Immigration Canada

Twelve tips and observations for employers whose employees travel to Canada on business

McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Naseem Malik
Canada
April 1 2011

Employers will be interested in these 12 key observations and tips for when employees travel to Canada on business. Indeed, for employers who require employees to engage in international business travel to Canada, the border is an important venue for making applications for entry on a temporary basis in situations where a work permit is required, and for consideration under a work permit exempt category. Understanding the dynamics of border or port-of-entry processing is therefore critical.

Tip #1 – Preparing Employees for Travel

Help your foreign national employees or service providers understand the Canadian immigration system prior to travel to Canada.

For example: The first government officials you will encounter when you arrive in Canada are Canada customs officers. Their job is to decide who goes into "Immigration Secondary" for further questioning/processing.

Tip #2 - Work Permit Determination

It is important to make a decision in advance of travel to Canada about whether your employees require a work permit or not.

Whether you are consulting with in-house or external legal counsel, or seeking advice from human resource professionals inside or outside of your company, get a definitive opinion on what possible immigration documents your foreign national employees may require that will allow them to lawfully carry out their activities in Canada.

If a work permit is required, your foreign national employees may be able to pick it up at the border when they arrive in Canada, or they may be required to file that application through a Canadian consulate or embassy abroad.

Tip #3 - Criminality Issues

Advise your employees that any past criminal charges or convictions may result in issues with their admittance to Canada.

In some cases, previous criminality can be overcome and admittance can be achieved through special temporary immigration pardons called Temporary Resident Permits.

Addressing these issues in advance by filing the appropriate paperwork for a Temporary Resident Permit gives the application a much better chance of success than simply relying on the discretion of an immigration officer to allow entry based on the person’s verbal account.

Tip #4 - Temporary Resident Visas

Nationals of certain prescribed countries require special entry visas called Temporary Resident Visas for even a two-hour meeting in Canada, even if they have lawful temporary status in the United States.

These visas can only be applied for at a Canadian Embassy or Consulate outside Canada and can take days/weeks to obtain.

If your employee shows up at the border and does not have the requisite Temporary Resident Visa, he or she will be denied entry to Canada even if he or she did qualify for a work permit or entry under a specific work permit exempt category.

Tip #5 - Medicals

In some cases, an immigration medical is required in advance of travel to Canada — typically if a person has been residing in a designated country such as China or Russia.

Immigration medicals are required if the person has spent six consecutive months living in one of those countries, and intends to spend six months or more in Canada.

If a person needs an immigration medical prior to entry to Canada, they are required to do all of their immigration processing through a Canadian Embassy or Consulate as opposed to the border/port. This can delay entry for weeks or months.

Tip #6 – Supporting Documentation

It is a very good idea to equip your employees (even for short stays) with some type of supporting documentation, such as a support letter that clearly explains the nature and purpose for the visit to Canada and asks for admission based on a specific work permit exempt or work permit category.

Coach your employees to read their support letters carefully in advance so that they can provide consistent answers to questions posed by Customs and Immigration Officials.

Tip #7 – Additional Supporting Materials

Certain work permit categories require additional documentation such as proof of existing business relationships with a company in Canada or a certain level of educational achievement/work experience.

If your employee is making an application in one of those categories, make sure he or she is travelling with all necessary paperwork. Failing to do so may result in the denial of the application.

Tip #8 – Canada Customs

Coach your employees to be clear and specific at the Canada Customs booth when they first arrive so that they stand the best chance of getting a correct referral into Immigration Secondary if a work permit is required, or, if they do not require a work permit, of getting referred directly into the country without a secondary examination.

For example: When asked by Customs, "What is the purpose of your trip?" The employee should truthfully state, "I am going to internal meetings with our Canadian subsidiary for two days." This gives the person a much better chance of avoiding the Immigration Secondary area than saying, "I am here for business."

