YES you can call IRCC at 1-888-242-2100. Make sure you have your Unique Client Identifier (UCI, which you can find on any correspondence from IRCC), or your application number.
Tips and Tricks for Checking Your IRCC (CIC) Application Status
There are three different routes to check up on the status of your application with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, formerly CIC). The first option is to call. The second option is to use the e-Client Application Status online tool at IRCC’s website. The third route is to file a request to see your GCMS notes directly to IRCC. What are the differences between these two alternative routes? And what does GCMS mean?
There are three different routes to check up on the status of your application with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, formerly CIC). The first option is to call IRCC at 1-888-242-2100. The second option is to use IRCC’s e-Client Application Status online tool at IRCC’s website. The other route is to file a request to see your GCMS notes directly to IRCC. What are the differences between these two alternative routes? And what does GCMS mean?
Index
- Call Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (formerly CIC)
- Check your status onilne
- Get your GMCS Notes (formerly CAIPS and FOSS)
Calling IRCC at 1-888-242-2100
The simplest way to check your status would seem to be calling IRCC at 1-888-242-2100, however that isn’t really the case.
For one thing, it’s quite hard to call this number if you are outside of Canada, as it’s only available in North America. Click here for the full article “How to call IRCC (Canadian immigration) from outside of Canada”.
But the real problem is that it’s hard to get through. Here are the problems in order:
- When you call, there is a long, tiered menu system, so you need to know what you are calling about, not just what you are calling about but what IRCC calls the application you are calling about. If not, you may not find your way to an operator.
- IRCC’s call centre is often extremely busy so you can be on hold for hours and sometimes the system will just disconnect your call.
- Once you do get through, you have to prove to the operator that you are who you say you are, so you’ll need your UCI or application number, in addition to being able to answer certain questions about yourself (such as your birth date).
- Once your identity has been confirmed, the call centre staff member will only be able to tell you the vaguest details about your file, such as whether or not it was received, whether or not it is being processed, or whether or not there has been a decision on your application (and if a document has been sent).
This experience regularly leaves people unsatisfied. So what other options are there?
IRCC e-Client Application Status
This online tool available at IRCC’s website is not, in fact, available to all applicants. Whether or not you can access e-Client Application Status depends on what you applied for with IRCC:
- Applications eligible to use the e-Client Application Status
- Sponsorship: all categories;
- Permanent Residence from within Canada for compassionate and humanitarian cases;
- Permanent Residence from within Canada for all categories;
- Permanent Residence from outside Canada for all categories;
- Permanent Resident Card;
- Temporary Residence: all categories
- Refugees: all categories of refugees are eligible;
- Citizenship: all categories of citizenship except Search of Citizenship Records;
- Applications not eligible to use the e-Client Application Status
- Immigration Documents: verification of status, replacements, and amendments of documents; as well as: request to amend – record of landing/confirmation of permanent residence
- Citizenship: Search of Citizenship Results category.
For those not eligible to use the e-Client, you must check processing times to see how long in general your application may take. This is not the same as an application status, which is specific to each individual application. For those eligible to use it, the e-Client Application Status online tool will give you your application’s status, but will not give further information on your file.
If you are indeed eligible to use the e-Client Application Status online tool, you must remember to have available the following information in order to use the e-Client:
- The identification number related to your application whose status you are checking;
- Your surname (last name) as it appears on your application or on your identity documents;
- Your date of birth and your place of birth.