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becoming a CBSA Officer

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  • Jan 29th, 2019 11:23 pm
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Deal Fanatic
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Apr 16, 2006
6241 posts
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When I applied a while back, it was "secret" security clearance.

It involves going back 10 years of your life in painstaking detail...where you lived, where you worked (every single job, no matter how minor), and a credit check. They'll also ask you if you've been fired from a job during that time period, and if so, to provide particulars.

It's a major PITA if you hop around from place to place during the time frame in question.
Jr. Member
Jul 21, 2016
171 posts
8 upvotes
Hi there,

I am considering doing the online application for CBSA, I understand you have to complete those two firearm courses.

However, I am sort of broke, and do not want to spend $300 on a firearms courses, only to get an email saying "sorry you do not qualify for the CBSA interview".

Therefore, I am wondering at what stage would they be looking for proof that you have completed your firearms courses? Since, I only want to do my firearms courses once I have been offered the opportunity to move onto the next stage in the hiring process.

Thank you to those that take the time to reply.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
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Mar 1, 2003
1823 posts
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Scarborough
Istillwanttodoit wrote: Hi there,

I am considering doing the online application for CBSA, I understand you have to complete those two firearm courses.

However, I am sort of broke, and do not want to spend $300 on a firearms courses, only to get an email saying "sorry you do not qualify for the CBSA interview".

Therefore, I am wondering at what stage would they be looking for proof that you have completed your firearms courses? Since, I only want to do my firearms courses once I have been offered the opportunity to move onto the next stage in the hiring process.

Thank you to those that take the time to reply.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
They ask for the proof during the interview, which is after written testing.

Note: Not sure if they still do this, but when I was in the application process three years ago the firearms course requirement was backdated. My interview was scheduled for May but I had to have completed the firearms courses prior to January. It wasn't a problem for me because I'd had the firearms license for years already at that point, but it does mean that you should be getting the courses done before you apply, just to be on the safe side.
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Deal Addict
Sep 29, 2008
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Istillwanttodoit wrote: Hi there,

I am considering doing the online application for CBSA, I understand you have to complete those two firearm courses.

However, I am sort of broke, and do not want to spend $300 on a firearms courses, only to get an email saying "sorry you do not qualify for the CBSA interview".

Therefore, I am wondering at what stage would they be looking for proof that you have completed your firearms courses? Since, I only want to do my firearms courses once I have been offered the opportunity to move onto the next stage in the hiring process.

Thank you to those that take the time to reply.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
It's not just that you have to have taken the firearms safety courses. I believe the requirement is that you must be licensed with a valid RPAL.

Just to give you an idea of the time frame to get the Restricted Possession and Acquisition License, if you were to get a course date for this coming weekend June 2/3 (which is unlikely, but for argument's sake let's say it is).

You do the courses, and you pass the tests (both written and practical). Your results are then verified by the provincial CFO. This could take up to 4 weeks. You fill out the RCMP application and submit that to New Brunswick. There is a mandatory 28 day waiting period before you application even gets looked at. Hopefully by then you've gotten your certified test results back from the CFO and you send those in to the RCMP. They process your application and contact you and your references as well as do a full background check.

Once that is all done, your application gets sent to the provincial firearms office (at least this is the case for Ontario and Alberta). Once with the provincial CFO it could take another month or more to get approved (it's quicker if you don't have any history of violence, divorce, mental illness, recent job loss or criminal history) but there are reports of waiting up to 6 months before the license gets approved.

There are reports of people waiting upwards of a year since submitting their applications to get their license.

It's a lengthy process, seems like Canada doesn't really want anyone to be able to legally own firearms. :rolleyes:
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Mar 1, 2003
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amkorp wrote: It's not just that you have to have taken the firearms safety courses. I believe the requirement is that you must be licensed with a valid RPAL.
You only need the courses, RPAL is unnecessary for the purposes of the CBSA selection process.

Then again if you bothered to take the courses I see no reason why you wouldn't also cough up the $80 for the RPAL.
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Deal Addict
Sep 29, 2008
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tritium4ever wrote: You only need the courses, RPAL is unnecessary for the purposes of the CBSA selection process.

