FOSS notes received, part I

The same day that I received the deportation threat from my friendly CIC agent, I receive a large brown envelope from CIC. The envelope had a return address of the local CIC office. Inside where several pieces of paper. The cover letter reads, in part:

This in in response to your request for personal information made under the Privacy Act which was received by Citizenship & Immigration Canada on 04 July 2007.

An extension of up to 30 days beyond the 30 calendar day statutory time limit will be required to respond to your request. The extension is being applied in accordance with subsection 15(a)(ii) of the Privacy Act.

Attached to that letter is a blank form entitled "Record Correction Request Form." Attached to that is 4 pages of computer print screens. The top of each of these print screens is labeled: Document Name: FOSS. Yippee! These are those FOSS notes, the ones that are supposed to identify the reason(s) for the delay of my file. Each page has only the top half with text and the bottom half is empty.

The first 3 pages basically give biographical data about myself. My name, date of birth, address, eye color, passport number, language preference, etc. Very non exciting stuff and things that I pretty much know about myself. On the last page, the page entitled "Work In Progress - Events" there is a bit more information. It reads:

Referred to CIC 07Nov2006
RPRF Fees Taken/Loan Applied 07Nov2006
Processing Fees Taken 07Nov2006
Deallocation occurred 07Nov2006
RPRF Fees Taken 07Nov2006
Processing Fees Taken 07Nov2006
IMM0703 - CSIS Check Req 16Jun2006
IMM0703 - RCMP Check Req 16Jun2006
Application in Process 16Jun2006
Application Received 15Feb2006

So, they ordered my RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) criminal check on June 16, 2006. They also ordered my CSIS check on that same day. The CSIS is a mystery to everyone. I know they preform the non-criminal part of the background check and they are probably looking to see if I am a member of some terrorist cell or some other group who gathers with the purpose of overthrowing the government. If was not a member of the latter group, I should be now, I think to myself. They applied my fees and thank the lord for that. I was worried they didn't get their money early enough in the process. And they transferred the file. I find these notes unhelpful and they just prove that they really haven't done anything with the file since the day they received it.

(Not So) Sweet November

Finally, November 2006 brings news from CIC. I have been sitting on pins and needles since February waiting on this gift from God, this Canadian immigration process, this elusive ideal.

I go down the hall to the area by the front door of the apartment where the Canada Post employee stops for a few minutes each day and brings to me tidings from the outside world. I receive mostly flyers from Shopper's Drug and Zeller's with their sale notices. I get bank statements and I get many items that have my address but are not for me; perhaps they were prior residents. I thoughtfully balance these articles on top of a little ledge above the row of stainless steel mailboxes so the postman can take them and try to find their rightful owners the following day.

On this special day in November 2006, I receive a white, business size envelope, from Citizenship & Immigration Canada. I am so excited! This must be it, I think to myself. I do not even wait to return to my apartment to read it. I rip open the envelope there in the building foyer and I read it. Below my name and address and a reference line for my file number, the letter says:

Your file has been transferred to: CIC Etobicoke Office
5343 Dundas Street West
Etobicoke ON M9B 6K5

The office may contact you.

That's it. I check the envelope again. It's empty. I am stunned. I read this letter, all one line of it 14 times. I don't know what to think.

I make it back to my apartment and immediately begin to call the CIC Call Center. I do not know what this letter means. I need someone to decipher this code for me. I seem to have misplaced my decoder ring somewhere. I get through to a live paper worshiping CIC agent the following day. He states that a 'determination could not be made' and thus, the file was transferred to the local office. The local office will pick up on the processing of the file. "How much longer do I have to wait?" I cry. The agent advises that this particular local office back log is currently 9 months. I have a thousand questions running around my brain but I just can't seem to utter a coherent sentence at that moment so I just hang up.

9 months rings through my head for days. That is July 2007. What am I supposed to do until then? Where does my life go during this process? I don't understand why this is happening. I pull out my copies of my application and I read through it over and over. I have no criminal record, the FBI verifies that. All the supporting information they asked for is there. I have birth certificates, divorce decrees, copies of bank statements, 8x10 color glossies with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one describing each picture; the list is endless. My brain does nothing but guess at what the problem is.