Non-Compliant Family Members – The Requests for Information or Medical Examinations
Officers would need to ensure that they respect the procedural fairness before closing applications. When failing to comply with the prescribed requirements, the person becomes inadmissible. However, the authorities would need to give the principal applicant the opportunity for providing additional documents or information in response to the original request. As such, the officers would need to include the principal applicant and the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) or the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inland office (as applicable) in all procedural fairness correspondence sent to overseas family members. In addition, the officers would need to record and upload all the correspondence in the Global Case Management System (GCMS) too.
Situations could arise where officers come across non-compliance by overseas family members despite the authorities providing these individuals with ample opportunity for submitting the required information or undergoing a medical exam. In this scenario, the officers would need to assess the applications based on the information on file. Then, they would need to find the applicants inadmissible based on the provisions specified in section A11 (pursuant to subsection A16 (1) or (2) or paragraph R30 (1) (a) – as applicable).
In some cases, the officers might be assessing the overseas family members on separate LC2 applications. In this scenario, the officers would need to create new eligibility activities and set them to ‘Failed’. Thereafter, they would need to set the final disposition to ‘Refused’. Lastly, the officers would need to notify the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) or the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inland office (as applicable).
Similarly, if the officers are assessing the overseas family members on the LC application, the officers would need to notify the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) or the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inland office (as applicable) immediately of the inadmissible family member. In addition, the officers would need to notify the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) or the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inland office (as applicable) that they have completed the processing of the overseas family members.
In each of the two situations given above, the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) or the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inland office (as applicable) would need to:
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Assess and conclude the application based on the information on file and refuse it on the grounds of non-compliance – if the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) or the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inland office determines that the officers have adequately notified the principal applicant of the request
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Send another procedural fairness letter notifying the principal applicant of the non-compliance by overseas family members – in case a visa office determines the non-compliance
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Assess and conclude the application based on the information on file and refuse it on the grounds of non-compliance – if the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) or the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inland office determines that the additional time requested by the principal applicant or the family members of the principal applicant is unwarranted
For more details on non-compliance, officers would need to go through:
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Section 5.12 of chapter OP 2, Processing members of the family class and,
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Section 10 of chapter ENF 2 / OP 18 i.e. Evaluating Inadmissibility
The Assessment of Overseas Family Members
Visa officers would need to review the applications and determine that all overseas family members are admissible and meet all the prescribed statutory requirements. Once they have verified that all overseas family members are admissible and meet all the prescribed statutory requirements, they would need to send e-mails to the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) or the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inland office (as applicable) and advise them of this.
In some cases, the overseas family members might be non-accompanying. In this scenario, the officers would need to set the final disposition of the LC2 application to ‘Withdrawn’. Thereafter, they would need to enter a note indicating that the officers closed the file because the overseas family members were non-accompanying. In addition, the officers would need to send a non-concurrent closure letter to the family members.
In case the overseas family members are accompanying, the officer would need to await notification from the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inland office that the principal applicant in Canada has landed. Only then should they issue the appropriate travel documents to the overseas family members. If applicable, the officers would need to ensure that the file contains the ‘Declaration from Non-Accompanying Parent / Guardian for Minors Immigrating to Canada’ form i.e. IMM 5604 and a signed photo identification. This is a must for minor dependents. If the applicant cannot provide this form or an appropriate document in lieu of consent i.e. court order or custody agreement, the officers would not be able to issue the relevant travel documents. In this scenario, the officers would change the status of the minor to a non-accompanying dependent. Thereafter, the officers would need to enter a final decision of ‘Approved’ on LC2 applications for overseas accompanying family members. However, they would only do so once the principal applicant on file has landed.
For more details on consent, officers would need to refer to sections 5.7 and 5.8 of chapter OP 1 Procedures.
