Canadian immigration will soon require biometrics from visitors to Canada

Friday, 12 June 2009

According to a recent announcement by the Canadian government, all Canadian visa applications will soon need to be accompanied with biometrics (digital fingerprints and photographs) so that the government can maintain a database of biometric information for security purposes at all Canadian visa offices

"The intention is to capture everybody," deputy minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Richard Fadden said. "The idea is to increase our capacity to know who is in Canada at a particular point of time."

Gradually to be introduced from 2011, the new Canadian visa rules will be for all people who need to apply for a Canadian visa to travel, work or study in Canada, starting with the higher risk countries.

Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is planning to invest $12.1 million into the new program.

"Given the new context of security issues, Canada needs to ensure that we know who is coming into our country so that we can screen out people who have bad intentions," Kenney told reporters.

source: http://www.migrationexpert.com