Want to get the latest status of your Canada immigration application?

There are a couple of ways that you can find out the latest status of your Canadian immigration visa application: you can visit CIC's online e-CAS system, which will give you a short summary of which stage of processsing your file has reached (e.g. 'in process' or 'decision made'), or you can request your CAIPS notes which should provide you with a more detailed look at your application status including the date when CIC may deal with your file next.

What is CIC's e-CAS system?

CIC's eCAS or eclient system allows you to instantly check the status of your Canada immigration application online at no cost. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually provide a great deal of information about your application, just what stage of processing it has reached and whether a decision has been made. You can find a link to the eClient Application System on the front page of Citizenship and Immigration Canada's website at http://www.cic.gc.ca.

What about the CAIPS system?

CAIPS is short for 'Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System', which is the name of the computer system used by Citizenship & Immigration Canada to process all visa applications in overseas offices, such as permanent resident visas, work permits and study permits.

When a immigration application arrives at the visa office, the immigration officers create a CAIPS file. It is the CAIPS file number that is printed on an Acknowledgement of Receipt ('AOR'). The CAIPS file number is normally the letter "B" followed by 9 digits, e.g. "B 123 456 789", although for a study permit, it will begin with an 'S' and for a visitor visa application it will begin with a 'V'.

CAIPS maintains all information relevant to your permanent residence immigration or visa application, including :-

• notes and comments from all the visa officers that have reviewed your application
• points computations relevant to your application
• background checks consisting of security clearances and criminality checks
• medical assessments

Unfortunately you cannot request a copy of your CAIPS notes directly using CIC Canada's online systems, and if you don't live in Canada you can't request your CAIPS notes yourself. However, we can apply for your CAIPS notes on your behalf and have done for many thousands of clients to date.

Read more about the CAIPS computer system here, or visit our How Do I Apply? page to apply for your CAIPS notes today!