Canadian Immigration News

4 Reasons Your Visa Application is Taking Longer Than Expected

2.7 minute read
"Waiting is often the hardest part of applying for one of Canada’s many immigration and visa programs. Since the process is complicated, many reasons exist that could be causing a delay. These four reasons are among the top culprits that make applications take longer than expected."
Written by My Visa Source Team
Updated on:  Feb 28, 2021
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Waiting is often the hardest part of applying for one of Canada’s many immigration and visa programs. Since the process is complicated, many reasons exist that could be causing a delay. These four reasons are among the top culprits that make applications take longer than expected.

Similar to many other types of government processes, visa applications require that you pay all the applicable fees before the paperwork can be approved. There are a variety of reasons why you may have inadvertently avoided paying the appropriate fees.

Non-Payment Of Fees

One frequent cause for this would be that the fee chart lists dozens of costs associated with different types of applications. Missing a fee in your final tally can cause you to accidentally pay the wrong amount, stalling your application.

Paying fees at a bank is no longer an option for those who need to remit visa fees, which means that those who used payment receipt form IMM 5401 may have had the payment rejected. Many fees are now payable strictly through online means or credit cards. Be sure to check which payment methods are acceptable for each separate fee.

Improper Paperwork

Paperwork and related documentation for your visa application should provide all the needed information that the case officer requires in order to determine the eligibility of your case. When the application received contains errors or omissions, the officer will be forced to request that these mistakes are fixed before the process continues.

Issues such as missing signatures, or areas that haven’t been filled out, are guaranteed to stall the process. If you submit copies of paperwork and documentation that are blurry or difficult to read, you may be asked to resubmit them. The same goes for photos.

The worst case scenario for improper paperwork revolves around the possibility that the immigration officer believes that you’re trying to manipulate the process or falsify information (referred to as "misrepresentation", which can lead to more lengthy delays and other consequences.

Verification of Documentation and Data

Depending on the type of information you submit as part of your immigration application, you may find that you face additional delays because the visa officer has to contact various departments to verify that everything is legitimate.

Identification issued by offices outside of Canada may need to be double checked by contacting the foreign office responsible for issuing the ID used for your application, which may add days or even weeks to processing.

If prerequisites submitted are complicated to vet, such as financial information or data provided through foreign archives, then it may take a long while before officers can verify all the information you’ve submitted.

Verification delays may also occur within Canada too. Domestic offices that contain vital details may have to communicate with one another to make sure that the details of your application match. In order to avoid this type of delay, you should attempt to present documentation and paperwork that authorities can easily vet, including modern passports and digital financial information.

Unexpected Inadmissibility

All immigration processes are subject to Canadian rules of inadmissibility. Essentially, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) refuses foreign nationals entry into Canada based on their behaviour in the past, especially in terms of health, finance and criminality. Applicants who have a criminal past, especially those involved with serious, violent crime, will have a difficult time entering the country. Those who have links to organized crime or terrorist activity will also be denied entry.

When applicants suffer from communicable health issues, they may be considered inadmissible due to their medical condition. For people with serious, non-communicable disease, you may be deemed inadmissible unless you can prove that you won’t be a burden on the public health insurance system. For the most part, these reasons for rejection revolve around keeping current citizens and residents of Canada safe from harm, resulting in a very long delay to your application.

People who have serious financial issues may also be refused entry into the country, especially if they apply for business or investor immigration programs. Anyone caught lying on their application may be refused entry under visa programs indefinitely.

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