GCMS is IRCC's Global Case Management System. Officers use it to process applications, and they keep the decision and the reasons there. GCMS notes are the officer notes and file history from that system. You ask for them with a Privacy Act request, or in some cases an Access to Information request.

Pick the right request. Someone else can file a free Privacy Act request for you if you sign IMM 5744. Use Access to Information, and the $5 fee, when a representative asks and you are not a citizen, a permanent resident, or in Canada. Describe the file with your name, date of birth, and your UCI if you have one. The steps are on this page. I can file the request for you.

ATIP means Access to Information and Privacy. It covers two different requests. A Privacy Act request is for your own personal information, including when someone else files it for you with your consent, and there is no IRCC fee. An Access to Information request has a $5 fee. The person who sends it must be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, or an individual or corporation currently in Canada. That is the request when a representative asks and you are not a citizen, a permanent resident, or in Canada.

You do not have to be in Canada to ask for your own IRCC file. Citizens, permanent residents, and foreign nationals can make a Privacy Act request from anywhere, and someone else can file that request for you with your consent. That request has no IRCC fee. An Access to Information request is for a representative when you are not a citizen, a permanent resident, or in Canada, and the person who sends it must be a citizen, a permanent resident, or an individual or corporation currently in Canada. I file these requests for clients in Canada and abroad.

The Canada Border Services Agency keeps its own records. Treasury Board says you send a request to the institution that holds the information, so CBSA records are a request to CBSA. They are not automatically part of an IRCC request. IRCC may still have some entry and exit details, because it can receive that information from CBSA.

The legislated time is 30 days. A Privacy Act extension can add up to 30 more days. An Access to Information extension has no fixed cap. You are told about an extension within the first 30 days. In the 2024 to 2025 year, more than 75 percent of Privacy Act requests were finished within 30 days, and the compliance rate was 87 percent, meaning answers inside the legislated time, including extensions. The Access to Information compliance rate that year was 80.7 percent, and 71.5 percent were finished in 1 to 30 days. That is a department figure, not a time for your file.

For many refusals, yes. IRCC includes an officer decision note with the refusal letter for most temporary resident applications since July 29, 2025, and most permanent resident applications since May 26, 2026. That does not include electronic travel authorizations, temporary resident permits, or humanitarian and compassionate applications. The note explains the refusal. A notes request is how you ask for the wider file.

Filing the request is $50. That includes IRCC's $5 when an Access to Information request is needed. A Privacy Act request has no IRCC fee. The review is $100 and is charged separately. I read the notes and explain what the officer saw, what went wrong or what is holding the file, and your options.