It is a good idea to have, and read, the supporting documentation well in advance and to encourage employees to ask about the application and the process at port of entry. This will alleviate possible apprehension about the event, and will allow for a more credible presentation. It also places employees in a better position to advocate on their own behalf if they get an officer who doubts the validity of some or all of the submissions in the support letter after assessing the verbal responses of the applicant to see if there are any inconsistencies between what the employee states are his or her reasons for coming to Canada and what the letter purports. Understanding the process itself allows employees to avoid making mistakes like trying to apply for the permit at the primary inspection line (PIL), or being content to be erroneously admitted into the country at PIL, which eliminates their immediate ability to apply for a work permit without re-presenting themselves at the port of entry. This is particularly problematic if they are arriving via aircraft, and/or are far away from a land border.

Tip #9 – Having a Backup Plan

If a person is determined by Canada Immigration to require a work permit, and has unsuccessfully tried to argue for admission in a work permit exempt category, they might be denied entry to Canada.

It is always sensible to canvass off multiple options with your legal advisor in advance.

For example: Based on the facts, you think that the person should be able to come into Canada as a business visitor, which is a work permit exempt category, but the officer processing the case disagrees. If there is a specific work permit category that the person also fits into, the officer may entertain that and allow entry.

Tip #10 – Misrepresentation

Making any type of misrepresentation at the border, however innocent, can result in denial of entry into Canada, and in some cases, a two-year ban from the country.

There is a misconception among some that not being truthful at the border is not a big deal, but actually, this is equivalent in severity to presenting false evidence before a federal government enforcement officer and lying to a police officer.

No matter how inconvenient, always advise employees to respond to questions posed by customs and immigration officials in a completely honest manner.

Tip #11 – Port of Entry

Use the appropriate port of entry and understand the particulars of each office culture just like Visa Posts.

While this skill is primarily honed by trial and error, it is always a good idea to assess where the best places are to have your employees make their application for entry. Certain ports of entry have a more facilitative culture, or have more experience with business travellers so are more adept at processing those types of cases.

Tip #12 – Entry Refusal

Do not "venue shop" after a negative decision.

If your employee is refused entry at a particular port of entry, a good rule of thumb is not to try the same application again at another location. There are exceptions to this general rule, but usually a negative decision will be entered into the Immigration Computer in the Field Operations Support System (FOSS), and another port of entry will not look kindly on your employee trying to "sneak" into Canada by attempting to circumvent the decision of the first office. It is best to try and resolve things with the first port by discussing the case with the officer concerned, or the supervisor.

The Bottom Line

Port-of-entry processing can be a seamless facilitative venture when an application goes smoothly, but an extremely frustrating, stressful and negative experience if the application goes badly. It can result in your employee being denied entry to the country, or unduly delayed in being issued the appropriate documentation by the Canadian Border Services Agency. We hope that the practical tips advice we’ve provided will assist you in advising your employees on how to make an application and what to expect when that application is handled at the border.

Canadian Salary Survey

Image via Wikipedia

If you had moved to Canada a few years ago from the UK, Europe or USA, you were likely to have found Canadian wages a bit lower than you were used to; not so now.

The average salary in Canadian dollars has risen by 10 to 15 percent since 2007.

This rise, in combination with the strengthening Canadian dollar, has pushed the average salary in Canada higher than in the UK, the USA and most of Europe. (Between January 2007 and January 2011, the US dollar fell 15 percent, the British pound fell 32 percent and the euro fell 11 percent against the Canadian dollar.)

Average wages for men and women working in different employment sectors are as follows

Canadian Average Hourly Earnings 2011

Earnings Classification	Average Hourly Earnings 2011	Average Hourly Earnings 2008
Males	$24.81	$23.44
Females	$21.33	$19.83
Full Time Employees	$24.81	$21.66
Part Time Employees	$16.24	-

Average Weekly Wages in Canada in 2010

Profession	Average Weekly Wage Aug 2010	Average Weekly Wage Aug 2008
Forestry, logging and support	$971	$812
Mining and quarrying, and oil and gas extraction	$1,801	$1,524
Utilities	$1,516	$1,422
Construction	$1,071	$1,023
Manufacturing	$977	$943
Wholesale trade	$1,024	$960
Retail trade	$501	$486
Transportation and warehousing	$900	$873
Information and cultural industries	$1,100	$992
Finance and insurance	$1,050	$1,014
Real estate and rental and leasing	$784	$783
Professional, scientific and technical services	$1,170	$1,065
Management of companies and enterprises	$1,105	$1,038
Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services	$727	$677
Educational services	$946	$865
Health care and social assistance	$792	$752
Arts, entertainment and recreation	$562	$502
Accommodation and food services	$361	$335
Other services (excluding public administration)	$670	$667
Public administration	$1,085	$1,092

