Canada visa arrives a day after Haryana student dies by suicide over its ‘delay’

Aug 21, 2022 - 01:30

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Canada visa arrives a day after Haryana student dies by suicide over its ‘delay’

New Delhi: A 23-year-old man in Kurukshetra, Haryana, ended his life by jumping into the Narwana branch canal over the alleged delay in getting visa for Canada. However, his visa reached his home a day after he took the extreme step.

His body was found floating from the canal on Friday evening, said police on Saturday.

Vikesh Saini, a resident of village Jhansa here, wanted to go to Canada for further education. He had recently completed his graduation. Vikesh was upset as he was not getting his Canadian visa, said police.

Station House Officer (Jhansa) Rajpal Singh said Vikesh had left his home on the night of 17 August. His family members and police started searching for him the next day. His relatives found his motorcycle and slippers on the bank of the canal. The body was handed over to family members on Saturday after a post-mortem examination.

The suicide comes only days after it was reported that people wanting to visit the United States will have to wait for at least 500 days to book a visitor visa appointment. Visa appointment, application and processing are taking a long time for other countries too, like the UK, Schengen states, and Canada as well.

As per the Government of Canada website, Canada currently has a waiting time of 158 days for visitor visas.

The website also says, “This processing time does not include the time it takes to send an application between a visa application centre and our office and the time you need to give your biometrics."

Addressing the issue on Thursday, the Canadian High Commission assured that it is working to reduce the long waiting time for visas.

"We understand your frustration and disappointment and want to assure you that we are working to improve the situation. In fact, we have been processing applications through out the year, including study permits for the September 2022 intake,” the HC said in a series of tweets.

(1/5) ⚠️ Visa applicants – We know that a large number of you have experienced significant wait times with your applications. We understand many have not received visa decisions and have had to adjust travel plans, despite having applied several weeks or months in advance. pic.twitter.com/V2eWxwnmqZ
— Canada in India (@CanadainIndia) August 18, 2022

Stating that many thousands of students in India are receiving their visas each week, the Canadian HC asserted that they will continue to make every effort to reduce wait times against an unprecedented volume of applications received.

It also requested students who are still awaiting the outcome of their visa applications at this stage to contact their Designated Learning Institution in Canada to discuss options should they be unable to arrive in time for the start of classes.

With input from agencies

A collection of suicide prevention helpline numbers are available here. Please reach out if you or anyone you know is in need of support. The All-India helpline number is: 022-27546669

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