Gulf residents applying for Canadian permanent residency in pre-defined categories will be processed through the Abu Dhabi Embassy, instead of the previous London (UK) Visa Office beginning on January 1, 2006.

The affected countries are:

• Bahrain
• Kuwait
• Oman
• Qatar
• United Arab Emirates
• Saudi Arabia
• Yemen

Applications that will be processed through Abu Dhabi are:

• Family Class (all categories)
• Protected Persons
• Quebec Cases (all categories)
• Provincial Nominees
• Dependants of the Live-in Caregiver Class in Canada

London will continue to process all applications from these classes that it receives prior to January 1, 2006. All economic class applications will continue to be processed through the London office.