Processing times for federal skilled worker applications processed by visa offices outside Canada

The tables below indicate application processing times at Canadian visa offices outside Canada. The times are based on how long it took to process 80 percent of all cases between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011. Processing times are subject to change.

Processing times for applications received on or after June 26, 2010 are unavailable as sufficient final decision data does not exist.

• Africa and Middle East
• Asia and Pacific
• Europe
• Americas

Last quarterly update: July 26, 2011

Africa and Middle East

Visa Office	Processing Times IN MONTHS (based on a complete application package)
	Applications received BEFORE February 27, 2008	Applications received BETWEEN November 28, 2008 and June 25, 2010
Accra - Ghana	87	-
Cairo - Egypt	69	17
Dakar - Senegal	41	-
Damascus - Syria	89	18
Nairobi - Kenya	74	13
Pretoria - South Africa	78	18
Rabat - Morocco	66	13
Tel Aviv - Israel	53	16

Asia and Pacific

Visa Office	Processing Times IN MONTHS (based on a complete application package)
	Applications received BEFORE February 27, 2008	Applications received BETWEEN November 28, 2008 and June 25, 2010
Beijing - China	48	18
Colombo - Sri Lanka	55	15
Hong Kong - China	57	18
Islamabad - Pakistan	87	26
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia	51	16
Manila - Philippines	76	15
New Delhi - India	87	15
Seoul - South Korea	51	18
Singapore - Singapore	67	16
Sydney - Australia	52	15
Taipei - Taiwan	53	18
Tokyo - Japan	69	13

Europe

Visa Office	Processing Times IN MONTHS (based on a complete application package)
	Applications received BEFORE February 27, 2008	Applications received BETWEEN November 28, 2008 and June 25, 2010
Ankara - Turkey	45	15
Berlin - Germany	45	16
Bucharest - Romania	59	14
Kiev - Ukraine	46	13
London - United Kingdom	53	20
Moscow - Russia	47	20
Paris - France	56	17
Rome - Italy	-	15
Vienna - Austria	50	16
Warsaw - Poland	71	14

Americas

Visa Office	Processing Times IN MONTHS (based on a complete application package)
	Applications received BEFORE February 27, 2008	Applications received BETWEEN November 28, 2008 and June 25, 2010
Bogota - Colombia	59	14
Buenos Aires - Argentina	-	12
Buffalo – United States	54	21
Caracas - Venezuela	62	14
Guatemala City - Guatemala	-	17
Havana - Cuba	-	11
Kingston – Jamaica	51	19
Lima - Peru	46	12
Mexico City - Mexico	44	15
Port-au-Prince - Haiti	-	-
Port of Spain - Trinidad and Tobago	55	23
Santiago - Chile	-	-
Santo Domingo - Dominican Republic	48	19
Sao Paulo - Brazil	38	16

Notes

• You can view your application status online.
• If it has been longer than the time shown above since you applied and your visa office has not contacted you, you may wish to contact the visa office that is processing your application by e-mail, letter or fax. The Call Centre does not have information about applications processed outside Canada.
• (-) indicates that not enough data are available. Processing times are shown only where an office has finalized 10 or more cases in the past 12 months.

Processing times for federal skilled worker applications processed by visa offices outside Canada

The tables below indicate application processing times at Canadian visa offices outside Canada. The times are based on how long it took to process 80 percent of all cases between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011. Processing times are subject to change.

Processing times for applications received on or after June 26, 2010 are unavailable as sufficient final decision data does not exist.

• Africa and Middle East
• Asia and Pacific
• Europe
• Americas

Last quarterly update: July 26, 2011

Africa and Middle East

Visa Office	Processing Times IN MONTHS (based on a complete application package)
	Applications received BEFORE February 27, 2008	Applications received BETWEEN November 28, 2008 and June 25, 2010
Accra - Ghana	87	-
Cairo - Egypt	69	17
Dakar - Senegal	41	-
Damascus - Syria	89	18
Nairobi - Kenya	74	13
Pretoria - South Africa	78	18
Rabat - Morocco	66	13
Tel Aviv - Israel	53	16

Asia and Pacific

Visa Office	Processing Times IN MONTHS (based on a complete application package)
	Applications received BEFORE February 27, 2008	Applications received BETWEEN November 28, 2008 and June 25, 2010
Beijing - China	48	18
Colombo - Sri Lanka	55	15
Hong Kong - China	57	18
Islamabad - Pakistan	87	26
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia	51	16
Manila - Philippines	76	15
New Delhi - India	87	15
Seoul - South Korea	51	18
Singapore - Singapore	67	16
Sydney - Australia	52	15
Taipei - Taiwan	53	18
Tokyo - Japan	69	13

