‘CANADA LEFT US HIGH AND DRY’
Most recent letters to this column have concerned the UK transit visa issue. As the letter from a reader below shows, however, it’s not only the UK which has made things difficult for some travellers. The best advice we can give is that if you require any sort of visa, to apply for it well in advance. In this case even two months was not enough. — Paul Ash, editor
● The situation described in your “More Visa Headaches” (August 18) became a nightmarish reality for my husband and me a few weeks ago.
After almost a year spent planning a scenic tour of Canada, we had to cancel 24 hours before departure. You can imagine the frustration, tension, disappointment and the frantic cancellations we had to make in an attempt to minimise the heavy fees we would incur.
We submitted our application with supporting documents on June 26, with an intended departure date of August 22. Our biometrics were requested and submitted on July 3. Further documents were requested on July 23, which we uploaded immediately. We had communication from the embassy to acknowledge that this information had been received.
Thereafter — silence. The Canadian Visa Application Centre (CVAC) in Pretoria is the only conduit between the public and the embassy and their only function is to handle the biometrics, deliver and collect passports once visas have been granted. So they were unable to assist in any way.
Repeated attempts to contact the embassy by phone, e-mail and via their website were fruitless.
At 4pm on August 19, we received a message to say our visas had been granted and we were to deliver our passports to the CVAC the next morning for onward delivery to the embassy, which would take three-tofive working days to stamp our passports. That left less than three days before our departure. We e-mailed all the contacts we could find — including President Justin Trudeau’s office, the Toronto and Vancouver newspapers and the Canadian Tourism Department. There has been no acknowledgement to date.
Finally, 24 hours before departure, we cancelled our flights — both international and domestic in Canada — as well as accommodation, tours and car hire.
On August 22, two hours before our scheduled departure, CVAC phoned to say we could collect our stamped passports from Pretoria.
We are seasoned travellers and have never experienced such incompetence.