May 12, 2014 — Ottawa — Today Chris Alexander, Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister, announced that in April 2014 approximately 95 percent of the visitor visas issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada were Multiple-Entry Visas (MEVs). MEVs are a fast and convenient option allowing qualified visitors to enter and exit Canada for six months at a time for up to 10 years. Last month alone, Canada issued more than 95,000 MEVs to individuals coming to Canada on vacation or to spend time with family.
The government has been making changes to facilitate legitimate travel, including investing $42 million over two years to improve the way Canada processes temporary resident applications. This investment, which began in 2013, aims to meet the growing demand to process applications for those who want to come to Canada temporarily.
Alexander highlighted the success of Canada’s MEV program while announcing a new facilitative visa program for Mexican travellers called CAN+ (“Can-plus”). Under the CAN+ program Mexican visitors, who have previously travelled to Canada or the United States in the last 10 years, will be processed much more quickly and will not need to provide as many supporting documents. CAN+ is one of a number of facilitative programs available to make it easier and faster for Mexican citizens to visit Canada.
Alexis Pavlich
Minister’s Office
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-954-1064
Media Relations
Communications Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-952-1650
CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca
Building a stronger Canada: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) strengthens Canada’s economic, social and cultural prosperity, helping ensure Canadian safety and security while managing one of the largest and most generous immigration programs in the world.
