News
Canadian Visa Application Centre closes in Mexico City

The Canadian Visa Application Centre (CVAC) in Mexico City has temporarily closed, ceased operations and quarantined all staff.

According to the Western Labour Agriculture Initiative (WALI), the CVAC is responsible for processing all temporary foreign worker permit applications for the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City. The office is expected to remain closed until July 13.

WALI says they are working with the Ministry of Labour to arrange travel for workers that already have their work permits. “However, once these workers arrive we are unlikely to see additional work permits issued until mid to late July. We are waiting to see if the federal government will implement alternate procedures to facilitate work permit processing while the CVAC is closed.”

Workers Returning Home to Guatemala

The airport in Guatemala continues to be closed to commercial flights and will likely remain closed until mid-August.

WALI says the only way for Guatemalan workers to return home is with a charter flight. FERME, WALI’s counterpart in Quebec, has arranged a flight from Montreal to Guatemala which will depart on July 20^th, and has agreed to offer some seats to BC workers. Maximum capacity is 100 seats. The estimated cost for this charter flight will be $400 CAD and includes 2 pieces of luggage at 23kg each. Employers will also need to cover the flight cost from Vancouver to Montreal.

Mi Tierra is looking at travel options and pricing for a flight, likely departing from Vancouver in mid July.

Employers interested in securing seats on this flight should contact Tatiana (info@walicanada.ca) as soon as possible to reserve space and secure special documentation for each worker from the government of Guatemala prior to departure