recordsdata by means of a GCMS be aware, obtained by means of Access to Information and Privacy Requests. People can apply on to IRCC or CBSA to acquire their GCMS notes.
Once you acquire that doc, you could possibly see the immigration officer or laptop code your file is at the moment assigned to underneath the “assigned to” area. Some candidates, nevertheless, have reported they do not see that class on their GCMS notes.
