Medium Transport
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 4
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Procedure; Staffing; Weather; Manuals
Aircraft X was inbound. I took the handoff when the aircraft was level at 14000 feet deviating for weather. They checked on asking for lower. After coordination; I gave them as low as I could (10000 feet). I informed the pilot I had lost radar contact. They said they would like to go direct [fix] to set up for a Visual Approach. I told them that we received new instruction that says deviation or change of course while non radar is now an emergency. The pilot said they would rather cancel IFR than declare an emergency; so that is what they did. Our procedures forced an aircraft to cancel IFR long before they were ready simply because he was non radar. This session ended up being very busy with almost every aircraft deviating for weather and me working without a Radar Assist position. I was on position for 2 hours or slightly less. Something must be done so that we can provide service to non-radar aircraft without declaring an emergency. Our staffing is already; in my opinion; so low that it is unsafe; and we are overwhelmed with traffic; few breaks; and now this additional workload. Both of these issues (the new direction to declare an emergency any time that a non-radar aircraft needs to alter their route at all; and the dangerously low staffing levels) need to be addressed as quickly as possible. Low staffing compromises safety daily at this facility.
An aircraft below ARTCC radar coverage requested direct to its destination. The Controller advised the aircraft their local directive required an emergency to be declared for any aircraft changing its assigned route while non-radar. The aircraft cancelled IFR and proceeded via its own navigation to avoid declaring.