If the Soccer World Cup were to be held in 2023 instead of 2026, FIFA would have to strike Canada off as a co-host nation.
That’s because Canada’s visa regime has virtually collapsed in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
At present, Argentinians can expect it to take 147 days for a visit Canada visa to be processed according to Government Canada’s own website. For Brazilians it will take 173 days.
This problem exists for most of the 147 countries whose citizens require a visa if they wish to visit Canada. The reason? Canada’s government says it is swamped with visa applications from people wanting to pay a short visit. In November 2022 Canada processed 260 000 visitor visa applications. That is 45% up on November 2019’s 180 000.
According to Tina Engel, Executive Assistant to the Canadian High Commissioner in South Africa, the Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) department processing visas received an extra CAD85 million (R1,1bn) from the 2021 budget and they have hired and trained 1 250 people, plus they have digitised the process. But still IRCC cannot cope.
The delays are cutting the throat of Canada’s global convention business. Canada is the sixth-largest convention destination and operator in the world. Conventions are a CAD41 billion (R529,2bn) business, according to Ottawa-based Meetings Mean Business.
Canada requires citizens from 147 countries to apply for visas to enter the country versus 50 that are visa free. Global associations can no longer make Canada their next convention destination without fearing fallout from many of their members. Delegates from Turkey must wait 143 days and from India 137 days for visas to attend a convention in Canada
In my personal experience this also affects leisure tourists. In December a multi-generational Christmas bucket-list ski trip in Quebec and Ontario was abandoned by four of my six family members in South Africa. When they submitted their application on August 4 last year, the delay was estimated at 96 days. Then early in December that had increased to 107 days and today it is 124 days. Two are still awaiting their visas 169 days later. The house they hired at Mont Tremblant, Quebec, stood empty as the holiday was finally abandoned two days before their scheduled flight on December 11.
Digitisation has led to an inhuman element to the process and it is the frustration of being kept in the dark that is the most damning for Canada’s tourism reputation. No phone number in South Africa is given. One is dependent on the IRCC web form emails to get some indication of whether a visa will be granted in time. Receipt is acknowledged automatically with the statement that it may take up to 28 days to get a response. Despite sending several webform emails, at least five direct emails and even a personalised letter, hand-delivered to the High Commissioner in Pretoria, to date no reply has been received in any form.
