Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 22nd, 2021

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

I have a point of order, Madam Chair.

He should be able to finish his answer to the question even if the time is up so it's on the record.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We are on a strict timeline to end at 10 a.m.

If the other member allows, then they can go ahead.

[Chris Dix]

I can be very quick, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Okay.

Quickly, please.

[Chris Dix]

On the very rare occasions when breaches or incidents occur, we are always entirely transparent with our client governments and we take swift action to rectify the situation. We did inform the Italian government and we also informed the U.K. Information Commissioner's office about the incident.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

Mr. Regan, you have five minutes for your round of questioning.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thanks to the witnesses.

I know you've stated that this arrangement in China has been in place since 2008.

I'd like to understand the nature of your subcontracts. How many local companies in China are involved with VFS and are they subject to the same clauses and vetting processes as you are, as the prime contractor?

[Jiten Vyas]

Madam Chair, can I respond to that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Yes, please.

[Jiten Vyas]

In China we've been operating since 2004-2005 and we have 11 facility management companies across China. Every facility management company is required to hold the requisite entry/exit licence. All facility management companies undergo VFS Global's due diligence process and thereafter the approval of the respective client government. Of course, client governments conduct their own degree of due diligence.

As far as VFS Global is concerned, every single facility management company has flow-down provisions from our main contracts with the respective governments. This means that every facility management company across any visa centre conforms and is required to conform to the same exacting standards that VFS Global is responsible for. The delivery of customer service and the end-to-end system remains the primary objective of VFS Global.

That is the short response to your question.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Thank you very much.

You've mentioned that in order to operate in China it's a business environment requirement of the Chinese government that you work with local Chinese-owned management facility companies, and this is an unavoidable element of working in China. As I understand it, these companies provide administrative staff.

Are these staff subject to the same security checks mentioned by Mr. Dix?

Also, can you tell us about the security of applications of people from Hong Kong and why we should be confident, if we should, about those applications being secure?

[Jiten Vyas]

To respond to the first part of the question, every single employee who works at the visa application centre undergoes a two-pronged due diligence check. One is from a VFS perspective and covers, as we mentioned earlier, employment, criminal, identity and education. Client governments then conduct their own due diligence on every single employee who operates within the visa application centres. Once we have the requisite approval, only then is that employee on board operating within the visa application centre.

On the next part of the question regarding Hong Kong, in Hong Kong VFS operates through a facility management company that is owned by a Canadian national. We've been operating there since 2011, and for IRCC since 2013, and also work with 10 other client governments in Hong Kong.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Thank you.

Madam Chair, I'd like to give the rest of my time to Mr. Dong.

[Han Dong, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Regan.

I'm not a permanent member of this committee but I find today's discussion quite fascinating.

Mr. Dix, you explained that the working relationship with the local FMC is a requirement of the Chinese government.

Is that true?

[Jiten Vyas]

Madam Chair, I can respond to that.

The requirement in order to operate a visa application centre is that companies need to obtain an entry/exit licence, which is available only to Chinese local companies.

Thank you.

[Han Dong, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

Okay, and is that the same situation for your competitors? I don't know if you have any competitors in China, but is that the same rule that would apply to your competitors, if there are any?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

A quick, 30-second answer.

[Jiten Vyas]

Precisely. This rule applies to all foreign companies that run visa application centres.

Thank you.

[Han Dong, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

Were there any concerns raised in your operation in China with regard to your working relationship with the local facility managers in terms of security breaches or privacy breaches? Have there been any concerns at all raised in the past 10 years?

[Jiten Vyas]

Madam Chair, since 2004-05, our operations there have been extremely robust. We work for 33 client governments in China, and we have not had any concerns whatsoever. In fact, we've seen—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Vyas, but time is up.

[Han Dong, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We now move on to Madam Normandin for two and a half minutes.

Please proceed.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'll pick up my question where I left off. It was mentioned that two companies, including BSFSC, had been analyzed to be a facilities management company.

What was the name of the other company?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting. I don't think there is any interpretation, so we will stop the clock.

Mr. Clerk, could you look into it?