Where is officer DM10032? Applicants stumped, stranded by idle immigration worker
CBC
Would-be immigrants around the world are seeking information about a Canadian immigration officer who has left their applications largely untouched for years. They wonder if the person is still working, assigned to their case or even exists.
Several permanent residency (PR) applicants told CBC News they've been assigned to an officer they know only as "DM10032" at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
They all live outside of Canada, applied in 2019, and their files have been largely stuck since March 2020. Applications are processed at both the Ottawa visa office and in Sydney, N.S.
Applicants who spoke to CBC News say they know dozens of others under DM10032 and have rallied together online for moral support. They describe their experience as agonizing and traumatic, unable to make critical life decisions as they wait with limited communication from Canada's immigration department while others' applications are processed faster. Before the pandemic, the whole process was estimated to take about six months.
CBC News's questions to IRCC, about whether DM10032 is a single employee or could be multiple employees, has not yet been answered.
"I feel victimized," said Temitope Ogunlade of Nigeria, who's been waiting for her PR for more than two years.
"Please, I am pleading with this officer DM10032 … Please, officer, do your job. I want my life back."
CBC News has read through online forums where many shared their progress and frustrations — they call DM10032 "slow," "useless," "silent," and even speculate they might be on vacation or, joking, "asleep."
IRCC officers are represented as codes under its administrative system. For example, AB12345.
"The last I've heard from my officer was around March 14, 2020. That was the last time that I saw that there was some action being done on my file," said Jibi Mathews, who's been waiting in India since November 2019.
On Wednesday, the same day CBC contacted IRCC for comment, Mathews says she got a notification that her medical exams were finally uploaded — a small step forward and the first activity she's seen for a year and 10 months.
Mathews applied when her daughter was a year old.
"Now she's three years old. I wanted to ensure my daughter has a safer future," she said.
"I have gone through depression multiple times. Constant anxiety and paranoia as to what is going to happen to my application — are they going to process it? Are they going to scrap it?"
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