Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 22nd, 2021

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Leif-Erik Aune]

Please proceed, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We will have to start again, Madam Normandin, please.

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

Thank you.

I'll go back to my last question. You mentioned that VFS Global had analyzed the applications of two companies to subcontract to them. I'd like to know the name of the other company.

[Jiten Vyas]

I recall this is a response pending from your earlier session. We have two other facility management companies that we operate in Beijing, Beijing Eastern Tian Show Business and Beijing Balino Investment and Consulting Company in addition to VSFSC.

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

Is it possible to find out why BSFSC was chosen?

[Jiten Vyas]

Madam Chair, as highlighted earlier during this session, a number of operating requirements stipulate the use of a particular facility management company. Most important to note is that every facility management company is duly approved by the respective client government.

Requirements in terms of timelines or timetables to operate or open a new visa application centre, volumes that we expect the centres to process, readiness for peak seasons, the office space availability, etc. are some of the top reasons we identify and conduct due diligence and seek approval from client governments before appointing a facility management company.

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

If I understand correctly, other companies were analyzed.

Is it accurate to say that, ultimately, VFS Global had no choice but to use BSFSC?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Give a quick, 30-second answer.

[Jiten Vyas]

Madam Chair, as I highlighted earlier to the member, we operate with three different facility management companies in Beijing alone across a number of client governments. The reasons articulated earlier, operational requirements, timelines to set up a visa application centre, volumes process, and most importantly, every single FMC is duly approved by the client government.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

We will now move on to Ms. Kwan.

Ms. Kwan, you have two and a half minutes for your round of questioning.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

If I may just get a clarification, when the information of the CCP members from each of the companies, subsidiaries or subcontractors is being tabled, could you make sure that this is identified with the respective companies, please?

To follow up on that, if the FMC hires the people who work for this company, do those people not then have access to the data information?

[Jiten Vyas]

Madam Chair, to the member's second point, facility management companies' employees undergo the same level of due diligence as all across China, including the approval of the client government that we operate for.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Yes, I understand that.

[Jiten Vyas]

As far as the process is concerned, I highlighted earlier, all our IT equipment hardware is fully hardened. There is no access to emails and no access to USB drives. The data is fully encrypted—

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I understand that.

I'm sorry, I'm going to interrupt here because I have limited time. The fact of the matter is, though, that the FMC hired the people and they work for the company. For them to process the application, they have access to the data in processing the information. How could it be that they don't have access to the data? They process the information. They put it into the system.

[Jiten Vyas]

Madam Chair, the staff processes the applications within the software that is VFS-owned and VFS-protected through and through, and this data is hosted at the servers in Canada.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you. Yes, I got it.

I go back, then, to the requirements of the Chinese regulations. For state-owned companies, if you have three or more CCP members working for a company, they are required, by Chinese regulations, to actually have a different management structure that reports back to the Chinese Communist Party. Isn't that correct?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

You have 15 seconds.

[Jiten Vyas]

Madam Chair, I would not be able to comment at this stage. There is a response due to the committee. We will ensure to bring this up as well.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Okay.

We will now move on to Mr. Hallan.

Mr. Hallan, you have three minutes for your round of questioning.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I hope the witnesses can appreciate that, as the Liberal minister has said himself, China's a lot different now than it was before, and there are a lot more threats. That's why there's so much scrutiny right now, even given some of the answers that the witnesses have given. They gave three different answers to one question. They must understand how crucial it is that they answer properly here.

Do the U.S. embassy in Beijing and the U.S. consulate in China use VFS or visa-related administrative services?

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Point of order, Madam Chair.

Is the motion dealing with Hong Kong? I just wanted to clarify if we're focusing on Hong Kong, and not 3,000 visa facility centres across the world on a fishing expedition.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Point of order, Madam Chair. This definitely has a lineup of questions that relate to this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mr. Serré.

Please, Mr. Hallan, go ahead. I'll start the clock again.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Do the U.S. embassy in Beijing and the U.S. consulate in China use VFS for visa-related administrative services? Yes or no?