Canada is ready to take drastic measures to speed up the issuance of visas
The government is considering unprecedented steps to help process hundreds of thousands of applications.
The Canadian government is ready for decisive action to speed up the process of issuing visas. This information was accessed by the authoritative Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. The Department of Immigration is concerned that a long review of applications could negatively affect its reputation.
To solve the problem, two options are being considered to speed up the processing of visitor visa applications. One of them is the mass processing of more than 190,000 applications. The other option is to waive certain requirements, which would help to process 450,000 applications faster.
In the case of a decision in favour of the second option, tourists entering Canada will not need to prove that they will leave the country when their visa expires. Also, visa officers will not assess whether they have the means to stay in the country. However, this will not cancel applicants' eligibility for other requirements, such as security checks.
Sources in The Globe and Mail claim that the government has settled on this option and will make an official announcement at a later date. While the full details remain unclear, it is known that the measure will be temporary.
In his latest statement, Minister of Immigration Sean Fraser said nothing about the changes, only that Canada is now processing visitor visa applications faster than before the pandemic. He said more than 260,000 visitor visas were processed in November, up from 180,000 in 2019.
However, despite the increased speed of processing applications, the immigration service is under pressure from the government and applicants. At the end of 2022, there were more than 2 million applications for temporary and permanent residence in the system. Half of them were in line longer than the set processing standards. Immigration applicants are the hardest hit, sometimes waiting years for a decision, which, in turn, causes a lot of resentment and tarnishes the reputation of the immigration service.
However, there is no indication yet that any additional measures will be taken to speed up the processing of applications for work and study visas, as well as for permanent residency in Canada.
Now the Department of Immigration reports that employees are processing old applications faster than new ones are coming into the system. Millions of dollars have been spent on improvements and many employees have been hired.