Europe

Visa Office	Processing Times IN MONTHS (based on a complete application package)
	Applications received BEFORE February 27, 2008	Applications received BETWEEN November 28, 2008 and June 25, 2010
Ankara - Turkey	45	15
Berlin - Germany	45	16
Bucharest - Romania	59	14
Kiev - Ukraine	46	13
London - United Kingdom	53	20
Moscow - Russia	47	20
Paris - France	56	17
Rome - Italy	-	15
Vienna - Austria	50	16
Warsaw - Poland	71	14

Americas

Visa Office	Processing Times IN MONTHS (based on a complete application package)
	Applications received BEFORE February 27, 2008	Applications received BETWEEN November 28, 2008 and June 25, 2010
Bogota - Colombia	59	14
Buenos Aires - Argentina	-	12
Buffalo – United States	54	21
Caracas - Venezuela	62	14
Guatemala City - Guatemala	-	17
Havana - Cuba	-	11
Kingston – Jamaica	51	19
Lima - Peru	46	12
Mexico City - Mexico	44	15
Port-au-Prince - Haiti	-	-
Port of Spain - Trinidad and Tobago	55	23
Santiago - Chile	-	-
Santo Domingo - Dominican Republic	48	19
Sao Paulo - Brazil	38	16

Notes

• You can view your application status online.
• If it has been longer than the time shown above since you applied and your visa office has not contacted you, you may wish to contact the visa office that is processing your application by e-mail, letter or fax. The Call Centre does not have information about applications processed outside Canada.
• (-) indicates that not enough data are available. Processing times are shown only where an office has finalized 10 or more cases in the past 12 months.

The Irish unemployed seek greener shores in Toronto

IAN MERRINGER

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

Published Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011 6:00AM EDT

Last updated Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011 10:22AM EDT

When west-end contractor Mark Gillespie needed a few hammers for hire, he acted on a tip about Toronto’s hostels being packed with unemployed tradespeople and put up a “help wanted” ad at the Canadiana Backpackers Inn near Spadina and Queen.

“I got a dozen calls the first day,” Mr. Gillespie said. “I had to ask the last guy to take down the ad.”

All the respondents had two things in common: they were looking for work, and they had Irish accents.

“That hostel was the worst I’ve seen for Irish,” said Declan Power, with feigned deprecation. “Everyone you talked to was Irish.”

Mr. Power, a 25-year-old carpenter from Tipperary, got a job with Mr. Gillespie. As one of three Irishmen on the four-man crew, he’s part of a steady stream of Emerald Isle ex-pats arriving in Toronto looking for work and a temporary home.

The migration is so steady that the Irish government last week moved to set up an immigrant services centre at the Ireland Fund of Canada’s downtown offices. For the first time, Irish immigrants to Toronto will have a staffed centre for assistance with jobs, housing and visa issues.

Erika Gates-Gasse of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants explains that temporary workers don’t qualify for most of the federal settlement programs offered to permanent immigrants. So the centre will likely be a useful resource when it opens this winter – even if Toronto’s mosaic make-up means many of the newcomers continue to find support with the basics of life from helpful compatriots at one of the city’s increasingly authentic Irish pubs.

Most of the work being sought is in the trades. When the banks imploded in 2008 and the roof collapsed on Ireland’s housing-driven boom, the construction industry went from thriving to writhing. Unemployment climbed from five to 15 per cent in a country where one in five jobs was in construction. The first to lose jobs were the young men who wielded hammers and paintbrushes, but not much seniority.

“The arrivals come from all walks of life, but there’s a preponderance of construction workers,” says Eamonn O’Loghlin, the executive director of Toronto’s chapter of the Ireland-Canada Chamber of Commerce. He notes that Ottawa has more than doubled the number of International Experience visas it grants to Irish applicants since 2008, with close to 5,000 migrants expected this year.

Mr. O’Loghlin estimates that between 60 and 70 per cent of those are ending up in Toronto.

Anthony Arts owns the new Planet Traveler hostel on College near Spadina. He says since opening this winter, there have been between five and 10 Irish staying at his hostel every day.

“They stay from two to eight weeks,” Mr. Arts says. “And they all find work.”

It remains to be seen if economic anxiety sparked by the current stock-market turmoil will change overseas perceptions of Canada as a promised land, but Mr. O’Loghlin points out that the market ups and downs are, in part, a reflection of a continuing crisis in Ireland and its neighbours.

