On March 9, the Canadian high commission opened six new visa application centres in India, including one in Calcutta. There are now nine centres in the country.

Although the applications will be assessed in Delhi, the time taken for the procedure will be three to five days. Run by VFS (India) Private Limited, even courier service for the return delivery of the passports is on offer.

?We wanted to reach out to more people across India,? said Ivy Lerner-Frank, premier secretaire (immigration) of the Canadian high commission. ?There are a million residents in Canada who have ties with India, so the traffic between the two countries is quite large. We wanted to make it easier for visitors.?

The office, on Chowringhee Road, is open from 8 am to noon and 1 pm to 4 pm. The aim is to reduce queues and increase travel from here to Canada. ?There have already been a few applications and inquiries,? said operations manager Prasenjit Gupta.

Lerner-Frank added that volume of applications had already grown. ?From Calcutta, people mostly go on a holiday, and sometimes to visit family. There are student applicants, too,? she observed.

She said although some applicants need to be interviewed ? about 10 per cent ? which happens in Delhi, they can be scheduled by the applicants online.

Anil Katoch, zonal manager, north and east, VFS, added that other countries were also in the process of expanding in India and the region, by setting up visa application centres. ?Outsourcing makes it easier, and that?s what quite a few diplomatic missions are doing,? he explained.