Canada to expedite some visitor visas going forward
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) recently announced that Canada will soon begin speeding the processing of some visitor visas through its immigration system as part of its strategic immigration report titled “An Immigration System for Canada’s Future.”
As part of the action plan provided in the report, the immigration agency stated, “We are… committed to ensuring priority visa processing [for] those from all over the world attending major conferences and events in Canada that are registered with IRCC.”
Following consultations with various Canadian stakeholders, the federal government, lead by IRCC, submitted the given action plan along with conclusions and additional content. This comes as Canada seeks to improve the national immigration system in order to meet the country’s evolving economic and demographic needs.
One of IRCC’s declared goals, broken down into various groups, is to further focus on reducing wait times and enhancing service standards for newcomers to Canada through this new immigration strategy.
Canada has indicated an intention to expedite the processing of certain visitor visas as part of the government’s action plan, which falls under the larger goal of creating a “more welcoming experience for newcomers,” with a particular focus on applications made by newcomers seeking entry into this country “for tourism, major conferences, and events.”
What other efforts has Canada taken to assist visitors seeking visas?
This is not the first measure Canada has taken to improve service for international tourist visa applicants.
IRCC added 13 new nations to its list of “partial visa exempt countries” in June of this year, bringing the total number of countries on that list to 67. As of June 6, 2023, “travellers from 67 countries can apply for an electronic travel authorization (eTA) instead of a [visitor] visa.”
According to IRCC, the advantages of doing so to eligible travellers wishing to come to Canada temporarily is that “most eTA applications” are processed far faster than visitor visas, frequently “within minutes.”
Visitor visa applications in Canada are increasing.
While the majority of public attention on immigration is focused on permanent residence and the entry of long-term entrants to Canada, the IRCC adds that temporary residents entering the nation, particularly guest visa applications, are not an afterthought of the immigration agency.
Indeed, by the end of 2022, IRCC stated that Canada is processing a much higher number of visitor visas than in the past. In a December 19, 2017 news release, the immigration department stated that they are striving to “reduce backlogs and process visitor visas more quickly” in response to rising global interest in visiting Canada.
According to IRCC, “Canada is now processing more visitor visa applications than it did [before the COVID-19] pandemic.” The immigration authorities specifically said that the IRCC handled over 260,000 visitor visas in November 2022 alone.
This figure is significant because the IRCC also stated that “the monthly average [of visitor visas processed] in 2019 was about 180,000 applications.”
Given these figures, Canada’s decision to prioritize visitor visas through this new strategy will assist a large number of qualified newcomers planning to visit the country in the future.
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