The continuing diplomatic disagreement between Canada and India will cause delays in the processing of visas for Indian visitors to Canada.
Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller just confirmed this in a press conference in Ottawa on Thursday, October 19.
The slowness is due to India’s request that Canada cut the number of diplomats stationed in India.
Mélanie Joly, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, has stated that 41 Canadian diplomats had departed India. This leaves Canada with only 21 diplomats in India.
The conflict between the two countries comes after Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of murdering a prominent Sikh activist in Canada, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on September 18.
Miller indicated that Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will reduce the number of Canadian employees in India dramatically. According to an IRCC announcement, the IRCC personnel would be downsized from 27 to 5.
Miller wishes to reassure customers in India, as well as Canadians who have family or friends in India, that Canada will continue to accept and process all temporary and permanent resident applications. However, the reduced staffing will have an immediate impact. IRCC is attempting to limit the impact by reducing the workload for Visa Application Centres (VACs), which now process the majority of Indian applications, however some work will have to be completed via email.
As a result, longer processing and slower services might be expected from India, according to Miller. Clients may notice that their applications are taking longer to process, that queries are taking longer to answer, and that visas are taking longer to be placed in their passports.
Because VACs are operated by third parties, they will continue to function normally. Applicants will still be able to receive administrative assistance, send passports, and submit biometrics at one of IRCC’s ten India-based centres.
Miller emphasized that newcomers from India are important to Canada and that IRCC will continue to welcome them. Canada’s Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs) will continue to accept students and process new applications, albeit more slowly than before.
According to the IRCC statement, the majority of Indian applications are already being processed outside of India. According to the report, 89% of Indian applications are processed through IRCC’s global network. The five remaining IRCC employees in India will concentrate on “work that requires an in-country presence, such as urgent processing, visa printing, risk assessment, and overseeing key partners.”
In keeping with Miller’s remarks, the IRCC statement informs Indian customers to expect delays in:
· overall processing times
· responses to their enquiries
· getting their visas or passports returned
India is by far Canada’s most important source of newcomers. Over 118,000 Indians became Canadian permanent residents in 2022, accounting for 27% of the 437,000 new permanent residents received by Canada. Furthermore, nearly 226,000 Indian international students were admitted to Canada last year, accounting for 41% of the total of 551,000 new international students admitted. In 2022, about 60,000 Indians will become Canadian citizens.
Over 100 different economic class immigration options are available in Canada. Because of their English proficiency and high levels of education, work experience, and abilities, Indians are well-positioned in Canada’s immigration system. Many Indians opt to study in Canada first before applying for permanent residency. The Student Direct Stream (SDS) is a fast-track study permit program in Canada that is popular among Indians. According to IRCC data, over 95% of SDS applications originate in India.
