Inmigración Canadá responde a Comercio Latino sobre quejas de visas

TORONTO.- Ante las denuncias que realizó Comercio Latino en varios artículos sobre los problemas y las demoras que están teniendo los extranjeros para obtener una visa a Canadá, particularmente los latinoamericanos, destacando lo que pasa con los colombianos, mexicanos y venezolanos, donde hay muchas demoras por la huelga de trabajadores en las sedes diplomáticas e Inmigración Canadá, Glenn Johnson, de Citizenship and Immigration Canada, nos informa mediante una carta a este semanario, que se están tomando los correctivos necesarios y contratando personal externo para agilizar los procesos.

Artículos como “Porque tantos problemas con la visa para los latinos a Canadá” y “Paro aumentan problemas de visas para llegar a Canadá”, además de un editorial de Comercio Latino en el que se pedía una mayor agilidad en la entrega de visas de negocios y para estudiantes e igualdad de condiciones a los inmigrantes latinos con otras partes del mundo, especialmente por las quejas de que a muchos les niegan la visa para ingresar al país, sin ninguna aparente justificación, Johnson, deja claro que el Ministerio ha contratado personal adicional para enfrentar los problemas que se están presentando con las demoras, pero pide a la gente que se presente con un mayor tiempo de anticipación ante de viajar, especialmente los estudiantes, a quienes les hace otras recomendaciones.

El siguiente es el texto completo de la carta 

"In reference to your story about Colombian businesspeople and visas to Canada, Citizenship and Immigration would like to advise you of the following that may be a factor http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/notices/2013-06-11.asp However, All visa offices remain open and continue to provide service to clients. Every visa office maintains a core number of staff that have been deemed “essential.”

Over 1,000 locally engaged staff continue to work in the visas offices overseas, and CIC has hired additional staff on a temporary basis to help process visas both overseas and in Canada. Moreover, CIC is providing training on an urgent basis so that more staff can process applications, and is requesting that staff work overtime where possible. CIC is also shifting more work to Canada and to overseas offices that have additional capacity.

 Processing of urgent humanitarian visa applications is essential work in all visa offices. Anyone applying for a visa should submit their application as far in advance as possible. CIC is working to ensure the timely processing of study permits for international students.

Students, as well as anyone applying for any type of visa, should submit their application as far in advance as possible. If they are unable to do so, or are concerned that their application may not be processed in time before the start of their intended course of study, students may also submit a letter from an educational institution indicating that the institution would accept a late arrival, specifying until when, and/or that the acceptance letter is also valid for the same course starting the next semester.

These letters are taken into consideration by visa officers, along with all other documents, when assessing the application. To prevent additional delays, applicants can also: - Submit their temporary visa applications (visitors, students and workers) online. - Submit their visa applications, documents and fees to Visa Application Centres (VACs). VACs improve service by helping clients avoid unnecessary delays due to incomplete applications, and by facilitating the reliable and secure transfer of documents between clients and visa offices. VACs accept applications for: - study permits - work permits - visitor visas (temporary resident visa) - travel documents for permanent residents CIC now has 95 VACs in 67 countries and the network will expand to over 130 VACs in 96 countries by 2014. Please note that VACs play no role in the decision making and are explicitly forbidden from providing any visa related advice. CIC is closely monitoring the situation. For the current status of the strike and negotiations, please contact the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) at media@tbs-sct.gc.ca.

Glenn Johnson, de Citizenship and Immigration Canada