Thousands of immigration files assigned to inactive agents

Some of them haven’t connected to the system in more than a decade, according to information obtained by Radio-Canada’s English network CBC.

Data taken from the Global Case Management System (GCMS) forIRCC An internal system used worldwide to process immigration and citizenship applications shows that 59,456 open, pending or reopened immigration applications have been assigned to 779 former employees or passive employees since last February.

The ministry told CBC that once a user is inactive, This means that he is no longer using his system and his access is no longer available.

The data also shows when each employee or user logs into the ministry’s system.

Inactive agents for 15 years

We can publicly identify employeesIRCC By codes, which consist of a combination of letters and numbers, for example AB12345.

Thus, the oldest contact with the system dates back to October 6, 2006, with the request attributed to Code based in Montreal. In addition, 19 requests were assigned to a code or an Edmonton employee who last logged into the system on May 9, 2007.

I’m terrified their system can do that.said Andrea Bot, who applied for permanent residence in Canada and whose file was directed at an inactive user.

” How could something like this be ignored for so long? That’s a lot of files ending up between the cracks. »

Immigration lawyer Jean-Sebastien Boudrol is no longer surprised by these Horror stories.

Before, we were able to talk to immigration officials, we could talk to managers, but now there are walls everywhere, we have trouble talking to people.he said Monday morning on the show First the informationon ICI RDI.

Of course, procedures must be established, Boudrault agrees with me. But we have put in place so many measures, so much distance between the user and the immigrant and his representatives and administrators that we can no longer talk to anyone.

according to him, Deadlines no longer make sense. For this reason, applicants are advised to immigrate to Follow their cause And the’Act fast When deadlines are shown on the website forIRCC We are confuse.

cases all over the world

Earlier this year, CBC shared the stories of several people whose cases were lost to limbo after being assigned to a single agent, known as DM10032. For years, their claims were untouched.

After the report aired, applicants assigned to that agent — which, the department confirmed, had become inactive — finally saw their files progress in the months that followed.

The CBC filed a Freedom of Information request in January withIRCC Gets all codes of inactive employees or users who have files assigned to them.

In October, the ministry finally sent data showing a list of hundreds of codes, a mix of former employees and usernames no longer active in February 2022.

These codes are found all over the world: at Canadian airports, at port customs and visa application centers, and at embassies and consulates in the United States, the Philippines, India, Haiti, Poland, Brazil, and Tunisia, to name a few.

Ottawa, at the top of the list

Ottawa has the highest number of inactive codes. The federal capital was followed by Edmonton, Vancouver and Sydney in Nova Scotia.

The code SM10353 was the most problematic, with 9,540 migration requests assigned to it. The last time this employee or former user based in Sydney logged in was on March 23, 2021.

User ID is a unique identifier. Once set, no other user can have the samea spokesperson explainedIRCC. If the user no longer has to use the system, their token becomes inactive.

The ministry indicated that it is unable to delete user accounts that have stopped working, as this will lead to the loss of traceability.

the reason IRCC It set logs for inactive users or what happens to requests for these codes is not clear. The ministry did not provide a response to this matter to CBC.

The department explained that the processing of applications may involve more than one employee and that files may be transferred from one center to another in the interest of efficiency.