India starts issuing visas in Canada again
And the Canadian Department of Immigration has estimated how many visas will be issued in India.
Indian embassies in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver will restart the visa issuance process for Canadians from October 26. As a result, the indefinite pause due to the diplomatic scandal took a little over a month.
Recall that on September 18, Justin Trudeau accused the Modi government of involvement in the murder of Sikh separatist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar. And already on September 21, Indian visa centers in Canada discontinued service. At the time, they explained it by an allegedly heightened security threat.
However, it cannot yet be said that the situation is completely exhausted. According to an official press release from the Indian Mission, only entry, business, medical and conference visas are being resumed.
Earlier this month, the Canadian side, in turn, reported a reduction in diplomatic presence in India. Canada did not retaliate and did not stop processing Indian applications, but at the Modi government's request, the staff of diplomatic missions in the country was greatly reduced.
At the moment, services for Canadian citizens at the consulates in Chandigarh, Bangalore and Mumbai have been suspended, with 21 diplomats remaining in New Delhi and the number of Immigration Department officials in the capital reduced from 27 to 5. Due to this, the processing of applications has already slowed down considerably.
At yesterday's meeting of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (CIMM), Minister Mark Miller reportedly summarized the results of the downsizing. Of the 38,000 visas for Indian nationals that were originally expected to be processed by December, the department will now be able to handle only 20,000.
Separately, the minister emphasized that the 22 immigration officers who were recalled from India were not left out. They will resume work in Canada and the Philippines, where the ministry recently launched a new immigration program.
