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New application process from Sept. 1 |
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By Ravi Mehta » Prospective immigrants will be asked NOT to submit
supporting documents along with their initial papers under a new
"simplified application process" for federal skilled workers and
business immigrants. The new rules come into effect on September 1,
2006.
The revised application process will be the norm at all visa offices, except the one in Buffalo, NY, according to information released by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).
Under the new process, those applying under the economic category will be asked to submit a shorter, three-page IMM8 form, along with the application fees. The visa office will request supporting documentation only around four months before the application actually comes up for assessment.
Until now, CIC has required applicants to submit a full set of forms about all family members, and supporting documents necessary to demonstrate that selection and admissibility criteria are met. These documents include police certificates, employment histories and references, marriage and birth certificates, financial and business documentation, diplomas and degrees, evidence of abilities in English and French, and more.
Additionally, applicants frequently mail in updated documents during the years their papers are in the queue, sending CIC information on new jobs, new diplomas, births, marriages, divorces and so forth. Each time, CIC staff must pull the physical file from the shelf to add the document, and update the electronic record.
By the time the visa office is able to review the file, much of the documentation is so dated that it cannot be used. The office must frequently ask for most or all documents to be updated.
The new rules eliminate the problem of outdated documentation as well as bulky files and storage constraints.
From the prospective immigrant's perspective, it also means they do not have to prepare or pay for paperwork twice or more.
The modified application forms (for those submitting after September 1 to any visa office except Buffalo) are available here:
Skilled worker:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/applications/skilled-simple.html
Business immigrants:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/applications/business-simple.html
According to CIC, any supporting documentation supplied with applications after September 1 will be returned. However, the application will still be accepted.
CIC will also continue to accept the longer, pre-modified IMM8 forms, and applicants won't face delays if they provide these.
Supporting documents will now be requested approximately four months before the visa office is ready to assess the application. A letter of receipt will provide advice to the applicant on labour-market preparation to encourage prospective immigrants to make maximum use of the waiting period by, for example, enrolling in courses to upgrade their language skills.
The new Acknowledgement of Receipt Letter will also indicate an approximate time frame as to when the applicant should expect to next hear from the visa office.
The elimination of the need for supporting documents from the outset means the potential for time savings is huge. Don't however expect wait times to come down - CIC warns on its website it does not expect processing will be any faster than it is now.
Currently, more than 500,000 people are awaiting processing of their papers in the Skilled Worker and Business classes - equivalent to about four years of processing at current levels.
Why not Buffalo? CIC says the new Simplified Application Process will not be used by Buffalo since visa offices in the US mainly process applicants who currently meet Canadian labour market needs. This means that most applicants are already in Canada and have some type of arranged employment. The regular application process will continue to apply since, by policy, these applicants are processed on a priority basis.
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