1 in 3 Ukrainians with a visa arrived in Canada as an application for nearly 700K – Nationwide

Less than a third of Ukrainians approved for temporary Canadian visas have arrived, according to government figures, with hundreds of thousands checking to see if they are eligible to travel to Canada waiting in line for

The temporary visa is part of a special immigration measure introduced by the federal government following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, giving Ukrainians emergency permission to travel and stay in Canada.

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the government received about 700,000 requests for travel to Canada from Ukrainians under special programs between March and November.

However, Canadian Border Services Agency statistics show that only about 420,000 applications have been approved so far, while about 117,000 have actually arrived in Canada. Most of them arrived by plane.

It was not immediately clear why so few Ukrainians were allowed to travel to Canada.

Meanwhile, the average processing time for most visas from March to September was 72 days, or more than 10 weeks, according to documents submitted to the House of Commons last week.

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The document, which was submitted in response to written questions from Conservative MP Garnett Genuis, said as of September about 14% of applications were for children under the age of 18 and about 5% were for people over the age of 61. It is said that it is for people of

The response also states that as of September 20, 1,757 applications have been denied and 1,415 applications have been withdrawn.

It further warns that the total number of applications held by immigration may be “inflated” as some people have multiple applications associated with their files.

Genuis wanted data on whether people accepted under the program lived outside Ukraine before the Russian invasion.

However, the ministry said it was not possible to specify the country of residence before applying, and that applicants only need to declare their current country of residence.

In testimony before a Senate committee last week, Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada Larisa Galaza said, to her knowledge, Canada receives 14,000 applications a week from Ukrainians, totaling about 7 million civilians. said to have fled Ukraine.

She pointed out that the fact that Canada offers applicants three-year visas reduces the pressure to travel quickly.

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