Dear Editor,
When applying for a visitor’s visa to Canada one has to satisfy the Canadian Immigration Officers that one:
(a) can afford the trip
(b) has proper facilities to make one’s stay comfortable
(c) has attachments here that would ensure one’s return to Guyana ‒ this is the main requirement.
There may be other factors which are taken into consideration but the few listed above are the most pertinent.
My question to Canadian officials concerns why a person is denied a second visa after the first one has expired, when they visited Canada on the basis of the first visa and returned within the specified time frame, with no breach?
I wish to indicate to the Canadian officials that I have been contacted by several persons in Regions 5 and 6 who fall into this category. A few have been checked and it was found that some have increased their asset base and still were denied a visitor’s visa.
In addition, the Canadian foreign service has no arrangement in place to facilitate the processing of an application for a visitor’s visa in an emergency (a death, for example). I was myself directly affected by the second situation and I ask the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Canadian officials to please do something to rectify this problem.
Persons who have been granted a visa and have used it with care have a legitimate expectation that a second application would not be denied unless their situation had changed for the worse.
I am hoping that this situation is fixed soon.
Yours faithfully,
Charrandass Persaud, MP
Region 6
