The Canadian government announced on Saturday new measures aimed at facilitating the immigration process for Turkish and Syrian citizens already in Canada, a month after the earthquake which killed more than 50,000 people in these two countries.
“Turkish and Syrian nationals will be able to continue to study, work or visit their families by applying for a free extension of their status,” said the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
For example, they may apply for a work permit which authorizes a foreigner to work for any employer for a specified period.
“These measures will make it easier for Turkish and Syrian nationals to extend their temporary status in Canada,” he said in a statement.
They will be in effect from March 29 until September 25.
This announcement comes ten days after the UN urged the international community to speed up the settlement in other host countries of Syrian refugees from areas affected by the earthquake in Turkey.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake on February 6 killed more than 45,000 people in Turkey and thousands more in neighboring Syria, and devastated hundreds of thousands of buildings.
This earthquake affected about nine million people, of whom more than 1.7 million are refugees.