Citizenship and Immigration Canada has announced changes in the procedures for some residents of the Persian Gulf …

New applications from Persian Gulf residents for specific permanent residence categories have been sent to Abu Dhabi rather than London since January 1, 2006, to provide more convenient service to these clients. The countries in question are:

– Bahrain – Kuwait – Oman – Qatar

– United Arab Emirates – Saudi Arabia – Yemen

The types of applications that are now handled by Abu Dhabi are:

• Quebec cases (all immigration categories)
• Provincial nominees
• Family class (all categories)
• Protected persons
• Dependants of the live-in caregiver class in Canada

People applying under the Quebec and provincial nominee programs should send their applications directly to Abu Dhabi.

In the case of sponsorship applications, once the sponsors have gone through the proper process—or, in the case of refugees, once the group sponsorship or the UNHCR referral has been completed—the case processing centre in Mississauga (Canada) will send the necessary information to Abu Dhabi, who will then contact the applicants to complete the processing.

The mailing address for Abu Dhabi will remain the same.

London will continue to process all applications from the above classes received prior to January 1, 2006.

All applicants in the economic class (skilled workers and business immigrants) will continue to submit their applications to London


Sophia Tsontakis.