WHAT'S NEW Simplified Application

The Canadian Government has introduced a simplified application (SA) process for Application under the Economic Classes, effective September 1, 2006. Federal Skilled Worker, the most popular Canadian immigration category and the Business category (comprising Investors, Entrepreneurs, Self-Employed) would be affected by this change. Permanent Residence applications with Arranged Employment Opinion, Provincial nomination, CSQ from Quebec are not included in the SA process. The process will be followed at all Canadian Visa offices, except Buffalo, USA, where the current application and processing system will continue.

The applicant will be required to submit a 3-page Application form and the processing fee at the time of initial application, without any documents, to guarantee a place in the processing queue. When the application is ready to be considered, the Visa Office will ask for supporting documentation.

SA process has a few positive aspects. Most visa offices are facing long processing queues leading to multi-year processing. The visa offices require ‘updated’ documents during the processing, causing considerable inconvenience to the applicant. Visa offices, on the other hand expend considerable resources on maintaining the inventory of voluminous immigration applications under process. SA process is expected to address both the issues.

SA process would make it easier for applicants to make an application, which is expected to increase the amount of new applications received at Visa offices. Given that the other processing aspects remain unchanged, this is expected to add to the backlogs and wait times for SA applicants.

SIMPLIFIED APPLICATION PROCESS IS NOT ‘FAST PROCESSING’ OR ‘EASY-TO-SUCCEED’ PROCESSING SYSTEM.

Not much has changed for the average applicant, however. One of the requirements for SA is that the applicant must meet all selection criteria at the time of submission of initial application.

Thus, your chance for immigration to Canada would be still based on your initial application, though without any supporting documents. You must take initial application very seriously. Chances of minor presentation errors remain unchanged, even with SA.

HOW CAN TRANSCEND HELP:
As Certified Canadian Immigration Consultant, we, at Transcend Consultants can provide expert assistance to prepare and file your initial application and to subsequently submit supporting documents to the Visa Office. We will make sure that your initial application is comprehensively and accurately completed.

Under our SA package, clients pay $500 as upfront retainer fee for preparing & filing SA application. Should you opt for our complete package of services later, the fee paid is adjusted against the total fee for the package.