VZCZCXRO3961
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #2692 2542252
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 112252Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8205
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 2653
RUEHGA/AMCONSUL CALGARY 0022
RUEHHA/AMCONSUL HALIFAX 0029
RUEHMT/AMCONSUL MONTREAL 0001
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC 0024
RUEHON/AMCONSUL TORONTO 0032
RUEHVC/AMCONSUL VANCOUVER 0078

UNCLAS MEXICO 002692 
 
SENSITIVE, SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CVIS ECON PGOV PREF MX CA
SUBJECT: CANADIAN VISAS FOR MEXICANS, PART TWO 
 
REF: MEXICO 2079 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Since Canada's sudden imposition of a visa 
requirement for Mexican (and Czech) tourists on July 16, the Mexican 
government has countered only with a visa requirement for Canadian 
diplomats.  Despite the initial visa backlog and outcry by the 
Mexican media that the requirement was unjustified, the measure 
seems to have worked: Mexican application volume has stabilized and 
the number of Mexicans seeking asylum in Canada has dropped 
dramatically.  With the initial visa rush over, the Canadian Embassy 
is adjusting to the long term reality of visa processing in Mexico. 
END SUMMARY. 
¶2. (SBU) Canada's decision to impose visa requirements on Mexican 
tourists on July 14 - to take effect 48 hours later -- was a 
surprise to some and a shock to the thousands of Mexicans who had 
already made travel plans, as reported Reftel.  In the days 
following the announcement, travelers as well as media, immigration, 
and tourism officials within Mexico were widely critical of the 
measure.  As block-long queues of visa applicants formed in front of 
the Canadian Embassy, Mexican public opinion called for reciprocal 
measures; the Mexican government subsequently imposed a visa 
requirement for Canadian diplomats.  Many tourists and officials 
lamented the visa requirement had been imposed at the very peak of 
tourist season.  The Mexican press was filled with reports of 
Mexican tourists who had missed flights, inadequate preparation by 
the Canadian Embassy to handle the large numbers of visa applicants, 
and allegedly boorish treatment of visa applicants by Canadian 
immigration officials.  On August 10, Canadian Prime Minister 
Stephen Harper, in Guadalajara for trilateral talks with Presidents 
Calderon and Obama, attempted to defuse the controversy when he said 
that the visa requirement was designed to address a flaw in Canadian 
law which encouraged bogus refugee claims, and was not intended as a 
rebuke of Mexico or the Mexican government. 
¶3. (SBU) The imposition of the visa requirement and the lack of 
advance notice was a PR-fiasco for Canada in Mexico, but it appears 
that that storm has now largely passed.  A Canadian Embassy official 
tells us that us that immigration officers worked hundred-hour weeks 
the first month after the policy change processing up to 1200 visas 
a day, in an effort to address demand and minimize inconvenience to 
the Mexican traveling public.  As of September 1, the Embassy had 
processed 23,880 visas, including about 2000 students and 2000 
unskilled laborers.  The same official claims that few, if any 
travelers were actually delayed, or had to cancel planned travel 
because of the visa requirement.  In any event, complaints about the 
visa requirement have largely disappeared from the Mexican press. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The initial visa rush appears to be over; visa application 
numbers have stabilized at about 450 per day. The Canadian Embassy 
is turning to long-term planning to deal with Mexican visa demand. 
The Embassy has hired the Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), the 
same subcontractor that serves Mission Mexico, to facilitate the 
collection of applicants' personal data apart from biometrics, which 
is still being debated.  The first Canadian Visa Application Center 
(VAC) will be launched in Mexico City on October 14, and similar 
centers are planned for January in Guadalajara, and Monterrey, where 
it will be located in the same building as the U.S. visa applicant 
service center. 
¶5. (SBU) Finally, we understand from the Canadian Embassy that the 
visa requirement appears to have achieved its objective of 
discouraging often frivolous refugee claims by Mexican citizens. 
Where once Canada received as many as 800 Mexican refugee claims per 
month, there have been no more than 40 claims since the 
implementation of visa restrictions in mid-July, according to an 
Embassy source. 
¶6. (SBU) COMMENT. Embassy Mexico reached out to our Canadian 
colleagues, providing advice on visa processing and appointment 
administration; the GOC Consular corps responded professionally and 
efficiently.  While this item will surely remain on Mexico's 
bilateral agenda with Canada, the initial uproar has died down as 
Mexicans adjust to the new requirement.  END COMMENT 
PASCUAL