Operational Bulletin 380 – January 31, 2012

Closure and Transfer of Visa and Immigration Services from the Canadian Embassy in Damascus, Syria, to Neighbouring Visa Offices

Summary

This Operational Bulletin (OB) provides information regarding the closure of the visa office at Damascus (Syria). This directive is valid until further notice.

In addition, this OB provides information about the transfer of visa and immigration services from Damascus (Syria) to neighbouring visa offices. The current state of unrest has resulted in this change.

The authorities have also redistributed the workload faced by the visa office at Damascus (Syria). As a result, the redistribution of the workload has resulted in new responsibilities for the visa offices located in:

• Beirut (Lebanon)
• Amman (Jordan)
• Ankara (Turkey) and,
• Tel Aviv (Israel)

The authorities have designated Amman and Beirut as full service visa offices. In addition, they have also made Ankara the new regional program centre.

Background

The authorities have decided to close the Visa and Immigration Section of the Canadian Embassy in Damascus (Syria). This is because of the current circumstances in the country. The closure remains effective until further notice.

They have also decided to redistribute the resulting Damascus (Syria) caseload to neighbouring visa offices in the region. The redistribution of the resulting Damascus (Syria) caseload has led to the emergence of new responsible visa offices for:

• Temporary resident applications from Cyprus, Lebanon and Syria and,
• Permanent resident applications from Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria

This directive also has an effect on refugee class applications from:

• Cyprus
• Greece
• Iran
• Iraq
• Jordan
• Lebanon and,
• Syria

The Instructions

The instructions for the changes in procedure follow.

The Regional Program Centre

Until now, Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s visa office Damascus (Syria) had been the regional program centre. With immediate effect, Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s visa office in Ankara (Turkey) will replace the visa office in Damascus (Syria). Therefore, the visa office in Ankara (Turkey) will become the new regional program centre.

Temporary Resident Processing

The Processing Instructions for New Applications 

Persons Residing In…	Applicants would need to submit applications to …
Syria	The visa office in Amman (Jordan) OR The visa office in Beirut (Lebanon) OR In person to any other Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) visa office
Lebanon	The visa office in Beirut (Lebanon)
Cyprus	The visa office in Tel Aviv (Israel)

The Processing Instructions for Applications in-Process

The visa office in Damascus (Syria) is currently processing various temporary resident applications. The visa office in Damascus (Syria) will continue to process and finalise these applications.

For Permanent Resident Processing

The Processing Instructions for New Applications

• Applicants would need to continue sending the following applications to the Centralised Intake Office in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada (CIO-S) first:
• New Federal Skilled Worker applications
• New Quebec Skilled Worker applications
• New Provincial Nominee Program applications and,
• New Investor Program applications
• Similarly, applicants would need to continue submitting new Family Class applications to the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (CPC-M) first
• The following offices would need to bear the responsibility for holding impacted files until the officers have completed the transfer of services:
• The Centralised Intake Office in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada (CIO-S)
• The Case Processing Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (CPC-M) and,
• The Case Processing Centre in Vegreville
• As of March 01, 2012, these offices have the authority to send the impacted files to the appropriate visa office depicted in the table below 

Applicants In…	Applicants would need to submit applications to …
Syria, Jordan and Iraq	The visa office in Amman (Jordan)
Lebanon	The visa office in Beirut (Lebanon)
Cyprus	The visa office in Tel Aviv (Israel)
Iran	The visa office in Ankara (Turkey)

 The Processing Instructions for Applications in-Process

• The officers would transfer the applications currently in process in Damascus (Syria) to the new responsible visa office
• This includes the transfer of any supporting documentation accompanying the applications as well
• Some applicants might have already sent the appropriate documents to the Canadian Embassy in Damascus (Syria)
• These applicants do not need to re-send any documents to the Canadian Embassy in Damascus (Syria)
• The new responsible visa office will contact the applicant once:
• They have finalised an application and,
• They are ready to issue a visa to the applicant
• Thereafter, the new responsible visa office will make the necessary arrangements for facilitating this process

Refugee Class Applications

The Processing Instructions for New Applications

• The authorities have suspended the refugee resettlement program for both:
• Privately Sponsored Refugees (PSRs) and,
• Government Assisted Refugees (GARs)
• With immediate effect, the visa office in Damascus (Syria) will not accept any new refugee applications for refugees in Syria
• This is effective until further notice
• Similarly, the local Citizenship and Immigration Centres in Canada are placing on hold any new Privately Sponsored Refugee Applications (PSRs) it receives for refugees in Syria at present
• It will continue to do so until the Department determines the appropriate longer term contingencies
• In due course of time, the authorities will inform resettlement partners including:
• Private sponsors and,
• The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• On receiving the information from the authorities, these resettlement partners would be able to:
• Submit new applications or referrals and,
• Gain awareness of the number of new applications or referrals they could submit to other visa offices

The Processing Instructions for Applications in-Process

• In the coming months, the visa office in Amman (Jordan) will finalise the processing of the several hundred remaining refugee cases that have cleared the selection of the authorities
• Thereafter, only the refugee cases for people residing in Syria will remain
• The officers would transfer the remaining refugee cases for persons residing in Syria to a secure location
• Then, the authorities would wait for the situation to become more amenable, whereby they would be able to re-open the visa office in Damascus (Syria)
• Once the situation becomes amenable, the authorities would re-open the visa office in Damascus (Syria)
• Thereafter, the officers would resume processing these cases
• However, officers would need to note that the refugee resettlement file caseload for persons residing outside of Syria would need to adhere to the same regional redistribution
• Therefore, the officers would process this refugee resettlement file caseload according to the details specified in the table below:

Applicants In…	Applicants would need to submit applications to …
Jordan and Iraq	The visa office in Amman (Jordan)
Lebanon	The visa office in Beirut (Lebanon)
Cyprus	The visa office in Tel Aviv (Israel)
Iran	The visa office in Ankara (Turkey)
Greece	The visa office in Rome (Italy)

The Instructions for Returning Permanent Residents

The officers might come across applications from returning permanent residents. In this scenario, they would need to encourage the returning permanent residents to submit applications for a Permanent Resident Travel Document in person. These individuals would need to submit their applications at any of the neighbouring Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s visa offices in person.

Officers would also need to inform these applicants that they should not send any correspondence or applications to the visa section in Damascus (Syria).

External Client Enquiries

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) would take all efforts to minimise processing delays. This is especially so during the transition period. During this time however, applicants and their representatives would need to avoid contacting the regional visa offices. The regional visa offices or the new processing missions would contact the applicants directly in due course of time.

Applicants could refer to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website for further details.

The Expiry of Directives

These directives would remain in force, until the authorities provide any other notice to the contrary. The authorities would also communicate any further instructions as and when needed.

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)