Canada pulls 41 diplomats from India, halts visa and consular services in Chandigarh, Mumbai, Bengaluru

Confirming the withdrawal of diplomats, Joly said that Canada has “facilitated their safe departure from India”. She added, “India’s decision will impact the levels of services to consulates in both countries. Unfortunately, we have to put a pause on all in-person services in our Consulates in Chandigarh, in Mumbai and in Bangalore.”

“Canadians who need consular assistance can still visit our High Commission in Delhi. And you can still also do that in person by phone and by email,” she added. This comes after India had called for diplomatic parity with Canada, implying a reduction in Canadian diplomats in India, over the ongoing diplomatic row between the two nations.

Tensions flared between the two countries last month following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020. India rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told journalists in Washington last month that the governments of India and Canada will have to talk to each other and see how they resolve their differences over the issue and underlined that but the larger issue of the Canadian government’s “permissiveness” to terrorism, extremism and violence must be addressed.

The latest development would lead to a significant slowdown of Indian visa applications for Canada, a huge chunk of which comprises Indian students applying for visas to study in various Canadian universities. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), which is responsible for processing visas, has said that it is reducing its number of employees in India from 27 to five. In 2022, India was the top country for permanent residents, temporary foreign workers, and international students in Canada.

“Due to the decrease in Canadian diplomatic staff in India, Indian citizens would face delays in overall processing times, responses to enquiries and getting visas or their passports back,” the IRCC said. Even as it will continue to accept and process applications from India, reduced staffing levels are expected to impact processing times.

Last month, India asked Canada to downsize its diplomatic staff in the country, arguing that there should be parity in strength and rank equivalence in the mutual diplomatic presence. The size of Canadian diplomatic staff in India is larger than what New Delhi has in Canada. India has about 20 diplomats in Canada, while Canada has three times more than the Indian presence, about 60 diplomats.

Earlier, stating that India’s focus is achieving ‘parity’ in terms of diplomatic presence, the Ministry of External Affairs had called for a reduction in Canadian diplomats in India citing their continued “interference” in New Delhi’s “internal matters”. Talking to reporters, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said, “Given the much higher presence of diplomats or diplomatic presence here…and their continued interference in our internal matters, we have sought parity in our respective diplomatic presence. Discussions are ongoing on the modalities of achieving this”.

“Given that Canadian diplomatic presence is higher, we would assume that there would be a reduction,” he added. On being asked if the reduction in the number of Canadian diplomats could see a decrease in the number of visas issued by the Canadian High Commission in India, Bagchi had said, “It’s up to the Canadian side, who they choose to staff the High Commission with…our concerns are related to ensuring parity in diplomatic presence”.

Meanwhile, the Canadian authorities have assured that the Canada-based IRCC staff in India will do the day-to-day work required in the country. They say that the five IRCC staff who remain in India will focus on work that requires an in-country presence such as urgent processing, visa printing, risk assessment and overseeing key partners.