AFGH – International Engagement – April 25, 2022

Key messages

• We are working with like-minded countries, regional country partners, and international organizations to safely and efficiently resettle at least 40,000 Afghan nationals.
• International engagement with country partners is critical. Without the collaboration of regional and third country partners who are providing staging areas and referral/facilitation support, we cannot achieve our resettlement objectives.
• The complex challenges we face in getting people out of Afghanistan are the same that other countries are facing.
• This includes the lack of biometric availability and safe, secure routes out of the country; the absence of stable conditions and constantly changing requirement related to exit documentation at check-points and international crossings into third countries.
• We continue to explore all options to facilitate safe passage through exit routes and staging areas, engaging with neighbouring countries to facilitate border crossings for clients without visas or passports, and to expedite the exit process.

Supplementary messages

Safe passage

• We are navigating in a country in which the Government of Canada has no military or diplomatic presence, and our usual international partners are unable to collaborate with us, which means there are challenges in how we collect and verify applicants’ information. It also limits our ability to complete processing and issue visas for clients in Afghanistan.
• Security considerations as well as compliance with legislation related to the funding of terrorist organizations continues to impact safe passage and processing activities. As a result, the key challenge we face is that many at-risk Afghans remain in Afghanistan and are unable to leave even by land.
• The Department is in discussions with new and existing partners to find options to facilitate safe passage of Afghan nationals out of Afghanistan.

Lily pads

• To resettle Afghans currently still located in Afghanistan, safe third-country staging areas are required. We are in active discussions with countries in the region on potential partnerships.

Afghans in host countries

• Many countries in the region are hosting large numbers of vulnerable Afghans and refugees.
• For instance, Pakistan hosts one of the largest Afghan refugee populations in the world with 1.4 million documented, and many more that may not have been officially registered.
• Turkey is also hosting many of our Afghan clients, currently standing at approximately 1,438 persons.

Responsive: Single Journey Travel Documents

• The Single Journey Travel Documents are provided to foreign nationals who are approved to resettle to Canada but lack acceptable passport or travel documents.
• The challenge with issuing this document to Afghan nationals for the purpose suggested at committee includes that we have no secure means of getting this document to those in Afghanistan and that third countries will continue to remain in control of their borders.
• We cannot by virtue of this document guarantee to Afghan nationals that they will be granted entry into any third country.

Background

Safe Passage

• IRCC has put in place robust measures to ensure initial security screening can be done prior to departure. All clients who reside in Afghanistan and who are between the ages of 16 to 79 are asked to provide their enhanced biographic information through the submission of the new Additional Background Information Form.
• The collection of enhanced biographic data elements for the existing inventory of in-Afghanistan applications is assisting IRCC officers in identifying any potential inadmissibility concerns before clients leave Afghanistan to a third country and mitigate risks caused by the inability to complete full in-country Afghanistan biometric collection. If no derogatory information is found, IRCC will issue a letter that clients may use to travel to a third country where processing will resume, including biometric screening.

Third countries

• Engagement with other countries is a sensitive diplomatic exercise, and IRCC and Global Affairs Canada are engaging in exploratory discussions with [Redacted] to support this work.
• Canada is exploring potential areas of collaboration with like-minded partners with established bases in the region as well as other resettlement countries to ensure our applicants can safely come to Canada.

Single Journey Travel Documents

• The Single Journey Travel Document for Resettlement to Canada is a one-time travel document issued by an IRCC office abroad to foreign nationals who have been approved for resettlement to Canada and who do not possess, or cannot obtain, an acceptable passport or travel document.
• In the context of Afghan nationals still in-country, IRCC has at least four barriers to its utility:
  • They are only issued to foreign nationals who have been approved for resettlement;
  • They are not issued to persons who reside in their own country of nationality except under exceptional circumstances;
  • Canada currently has no secure means of getting such a document to those in Afghanistan; and,
  • Discretion is entirely with the third country in question to decide whether a Single Journey Travel Document constitutes an acceptable identifying document.