The essence of the innovation is that when applying to the embassy, you only need to submit a completed application form for immigration to Canada, as well as pay the government fees. All other documents, including the full set of immigration forms, documents on marital status, education and work, certificates of financial means, etc., are submitted later, after a request received from the embassy.
When announcing the introduction of the new procedure for submitting immigration applications, the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada stated that it would be applied in all embassies, except for the consulate in Buffalo (USA). However, in practice, the situation turned out not exactly as planned. In particular, the Canadian embassy in Moscow announced in July that it would not participate in the new program. At the embassy in Kyiv, at the same time, they refused to give any explanations on this matter. Therefore, all that remained was to wait for the official date of the introduction of the new rules, and then find out the situation anew.
As it became known, the new procedure for submitting immigration applications to Canada is being introduced in all embassies, except for the consulate in Buffalo, as planned. However, at the Moscow and Kyiv embassies, it will still be applied in a modified form.
How Moscow accepts
Having initially refused to introduce the new application procedure altogether, the Canadian embassy in Moscow soon changed its decision and announced the introduction of its own rules for accepting applications in the Skilled Worker and Business Class categories. They consist of the fact that, in parallel with the introduction of the new simplified submission procedure, this office has retained and continues to accept applications under the old rules, that is, immediately the full package of forms and documents. Thus, applications for immigration to Canada can be submitted to the Moscow embassy in several ways.
Option 1 – submission of an application in accordance with the new procedure (Simplified Application Process). First, you provide the embassy with only one completed application form (Application for Permanent Residence) and pay the Processing Fee. Almost immediately upon receipt of the application, or within two to three weeks after that, the embassy issues you a letter confirming receipt of the application with a file number. Simultaneously with issuing the Acknowledgement of Receipt letter, the embassy will request from you a full package of supporting documents, including the results of language tests IELTS/TEF. Six months are given to provide these documents. If you do not provide them within the specified period, you will most likely be refused.
Despite the fact that the Moscow embassy formally agreed to introduce the new application procedure announced by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, in practice its application differs greatly from other embassies. The difference is that at the Moscow office, the letter requesting the full set of documents and forms will be issued to the applicant almost immediately after submitting the initial application (that is, at the time of submitting the initial application, you should actually have all documents ready). According to the standard procedure developed for all embassies, the request for a full set of documents is supposed to be sent to the applicant much later, after 1-2 years (depending on the workload of a particular embassy).
Option 2 – submission of an application in accordance with the old procedure. Along with the application, you provide the embassy with a full package of documents, which includes all completed immigration forms, documents on marital status, education and work, certificates of financial means, etc., plus the result of the IELTS/TEF language test. Also, simultaneously with submitting the application, the Processing Fee is paid. In response to your immigration application and set of documents, the embassy issues a letter confirming receipt of the application (Acknowledgement of Receipt Letter) with a file number. Approximately 4-8 months after registration of the application, the embassy informs you either of an interview appointment or of an exemption from it.
How Kyiv accepts
In contrast to the clear position of the Canadian embassy in Moscow and its public presentation on the official website, in Kyiv the situation with the introduction of the new application procedure is completely different. There is no information officially published and available online. Therefore, we had to make inquiries, to which we received the following explanations.
At the Canadian embassy in Kyiv, we were told that since September 1, 2006, they have switched to accepting applications only under the new simplified procedure. Thus, if you are applying for immigration to Canada through the embassy in Kyiv, keep in mind that they apply the Simplified Application Process.
We asked whether they would send back the documents of those who, out of ignorance, submit an application under the old format, that is, attach a full set of documents. The answer was: no, they would not. These documents will remain at the embassy and wait their turn for processing. Yet, in the official interpretation of the new Simplified Application Process, there is a strict warning that if all documents are provided immediately, embassies should not accept them and must return the entire package to the applicant.
It turns out that the embassy in Kyiv will continue to accept the full set of documents. However, they will simply sit and wait their turn for processing. And since processing times in Kyiv are longer than in Moscow, it may happen that some documents expire. And when it comes time to consider the application, they will have to be submitted again.
As for the processing times for applications, they told us that currently the immigration process in Kyiv can be completed in 1.5-2 years and no measures are planned to improve the situation. Moreover, the embassy expects staff reductions, and in that case the immigration office in Kyiv will not be able to maintain even the above-mentioned deadlines.
Our comments
The decision in Moscow to continue accepting applications according to the old procedure, i.e., the full package, is a quite logical step. The fact is that the deadlines for making selection decisions at the Moscow embassy are fairly short – 6 months from the receipt of the immigration application and the accompanying set of documents. And dividing the application process into two stages (first submitting the application and payment of state fees, and then the full package of documents) makes no sense. Also logical is the decision of the embassy in Kyiv to introduce a new simplified procedure, but not to send back documents if someone submits them under the old rules. After all, sending documents back to the applicant only creates extra work and increases costs.
If we assess the situation as a whole, the greatest concern is not the intricacies of introducing the new application procedure, but the possible increase in the processing times of cases at the embassies. Moreover, apparently, this will also affect the Canadian embassy in Moscow.
Based on our research, the following conclusions can be drawn. No radical changes are likely in the selection system itself, nor in the number of immigrants accepted annually, in the coming year. At the same time, we expect an increase in application processing times. This applies to both Kyiv and Moscow, where the current situation with deadlines can be described as normal. It is possible that embassies with significantly longer processing times (3-5 years) will transfer applicants' files to less busy embassies. In particular, we have learned that the embassy in Turkey plans to send to Moscow the documents of applicants from those former Soviet republics that regionally belong to the embassy in Ankara (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan). The same applies to the embassy in Warsaw – from there, cases of applicants from Belarus may be transferred to Moscow.
Given that in both Warsaw and Ankara application processing times reach 4-5 years, it can be assumed that as a result of their 'equalization', deadlines in Moscow could significantly increase – from 8-12 months to 2-3 years. In Kyiv, due to possible staff reductions, processing times may also increase to 2-3 years.
We believe that the normal situation with deadlines will not last long (in our estimation, no more than one year). Therefore, if you have already decided to immigrate to Canada, we recommend not delaying the submission of your application.
Elena Ryabinina. 