Looking at jobs throughout Canada, typical wages are as follows:

Average Hourly Wages in Canada in 2007

Profession	Average Hourly Wage
Retail Sales / Sales Clerk	$11
Data Entry Clerk	$15
Bookkeeper	$16
Accounting Clerk	$17
Truck Driver	$19
Plumber	$22
Carpenter	$22
Executive Assistant	$22
Electrician	$25
Architect	$27
Social Worker	$28
Registered Nurse	$32
Computer Engineer (not software)	$33
Physiotherapist	$34
Lawyer	$36
Computer and Info Systems Manager	$37
Engineering Manager	$45
Dentist	$60

Cost of Living Comparisons

By Kristina Cowan

If you're curious about doing a cost of living comparison between cities, you've come to the right place. A cost of living comparison between cities can vary greatly and can play a pivotal part in helping you understand how far your salary will go in a particular city.

1. How can doing a cost of living comparison between cities help me understand my earning potential in one city versus another?

Doing a cost of living comparison between cities will help you learn what it takes to maintain your standard of living from one place to another. Pamela Villarreal, a policy analyst at the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas, gave the example of moving from Houston to New York City. While the move may include a significant salary boost, she said, you need to consider, for example, if you'll be able to afford the same size home in New York-and if you're not able to, would you be OK with that?

"I think sometimes people get so encouraged by the possibility of moving to another area that they may not stop to think what exactly that salary is going to buy them," she said. "In some cases they may have a higher standard of living and in some cases they may have a lower standard of living, but each person has a different standard or set of goods and quantity that makes them happy. So the key is looking at what your salary will buy to help you attain that."

2. Why is a cost of living comparison by city more useful than cost of living comparison by state?

Experts say doing a cost of living comparison by state isn't useful because different metro areas within the same state may have very different costs of living.

"It doesn't do any good to compare the cost of living from state to state," said Steve Reed, an economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index program. "Eureka, California versus Los Angeles is very different."

3. How do you do a cost of living comparison between cities?

Try using the new PayScale Cost of Living Calculator.

Noah and Jessica Anderson recently made the trek from Atlanta to New York City, using cost of living comparison calculators to help gauge what it would cost to live in New York. The 27-year-old Noah, who works for a private equity firm in New York, said with the calculator's help, he was able to do very careful comparisons that proved accurate once they made the move."I was fortunate to get into something where the income increase did justify the increase in expenses," he said.

4. What's the difference between using a salary calculator and a cost of living comparison calculator?

A salary calculator can tell you how much you should be earning compared to others with similar characteristics-people who live in the same metro area, have obtained the same level of degrees, etc. A cost of living calculator will tell you how far your salary will go when you're buying goods and services in a particular location.

5. What do cost of living comparison charts really tell you?

Noah Anderson said the charts provide a base of knowledge about how much it'll cost you to move from one city to another. "It's not 100 percent accurate, but it gives you a rough estimate of what your expenses will be and what you have left over, and what you can save," he said.

Anderson said he used six months' worth of data he'd kept on expenses he and his wife had while living in Atlanta, and worked it into a comparison chart between Atlanta and New York.

Penelope Trunk, blogger and author of Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success, recently moved her family from New York City to Madison, Wis., after conducting a year's worth of research, and cost of living comparison played an important part. But she said relocating is often more philosophical than some may realize.

"You should be doing a soul search on your core values. There's no chart or pull-down menu for that," Trunk said. "You can't predict how your life is going to change with a cost of living index."

6. Is there any way to do an international cost of living comparison?

Except for a few Canadian cities, the there isn't much international data available online. But the ACCRA website suggests several other sources, including the U.S. Department of State.

