When the case file lives on WhatsApp: capturing mobile-channel client communication into the immigration record
Most RCIC retainer agreements and case file architectures still assume client communication arrives by email or portal. In practice, substantive instructions, disclosures, and document images now arrive on WhatsApp, SMS, and as voice notes — often outside business hours. This post walks the channel split, the CICC duty-of-candour and PIPEDA implications, the capture and archive patterns that work, and how to integrate mobile-channel messages into the file without rewriting the practice from scratch.