AFGH – Security Screening – April 25, 2022

Key messages

• The Government of Canada’s priority has been getting people safely out of Afghanistan during the humanitarian crisis while ensuring the safety and security of Canadians.
• The Government of Canada has no military or diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, which presents challenges in how we collect and verify applicants’ information in the absence of in-country biometric screening capacity.
• We are also unable to collaborate with our usual international partners who face the same challenges and have limited capacity to complete processing and issue visas for clients in Afghanistan.
• Until such time that full in-country processing is feasible, we have an innovative and robust solution in place, using a multi-stage approach to security screening in Afghanistan, which ensures that the necessary initial client security screening can be completed prior to departure.
• In addition, we are working with like-minded countries and partners on options to re-establish biometrics collection in Afghanistan once it becomes safe to do so.

Supplementary messages

• The Government of Canada’s priority has been getting people safely out of Afghanistan, however, it is important to keep in mind that the processing and vetting of refugee applications, including security checks, is something we must to do to maintain the integrity of the program and, most importantly, to protect the safety of Canadians.
• As with all applications, Afghan refugees need to meet eligibility and admissibility requirements before they are accepted for resettlement to Canada. The lack of a physical presence in Afghanistan has presented challenges in how we collect and verify the information of applicants still in the country.
• To aid the screening process, the Department has introduced an enhanced process to collect additional biographic information from clients while they are still in Afghanistan. We began collecting enhanced biographic data from clients in Afghanistan in January of this year.
• Clients with no admissibility concerns after enhanced biographic screening may be facilitated onwards to a third country where biometric screening and completion of an inadmissibility decision will be made before onward travel to Canada.
• We have been processing applications as efficiently as possible, and will continue to be as flexible and facilitative as we can in terms of the requirements regarding documentation, without compromising security and while respecting exit control requirements of the host country.

Background

• After the initial evacuation efforts, Canada had temporarily paused on the facilitation of Afghan nationals who had not yet completed biometric screening until the multistage security screening was implemented.
• As of January 2022, IRCC has a multi-stage approach to security screening. All clients who reside in Afghanistan are asked to provide their enhanced biographic information.
• The collection of enhanced biographic information will help IRCC officers in identifying potential risks and inadmissibility concerns before clients depart Afghanistan for a third country.
• The second stage of security screening and biometric collection occurs in the third country. If clients meet admissibility requirements, IRCC will facilitate legal travel to Canada.

Potential for In-country Biometrics Collection

• IRCC continues to actively explore potential solutions with other like-minded countries and partners to resolve this issue as in-country conditions permit.
• Establishing a biometric collection service in Afghanistan is challenging as collection officers’ security is at risk if present in Afghanistan. These security concerns equally apply to IRCC employees, private sector, or NGO partners. Safety of IRCC personnel and partners remains paramount to IRCC.
• While [Redacted] and [Redacted] have approached Canada to collect biometrics on IRCC’s behalf, IRCC cannot accept the risk to their safety or ensure the secure delivery of the necessary equipment.