Canadian visa office in Nairobi has worst delays

November 09 2009 by Liam Clifford

Delays of up to 3 years for Canadian visas if you are from Kenya.

The Canadian immigration office in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi is seeing delays of up to 42 months for Canadian visa applications to be processed.

The figures come from a report carried out by the Canadian Council for Refugees, released last week. The report claims that the office is regularly bogged down with immigration and asylum applications from refugees who want to move to Canada.

The report even claims that 20 per cent of applications take as long as 35 months to be passed through the system.

These delays are particularly harsh for people who have moved to Canada and are awaiting the arrival of their family members from Africa. Some reunifications can be delayed by up to five years as a result of the Nairobi office’s poor record.

Critics of the Canadian immigraion system claim that the visa application processing for so many vulnerable African nations should not be centralised to Nairobi. Poor communication, infrastructure and the difficulties and dangers involved with attending interviews further hold up the application process.

The average Canadian visa processing time is just 14 months globally. This rises to 19 months for privately sponsored applicants, who can wait as long as 42 months if applying through Nairobi.

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