OTTAWA, June 7 /CNW Telbec/ - To date, Citizenship and Immigration Canada

(CIC) has issued 366 permanent resident visas and granted permanent residence

to 278 people in an effort to help reunite close family members of Canadian

citizens and permanent residents who were seriously and personally affected by

the tsunami disaster on December 26, 2004.

    As part of Canada's humanitarian response to the disaster, CIC put in

place temporary measures to assist the people who had been affected. These

measures included expediting the processing of applications for those with

close family members in Canada and waiving the processing fees for applicants

personally and seriously affected by the disaster. CIC offices in Canada and

at the affected missions abroad began reviewing, on a priority basis, existing

applications from people in the tsunami-affected areas as soon as the measures

were announced.

    The large majority of the visas were issued to priority family class

members: spouses, partners and dependent children. Close to 80 percent of

priority family class applications already in process when the disaster struck

were finalized in the four months following the disaster. At the same time,

CIC is on track to process, within six months, applications already in process

when the disaster struck, from parents and grandparents affected by the

disaster.

    In the weeks following the disaster, CIC conducted cross-Canada

consultations with community members and stakeholders, including members of

ethnocultural communities, the national and ethnic media, provincial officials

and immigrant-serving organizations. CIC also set up special dedicated

communication lines for members of Parliament, senators and the public. As of

May 31, CIC had responded to 2,610 enquiries from the public through the

special tsunami e-mail account, and 8,303 from the public on the tsunami

hotline.

    CIC provided a substantial time frame for those affected by the tsunami

to apply under the fee waiver program, and applications from the people

originally targeted by CIC's tsunami measures have now declined significantly.

Therefore, starting July 1, 2005, CIC will no longer accept new applications

from people from tsunami-affected areas without the appropriate application

processing fees. The Right of Permanent Residence Fee will continue to be

waived for applications received prior to July 1, 2005, even if the decision

on the application is made after this date.

    Applications received on or after July 1, 2005, must be accompanied by

the appropriate application fee as indicated in the application kit. Please

note that all applications received on or after July 1, 2005, without the

appropriate fee will be returned to the applicant. CIC will continue to waive

the fees for applications received prior to July 1.