Operational Bulletin 638 – March 21, 2017

This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff. It is posted on the department’s website as a courtesy to stakeholders.

Implementation of the Resettlement Operations Centre in Ottawa

Summary

This Operational Bulletin (OB) establishes the roles and responsibilities of the new Resettlement Operations Centre in Ottawa (ROC-O) regarding the processing of overseas refugee applications, including government-assisted refugee (GAR) and privately sponsored refugee (PSR) cases.

Issue

The functions of the Centralized Processing Office in Winnipeg (CPO-W), the Centralized Processing Office in Vancouver (CPO-V) and the Matching Centre in Ottawa are being merged into the new ROC-O as of April 1, 2017.

Background

Various organizational changes took place in the lead-up to the creation of the ROC-O. In April 2012, the intake and in-Canada processing of PSR sponsorship applications was centralized at the CPO-W to improve inventory management, program integrity and quality control of applications. Refer to OB 405-B for details. The CPO-V was created in 2016 to temporarily support the Syrian refugee initiative.

Additionally, in September 2016, the Resettlement Operations Division (ROD) was created within International Network as part of the modernization initiative roll-out in the Operations sector announced in June 2016. These changes were made to better organize the sector and to bring more flexibility and efficiency to how the work is performed. The ROD oversees and coordinates refugee resettlement activities, including the in-Canada sponsorship intake process, intake of referrals abroad, destining, arrivals and coordination of integration activities.

To ensure flexible program delivery and to better integrate the responsibilities of the new division, the ROD will, as of April 1, 2017, amalgamate the functions of the CPO-W, the CPO-V and the Matching Centre in Ottawa in the newly created ROC-O.

Roles and responsibilities

Effective April 1, 2017, all PSR sponsorship applications will be processed at the ROC-O.

This means that, as of April 1, 2017, all new sponsorship applications must be sent via either email at IRCC.INROCO-CORORI.IRCC@cic.gc.ca or mail to the following address:

Resettlement Operations Centre in Ottawa
365 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 1L1

The following CPO-W, Matching Centre and pre-Notification of Arrival Transmission (NAT) mailboxes will cease to exist as of April 1, 2017:

All PSR sponsorship applications received by email or mail at the CPO-W will be forwarded to the ROC-O by March 31, 2017, for processing. This procedure will continue to be used for any applications received at the CPO-W until April 18, 2017.

After April 18, 2017, applications received at the CPO-W will be returned to clients by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) local office in Winnipeg as undeliverable. If these applications are resubmitted at the ROC-O, the “lock-in/received” date will be the date the application is received at ROC-O (not at the CPO-W).

As of April 1, 2017, the ROC-O will be responsible for the following areas:

  • receiving and assessing all PSR sponsorship applications (i.e., sponsorship agreement holders [SAH], groups of five [G5] and community sponsors [CS]);
  • monitoring the limits of SAH caps under the global PSR cap in conjunction with the SAH Secretariat;
  • creating Quebec-destined cases in the Global Case Management System (GCMS) for missions to process;
  • responding (with exceptions) to enquiries on case-specific follow-up requests for any files approved in Canada;
  • processing sponsorship applications for public policy programs;
  • assessing and processing sponsorship withdrawals;
  • processing forms to request adding dependants to an active application for resettlement to Canada;
  • determining final destinations for GAR cases, including issuing the Destination Matching Request (DMR);
  • issuing the pre-NAT;
  • issuing the NAT for GAR and PSR cases;
  • processing visa office-referred refugee (VOR) and blended visa office-referred refugee (BVOR) sponsorship applications, and Joint Assistance Sponsorship (JAS) applications;
  • managing the BVOR and JAS matching process with sponsors, local offices and the Refugee Sponsorship Training Program (RSTP); and
  • maintaining the VOR, BVOR and JAS website and coordinating matches with sponsors and local IRCC offices.

Local IRCC offices are responsible for

  • monitoring sponsors and sponsored refugees;
  • providing assistance in finding a sponsor for in-Canada JAS cases;
  • mediating between sponsors and clients in cases of sponsorship breakdown or default;
  • issuing Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) coverage as per existing local office procedures and in accordance with the procedures outlined in chapter IR 10, Interim Federal Health Program;
  • issuing in-Canada immigration loans;
  • managing post-arrival issues within their area of responsibility;
  • providing NAT information to SAHs, G5 and CS;
  • initiating Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) income support for VOR and BVOR cases, as per OB 512.

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