Then again if you bothered to take the courses I see no reason why you wouldn't also cough up the $80 for the RPAL.
so essentially you'd only need the certified test results back from the provincial CFO I guess? That would definitely save time in the application process. I guess you could just send in the PAL application anyways, like you said, why not?
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Mar 1, 2003
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Yep, you only need the results back from the CFO.

My philosophy is, even if you don't plan on owning guns you might as well get the RPAL at that point. If nothing else, the application process for it could prove informative. After all, if your RPAL application is rejected, that probably means you're not going to pass the CBSA's security and background check process either.
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amkorp wrote: It's not just that you have to have taken the firearms safety courses. I believe the requirement is that you must be licensed with a valid RPAL.

Just to give you an idea of the time frame to get the Restricted Possession and Acquisition License, if you were to get a course date for this coming weekend June 2/3 (which is unlikely, but for argument's sake let's say it is).

You do the courses, and you pass the tests (both written and practical). Your results are then verified by the provincial CFO. This could take up to 4 weeks. You fill out the RCMP application and submit that to New Brunswick. There is a mandatory 28 day waiting period before you application even gets looked at. Hopefully by then you've gotten your certified test results back from the CFO and you send those in to the RCMP. They process your application and contact you and your references as well as do a full background check.

Once that is all done, your application gets sent to the provincial firearms office (at least this is the case for Ontario and Alberta). Once with the provincial CFO it could take another month or more to get approved (it's quicker if you don't have any history of violence, divorce, mental illness, recent job loss or criminal history) but there are reports of waiting up to 6 months before the license gets approved.

There are reports of people waiting upwards of a year since submitting their applications to get their license.

It's a lengthy process, seems like Canada doesn't really want anyone to be able to legally own firearms. :rolleyes:
I got my firearms license a little while ago. It took about 3 months from doing the course to getting my firearms license in my hand.

It definitely takes a bit of time.
Newbie
Nov 9, 2017
3 posts
1 upvote
Hello, Ive been in the CBSA selection process for a long time by now and wondering if there is anyone out there that could give me some sort of answer to my questions. On August of 2017, I was asked to send my proof of my post-secondary education. I believe with a post secondary education, I automatically skip the writing and the other test. So I guess I am waiting for an interview. I already have my gun certification done* funfact

Does anyone know how long I can be waiting for an interview ? I believe that they are probably waiting for the results of the people who had to write the two exams (which I skip) before they start calling people into interviews so to make things fair.

After the interview, how fast will things start going? I am in my last year of university and I want to start planning my career. It would be great to hear from someone who has gone through this process.
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Mar 1, 2003
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FelipeL550887 wrote: Hello, Ive been in the CBSA selection process for a long time by now and wondering if there is anyone out there that could give me some sort of answer to my questions. On August of 2017, I was asked to send my proof of my post-secondary education. I believe with a post secondary education, I automatically skip the writing and the other test. So I guess I am waiting for an interview. I already have my gun certification done* funfact

Does anyone know how long I can be waiting for an interview ? I believe that they are probably waiting for the results of the people who had to write the two exams (which I skip) before they start calling people into interviews so to make things fair.

After the interview, how fast will things start going? I am in my last year of university and I want to start planning my career. It would be great to hear from someone who has gone through this process.
Nobody skips the written tests unless you've already done them (for another application process) and can supply the results. (EDIT: Yes I know this has apparently changed for 2017, university grads can skip it.) The questions in both the GCT2 and WCPT are at the high school level and thus shouldn't be a challenge individually, but overall the tests are actually quite difficult because there are a ton of questions and you aren't given very much time to do them.

The whole application process will seriously test your patience. The written testing happens twice a year in any given region, so you could be waiting up to 6 months to take them. Depending on where you live you may have to travel extensively to reach the testing locations (I've heard of people needing to fly to reach their tests...yikes). Competition is fierce because the job requirements are relatively easy to meet and the pay and benefits are excellent.

