Canada plans to double number of visa offices in China to lure more skilled people

The government of Canada is planning to double the number of offices where Chinese citizens can apply for its visas. This is a move to stem the declining number of visitors, students and high-skilled foreign workers from China to Canada and increase their inflow again.

John McCallum, Immigration Minister of Canada, spent two days in the second week of August meeting senior Chinese officials in Beijing where he made a request to open a minimum of five visa application centres in Chengdu, Jinan Nanjing, Shenyang and Wuhan. As of now, Canada has five visa offices in China.

CBC news quoted a Canadian government official as telling them confidentially that their country needed to make most of the fabulous economic opportunity to make inroads into this market by opening more visa application centres across China, which would allow them to travel to Canada.

The official said that they wanted to allow Chinese people to enter their country so that they could make memorable contributions to Canada while they reside there and it is also hoped that they could be retained.

McCallum visited China ahead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who is scheduled to participate in the G20 summit, which will take place in China in the later part of August.

Trudeau had assigned McCallum a task of preparing a three-year immigration programme, complete details of which would be made available later this fall.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (ICRCC) revealed that in 2013 most applications for permanent residency in Canada came from China. This fell 15 months after the introduction of Express Entry, which saw rules being tightened.

According to ICRCC data, China fell to the sixth place as far as applications for visa are concerned. As of now, most applications come from the Philippines followed by India. The UK, Ireland and the US were place at the third, fourth and fifth positions respectively.

Richard Kurland, an immigration lawyer, is hopeful that the plan to open more visa centres in China will turn the tide back in favour of Canada.

If you are planning on migrating to Canada, come to Y-Axis to get the best possible assistance and guidance to file for a visa at one of its 19 offices, which are located across India.