Canada's Afghan special program timeline - humanitarian visa

[canvis22]

Hello every one. I am posting the timeline of a friend of mine who recently came to Canada through Canada’s Afghan special program in 2022. Timeline is for humanitarian visa from Islamabad embassy only. Hopefully it helps someone out there.

January – Request to apply for special program was received from government of Canada

Feb 16th – Case was submitted to Canada immigration

Feb 18th – Case number was received

Feb 24th – Email request to go for biometrics received

Feb 28th – Biometrics completed at a visa application center

April 1st – Email request to go for medical received

April 11th – Medical completed

April 12th – Email received from IOM saying medical results have been submitted to embassy

April 23rd – ‘Decision made’ appears in online case status of immigration website

April 30th – Through email, IOM requests information they need to apply for exit permit. Info requested was: Date of entry, visa expiration, passport number

May 3rd – Email with flight date information and instructions received from IOM

May 5th – Pre-arrival covid test taken

May 6th – Flight to Canada. IOM provided the exit permit and Canada travel document/visa at the Islamabad airport just before boarding of the plane.

Many people who qualify for this special program are not being interviewed. However, if the embassy has questions about anything on the application, they may schedule an interview and biometrics at the embassy (this is done on the same day).

For some people, the order in the timeline above is different. Some may be asked to do medical first, then biometrics next, and may be an interview last if embassy thinks the interview is needed.

There was no passport request. Travel documents were provided at the airport on day of departure.

 

[SohailAmiri]

Hi, can you please tell if your friend has worked with Government of Canada. My friend which is part of vulnerable minorities has emailed the ircc’s situationafghanistan email but no response from them.

 

[canuck78]

Hi, can you please tell if your friend has worked with Government of Canada. My friend which is part of vulnerable minorities has emailed the ircc’s situationafghanistan email but no response from them.

Canada has received multiple hundreds of thousands of request request to come to Canada but are only accepting 40k. Just being part of a minority group would not be enough to get selected in Afghanistan to come to Canada. You need to have a direct connection to Canada or sometimes other NATO countries or be a well known target for example female judges, journalists, etc.

 

[James from Saskatchewan]

You can always apply for a Canadian work visa. I am a business owner from The Battlefords, Saskatchewan, Canada. So many businesses are short on low-skilled and high-skilled labor. Sadly because my community is historically very Ukrainian most business owners are partnering with immigration services to place Ukrainian refugees into jobs. I would research job openings and contact employers. Some are so desperate for staff that they might actually reply to your emails and assist you with getting all the permits required to come here. Having an employer in rural Canada giving you a job offer could help speed up your application timeline. Now if you are a refugee under the UNHCR I am not sure how that process works, not sure if you can apply as a regular immigrant with a work VISA.

 

[canuck78]

You can always apply for a Canadian work visa. I am a business owner from The Battlefords, Saskatchewan, Canada. So many businesses are short on low-skilled and high-skilled labor. Sadly because my community is historically very Ukrainian most business owners are partnering with immigration services to place Ukrainian refugees into jobs. I would research job openings and contact employers. Some are so desperate for staff that they might actually reply to your emails and assist you with getting all the permits required to come here. Having an employer in rural Canada giving you a job offer could help speed up your application timeline. Now if you are a refugee under the UNHCR I am not sure how that process works, not sure if you can apply as a regular immigrant with a work VISA.

It will be very difficult to get approved for a temporary permit from Afghanistan at the moment. You may have a better chance of you some specialized skills that are really in demand in Canada. In general if applying for a WP from Afghanistan it will be assumed that you have no plans of returning to your home country and that you may claim asylum on arrival. On arrival you wouldn’t be obligated to go to the rural location that hired you if you claimed asylum. That’s why it would be quite difficult to get approved for a WP unless Canada really needed the specific skill set.

 

[torontob]

Hello every one. I am posting the timeline of a friend of mine who recently came to Canada through Canada’s Afghan special program in 2022. Timeline is for humanitarian visa from Islamabad embassy only. Hopefully it helps someone out there.

January – Request to apply for special program was received from government of Canada

Feb 16th – Case was submitted to Canada immigration

Feb 18th – Case number was received

Feb 24th – Email request to go for biometrics received

Feb 28th – Biometrics completed at a visa application center

April 1st – Email request to go for medical received

April 11th – Medical completed

April 12th – Email received from IOM saying medical results have been submitted to embassy

April 23rd – ‘Decision made’ appears in online case status of immigration website

April 30th – Through email, IOM requests information they need to apply for exit permit. Info requested was: Date of entry, visa expiration, passport number

May 3rd – Email with flight date information and instructions received from IOM

May 5th – Pre-arrival covid test taken

May 6th – Flight to Canada. IOM provided the exit permit and Canada travel document/visa at the Islamabad airport just before boarding of the plane.

Many people who qualify for this special program are not being interviewed. However, if the embassy has questions about anything on the application, they may schedule an interview and biometrics at the embassy (this is done on the same day).

For some people, the order in the timeline above is different. Some may be asked to do medical first, then biometrics next, and may be an interview last if embassy thinks the interview is needed.

There was no passport request. Travel documents were provided at the airport on day of departure.

Travel document was a booklet from Geneva? or Canadian travel document?

 

[omedsyed]

Hi there
Do you guys have an idea bout exit permit interview? I don't have a passport so my application has been sent to IOM for my travel purposes. I wanted to ask what should I expect in a exit permit interview and when would they call me for it ?