Thank you.
Good evening, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is Angela Gawel, and I'm the director general of the international region.
I'm pleased to appear before you today and hope that our testimony will be helpful to you as you undertake your study of the temporary resident visa for visitors.
International Region plays a two-directional role. We deliver programs and implement policy and operational changes overseas and we also use the knowledge and expertise available at our visa offices abroad to inform the development of new policies and programs. In both cases, the objective remains to be as facilitative as possible for genuine applicants while minimizing risks to Canadians.
CIC remains committed to facilitating the movement of genuine visitors. We recognize the importance of this program to Canadians, both on a personal level, such as for visits from friends and family from abroad, as well as in terms of its contribution to Canada's economy. This commitment is reflected in our high acceptance rate, which in 2012 stood at 82% globally, as well as in the various new tools we've been implementing to enhance client service, about which I'll speak more later on.
The temporary resident visa program is CIC's largest business line. In 2012, we received close to 1.2 million applications and issued slightly more than 950,000 visitor visas. Considering these numbers, it is crucial to have a robust and ongoing process for assuring that we protect the health, safety, and security of Canadians and the integrity of our programs.
Detecting or preventing fraud can be difficult as verifications of documents submitted by applicants are not always possible or easy to carry out, especially when there is collusion with foreign officials or other individuals responsible for the issuance of the local documents. CIC, in collaboration with our security partners, works hard to detect and prevent document fraud.
In addition to document fraud, we are also confronted with identity fraud, which can be facilitated by unscrupulous organizations. As you know, Canada has introduced the use of biometrics to specifically address this issue. This facilitates the travel of legitimate visitors while assisting in the detection of those who seek to mask their true identity.
We are constantly undertaking anti-fraud activities in all our missions abroad. Because of their local knowledge and expertise, documentation, and processes related to document issuance, officers abroad are an invaluable source of information and are key in identifying specific local risks. This information is then fed into the department's fraud or anti-fraud approach. Our staff maintains a network of contacts with relevant and trusted local institutions abroad that can assist in the validation of documents.
We also work closely with officials from embassies of like-minded countries.
Another challenge we face with regard to the temporary resident visa program has been the increase in the number of applications received. Intake grew by 48% between 2002 and 2012, placing great pressures on the overseas offices in terms of providing good client service while continuing to exercise the due diligence required to ensure program integrity.
CIC received funding in budget 2013 to help alleviate some of this pressure, particularly in key markets such as China, India, and Brazil. This funding has allowed CIC to deploy additional resources overseas in a strategic manner to respond to new opportunities, including the timely processing of temporary resident visas.
CIC has established an active modernization strategy to support sound workload and workforce management, streamlined business processes, and automated e-services. This far-reaching transformation is still under way, but we are making progress.
One example of our modernization strategy is a move towards centralized processing. With increased centralization, our visa offices overseas play a key role in informing the development and ongoing revalidation of risk indicators. These indicators are used to differentiate the lower-risk applications, processed centrally, from the more complex cases that are better processed abroad, where there is the appropriate local knowledge and expertise.
In addition to achieving economies of scale, centralization allows visa offices overseas to concentrate their efforts on higher-value activities, such as intelligence gathering and reporting, liaison with partners and stakeholders, the oversight of service providers, and anti-fraud and quality assurance activities that further enhance the integrity of our programs.
Another modernization initiative has been the outsourcing and expansion of the visa application centres—VACs—network to more than 126 VACS in 91 countries. In addition to being the main conduit for biometric enrolment, VACs generate efficiency gains by reviewing applications for completeness and thereby reducing overall processing times. VACs also provide services to clients in locations where we are not present and do so in the local language.
Another initiative is the online submission of applications for temporary resident services. This is an attractive alternative, as it can be done electronically from home, including payment of fees, while permitting the client to retain their passport until the visa is ready for issuance.
In 2011 CIC extended the maximum validity period for multiple-entry visas from five to ten years. In 2012 visa officers issued more than 400,000 multiple-entry visas. These visas give the client additional flexibility and eliminate the time and expense of making repeated applications. These multiple-entry visas are an efficient and cost-effective option for the many visitors, such as business people or family members, who are frequent visitors to Canada. In this way, we facilitate the arrival of legitimate travellers while ensuring that the appropriate safeguards are in place to protect the safety and security of Canadians and the integrity of our programs.
Finally, we are also active in supporting processing during emergencies, such as the typhoon which recently struck the Philippines. We take seriously our role in supporting Canadians in affected areas. We provide priority processing for all types of applicants including new temporary resident visa applications from those in affected areas, who are family members of Canadians and permanent residents.