Guidelines for Individuals Affected by the Flooding in Alberta in June 2013

Operational Bulletin 534-A – July 18, 2013

Summary

This Operational Bulletin (OB) to staff belonging to:

• Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and,
• Canada Border Services Agency

It instructs them on the public policy and procedures they need to follow for people affected by the June 2013 flooding in Alberta. These instructions apply to people who are:

• Canadian citizens
• Permanent residents and,
• Temporary residents

Background

In June 2013, heavy flooding took place in southern Alberta. The flooding resulted in the destruction, loss or damage to important documents like passports belonging to:

• Canadian citizens
• Permanent residents and,
• Temporary residents

In an attempt to provide relief, the Minister has approved a public policy. Under the guidelines of this policy, officers can waive fees and certain other requirements for specific foreign nationals. The Minister has also granted an administrative waiver of the fee for the replacement of Permanent Resident cards (PR cards). This administrative waiver remained in force until September 19, 2013.

The New Public Policy

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) authorises officers to respond in a flexible and humane manner. This authority applies especially in emergency situations. Therefore, the Minister approved a public policy. This policy provided a:

• Waiver on certain fees for specific foreign nationals and,
• Automatically extended or restored the status of affected temporary residents

Both these provisions remained in force until September 19, 2013. Additionally, this public policy was in accordance with Section 25.2 of the IRPA.

Under this policy, clients bear the responsibility of demonstrating that the flooding has affected them. Therefore, they would need to prove this by showing:

• A government issued identity document that lists a residential address in an affected community or,
• A registration with the Red Cross

Officers would consider all requests on a case-by-case basis.

Affected Temporary Residents

Under the provisions of this public policy, eligible applicants have several ways to become eligible for an extension. These applicants could obtain an automatic extension or restoration of their status. This extension or restoration would be valid until September 19, 2013. For becoming eligible under this public policy, applicants would need to meet certain requirements. These requirements stipulate that applicants would need to be:

• Temporary residents residing in an area affected by the flooding, who,
• Had legal status as on June 20, 2013 but,
• Would lose this legal status before September 19, 2013 OR
• Foreign nationals who:
• Were out of status as on June 20, 2013 but,
• Were within the restoration period specified by Section 182 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations

These individuals would need to apply for the replacement of their immigration status documents, if these documents were:

• Lost in the flooding or,
• Destroyed in the flooding

Immigration status documents would typically include documents like:

• Work permits
• Study permits or,
• Visitor records

Officers would not levy any replacement fee for these individuals.

Note:

• Annex A provides a list of areas affected by the flooding

Affected Permanent Residents

Permanent residents would need to apply for the replacement of their Permanent Resident cards (PR cards), if they were:

• Lost in the flooding or,
• Destroyed in the flooding

Officers would not levy any replacement fee for these individuals. Additionally, officers would provide replacement PR cards on an expedited basis. However, applicants would need to submit applications for the replacement card within specific timeframes. Officers would only process the applications received from June 20, 2013 up to and including September 19, 2013.

The Procedures

The Procedure for Self-Identifying as an Individual Affected by the Flooding

• Individuals affected by the flooding have access to a dedicated line in the Call Centre Interactive Voice Response System
• Individuals could include:
• Canadian citizens
• Permanent residents and,
• Temporary residents
• This Call Centre Interactive Voice Response System allows clients to contact an agent with priority in the queue
• Clients would need to call 1-888-242-2100 and press “7”
• The agent would ask clients the standard security questions and advise them on how they could proceed with the application
• The authorities have also provided a dedicated e-mail address (Prairies-Situation@cic.gc.ca) for clients to contact them
• Therefore, affected temporary and permanent residents and Canadian citizens could e-mail their details to the authorities concerned
• Clients would need to include the following information in the e-mail:
• Their Unique Client Identifier (UCI) number
• Their name
• Their date of birth
• Their place of birth
• Their country of birth and,
• The Subject line must be: “URGENT: FLOOD”
• On receiving the e-mail, agents would contact the clients for follow-up purposes

 The Procedure for Applying for Replacement Immigration Documents or Urgent Processing

