Canadian embassy gears up for more visa applicants

Canada is sending more immigration officers to its embassy in Manila in preparation for the expected huge volume of visa applications in the Philippines. The embassy’s visa processing offices will also be renovated for expansion to accommodate more applicants, according to Canada’s Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration in a statement on Monday. Canada has opened its labor market to Filipino workers, with the provinces of Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Manitoba signing agreements with the Philippines on the recruitment of Filipino workers. The province of Alberta is working out a similar agreement with the Department of Labor and Employment. “Our government supports the Filipino community in Canada. There has been a longstanding concern that processing times needed to improve. Today, we are taking action and committing more resources to help applicants from the Philippines," said Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada will be reconfiguring existing offices and adding new space at the Canadian Embassy to accommodate Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) program needs. Starting middle of this year, CIC will add three additional Canada-based immigration officers and four locally-engaged staff to work at the embassy. More CIC staff could be added the following year, the ministry advisory stated. The increase in staff is also intended to address the increased volume of temporary foreign worker applications while at the same time ensuring that processing times for other lines of service are also improved. The number of temporary workers coming to Canada from around the world has soared in recent years in an effort to meet this country’s labor market needs. In 2006, Canada welcomed 8,529 temporary foreign workers from the Philippines. This number is expected to continue to grow in response to increasing demands from Canadian employers for temporary workers. - GMANews.TV