Immigration Canada, and Ongoing coronavirus Issues

As the world continues to grapple with coronavirus (also known as COVID-19), Canada’s immigration authorities continue to adjust service delivery issues. Even with the best of intentions, the reality for now is that Canadian immigration authorities are lagging behind, and will continue to lag behind, in service delivery. Visa Application Centres in various places have been closed, visa post staffing has been downsized, and the immigration service delivery network in general has seen reduced functionality.

That being said, some of the measures currently in place include:

  • Special instructions for citizens of China, Iran, and South Korea
  • Automatic extensions to allow for late provision of documents in support of temporary visa applications (including work, study, or temporary resident visas)
  • Lenient consideration of extension applications by temporary residents in Canada.

Details on how the government is dealing with issues for temporary and permanent residents (and applicants for those statuses), can be found at https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/coronavirus-special-measures.html, and we urge all impacted to review details of the rights and remedies available for any particular situation.

The information in this article is for general purposes only, and not intended as legal advice for any particular situation.