e-1599 (Issuance of visas)

Petition to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

• The imposition of biometric requirements in 2013 requires Iranians aged 14 to 70 to attend Visa Application Centres (VACs) to submit temporary resident visa applications for which they are one of the leading source countries of applicants around the world;
• The lack of a VAC in Iran forces Iran-based relatives of Iranian-Canadians to travel to third countries such as Turkey to submit their applications to visit or to join Canadian relatives;
• This hardship is experienced by thousands of Iranians who are presently the 5th source country globally for visitor visa applications and 7th source country globally for student visa applications;
• The Government of Canada announced on Feb 23, 2018, its plan to expand its VAC network to 149 locations in 99 countries by 2019; and
• The Right Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced on several occasions that the current Government of Canada is committed to re-establishing relations with Iran and the opening of a VAC can serve as a constructive step towards such efforts.