Albeit Slow, Torturous Process, Canadian Embassy in China Still Issues Visas

Chinese students beating the September deadline school of opening in Canada are in luck. Albeit a slow and torturous process, the Canadian embassy in China was reported to remain issuing student visas.

A report by the China Daily said Chinese students who submitted applications in May or June, expressing their desire to enroll in September for Canadian high school, undergraduate or postgraduate programmes, had received replies from the embassy, quoting a Chinese education consultant.

"The Canada Visa Application Center has not stopped handling visa applications, as some Canadian Foreign Service officers are still at work. It just slows down the process," Hao Meng with Education International Cooperation Group, a consulting institute on studying abroad, said.

However, those who submitted their applications in or after July were the ones most likely to feel the brunt of the labour action.

"I'm afraid they may not be able to enroll in time this autumn," Hao said, noting the Canadian embassy usually takes one or two months to process applications.

On Monday, some 150 foreign service officers at Canada's various 15 busiest visa processing centres abroad left their posts in protest of poor and unfair wages. These include Beijing, New Delhi, the UAE, Mexico City and London, among others.

The union representing the 1,350-strong workers wants the wages of foreign service officers adjusted in line with other Canadian federal employees. It claimed foreign service officers deployed abroad receive $3,000 to $14,000 less per year.

A local staff member with Beijing's Canada Visa Application Center, identified only Zhang, said the strike at the embassy, although might bear some influence, does not largely affect the visa application center.

She told China Daily they continue to receive student applications daily.

"We will continue handing in applications to the embassy for the applicants," she said. "Generally, it takes the embassy four to eight weeks to review an applicant's documents.

"Now it's hard to tell how long it takes, and we can't assure whether the Canadian embassy will issue visas on time," Mr Zhang said.