Canada has opened a new application processing centre in Manila, Philippines to boost its global immigration processing capacity. The new centre, located within Canada’s embassy in Manila, will have 37 new employees to help accommodate the high volume of visa applications from around the world and is expected to boost Canada’s global immigration processing capacity. This initiative supports Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, which aims to foster ties between Canadians and the region. By expanding its presence overseas, Canada hopes to
- Accommodate high volume of visa applications from around the world
- Improve client service
- Achieve Canada’s planned increases to immigration levels in the coming years.
Sean Fraser, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, stated that the newly opened centre aims to strengthen the processing of applications in line with Canada’s goal to increase immigration levels in the coming years.
Due to pandemic delays in processing immigration applications, Canada had a record number of immigrants last year, with 1.3 million applications taking longer to process than government standards as of July 2022. IRCC has since reduced the backlog by nearly half a million applications and processed about 4.8 million applications by November 2022, almost twice as many as the same period in 2021.
The bond between Canada and the Philippines is growing stronger each day, with close to one million people of Philippine origin calling Canada home. The number of Filipino visitors, students, and those moving to Canada permanently is on the rise, according to the latest census. This reflects the vibrant cultural exchange and the opportunities Canada offers to people from all around the world.
Quotes
“Canada is set to welcome a record number of newcomers in the years ahead to fuel our economic growth. This will give us an advantage in the global race for talent, and support key sectors and industries. Today’s announcement to open a new centre supported by 37 new employees in the Philippines is another example of Canada’s work to boost immigration processing, as we continue to promote greater diversity among those looking to visit, study, work and live in Canada.”
– The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
“Canada and the Indo-Pacific share deep people-to-people ties, which are not only vast but expanding rapidly. This operations centre will help facilitate travel, attract highly skilled workers to Canada, and meet the needs of our economy today and in the future.”
– The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs
