Beaver Immigration Consulting warns South Africans not to travel to Canada
Beaver Immigration Consulting is advising its clients and South Africans not to travel to Canada.
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, as of March 18, at 12:01 am EST only Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada, the immediate family members of Canadian citizens, diplomats, aircrews, and U.S. citizens will be permitted to enter Canada.
“On Monday the Government of Canada took extraordinary action to shut its borders to all foreign nationals with the exception of US citizens,” Nicholas Avramis of Beaver Immigration Consulting said.
He went on to say “there is a great deal of confusion among our clients. Even if you have a valid student visa, temporary residence visa, work permit or you have been selected to come to Canada as a permanent resident you will not be allowed to enter the country at the present time.”
On average 16,000 South African’s travel to Canada every year either on a temporary or permanent basis. In the last few years, Canada has become a popular destination for South Africans visitors and immigrants. With an estimated 40,000 South Africans currently living and working in Canada, there will continually be a need for travel between the two (2) countries.
“With so many South Africans living in Canada now and conducting more business, you see the need for more and more visitor visas for family members and friends to visit each other,” Avramis said.
Beaver Immigration is also warning South African nationals who are currently in Canada – on temporary status – not to leave Canada as re-entry is not guaranteed.
“We have told all our South African clients in Canada, who are either working or studying, not leave Canada as we don’t know when the current boarder restrictions with be lifted. This includes travel into the United States for any purpose. Despite your legal status in Canada you are still a foreign national who only maintains temporary status; border restrictions will apply to you,” Avramis advised.
Beaver also urges all those South African’s who have applied to immigrate to Canada to remain calm.
Avramis warned, “The Government of Canada has made no indication that the current health crisis will impact the government’s goal of admitting 1 million new permanent residences by the end of 2021.”
“As we navigate this very fluid crisis the Government of Canada still continues to accept applications for permanent residency. In fact, the latest Operation Instructions and Guidelines from the Minister states that partially submitted application – that are incomplete due to unavailable documents from the crisis – will be retained in the system and reviewed in 90 days,” Avramis concluded.
