Dear applicant,
The processing of your application for permanent residence in Canada is almost complete. You must complete the following steps within 30 days in order for our office to issue your Confirmation of Permanent Residence and, if applicable, your permanent residence visa. If for any reason you are not able to meet this deadline, please inform usimmediately by email to:
[email protected] with details concerning your situation.
STEP 1: Change in Circumstances
Should any of the following circumstances apply to you or any accompanying family member, you must inform this office immediately:
· Change in marital status, for example due to marriage, divorce, legal separation, annulment or death of spouse;
· Change in family composition, for example due to adoption or birth of a child, including a child born to your accompanying dependent child,
· Death of principal applicant, spouse, accompanying children, or death of sponsoring relative;
· Change in health;
· You or any of your accompanying family members being charged or convicted of a criminal offence
· Change in contact information: mailing address, e-mail address, or telephone number.
Your failure to inform IRCC of any of these changes may result in the cancellation of your permanent resident visa and may render you and your accompanying family members inadmissible to Canada.
Your failure to declare all of your family members, accompanying or not, will permanently exclude them from sponsorship under the Family Class regulations.
STEP 2: Passport Requirements
If you require a visa to enter Canada, then submit your passport(s):
· Please provide your passport or travel document and a passport or travel document for each accompanying family member. An accompanying family member must have his or her own passport or travel document.
· There must be at least two blank pages in your passport(s).
· Please note that permanent resident visas cannot be placed in Diplomatic, Official or Military passports or travel documents.
· All passports must be intact and not worn, torn or otherwise damaged; the laminate on the bio-data page must be securely attached. Each page must be securely affixed to the passport; there cannot be any loose pages.
· Ensure that your passport is valid for at least 12 months from the date of this letter.
If you do not require a visa to enter Canada:
· Please submit one photocopy of the photo page and any pages containing amendments of the passport for you and one for each accompanying family member.
· Ensure that your passport is valid for at least 12 months from the date of this letter.
· Please note that you cannot use a Diplomatic, Official or Military passport to travel to Canada to become a permanent resident of Canada. You must be in possession of an ordinary passport.
STEP 3: PREPARE YOUR DOCUMENTS
All required documents must be submitted in one single package. You must submit together:
1. Passport(s) OR photocopy (ies) of passport(s), as explained in Step 2. Your passport and a passport for each accompanying family member. Please note that you will need either your passport or a national identity card with photo in order to undergo your medical examination, if a medical examination is required. Please do not send your passport until you have attended your medical examination.
2. Two recent photographs of yourself and two recent photographs of each of your accompanying family members. The photos must meet the Photo Specifications. (See attachment). If you do not meet the photo specifications the processing of your application will be delayed. For more information please visit the following link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/pdf/5445EB-e.pdf
3. The “Updated Information Chart” fully completed for you and your family member (whether accompanying or not). One sheet per family. (See attachment).
STEP 4: SUBMIT YOUR DOCUMENTS
Submitting your passport(s), photos and updated information
For security reasons, your visa(s) can only be issued by our office in Dakar. You may submit your package by courier to our address below. Do not send your passports and documents by regular or registered mail.
To submit your package by courier
Passports and other documents must be sent to the following address:
Canadian Embassy,
Visas & Immigration Section (Canadian Embassy Annex)
18 rue Émile Zola, Plateau
P.O Box 6106 (Dakar étoile),
Dakar Sénégal
You can also send your / your passport (s) through VACs serving your country of residence. See details and cost: http://www.vfsglobal.ca/Canada/French/index.html see list in Africa and the Middle East.
You must contact a courier company and pre-pay for the return of your passports and original documents. You should obtain from the courier company a receipt which indicates that the return has been pre-paid. Keep a copy of this receipt for yourself and send the original to us with the passports and documents.
