Biometrics data collection: Canadian visa applicants from 29 countries will be fingerprinted

Haiti
Haiti (Photo credit: elycefeliz)

Nicholas Keung
Immigration Reporter 
31 Comments
Starting in 2013, visitors to Canada from 29 countries and a territory must pay an extra $85 for Ottawa to collect their fingerprints and photos when they apply for visas.
The countries are mostly from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, but the biometrics requirement will also extend to Haiti, Jamaica and Colombia.
It is yet another measure Ottawa is imposing under the Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act passed in June to tighten border entry into Canada.
Earlier this week, Ottawa exercised its powers from the same law to designate five carloads of Romanian refugee claimants crossing the Quebec border as “irregular arrivals,” stripping them of the basic rights afforded to other asylum seekers.
Biometrics will strengthen and modernize Canada’s immigration system,” Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Friday. “Our doors are open to legitimate travellers and, through the use of biometrics, we will also be able to protect the safety and security of Canadians.”
According to the Canada Gazette, the countries were selected for their volumes or rates of visa refusals, removal orders, refugee claims, and nationals arriving without proper documentation or attempting to travel under false identities, as well as their relevance to Canada’s foreign and trade policy objectives.
About 20 per cent of the 300,000 visa-required applicants — visitors, students or temporary foreign workers — would have to submit their biometric information in the first year. Children, the elderly and diplomats are exempt.
The applicants must present themselves at a biometric collection service point, a third-party visa application centre contracted by Ottawa, to provide “all available fingerprints and have a photograph taken.”
Their fingerprints would be sent to the RCMP for storage and checked against the fingerprint records of refugee claimants, previous deportees, persons with Canadian criminal records and previous temporary resident applicants before a visa decision is made. Border guards would then check the biometrics information again at the border.
The $85 fee is expected to recover 50 per cent of the operational cost. A cost-benefit analysis estimated the plan would save the federal and provincial governments $106 million over 10 years from “reduced negative refugee claims, fewer removals and detentions.”
Those affected by the new rules include: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Vietnam and Yemen.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Reunification 'super visas' popular despite cost concerns

Canadian visa for single entry
Canadian visa for single entry (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

More than 11,000 overseas parents, grandparents get new 10-year visitor permits

Posted: Dec 3, 2012 4:52 PM ET 






New figures show Canada has granted more than 11,000 "super visas" for overseas parents and grandparents since the federal government unveiled the program one year ago, according to numbers obtained by CBC News from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
The numbers suggest the program is proving popular with immigrant families, despite concerns by some about the costs associated with the visa.
The Parents and Grandparents Super Visa allows foreign citizens with families resident in Canada to make multiple entries to Canada over a 10-year period. It must be renewed every two years.
More than 15,000 people have applied for the new visa since the program was unveiled last year.
As of the end of October, the department has processed more than 13,000 applications, of which 87 per cent, or about 11,500, have been accepted. The numbers also show a very low number of applicants withdrawing before their applications have been processed.
Some long-time advocates for family reunification call the new measure a success.
Felix Zhang, creator of the website Sponsor our Parents, said many parents don't actually want to immigrate to Canada, they just want to be able to visit loved ones on a regular basis.
"Overall, the super visa is a good thing, it gives an alternative for reuniting with overseas parents in Canada rather than just waiting for the prolonged immigration process," Zhang said. "Also, it shows Citizenship and Immigration Canada becomes more flexible than ever before. Different programs for different needs."
Last year, the government announced it would freeze permanent residency applications from parents and grandparents for two years.
Zhang said in the meantime, some people are using the super visa as a stopgap.
"The super visa could be a bridge from now until the permanent resident is accepted. So if the permanent resident process could take three to four years, then the super visa could be a bridge," Zhang said.

Requires medical insurance

But others warn the super visa has proven too expensive for many families because it requires the applicant to buy medical insurance and requires their families in Canada to have a certain income level.
Fred de Villa, chairman of the Winnipeg Filipino Breakfast Council, said many in the Filipino community can't afford the super visa.
"It's very expensive, because you have to buy insurance [coverage] for $100,000. They can't afford it." De Villa estimates that coverage would cost about $1,300 a year for the average person.
De Villa adds the new visa isn't a solution to the backlog of permanent residency applications, which are taking up to eight years to process.
He said the previous Liberal governments simply allocated more resources and he urged the Conservative government to do the same thing now.
"The previous government, what they did was they sent people from Canada to help process the paper and then everything is good," de Villa said. "Now why create another problem? You can't solve a problem by creating another problem."
Still, one expert said the super visa is filling a specialized need that will help reduce the demand for parental immigration.
"After a while, that's going to modulate down," said Vancouver immigration lawyer Richard Kurland. "Because my sense is that so many people, probably a third of them, applied for permanent resident status only to be able to access Canada for visit purposes, for visitation."
Kurland added that many parents living in top-source countries like China and India tend to want to return home for at least part of the year to avoid Canadian winters, and to reconnect with strong social and family networks back home.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave us a message

Check our online courses now

Check our online courses now
Click Here now!!!!

Subscribe to our newsletter

Vcita