• The Process for Lost or Destroyed Documents
• Affected temporary residents would need to complete the Verification of Status or Replacement of an Immigration Document
• They would then need to send it to the Query Response Centre
• They would need to mention the words “URGENT: FLOOD” on the cover of the final envelope
• Affected permanent residents would need to complete the Application for a Permanent Resident Card
• They would then need to send it to the Case Processing Centre, Sydney (CPC-S) in Nova Scotia
• They would need to mention the words “URGENT: FLOOD” on the cover of the final envelope
• On receiving these documents, the immigration authorities would:
• Issue the replacement or reprinted immigration documents on a priority basis and,
• Levy no fee for providing these replacement or reprinted immigration documents
• Affected Canadian citizens would need to complete the Application for a Citizenship Certificate
• They would then need to send it to the Case Processing Centre, Sydney (CPC-S) in Nova Scotia
• They would need to mention the words “URGENT: FLOOD” on the cover of the final envelope
• On receiving these documents, the immigration authorities would:
• Issue the replacement or reprinted immigration documents on a priority basis and,
• Levy the prescribed fee for providing these replacement or reprinted immigration documents
• The Process for New Work Permit for Change of Employer Due to Flood (Only)
• By Paper
• Affected individuals would need to obtain the Application to Change my Conditions, Extend my Stay or Remain in Canada as a Worker (IMM 5710) package
• They could obtain this package from the CIC website
• They would need to mail the application, the supporting documents, the letter of explanation (if applicable) etc. to the CPC in Vegreville, Alberta
• They would need to mention the words “URGENT: FLOOD” on the cover of the final envelope
• In case the individuals send this via courier, they would need to write the statement on the courier envelope
• Online
• Individuals would need to complete the Come to Canada questions
• Then, they would need to obtain their Personal Checklist and follow the correct steps as given online for submission
• Clients, who submit electronic applications, would need to send a follow-up e-mail immediately to the id: Prairies-Situation@cic.gc.ca
• Their e-mail would need to have the following details:
• The clients’ Unique Client Identifier (UCI)
• The clients’ Application Id number and,
• The clients’  biographical information
• Clients would also need to mention the words “URGENT: FLOOD” in the Subject line of their e-mails
• Upon receiving these e-mails, the authorities would flag the application for urgent processing
• Clients completing an online application, would need to upload a copy of supporting documents e.g. the passport
• In some situations, the floods could have led to the loss of destruction of these documents
• In these circumstances, clients would need to upload a Letter of Explanation for each document instead
• In this Letter of Explanation, clients must mention that their supporting document was lost or destroyed as a result of the flood
• Clients are also eligible to receive a waiver on the fee for obtaining replacement documents
• To avail this, clients would need to upload a proof of exemption e.g. a letter indicating that the clients reside in an affected area
• Because of this, online applicants would need to select an optional Letter of Explanation on the document upload screen in MyCIC
• On this screen, online applicants would need to upload a letter that details the manner in which the flood affected their lives
• On receiving these documents, the immigration authorities would:
• Issue the replacement or reprinted immigration documents on a priority basis and,
• Levy no fee for providing these replacement or reprinted immigration documents

The Process for Processing Flood-Affected Applications

Financial and Special Program Coding

• Fee Exemption
• Officers would need to apply the cost recovery fee exemption code 999 to all fee-exempt applications they process
• This would be applicable for all temporary resident lines of business
• Officers would need to enter the cost recovery code P01 for PR cards
• Special Tracking
• Officers would need to mandatorily use this code to facilitate the tracking of cases
• Special Program Code
• Officers would need to enter the special program code of UE2 in the Global Case Management System for all flood-affected applications they process
• On CPC Systems, officers would need to annotate the special program code on the Work in Progress – Remarks screen

Lost or Destroyed Documents

• Officers would need to process applications for replacement documents on a priority basis
• Officers would need to ensure that all replacement documents issued must match previously issued documents in all matters i.e. validity, conditions etc.

Note:

• Clients requiring an extension beyond the prescribed timeframe of September 19, 2013 would need to submit a regular extension application along with the stipulated fees

New Work Employer Permits

Officers would need to process work permit applications from affected temporary foreign workers on a priority basis. This applies to work permit applications from affected temporary foreign workers in the areas of:

• Exshaw
• Canmore
• High River
• The Siksika Nation
• The Stoney Nation and,
• The Tsuu T’ina Nation

This is because these affected temporary foreign workers would have new employers. These new employers would have only received a labour market opinion for a short duration.

Officers would issue the work permit with the special program code. Furthermore, they would not levy any cost recovery fee as the authorities have waived it. The authorities have also granted a waiver on the requirement for supporting documents like the:

• Proof of a valid passport or,
• Proof of payment

However, the officers would only grant this waiver in cases where the client has indicated that these documents were lost or destroyed in the flood.

Annex A – Communities where the Authorities Have Declared “States of Emergency” Because of the Floods of June 2013

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)