ISLAMABAD, April 6: The Canadian High Commission on Thursday announced that Citizenship and Immigration Canada would no longer accept new applications from people from the earthquake-affected areas without appropriate application processing fees and the Right of Permanent Residence Fee from May 1, 2006.

However, this fee will continue to be waived for applications received prior to May 1, from people who have been seriously, continuously and personally affected by the earthquake, even if the decision on the application is made after this date.

Applications received on or after this date must be accompanied by the appropriate application fee as indicated in the application kit.

All applications received on or after May 1, without the appropriate fee will be returned to the applicants.

As part of Canada’s humanitarian response to the disaster, CIC put temporary measures in place to assist those who were seriously and personally affected by the disaster.

These measures included waiving the processing fees and expediting the processing of applications for those with close family members in Canada.

On May 1, 2006, those affected by the earthquake will have had over six months since the disaster to submit an application to CIC.