Operational Bulletin 417 – April 29, 2012

Closure of the Visa Office in Tehran (Iran) and Transfer of its Business Lines to the Regional Program Centre in Ankara (Turkey)

Summary

This Operational Bulletin (OB) provides information regarding the:

• Closure of the visa office at Tehran (Iran) and,
• Transfer of its business lines to Ankara (Turkey)

Background

The authorities have decided to close the Visa and Immigration Section of the Canadian Embassy in Tehran (Iran). They have also decided to transfer the responsibility for Tehran’s lines of business to Ankara (Turkey). These lines of business would include:

• Temporary Resident (TR) applications including:
• Visitor visas
• Study permits and,
• Work permits
• Permanent Resident (PR) determinations and,
• The finalising or passport handling activities for Permanent Resident (PR) applications, which officers are processing in other visa offices

This transfer would consolidate all the overseas visa processing activities for Tehran (Iran) to Ankara (Turkey).

This closure becomes operational with immediate effect.

The Instructions

The instructions for the changes in procedure follow.

For New Applications 

Note:

• Applicants do not need to include their passport with their applications
• The visa office in Ankara (Turkey) will contact the applicant if they are ready to issue a visa to the applicant
• Thereafter, the visa office in Ankara (Turkey) will make the necessary arrangements for facilitating this process in person

For Applications in-Process

• The officers would transfer Temporary Resident (TR) applications currently in process in Tehran (Iran) to Ankara (Turkey)
• This includes the transfer of any supporting documentation as well
• The applicants do not need to re-send any documents to Ankara (Turkey)
• The visa office in Ankara (Turkey) will contact the applicant once:
• They have finalised an application and,
• They are ready to issue a visa to the applicant
• Thereafter, the visa office in Ankara (Turkey) will make the necessary arrangements for facilitating this process in person

For Closed Applications

The officers would transfer the finalised applications to Ankara (Turkey).

For Permanent Resident Processing

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
• New Investor Program applications and,
• New Canadian Experience Class applications
• Similarly, applicants would need to continue submitting new Family Class applications to the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (CPC-M) first

Appeals of Permanent Resident Travel Document (PRTD) Applications

Officers would need to direct requests and returns to Ankara (Turkey) henceforth.

Situations could arise where the authorities refused the Permanent Resident Travel Document (PRTD) file in Tehran (Iran). In this scenario, the officers would have transferred the file to Ankara (Turkey). Therefore, the applicant would need to appeal the decision directly with the visa office in Ankara (Turkey).

Activities on Behalf of Other Visa Offices

Up to the announcement of the closure of the visa office in Tehran (Iran), the office in Tehran (Iran) was:

• Finalising certain Permanent Resident (PR) applications
• Accepting documents
• Handling passports for the issuance of visas and,
• Refunding fees to clients (as Canadian financial instruments are not negotiable in Iran because of the economic sanctions)

The closure of the visa office in Tehran (Iran) implies that the visa office in Tehran (Iran) would no longer perform these activities. Therefore, the visa office in Ankara (Turkey) would henceforth handle all the business lines hitherto handled by the visa office in Tehran (Iran).

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 office at Ankara (Turkey). The visa office at Ankara (Turkey) 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)