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On Tuesday, February 28, 2023, the Canadian government announced that it was extending until 2025 the authorization for visitors to Canada to apply for a work permit. In other words, you can arrive in Canada on a visitor visa and stay on to work and to live. This falls under the public policy.
That same day, videos swarmed across Tik Tok and other social networks in the vein of “It’s a done deal: apply for a visitor visa and come work in Canada. Stop putting your files together with consultants.”
This situation grieves me enormously, when Africans in Canada lead their sisters and brothers back in Africa to believe that Canada, because of the easing it has granted, is going to hand out visas “just like that.”
My aim is not to paint a bleak picture of visa applications, nor to reduce anyone’s hopes to nothing. Not at all! Canada goes on granting visas, and citizens of a good many African countries go on arriving here.
The intention behind this article is to draw the attention of those who are interested to certain realities, certain consequences to watch out for. But before that, here are the steps to follow in order to apply for a visitor visa for Canada.
You need to follow the steps set out here, in particular:
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- getting the required documents ready;
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- creating an online account in order to submit the application;
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- paying the 185 Canadian dollars by credit card, that is, a little under 85,000 CFA francs;
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- providing your biometric data when you receive the invitation, then waiting patiently for the answer;
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- then sending in your passport once your application has been approved.
When your application has been approved and you come here – I hope you do – here are the conditions to be met in order to be eligible for the temporary public policy:
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- holding valid status as a visitor in Canada on the day you submit your application;
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- having a job offer backed by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) or exempt from the LMIA;
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- submitting an employer-specific work permit application no later than February 28, 2025;
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- meeting all the other usual eligibility criteria.
After this overview, here are things it is important to know in order to put every chance on your side, but that nobody tells you in those videos:
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- the processing times are going to stretch out to an absurd degree;
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- the criteria for granting visas are going to tighten still further;
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- you will have to provide proof of sufficient funds to maximize your chances;
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- you will have to have a letter from your employer specifying that a period of leave has been granted to you at work, from such a date to such a date, and that you will be coming back to resume work at the end of your holidays;
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- you will have to demonstrate strong ties to your country of residence. I am speaking here of personal property (a house, a vehicle, furniture, buildings, for example), of social ties (husband, wife, children, dependants, membership in an organization, etc.) and of economic ties (bank account, business, credit cards, etc.);
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- unless you have a comfortable fortune or a very strong file, you will find it hard to travel with those precious children of yours or with your partner;
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- an invitation from a relative living in Canada is not required, but it is an asset. Failing that, a hotel reservation would be useful too. But, given the processing time, I do not know whether that is a good idea.
These are all things you must keep in mind when you listen to the compatriots already in Canada holding forth on social media.
My advice is to carry on with the classic steps of Express Entry, the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program or even the Provincial Nominee Program, which offer more stability and more guarantees, as well as more reliable timelines.
Good luck to each and every one of you in your immigration plans!
M. Z.
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