Immigration Canada

Moving to a Fast, Flexible Just-in-Time Immigration System

Cic ipn 1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Toronto, November 2, 2012 — Today, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced that by the end of 2013, Canada’s immigration system will be transformed from one that was plagued by backlogs into one that is fast, flexible, and responsive to the labour market.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced today it will admit up to 55,300 persons in the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) category in 2013. Combined with previous actions taken to manage the backlog, this means by the end of 2013 we will be able to process new applications as they are received – a “just in time” system – and aim to process them in less than a year, instead of up to eight years under the old FSWprogram. In addition, CIC expects to clear the FSW applications received to date by the end of 2014, three years earlier than originally expected.

This will allow for the introduction of an Expression of Interest (EOI) system to be put in place for FSW and possibly other economic immigration streams. CIC is moving to a just-in-time system that recruits people with the right skills to meet Canada’s labour market needs, fast tracks their applications, and gets them working in a period of months, instead of years.

“The Government’s number one priority remains the economy and job growth,” said Minister Kenney. “Immigration backlogs are detrimental to our ability to attract the world’s top talent. With the decisive actions we’ve taken to tackle the backlog, we will finally be able to select immigrants who better meet the needs of the Canadian labour market. We will aim to process their applications in less than 12 months.”

The volume of FSW applications has been a longstanding dilemma, since the number of applications received inevitably exceeded the space available within the Immigration Levels Plan each year. As a result, wait times in the FSW program were as high as eight years.

Over the past few years, CIC has taken concrete measures to tackle this problem, including the following:

Under the 2008 Action Plan for Faster Immigration, CIC began to limit FSWapplication intake to priority occupations.
In 2010, the Department added caps to the number of new applications.
In June 2012, the Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act eliminated most of the remaining FSW applications received before February 27, 2008.
In July 2012, CIC issued a temporary pause on new FSW applications, excluding candidates with a qualifying job offer or those applying under the PhD stream.

Taken together, these efforts have dramatically reduced the total number of people waiting in the FSW backlog from a height of 640,000 people in 2008 to approximately 100,000 today, even with new applications received since the 2008 Action Plan.

“By tackling the backlog to make way for a faster, more flexible just-in-time immigration system, newcomers to Canada will be able to fully participate in the economy more quickly,” said Minister Kenney. “Immigration plays a vital role in our country’s long-term prosperity. By improving our economic immigration system, we can ensure that Canada is competitive on the world stage.”

In 2013, CIC plans to admit between 53,500 to 55,300 Federal Skilled Workers, including their spouses and dependants. CIC intends to lift the current pause on FSW applications in 2013, when the new selection criteria are expected to take effect. The final regulatory changes will be available in the Canada Gazette later this year.

Canada's skilled immigrants backlog to be eliminated soon

Canada's Conservative government says a backlog of skilled immigrant applications, which has clogged the system for years, is declining rapidly and will be eliminated by the end of next year.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says about 100,000 applications are still in the system, down from 640,000 just a few years ago.

Kenney told a news conference that the eradication of the wait list means a new immigrant labour pool from which employers and provinces can choose will be established ahead of schedule.

The backlog was culled by a measure in last spring's contentious omnibus bill, which threw out 280,000 applications filed prior to 2008, a controversial move that saw the federal government refund $130 million in application fees.

Without flushing the system, it was estimated the backlog wouldn't be cleared until 2017, but the decision is being challenged in court by lawyers who plan to launch a class-action lawsuit on behalf of people whose applications were expelled.

Kenney says that by the end of 2013, the government will be able to process skilled immigrant applications within a year, rather than eight years, which had become the norm.

He says the reforms are "finally unshackling Canada from the outrageous backlogs and wait times of the past," and will bring people who are likely to find and keep good jobs into the country.

"The system had become totally dysfunctional. It was broken, and it was getting worse," Kenney said. "Strong action was necessary."

The Conservatives in 2008 imposed limits on the number of skilled immigrant applications they would accept, and with that action alone, Kenney says, the backlog was sliced in half.

Kenney has also announced that Canada plans to admit between 53,500 and 55,300 new Canadians in 2013 under the revamped federal skilled worker program, which will be geared more toward accepting young people.

