How are visa applications and passport renewals affected by the PSAC strike?

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has entered day six of one of the largest labour strikes in Canadian history, with more than 150,000 public service workers pushing for higher wages, work-from-home options, and better job security.

Many are wondering how this strike is affecting their visa applications, passport renewals and other services provided by PSAC members. On the first day of the strike last Wednesday, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said the impact could be severe, and that the “full scale of the disruption… will make it difficult to assess with certainty the precise timelines or delays an applicant may face.”

The government's website lists which services are partially or fully disrupted.

Passport services are heavily impacted, according to the government’s website. During the strike, Service Canada will only process passport applications for “emergency and humanitarian situations.”

Those situations are defined as:

• passport clients at risk of financial hardship,
• passport clients who rely on travel as a source of employment and their income security will be jeopardized,
• passport clients who must travel for medical reasons, or have had a death or illness in the family,
• passport clients whose situation is deemed urgent on compassionate grounds.
• The website warns of overall delays in application processing, including “applications currently being prioritized.”

However, passport services for Canadians living outside the country are deemed an essential service and will continue during the strike, even if the process may see some delays, the government says.

All citizenship events will be rescheduled, though the website says some urgent applications “still may be processed.” Communications with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada by social media, IRCC web form and Client Support Centres will be delayed.

Immigration-related appointments within Canada may be rescheduled, but those outside of the country are proceeding unless applicants are contacted to reschedule.

Warren Creates, a certified specialist in immigration law, told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday that there is already an immigration processing backlog caused by the pandemic.

Last fall, the federal government announced plans to significantly increase immigration, aiming for 500,000 people to arrive in Canada each year by 2025. The government expected to see 465,000 newcomers in 2023, up from 431,645 in 2022.

Economic immigrants made up the majority of the Liberals’ immigration plan, hoping they will fill about one million vacant jobs in Canada.

Creates said that many people living in Canada who are here on study or work permits or visitor visas who have applied to extend their stay may not have their applications processed during service disruptions. “People are very nervous because they're hearing the same things that you and I are,” Creates told Your Morning.

Creates said there is no impact on submitting visa or other immigration applications because they can be filed online. “What happens after we file applications though,” Creates said, “is the great black hole. No one knows who is looking at these applications or when they will be looked at.”

Border services are not affected by the strike, so people arriving in Canada who already have a visa or don’t need one won’t be affected.

“It's the actual application to get the work permit, to get the study permit, to get permanent resident status, or indeed to get citizenship or passports,” that will be affected by the strike, he said.

Despite the disruptions, Creates still believes Canada will be able to hit its target of 465,000 newcomers in 2023.

“I still think it’s possible because the Treasury Board has approved new funds to hire new staff and it takes a year to train an officer to make independent decisions…I think it's possible but it's going to take some real heavy lifting.”

On Monday, PSAC workers continued to strike at 250 picket lines across the country.