“A lot of what is happening is reflecting uncertainty about what is going on in Europe. It’s a sign of the times, but there is still a lot of opportunity here,” he says.

A less tangible draw to the city is the tradition of Irish immigration to Toronto that goes back 200 years and reached its peak in 1847 when Ireland’s Great Famine sent countless “coffin ships” across the Atlantic. Cabbagetown got its name from the crops that these famine-shocked immigrants grew in their front yards.

Mr. O’Loghlin points to a tradition of fraternity in which Irish assist other Irish. Toronto’s diaspora community is sufficiently large and close-knit to support 13 teams in a Gaelic football league (a sport quite distinct from soccer), which is a comfort for those in Ireland thinking about leaving.

“It’s all about Toronto back home,” Mr. Power said. “You don’t hear about the rest of the country. Everyone knows someone in Toronto.”

Mr. Power arrived this April and spent three months living in the Canadiana Backpackers Inn while he found affordable long-term housing. It didn’t take as long to find work. His first Friday night in town, he gambled a TTC fare on the sense of fraternity Mr. O’Loghlin mentions and took the streetcar out to McCarthy’s Irish Pub on Gerrard Street near Coxwell Avenue. He left his phone number with pub owner Maeve McCarthy – and was working his first job the next Monday.

“That happens a lot,” says Ms. McCarthy of the connection.

Ms. McCarthy came from Ireland 15 years ago. She says her pub is frequented by lots of Irish-Canadians, and lots of contractors. “There are work boots all around. The floor gets pretty dirty Fridays after work.”

About once a week, a contractor will ask her if she knows of any Irish tradespeople looking for work. She usually has a number to pass on. One of the contractors she has set up has 14 Irish working for him. She thinks her countrymen get a good reputation in the trades thanks to a good apprenticeship program back home.

She also says they are eager to work, something Michael Curley knows all about.

Mr. Curley is a 33-year-old painter from County Clare who had been out of work for two years when, depressed and hung over, he went to the grandparents who raised him and asked to borrow enough money to get to Canada. Two weeks after his arrival, he had a place to live with five other Irish guys and had found a job painting the interior of million-dollar houses through someone he met at a sports bar. He’s been here seven weeks and says he plans to start paying his grandparents back next month.

He says his experiences in Ireland are serving him well in Canada. “I know what it’s like not to have work. I’m grateful. My bosses can see that.”

Pre-arrival orientation boosts immigrant prospects

Nicholas KeungImmigration Reporter

A government initiative to help skilled immigrants navigate the labyrinth of credential recognition and Canadian job market before they arrive on our shores has boosted newcomers’ employment rate.

Four years after the Canadian Immigration Integration Program (CIIP) was launched, 62 per cent of participants found employment in six month, up from 44 per cent before its existence, says a government review of the federal Foreign Credentials Referral Office.

Ottawa launched the office in 2007 as a response to all those surgeon-driving-a-taxi tales that have sullied Canada’s reputation as a good place to resettle.

According to the report, 13,000 skilled immigrants had registered by September 2010 for the pre-arrival orientation program about Canadian culture, labour market and foreign credential recognition process.

The two-day program — available in the Philippines, China and India — includes a group session and personal counselling to help migrants develop an “individualized action plan” to find work I Canada. The service will expand to the visa post in Britain later this year.

“The objective of the CIIP is to effectively prepare immigrants for successful integration while still in their country of origin,” said the report, released Thursday. “We are not only improving economic outcomes for newcomers, but we are also ensuring that employers have access to this valuable and much needed labour resource.”

Eight out of 10 jobs in Canada are in non-regulated occupations in which employers are responsible for determining whether a prospective employee has the skills, education and experience for the position.

The remaining 20 per cent of jobs require licensing by a professional regulatory body.

Last year, the foreign credentials office imposed a 12-month limit on assessments of international credentials for eight professions: architects, engineers, medical laboratory technologists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, registered nurses and financial auditors/accountants.

It plans to broaden the one-year time frame in 2012 to include six other professions: dentists, engineering technicians, licensed practical nurses, medical radiation technologists, physicians and teachers.

Canada’s Agreement on Internal Trade with the provinces has been amended to allow workers certified by regulators in one province to be relicensed in another “without having to meet significant additional requirements.”

In 2010, the Federal Internship for Newcomers program, a job project to hire immigrants in 11 government departments, doubled its capacity from 29 positions to 65.

“We have made progress, but there is much more to do … we must continue in our efforts to ensure that newcomers to Canada do not face unnecessary barriers to employment,” said Corinne Prince-St-Amand, director general of the foreign credentials office.