Canada Visa Application Centers

The Visa Application Centers (VACs) allow individuals to apply their biometrics as part of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) requirements.

Several Visa Application Centers (VACs) around the world have reopened in recent weeks to provide facilities for those seeking to come to Canada.

Read More: How to Get a Work Visa for Canada?

As part of the biometrics collection process, individuals provide their fingerprints, photos and pay a fee. Canada is getting biometrics to make flying into the country more comfortable and safer.

Read More: How to Get a Student Visa for Canada?

The list of open VACs is continuously being updated on the website of IRCC so that the list below does not include every VAC currently opened:

• Australia: Melbourne, Sydney
• Austria: Vienna
• Bahrain: Manama
• Barbados: Bridgetown
• China: Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Jinan, Kunming, Nanjing, Shanghai Shenyang
• Fiji: Suva
• France: Paris
• Germany: Berlin, Düsseldorf
• Ghana: Accra
• Greece: Athens
• Iraq: Erbil
• Israel: Tel Aviv
• Italy: Rome
• Japan: Osaka, Tokyo
• Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur
• New Zealand: Auckland
• Romania: Bucharest
• Serbia: Belgrade
• Spain: Madrid
• Sri Lanka: Colombo
• Thailand: Bangkok
• The Netherlands: The Hague
• Trinidad and Tobago: Port of Spain
• United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai

If your local VAC is closed

IRCC continues to provide updates to those who are not actually in a position to send their biometrics.

It won’t deny the application of an individual who can’t provide their biometrics. IRCC will keep its applications open by offering automatic extensions on the deadlines for their biometrics.

Read More: How to Apply for Canada Tourist Visa?

Individuals do not need to provide their biometrics before VAC sites are reopened, and they do not need to contact IRCC to request an extension on time.

Temporary foreign workers (TFWs) are excluded from supplying their biometrics abroad if their local VAC is closed, and they are scheduled to work as truck drivers in Canada, or in the healthcare or agricultural sectors. If they have not previously given their biometrics to Canada, TFWs excluded may do so when they arrive in Canada.

IRCC has also stated that they are exploring more changes to help individuals more effectively complete the biometrics phase during the COVID-19 pandemic.