Other potentially useful sites for doing an international cost of living comparison are:

The London-based Economic Research Institute's Relocation Assessor.
The Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living bi-annual survey.

The question of sponsorship

CIC maintains that the priority in sponsorships under the family reunification program is to reunite spouses and children of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, while parents can visit the country on multiple-entry visas.

Source: Canadianimmigrant.ca

Gloria Elayadathusseril

If we do decide to sponsor, it’s going to take a very long time. I hear at least seven years.

Kailash Kaur has been visiting Canada every summer since 2004. Each trip from India costs her son and daughter-in-law several thousand dollars. The couple is willing to bear this large, recurring expense so they can see her regularly, rather than spend a one-time expenditure of a few grand to sponsor her to live permanently with the family here — and wait perhaps years.

“She is in her mid-70s and if we do decide to sponsor, it’s going to take a very long time. I hear at least seven years,” says her daughter-in-law Gurdeep Kaur. “It will be a tough task for her to come and integrate into this new society and contribute to this country’s economy.”

However, Kaur concedes that even if her mother-in-law didn’t contribute economically to the country, she would definitely play a positive role in the society by helping raise her grandchildren.

Of course, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) maintains that the priority in sponsorships under the family reunification program is to reunite spouses and children of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, while parents can visit the country on multiple-entry visas, just like the elder Kaur.

But not every senior is as lucky as her in obtaining a visa, let alone multiple-entry ones. Max M. Chaudhary, a Toronto-based immigration lawyer notes that issuance of visitor visas are “notoriously arbitrary” in places like New Delhi, India; Islamabad, Pakistan; Manila, Philippines and Beijing, China. “I have seen cases where elderly applicants are rejected for visitor visas four times and be granted a visitor visa the fifth time. New immigrants who have established themselves in Canada are very frustrated at the difficulty in getting their parents here [even] as visitors.”

Of course, immigration officers can get strict about visits if they think there is a possibility the elder will not return to their homeland after the visit.

Cuts to quotas

So what’s really going on here? According to a 2009 study by CIC entitled Elderly Immigrants in Canada: Income Sources and Self-Sufficiency, parents and grandparents are continually at the bottom of the income-earning scale even after 10 years — the maximum number of years sponsors pledge to support immigrant relatives — depending on their relative’s age and relationship.

Perhaps partly in reaction to this data, the federal government recently issued a plan to cut the number of family reunification visas for parents and grandparents of immigrants from 15,300 to 11,000 a year.

However, in response to an earlier appeal by the Chinese Canadian community, Ottawa has decided to increase the quota for sponsorship of parents and grandparents in the Beijing visa office from 1,000 in 2010 to 2,650 in 2011. While, on the other hand, in New Delhi visa office, the numbers are being reduced to 2,500 this year, from 4,500 in 2010.

New Democrat immigration critic Olivia Chow said at a recent press conference that the information obtained under an Access to Information request shows the reduced quotas will primarily affect applicants from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America. She also noted more than 148,000 parents and grandparents overseas are already waiting as long as five years to be reunited with their Canadian children and grandchildren. “In the five, eight, 10 years these Canadians are waiting, most likely, these parents cannot travel to Canada,” Chow said.

The long wait ahead

According to Chaudhary, worse still is the stress of waiting endlessly. “Canadian-based relatives are frustrated when their elderly parents have lost most of their relatives in their home country … and no longer have their own community in their home country for support,” he says.

“The Liberals started the trend of reducing family class immigration, but this reduction has been accelerated by the Conservative Party with regard to parents and grandparents.”
Chaudhary says the immigrants he interacts with on a regular basis in his law practice are dismayed by the current waiting period for sponsoring parents. “Not to mention the excessive medical scrutiny that the immigration department metes out on elderly sponsored parents.”

The other side

So what’s the argument being made to reduce sponsorships? According to a 2005 report by conservative think tank the Fraser Institute, “Given their age, many of them put high costs on the health care systems if their sponsoring children are unwilling or unable to meet their obligation and pay for these cost privately.”

