Vienna Mission
Final Audit Report
4.0 CONCLUSIONS
The immigration program at the Vienna Mission is well managed. Despite a difficult transition period in merging the Belgrade Mission’s immigrant case workload, the Vienna Mission has significantly reduced processing backlogs and has met year 2000 immigration targets. Operational productivity (backlog) is closely monitored, as is the operating budget. While the immigration program manager (IPM) is involved in all aspects of the operation, the introduction of a formal quality assurance (QA) process and development of local operating procedures for staff reference would be desirable.
Overall, case processing is handled efficiently and expeditiously. Reducing officers’ involvement in refugee category paper screening responsibilities to an exceptional basis would add to an already efficient operation. Both CBOs and LES members are of high calibre with good backup capability in place. Preliminary analysis and comparison of the Vienna Mission’s resources to requirements suggest that the Vienna Mission has sufficient resources to manage the anticipated immigrant class workload, including year 2001 targets. In the non-immigrant category, however, the Vienna Mission will likely need to rely on temporary duty support because of peak summer volumes. At the time of audit, the Vienna Mission was processing immigrant cases that were approximately six to nine months old.
An emerging issue is the utilization of high-cost Vienna Mission LES members to process the immigrant case load from Yugoslavia (up to 40 percent of total cases). If normal conditions return to the Belgrade Mission, significantly lower LES salary scales there and the elimination of area trips would represent opportunities for substantial annual savings. From a budgetary viewpoint, we are noting this in the report. A departmental decision on this, however, will have to be considered in the overall regional context.
Despite heavy workloads and uncommon pressures over the past year, program integrity and compliance showed an overall high quality of achievement. There is a tendency to load up the interview schedules in an attempt to make inroads on backlogged applications. This inevitably affects the quality of interviews and record keeping. The quality of note taking is high and generally offers logical support for decisions. Greater consistency is required in recording key references to documents and in signing application forms and other documents. There were no cases of inappropriate delegation of authority and support staff members were well supervised.
Security, criminal and medical admissibility screening is well executed. There is considerable care in security screening, as the databases are consulted routinely for applicants who fit the profiles. Case officers should assume greater responsibility for security decisions and reduce the incidence of referring cases to the immigration control officer (ICO) for a further opinion. The Medical Section functions well and appropriately supports the program. The MO at the Vienna Mission is responsible for approximately 100 designated medical practitioners (DMPs) in 15 countries. Routine cases (not requiring further investigation) are assessed expeditiously, normally within five to 10 days. The MO has undertaken a number of initiatives to improve the quality and the efficiency of medical assessments. He monitors DMPs’ performance and the environment in which they operate.
A review of the Vienna Mission’s cost recovery framework did not reveal any evidence of incorrect fees, loss of public funds or misuse of documents. Suggested improvements will further strengthen the framework and improve efficiencies. (section removed)
There are diverse fee payment arrangements throughout the region with revenue controls exercised by a number of DFAIT offices. The Vienna Mission has a limited role in the present set-up but would like to exercise greater control. To do so, it would be necessary to establish dedicated bank accounts for immigration fees in each location and to independently verify the amount of deposits processed through existing (and future) bank accounts. A desirable long-term option is to centralize fee payment for the region through the Austrian banking network.
Currently, DFAIT and CIC are working on joint instructions on cost recovery for management and consular officers (MCOs) and IPMs at missions abroad.
Additionally, CIC and DFAIT have undertaken to review the use of credit cards internationally. A pilot on the use of credit cards will take place in the missions in New York City and London starting mid-April 2001.
The review of the key documents (KDs) control framework revealed areas for improvement. While the physical security of the documents was good, it was difficult to reconcile the physical count of the KDs to the paper record. The duties of the forms control officer (FCO), delegated to the ICO, cannot be properly fulfilled because of the ICO’s travel demands.
As noted earlier, the Vienna Mission is staffed by highly competent LES members with a multitude of linguistic abilities. Based on a recent competition, the competitive process is in accordance with requirements. For example, competition boards were established, candidates were tested and ranked, and written offers were made. Turnover of LES has been low. The annual appraisal process is adhered to. All LES members receive enhanced reliability checks before they commence employment. CBOs and LES members receive sufficient program related and general training on an “as needed” basis. The training is not captured in any specific plan.
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