Embassy of Canada 🇨🇦 (pt. 2)
Location: 21 Jeongdong-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul
Writer: Joseph Lim
Two months ago, Sean had the honor of participating in an online interview with Counsellor Idania Riley of the Migration division at the Canadian Embassy. After Sean’s first meeting with her, Mrs. Riley was kind enough to promise us a visit to the embassy. As a result, on May 1st, which in Korea was Labor Day, we had the honor of visiting the Embassy of Canada. The Canadian Embassy has bizarre and fascinating architecture which was built to accommodate a huge pine tree whose branches extended almost fully across the adjacent street.
We followed Mrs. Riley through a grand conference room that reminded us of a movie theater and arrived at a small yet cozy room. Due to Mrs. Riley’s radiating friendliness and this interview being our second one with her, the nervousness that originally struck us before interviews was fully replaced with even stronger eagerness and curiosity. Upon commencing the interview, Mrs. Riley shared profound diplomatic information about the relationship Canada holds with Korea.
The Canadian community in Korea is large, consisting of around 26,000 Canadians, a testament to illustrate the strong relationship Canada holds with Korea. Canada is a remarkably important ally to Korea, in which their relationship is rooted in the military aid Canada provided during the Korean war. Additionally, a bilateral agreement approved by the prime minister of Canada in May of 2023 addressed travel permits, subsequently increasing the number of Korean students studying in Canada from around 4000 to 12000 students. Among the many topics we covered, Mrs. Riley expressed Canada’s desire to garner more Korean students, as they are hardworking and studious.
As a Migration Counsellor, one question we asked was whether she got to stamp visa approvals and denials like immigration workers do in the movies and did at airports before the process went digital. Sadly for us, Mrs. Riley processes visa applications digitally, but she mentioned that not having a huge stack of papers does help keep her organized.
We thank Mrs. Riley and we, once again, hope to see her in the future!