The Vancouver-headquartered institute’s study also reveals that most parents of economic class immigrants are unlikely to become active participants in the labour force because of their “advanced age” and “poor ability to speak and learn English.” The study indicates that these parents and grandparents are able to pay few if any income taxes, yet are entitled to all of Canada’s social programs.

“Admittedly, there is an increased health burden in bringing elderly immigrants to Canada, but this is slight, given the few additional elderly immigrants that have been admitted under Canada’s immigration program,” Chaudhary points out. “Further, why should native-born Canadians’ parents be a burden and not immigrant parents, given that both pay taxes to support Canada’s health care system?”

Contribution of sponsors

Mississauga-based software engineer Vivek Bibra who sponsored his parents says, “Yes, my parents do take advantage of OHIP [Ontario Health Insurance Program] and they don’t work here. But both my wife and I are productive, tax-paying immigrants.”

He also points out that since the couple came here as skilled immigrants, they did not take any social assistance for 30 years of their lives before arriving in Canada. “One of the things that was attractive to us when applying for our immigration was that we could sponsor our parents.”

Felix Zhang, a founder of Sponsor Our Parents, a grassroots advocacy group, has a similar view. “It raises a big question why we are all Canadians and yet we are treated unequally. This is unacceptable.” He also wonders whether economic migrants, who are sought after because they bring needed workforce skills, will continue to choose Canada if they can’t bring their parents here.

The Chinese-born immigrant sponsored his parents to Canada in 2007. His application is still at the in-Canada prescreening stage. “My parents would like to live with their only grandchild,” says Zhang. “And my parents are not getting any younger.”

Chaudhary — a Canadian born to immigrant parents from Kenya — feels privileged in this aspect. “I have had the benefit of my parents’ assistance with regard to my two small sons, which, as a busy professional is invaluable; it allows me to focus more on my work. Further, I have seen my parents’ joy triggered by my kids’ presence; such joy can’t be replicated through long-distance phone calls.”

Bibra, whose parents have lived with him since 2006 says it was a great relief when his parents accepted his request to come to Canada, despite having to leave behind their familiar social life and a successful interior design business. “They made a great sacrifice. [Today] we are able to be at work in peace because we know my parents will take care of our children after they come back from school.”

There are thousands of Zhangs and Bibras out there waiting helplessly for their parents to arrive and reap the familial benefits of their elders’ presence.

But it looks like what many immigrants want and what many of them can expect is at a standstill. “We can’t satisfy 100 per cent of our immigrant stakeholders,” said CIC Minister Jason Kenney in a recent phone interview to the Toronto Star. “We have to make choices to balance our objectives.”

So for now, many sponsors who’ve applied for their parents’ and grandparents’ immigration will have to be contented with the fact that we are able to reach our dear ones in our home countries almost instantly — thanks to modern technology — unlike our predecessors from even just a few decades ago who in most cases left their families behind for good.

Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants sues Federal government to protect consumers of immigration consulting services

TORONTO, April 5 /CNW/ - The Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) stood up for consumers today by taking legal action to halt the Federal government's proposal to replace CSIC with a new immigration consultant regulatory organization that has no experience in consumer protection and will require more than 3.6 million taxpayer dollars to get off the ground.

"It is astonishing that the Federal government has turned its back on consumers by choosing a new and inexperienced group, the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), to regulate immigration consultants. This group has no plans and no ability to resolve the 99 outstanding complaints and 155 open investigations that CSIC is currently seized with," said CSIC Chair Nigel Thomson. "CSIC also has serious concerns about the 21 ongoing disciplinary hearings. For all intents and purposes, the government has given the people who are the subject of CSIC's disciplinary process a free pass and this is unacceptable."

In June 2010 the Federal government established criteria for the review of the national regulator of immigration consultants. In December CSIC made a detailed submission that demonstrated that it met all of the government's criteria for confirmation as the regulator, most notably due to its significant experience in protecting consumers by holding its members accountable to strict standards.

"Consumers have effective protection and only CSIC has the policies, rules, expertise and disciplinary processes to provide that protection. The council will take years and millions of dollars to reach the same level of sophistication that CSIC currently possesses and in the meantime consumers will be put at risk," said Thomson. "CSIC believes that the process followed by the Federal government is biased, unreasonable and unfair. This decision defies logic and CSIC is standing up for consumers by challenging the fairness and practicality of the selection process."

The Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants is the professional regulatory body for Certified Canadian Immigration Consultants. Established in 2004 it currently has 1,900 fully accredited members located throughout Canada and the world. CSIC's mandate is to protect consumers of immigration consulting services. Consequently, it is responsible for ensuring the education, competency testing and the discipline of its members. CSIC also requires its members to carry errors and omissions insurance and to contribute to a compensation fund in order to protect consumers. The best way to find a Certified Canadian Immigration Consultant (CCIC) is via CSIC's toll free referral line, 1-877-311-7926.

For further information:

Nancy Tibbo, 416-572-2800, Toll Free: 1-866-308-CSIC (2252), 416-294-0030 or ntibbo@csic-scci.ca

Immigration limits force aching questions

MONTREAL - Tatyana Skorobogatko could well be the poster child for Canadian immigration.
Having landed in Montreal from Ukraine at 13, she is now an engineer for whom French and English have become more natural than her native Russian, sirloin steak or tacos more likely to appear on her dinner table than borscht or perogies.
But like many immigrants who have created new stories and good lives for themselves here, she now wants to share the wealth and remember the old stories – and for that she needs her babushka.
Tatyana, 27, applied to sponsor her grandmother for permanent residence in 2009, but with the federal government’s drastically reduced targets for bringing in this class of immigrants – from 16,000 in 2010 to 11,200 in 2011 – and more than 147,000 others already on the wait-list around the world, she could easily wait another six years, until her grandmother turns 95.
“I’m afraid she will die before she ever gets in, before she ever sees my daughter,” says Tatyana, whose baby girl is now five months old. “It’s just inhumane to make someone wait like this. If you accept immigrants to come over, you have to allow them to see their families – if not don’t let them come in.”
The federal government says it is decreasing the number of parents and grandparents admitted as permanent residents in order to increase the number of spouses, children and skilled workers – who pay taxes.
Last year saw a record number of so-called “economic immigrants” – 186,881 compared to 138,251 in 2006, when the Harper government took power – while family-class immigrants, spouses and parents included, were down 15 per cent to 60, 207, from 70,517 in 2006.
But critics say the new targets are symptomatic of the Harper government’s overemphasis on immigrants as economic units, to the detriment of new Canadian families and ultimately the country’s ability to attract “the best and the brightest” if it means leaving their families at home.
Leading up to a federal election the Harper government is preaching family values, they say, but not necessarily the value of family.
So how much is a grandmother worth?
When the 2011 internal visa targets for parents and grandparents were revealed in February through an access to information request, federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told the House of Commons it was a choice that had to be made.
“There are trade-offs, and this government is focused on the priorities of Canadians which are economic growth and prosperity,” he said during Question Period. “We need more newcomers working and paying taxes and contributing to our health-care system. That is the focus of our immigration system.”
To be sure, any cost-benefit analysis of grandparents would have to include the increased demands they put on a health-care system that is already gasping for air.
According to a report released in October by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Canadians over the age of 65 account for less than 14 per cent of the Canadian population, but consume nearly 44 per cent of all health-care dollars spent by provincial and territorial governments.
Brought down to the level of the individual, in 2008, the latest available year for data broken down by age group, provincial and territorial governments spent an average of $10,742 per Canadian age 65 and older, compared to $2,097 on those between age one and 64. Those 80 years and older, like Tatyana’s grandmother, required the most spending, at $18,160 each – more than three times what was spent on seniors younger than age 70 ($5, 828.)
The government can’t ignore this reality, especially as the proportion of seniors in the Canadian population is expected to reach 20 per cent by 2026.
And as Kelli Fraser, a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada points out, even with the reduced visa targets, the government “will maintain what is probably the most generous family reunification program for parents and grandparents in the world.”
Indeed, Canada ranks third in the world after Sweden and Portugal on the 2010 Migrant Integration Policy Index released in February. A benchmark European study, the MIPEX measures a range of indicators, from paths to citizenship to public education.