Here was my timeline when I went through the process a few years ago:

Oct: Applied online
Feb. 19: Invitation to written testing on Feb 27
Mar. 31: Invitation to psychological testing on Apr. 10
Apr. 28: Invitation to interview on May 8
Jun. 6: Received written test results
Jun. 7: Received psych test and interview results

That's as far as I went. Keep in mind that timelines vary by region and even from one recruitment cycle to the next, so don't take any of this as gospel. One thing you'll notice is how they seem to give very little lead time between invitation and testing, which might be a problem for people who can't easily get time off work/school on short notice.
Last edited by tritium4ever on Nov 11th, 2017 1:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Nov 9, 2017
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tritium4ever wrote: Nobody skips the written tests unless you've already done them (for another application process) and can supply the results. The questions in both the GCT2 and WCPT are at the high school level and thus shouldn't be a challenge individually, but overall the tests are actually quite difficult because there are a ton of questions and you aren't given very much time to do them.

The whole application process will seriously test your patience. The written testing happens twice a year in any given region, so you could be waiting up to 6 months to take them. Depending on where you live you may have to travel extensively to reach the testing locations (I've heard of people needing to fly to reach their tests...yikes). Competition is fierce because the job requirements are relatively easy to meet and the pay and benefits are excellent.

Here was my timeline when I went through the process a few years ago:

Oct: Applied online
Feb. 19: Invitation to written testing on Feb 27
Mar. 31: Invitation to psychological testing on Apr. 10
Apr. 28: Invitation to interview on May 8
Jun. 6: Received written test results
Jun. 7: Received psych test and interview results

That's as far as I went. Keep in mind that timelines vary by region and even from one recruitment cycle to the next, so don't take any of this as gospel. One thing you'll notice is how they seem to give very little lead time between invitation and testing, which might be a problem for people who can't easily get time off work/school on short notice.
Thank you so much for sharing this with me. It has given me an idea what to expect. I must have misread somewhere that some people skip the written test. I have applied for the student cbsa job and they just recently removed that part of the process for people who are attending post-secondary schools, so I may have mixed it up.

Sorry to hear that you didn't proceed with the selection process, it seems many people do not make it. This forum has reassured me as much as it has discouraged me haha.

And I agree with you that they really do not give enough time in between the notice and the actual task. I had to send an email to the help center of CBSA and they did not respond on time (even with a 2 week time period). Luckily, I was able to solve me issue before the due date, so it did not cause any issues.
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This addresses the people who are asking if they should wait exam results before doing their Firearms classes, my answer is NO:

For anybody reading on, make sure to do your Firearms courses before you apply. In Quebec, it took me almost 4 months to complete all the courses ( there are limited spots, and a lot of people want to get their hunting license after/before hunting periods, thus limiting availability. The hunting class takes up 2 whole days to do. In my case, it was a Saturday and Sunday, from 8h30 to 5. So for the busy people out there, make sure you free up all your weekend. The other gun class is for restricted small-arms. You need to do 1 class that also takes up all day. In my case, it took me from 8am to 7pm due to the testing, breaks and how much your instructors speak. Additionally, Quebec has a stupid law that is mandatory, Loi 9 ( direct translation: Law 9). This is a class very similar to the first small-arms class, but additionally, you have to go and actually shoot 15 or so bullets at the gun range. You are tested on how you safely operate your gun in a shooting range and your marksmanship.

Personally, I found that the written exams for the guns exams were not that easy. I could easily see how someone could fail the written exams. They don't give study time. If you didn't listen or understand certain things you are pretty much screwed when it comes to the written test. On top of that, not everyone is capable of handling guns. Stress can get the better out of you and you might do fatal errors like putting your finger on the trigger *which automatically fails you. Tip: make sure you go grab a gun at the training class and manipulate it until you are comfortable. Ive seen many people just sitting back at their chair and not touching the guns. From what Ive been told, these people failed the gun handling exams.

So overall, there are 5+ ways you can fail the exams. Limited time spots makes the process long and complicated. After you completed the classes, you need to wait for the results (so add weeks/months to the process). After you gathered all the documents from previous classes, you need to send your application to the RCMP. Just figuring out which police service could sign my papers was complicated. I did 3 police stations and none of them had a clue what to do and they didn't want to sign my papers, so add that to your waiting game. When I sent my application, it took at least 4 months to get a response from the RCMP. So overall, it took me more than half a year to get my cards.

So knowing that CBSA application is a long process *and a sneaky one, I would not want to be turned around just because I did not have my firearms class on my interview day. So overall, please start the process now and dont wait. Like mentioned, CBSA does not leave much time between the initial notice and the test day *I believe its a 2 week notice.