***Notice for residents/citizens in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
To request an EXEMPTION FOR SENDING PASSPORT by a courier service company (e.g. DHL, FedEx)
first contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministère des Affaires étrangères)
Place de l’Indépendance
Commune de la Gombe
(Beside Lycée Bosangani)
Then go to the Direction Générale de Migration (DGM)
(Part of the Ministère de l’Intérieur)
65 Boulevard du 30 juin
Commune de la Gombe
(Beside Regideso building)
To request an EXIT AUTHORIZATION FOR A MINOR child before departure from DRC, contact:
Direction Générale de Migration (DGM)
(Ministère de l’Intérieur)
65 Boulevard du 30 juin
Commune de la Gombe
Kinshasa, RDC
(Beside Regideso building)
STEP 5: GETTING READY FOR YOUR TRIP
As you are now in a possession of a Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR), or have been notified to submit your travel documents in preparation for the issuance of a COPR, you are strongly encouraged to obtain free pre-arrival services funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). A variety of online services and in-person sessions are available to you, your spouse and your dependants. These services will help you understand life in Canada, employment and how to access other free settlement services once you arrive.
To learn more about free pre-arrival services that you can access before you leave, please visit the IRCC website. Please note that in order to access these services, you must show a copy of this letter to the service provider. In-person orientation sessions are very popular and space is limited. We encourage you to register early to secure a spot in an upcoming session.
As you may know, Canada is a bilingual country where both French and English are spoken. If you are interested in living in French, you can get information about Francophone life across Canada by visiting: Canada.ca/francoimmigration.
You are encouraged to take advantage of free IRCC resources available online. Welcome to Canada, the official handbook to help permanent residents prepare to come and settle in Canada, is available at cic.gc.ca/publications. You will also find the videos entitled “Before You Arrive in Canada” and “Your First Two Weeks in Canada” on the IRCC YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/CitImmCanada , which provide key information you need to consider before coming to Canada and just after you arrive. The Living in Canada tool, which provides you with a personalised settlement plan and identifies the closest Immigrant-Serving Organization offering the services you need, is available at http://www.cic.gc.ca/lctvac/English/index.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
§ You should not take any irrevocable action such as selling your property, quitting your job, or buying plane tickets until you have received your passport(s) and permanent resident visa(s).
§ Your visa(s) will be issued to match the information in your passport(s). This will be the name that appears on all of your government-issued documents after you become a permanent resident of Canada (for example, your driver’s license, you social insurance card, your provincial medical insurance card).
§ If your family composition has changed (e.g. by marriage, divorce, birth, death), you must tell us now. You must also tell us if it changes before the date of your intended departure. Information in our systems must be up to date and considered before anyone can be granted permanent resident status on arrival.
§ Your visas will expire one year after the date of your medical examinations. However, if your passport or any of your family members’ passports are due to expire before this date all visas will expire on the date that the first passport expires. If your passports are due to expire, it is in your interest to send us new or updated passports to ensure that your visas can be issued with maximum validity. You must enter Canada on or before the expiry date on your visas.
§ The validity of a permanent resident visa cannot be extended, nor can a replacement visa be issued with a new expiry date. If you do not use your visa(s) before the expiry date, yet still wish to immigrate to Canada, you will have to begin the application process again, and pay new fees. The new application would be assessed according to the immigration legislation in force at the time of submission.
§ You should expect to be without your passport(s) during our processing period. Do not arrange any travel that will require your passport(s) during this period. Please note that we do not acknowledge receipt of passports. For packages signed for on receipt at the Embassy, you may be able to track receipt via the website of the courier company. We will not respond to queries received within less than six weeks. This service will not operate when the Embassy is closed. Our website shows our holiday closures, which may differ from national holidays in Senegal.
§ We are looking forward to receiving your package within 30 days to conclude your application for permanent residence in Canada.
Planning ahead
§ If your application for permanent residence is approved, you will be encouraged to use free pre-arrival services funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Several online and in-person services will be available to you, your spouse and your dependents once your application is approved. These services can help you find out more about living and working in Canada. They can also help you take steps to get your education, work experience, and professional licences/certificates recognized in Canada, and access other free settlement services once you have arrived in Canada.
§ To learn more about these free pre-arrival services that you will be able to access before you leave, please visit the IRCC website (canada.ca/pre-arrival-services). Please note that in order to access these services, you must demonstrate to the service provider that you have been successful in your permanent resident application. Therefore, you should wait until you receive a positive eligibility decision or a Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) prior to requesting these services.
§ As you may know, Canada is a bilingual country where both French and English are spoken. If you are interested in living in French, you can get information about Francophone life across Canada by visiting Canada.ca/francoimmigration.
§ Please cite your full name, number (in objet) and email in all communication with our office.
Yours sincerely,