And when it comes to family reunification policies in particular, Canada ranks second after Portugal.
Jack Jedwab, the executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies, who was presenting the MIPEX findings in Vancouver last week, said the reduced visa targets would not likely affect Canada’s rank, because it is based on policies, not numbers.
Sweden, for example, lets in fewer immigrants per capita than Canada, but its policies are less restrictive.
The reduced visa targets do run counter to important Canadian values, however, says Jedwab, whose think tank conducts annual surveys on Canadian identity issues. And the targets seem to ignore the important benefits, economic and non-economic, that come from reuniting families.
Survey upon survey suggests that Canadians stand out for the importance they attribute to family and for having a larger, more generous definition of family; that they value the contribution of immigration to the country; that immigrants value family; and that they don’t like the idea of cutting off children from parents and grandparents, Jedwab says.
Economically speaking, the costs and benefits associated with bringing in more parents and grandparents are not always clear, Jedwab adds.
Most would not pay income taxes, but nor are they entitled to old age security for 10 years after they enter the country. And they are nevertheless consumers – the transfer of funds outside the country to relatives unable to immigrate may be substantial.
“But there are also indirect benefits associated with having a strong family unit here that are difficult to value in economic terms … but may have an important impact nevertheless, especially if we want to continue to be a kindler, gentler nation.”
For Tatyana, having her grandmother here would mean free childcare in a province where subsidized daycare is a huge advantage over other provinces, but is still difficult to come by.
And it would mean a link to her culture, language, and history, all but lost to her now.
She arrived in Canada as a teenager during what is known in Ukraine as the “Dark ’90s” – a time when the end of Soviet-era price controls and the fire-sale privatization of the nation’s assets led to a decline in living standards akin to the Great Depression 60 years earlier.
At the time Quebec was the cheapest destination in Canada – requiring only $10,000 to immigrate – so her parents sold their apartment for $7,000 and added it to their $3,000 in savings. It helped that both she and her parents spoke French as a second language, as many Russian-speakers do.
But after her mother committed suicide in 2008, Tatyana needed her grandmother by her side, a need that became more urgent when she had a baby girl in November.
“My grandmother cries on the phone when she hears the baby,” Tatyana says, adding her grandmother was like a second mother to her until her departure. “She feels she’ll never see her and I can’t travel with a baby so young. There’s the plane ride, then seven hours from Kiev to Kharkiv.”
Unfortunately, her application to sponsor her grandmother, Yevdokiya (Eva) Chernova, now 89, is still years away.
All sponsors of family-class immigrants are processed at the Centralized Process Region in Mississauga, Ont. But while it takes only 37 days to assess an applicant wishing to sponsor a spouse or child, it takes 42 months to assess someone wanting to bring over a parent or grandparent, a delay that has more than doubled over the past decade. CIC is currently processing applications received in Sept. 2007.
Only once the sponsor has been approved, however, do they move on to Step 2 of the process, assessing the sponsoree. According to CIC, it will take 27 months to assess an applicant from Ukraine, the final test being the medical exam. (Applications for permanent residence will not be accepted if the person’s health would cause excessive demand on health or social services in Canada.) But at the Kiev office of CIC, where Chernova travelled overnight to make her application, visa targets for parents and grandparents have been slashed from 440 in 2010 to 25 in 2011.
Fraser said parents and grandparents waiting abroad can apply for visitor’s visas in the meantime.
Chernova’s application for a visitor’s visa has been denied, however, on the basis that she might choose to stay in Canada illegally after the visa expires to be with her family. There is no way to prove that, of course, or to disprove it, CIC told her.
Up in Park Extension, one of the most ethnically diverse neighbourhoods in the country, and a traditional landing pad for newcomers, Justin Trudeau is vigorously campaigning for a second term.
The “new-Canadian voter” centralized in urban Canada, is the group most affected by the immigrant parents issue, and it could have a big impact on the outcome of the election.
It’s no surprise that both Liberals and Conservatives are pledging their allegiance to this core block.
Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who parachuted into Vancouver on Thursday to watch the World Cup Cricket match with about 100 Indo-Canadians, has been unavailable to comment on the issue of visas.
