 When applying for permanent residence in Canada, a person living in India, but possessing a multiple entry visitor visa to the UK or a Schengen country could choose to file his application with a Canadian visa office in European, rather than one in India, because the posted processing times were supposed to be much shorter in Europe.Lately, many countries cut down on the practice of consulate shopping by requiring that permanent residence visa applications, and often visitor visa applications as well, be filed only in visa offices within the country of the applicant's citizenship of residence.As of the summer 2008 People's Republic of China joined this trend, requiring all visa applicants only to apply in the Chinese consulate in the country where they are citizens or permanent residents; moreover, in some countries served by multiple consulates (as the USA is), the application must be filed in the consular district serving the area where the applicant resides.