Canadian government considers queue jumping fee

The Canadian federal government is considering allowing would-be Canadian immigrants to pay extra to speed up their visa applications.

As part of an ongoing consultation process into the Canadian immigration system, involving nationwide meetings and an online questionnaire, the Liberal government is asking if Canada should let people pay to jump to the front of the line.

In recent months, the country’s Immigration Minister, John McCallum, has become increasingly concerned about how long visa applications are taking to process. One of the main aims of the Express Entry immigration system, introduced at the start of 2015, had been to speed up processing times for skilled migrants planning to move to Canada. Thus far, though, the system has failed to meet its objective of processing applications within six months.

It is believed that the extra funds garnered by allowing prospective Canadian immigrants could be used to speed up immigration processing overall.

However, critics say any system of payment would effectively create a two-tier system that allows richer people to bypass everyone else.

Minister McCallum has also stated he wants to make it easier for international students to stay in Canada once they have graduated.

The Minister is expected to announce a raft of changes to the Canadian immigration system in the autumn, possibly even brining about a complete overhaul of how immigration to Canada works.

Article published 10th August 2016