Note that I am talking from a Quebec's perspective, thus not all provinces have the same regulations/bureaucratic/work ethics.
Penalty Box
Mar 27, 2004
10493 posts
9009 upvotes
Toronto
I applied back in 2016. They sent me an email asking for my univ degree, and that was in Feb. Did not hear back since then. I have my firearms license.
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Nov 9, 2017
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By the way, I just went to the Info session for CBSA, and they said that if you have higher degree schooling than high school, you can automatically skip the written tests and go straight to the interviews. This is part of a new recruitment process. Ive heard there has been alot of budget cuts, so it might have to do with that. Besides, if you have higher education, you probably have a certain degree of writing skills.



tritium4ever wrote: Nobody skips the written tests unless you've already done them (for another application process) and can supply the results. The questions in both the GCT2 and WCPT are at the high school level and thus shouldn't be a challenge individually, but overall the tests are actually quite difficult because there are a ton of questions and you aren't given very much time to do them.

The whole application process will seriously test your patience. The written testing happens twice a year in any given region, so you could be waiting up to 6 months to take them. Depending on where you live you may have to travel extensively to reach the testing locations (I've heard of people needing to fly to reach their tests...yikes). Competition is fierce because the job requirements are relatively easy to meet and the pay and benefits are excellent.

Here was my timeline when I went through the process a few years ago:

Oct: Applied online
Feb. 19: Invitation to written testing on Feb 27
Mar. 31: Invitation to psychological testing on Apr. 10
Apr. 28: Invitation to interview on May 8
Jun. 6: Received written test results
Jun. 7: Received psych test and interview results

That's as far as I went. Keep in mind that timelines vary by region and even from one recruitment cycle to the next, so don't take any of this as gospel. One thing you'll notice is how they seem to give very little lead time between invitation and testing, which might be a problem for people who can't easily get time off work/school on short notice.
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Mar 1, 2003
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Scarborough
FelipeL550887 wrote: By the way, I just went to the Info session for CBSA, and they said that if you have higher degree schooling than high school, you can automatically skip the written tests and go straight to the interviews. This is part of a new recruitment process. Ive heard there has been alot of budget cuts, so it might have to do with that. Besides, if you have higher education, you probably have a certain degree of writing skills.
Huh that must've changed since I did it. Good to know, thanks for the heads up.
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Penalty Box
Mar 27, 2004
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Toronto
tritium4ever wrote: Nobody skips the written tests unless you've already done them (for another application process) and can supply the results. The questions in both the GCT2 and WCPT are at the high school level and thus shouldn't be a challenge individually, but overall the tests are actually quite difficult because there are a ton of questions and you aren't given very much time to do them.

The whole application process will seriously test your patience. The written testing happens twice a year in any given region, so you could be waiting up to 6 months to take them. Depending on where you live you may have to travel extensively to reach the testing locations (I've heard of people needing to fly to reach their tests...yikes). Competition is fierce because the job requirements are relatively easy to meet and the pay and benefits are excellent.

Here was my timeline when I went through the process a few years ago:

Oct: Applied online
Feb. 19: Invitation to written testing on Feb 27
Mar. 31: Invitation to psychological testing on Apr. 10
Apr. 28: Invitation to interview on May 8
Jun. 6: Received written test results
Jun. 7: Received psych test and interview results

That's as far as I went. Keep in mind that timelines vary by region and even from one recruitment cycle to the next, so don't take any of this as gospel. One thing you'll notice is how they seem to give very little lead time between invitation and testing, which might be a problem for people who can't easily get time off work/school on short notice.
I did not have to do a written test. I sent in Univ transcript, and that was it.
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Aug 1, 2018
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Moncton
Hey everybody!!!

This is probably the only thread I found about the CBSA application/selection process.

have a question: im a permanent resident, landed in 2016. Always wanted to work in border security, so decided to apply for the CBSA Officer trainee. Is here anybody who IS a CBSA officer now, just wanted to ask couple of questions about the worklife and responsibilities. And also to find out how hard and lengthy the process of application is. Thanks in advance.
It's better to look ahead and prepare than look back and regret...
Deal Addict
Mar 29, 2012
1474 posts
368 upvotes
Vancouver
also interested in the field but my goal is working in YVR

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