Citizens of Canada as well as its permanent residents have the legal right to access data in any form under the governmental control. The main objective is to make the government more available and transparent to the public. As a result, it provides applicants with opportunity for a membership and full participation in democratic procedures. These rights are subjected by two Canadian laws: The Access to Information Act and Privacy Act, which came into operation in 1983.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT

This Act affords applicants to have access to personal records under federal government control according to the standards that governmental data is supposed to be feasible to the public, that needed exceptions to the right of access are supposed to be restricted and specific and that resolutions on the disclosure of governmental data are supposed to be studied separately from government.

You can make access to information request under the control of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

HOW TO MAKE CIC ACCESS TO INFORMATION REQUEST?

To make access to information request, you have to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. After this you send a request to CIC under the Access to Information Act (ATI) to:

  • Receive information about CIC
  • Receive information that would be created by CIC
  • Receive personal data acknowledged by a representative, where the client (with their permission) is not a citizen of Canada or its permanent resident

If you make request on behalf of other individual, we recommend providing Consent for an Access to Information Personal Information Request (IMM 5744) form.

PRIVACY ACT

This act protects the privacy of applicants regarding their personal data held by a governmental institution and affords them to have access and request correction to this data. According to section 7 of the Privacy Act, personal data may only be used according to the objective for which the information was collected or for a usage consistent with that objective. Data protected by this act can only be disclosed with the agreement of the person to whom it has relation or according to the exception terms of subsection 8(2) of the Act.

You can make privacy act request held by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

HOW TO MAKE PRIVACY ACT REQUEST?

In order to make privacy act request, you have to be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada. You make a request for personal data held by CIC to Citizenship and Immigration Canada under the Privacy Act.

If, for some reasons, you make request on behalf of other individual, we recommend providing Consent for an Access to Information Personal Information Request (IMM 5744) form.

For more detailed information and fees for access to information CIC and privacy act requests please contact us in person.