In-Canada Office Closures and the Elimination of Front Counter Service

Operational Bulletin 431 – June 01, 2012

In-Canada Office Closures and the Elimination of Front Counter Service

Issue

This Operational Bulletin (OB) provides information on:

• The closure of 19 local Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) offices and,
• The elimination of the front counter service at the domestic CIC offices across Canada

This OB provides information applicable as of June 01, 2012.

Background

The authorities have closed the following offices, with effect from June 01, 2012:

• Kelowna
• Nanaimo
• Prince George
• Victoria
• Lethbridge
• Regina
• Barrie
• Kingston
• Oshawa
• Sault Ste.-Marie
• Sudbury
• Thunder Bay
• Gatineau
• Quebec
• Sherbrooke
• Trois-Rivieres
• Saint John
• Moncton and,
• Charlottetown

In addition, the authorities have also implemented one more change. The local CIC offices across Canada that remain open would no longer provide front counter service. Therefore, clients would only gain access to these offices by appointment. The authorities have posted signs at all offices, which invite guests to access CIC services via:

• The CIC website or,
• The CIC’s Call Centre

This change also comes into effect from June 01, 2012.

The CIC will continue with its attempts to explore measures for providing services to clients in remote areas, with its partners. Such measures could typically include:

• Directed interviews
• Video conferencing and,
• Itinerant services

The New Applications

Officers used to send new applications to a closed office in the past. Now however, officers would need to send the new applications based on the details specified in the table below. Please note that closed offices could continue to receive files sent to them prior to June 01, 2012. This new procedure comes into effect as of June 01, 2012. 

Note:

• CIC Moncton will continue to receive and process files until October 2012
• While doing this, it would however, continue to remain fully closed to the public
• With effect from October 2012, the authorities would transfer the processing of files to CIC Fredericton

The Citizenship Files

The authorities would need to make changes to the Global Case Management System (GCMS). These changes would provide support to the new jurisdictions because of the office closures. However, the authorities are unlikely to implement these changes prior to December 2012. Therefore, the authorities would provide further instructions on workarounds at a later date.

The Applications for Permanent Residence with Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) Considerations

The offices could receive Backlog Reduction Office HC1 / HC2 cases for local referral. The officers currently refer all these cases to the network based on local office capacity. They would continue to do the same henceforth as well. Officers would not refer cases based on the applicant’s geographic zone.

The officers would refer the FCH files to the remaining offices that are currently processing these cases. This is because these offices are also geographically closest to the client.

The Permanent Resident (PR) Card Applications

Situations could arise where offices might receive:

• New Permanent Resident (PR) cards referred for investigation and,
• New Permanent Resident (PR) card applications referred for investigation

Officers would need to send these to the remaining local CIC offices. These offices would process these cases using the existing procedures.

The Refugee Claim Intake

The 19 closed offices handled a minimal volume of refugee intake i.e. less than one percent of all intake cases. Therefore, officers would need to refer such cases to the closest CIC office. However, this CIC office must have the authority for continuing to accept refugee claims.

The Private Sponsorship of Refugee Applications

The Central Processing Office – Winnipeg is currently:

• Receiving all these applications and,
• Processing these applications

Grants and Contributions

Locations that are closing would need to coordinate the management of existing Contribution Agreements (CAs) through the respective CIC offices as follows:

• Vancouver – for Contribution Agreements (CAs) in British Columbia
• Winnipeg – for Contribution Agreements (CAs) in Alberta and Saskatchewan
• Toronto – for Contribution Agreements (CAs) in Ontario offices and,
• Halifax – for Contribution Agreements (CAs) in Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces

Each of these offices would need to make individual decisions concerning:

• The management of specific Contribution Agreements (CAs) by
• Specific locations, based on their jurisdiction

In addition, each office would need to take various additional measures. These measures would ensure that services to the holders of Contribution Agreements (CAs) do not face any disruptions. Such services would typically include:

• The receipt of invoices and,
• The payment of invoices

The Applications Currently in Process

Currently, there might be various applications, currently in process. Officers would need to transfer these based on the workload transfer table given above. Situations could arise where some clients needed to submit additional documents. Some of these clients might have sent their documents to any of the closed offices. Clients, who have done so, would not need to re-send their documents.

Urgent Enquiries

Situations could arise where some applicants require urgent processing because of the occurrence of various emergencies. Officers would need to advise these applicants to contact the Call Centre at 1 888 242 2100.

The Disposition of Physical Files

Each office would be finalising various cases. Therefore, offices would need to continue to follow the prescribed retention and disposition procedures. In addition, they would also need to ensure that the file locations have the right annotations in the appropriate systems.

The authorities would provide further instructions on the permanent disposal of physical files at a subsequent date.

The Signs Posted as of June 01, 2012

The authorities have placed various signs for:

• Front counter closure
• Full office closure and,
• Kiosk closure (Atlantic)

People would need to read these signs and take the appropriate steps. 

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)