But in Little India, Trudeau, as Liberal Immigration critic, says he hears the same complaints from his constituents all the time: People are discouraged and despondent about not being able to bring their parents or grandparents over, as permanent residents or visitors.
There are no official figures available for the number of parents or grandparents refused visitor’s visas. But Trudeau says that anecdotal evidence suggests the Conservative government has consistently reduced the number of multiple-entry visas given out abroad – or is for some reason targeting his riding.
These parents and grandparents are unlikely to either claim refugee status, or work under the table, and they will live with their children, not at Shady Acres down the street, he said.
The cuts to visas awarded at the New Delhi mission in particular, from 4,500 in 2010 to 2,500 in 2011, have hit hard in Little India, where many a campaign event is held.
“Right now the wait times are at eight or nine years (for New Delhi),” Trudeau says. “With these cuts you’re pushing delays to 12 to 15 years. Most of the people will end up seeing a coffin before they see their grandchildren, to be blunt.”
The Liberal government had increased the visa targets to 18,000 in 2005, and increased the budget for CIC to process them, and were making it easier to get multiple-entry visas for people waiting in line. But the Harper government has reversed that trend.
“The central question is what kind of Canada are we trying to build? Obviously one that is prosperous and creates jobs, but also one that is more compassionate and generous and more respectful of the things we value in life more than money – like health and family,” Trudeau said.
He suggested most sponsors would be open to paying into a private health-care fund for their parents or grandparents, to avoid the drain on the health-care system.
“How we treat our elders and our new Canadians is so important for the long-term growth of this country.”
Richard Kurland, an immigration lawyer who has been watching the backlog of applicants expand over the last decade, says both the Liberals and the Conservatives are to blame for the bottleneck.
“The (Liberals’) 18,000 was a drop in the bucket,” said Kurland, the editor of Lexbase which first published the 2011 visa targets. “The Liberals knew how many people were already waiting and the target, and at that rate, the inventory would continue to grow and processing times would continue to lengthen. And they lured more people into the system by reporting “historic” waiting times, instead of telling people up front how long it would take if they applied today for their visa. Why? They wanted to avoid political criticism for lengthening processing periods, because they did not want to say no to their core support groups.”
Back at home in the Mercier district of Montreal, Tatyana is spending what is left of her maternity leave trying to find a way to get her grandmother to Canada. A lawyer she consulted told her that for $2,000 he could probably do for her what he’s done for four other clients in the same situation – secure a visitor’s visa for her grandmother on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Eva Chernova survived three years of a Nazi labour camp until she was liberated in 1945. She just can’t get a foot in the door in Canada.
But Tatyana doesn’t want to go that route. “I guess you can solve anything with money but that’s not fair either. Something is wrong with a system that if you bring in a lawyer you win, and if you don’t you don’t get anywhere.”
Her grandmother will continue to travel on the overnight train to Kiev to re-apply for a visitor’s visa. And Tatyana will keep trying to get an answer from CIC on when the sponsorship process will be finished, and on what she can do to prove her grandmother won’t stay illegally if given a visitor’s visa while she’s waiting.
A CIC customer service representative told her she couldn’t give her any information over the phone, and they don’t receive letters. Tatyana could write a letter to the government, she was told, but the government won’t necessarily open it.
csolyom@montrealgazette.com
2011 global immigration targets

Immigration by the numbers

MONTREAL GAZETTE APRIL 2, 2011

37 days

The time it takes Citizenship and Immigration Canada to assess the sponsor of a spouse or child.

42 months

The time it takes CIC to assess the sponsor of a parent or grandparent.

60,207

Number of family-class applicants (spouses, children, parents and grandparents) given permanent residence in 2010, down 15 per cent since 2006.

186,881

Number of economic immigrants admitted to Canada in 2010, up 35 per cent since 2006.

96,147

The number of foreign students allowed into Canada in 2010, up 33 per cent from 2006.

182,322

The number of temporary foreign workers who entered Canada in 2010, up 31 per cent over 2006.

24,693

The number of refugees given permanent residence in Canada in 2010, down 25 per cent since 2006.

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