Overall immigration targets will remain frozen at between 240,000 and 265,000.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/11/02/pol-kenney-backlog-skilled-workers.html

New immigration rules could ease Alberta labour crunch

BY JASON VAN RASSEL, CALGARY HERALD

An opportunity to do advanced research in biomedical engineering lured PhD student Pierre Wijdenes to Calgary from France two months ago.
Wijdenes, 24, isn’t sure if he’ll remain in Canada when he finishes his research and his student visa expires, but a federal announcement on Wednesday has cleared the way for a greater number of highly skilled foreigners like him to stay as permanent residents if they want.
Wijdenes grew to appreciate Canada’s cultural diversity and Calgary’s proximity to the mountains during a prior internship in the city, and those things may yet play a role in getting him to settle here.
“The economic situation in Europe is quite bad,” said Wijdenes, whose research at the University of Calgary focuses on neurological implants that could help rehabilitate stroke patients or restore sight to the blind.
“There are much more opportunities here.”
With many sectors in Alberta continuing to grapple with workforce shortages, one labour market watcher welcomed measures designed to make it easier for employers to recruit and retain skilled people.
“It provides confidence for businesses and reduces their administrative burden,” said Ben Brunnen, chief economist at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced in Ottawa that the government is increasing the number of international students and skilled foreign workers who will be eligible to stay in Canada permanently.
The overall level of immigration will remain unchanged for the sixth year in a row, but the federal government is tweaking the makeup of newcomers who will be granted permanent residency.
Kenney announced Canada would admit between 240,000 and 265,000 newcomers in 2013, a target that’s gone unchanged since 2006.
However, there will be a significant change in the number of foreigners admitted in what’s called the Canadian Experience Class: a stream that fast-tracks highly-skilled immigrants who have prior experience studying or working in Canada.
The government intends to admit 10,000 permanent residents in that category in 2013, a dramatic increase from about 7,000 admitted in the Canada Experience Class in 2012 and significantly higher than the 2,500 admissions in 2009.
“They will complete their studies with degrees or diplomas that will be recognized by employers, they will have perfected or improved their English or French language skills and it will be very easy for them to find successful employment in Canada. Many of these young people will represent, we hope, the future of Canada’s large and generous immigration program,” Kenney told reporters in Ottawa.
Expanding the Canada Experience Class isn’t a cure-all, but Brunnen said it will make a difference.
“It helps employers keep the immigrants they’re attracting to Canada and it adds predictability from a workforce planning perspective,” he said.
Chamber of Commerce members have ranked labour shortages as one of their top concerns, said Brunnen, with the service industry being one of the most dependent on temporary foreign workers.

Brunnen noted the Canada Experience Class doesn’t cover the lower-skilled jobs typically needed in the service industry, but Brunnen said there are still many sectors that stand to benefit.
“We’d like to see (the government) expand it in the foreseeable future,” he said.
The Canadian Association of Petroluem Producers has predicted the industry will spend approximately $55 billion on capital projects this year, making it particularly hungry for skilled tradespeople.
A Calgary company that manufactures steel tanks and structures for the petrochemical industry said it has formed close bonds with institutions like SAIT, so it can hire locally trained workers, but it must also look abroad to meet its needs.
“We really support the trades and we want to build it in Canada for the future, but the reality is, that takes time,” said Tom McCaffery, general manager of Plains Fabrication and Supply.
Companies invest money training foreign workers, who in turn often make personal sacrifices in pursuit of employment in Canada.
Increasing the opportunities for temporary foreign workers to stay in Canada is a good way of rewarding employers and employees for taking those risks, said McCaffery.
“It means our money is well spent and we’ve invested in someone for ourselves and for the country,” he said.

With files from Tobi Cohen, Postmedia News
jvanrassel@calgaryherald.com
Twitter:@JasonvanRassel

Till marriage fraud do us part: More changes to Canada's immigration rules

MARIA KARI

| NOVEMBER 1, 2012

Fresh off efforts cracking down on "bogus refugees," Immigration Minister Jason Kenney turned his eye to "bogus unions," declaring on October 25, 2012 that the jig on marriage fraud is over.

For several years now the Conservative majority has deemed marriage fraud a serious threat -- one that has steadily moved from calamity to catastrophe, attacking the very integrity of our immigration system.

In response to this perceived crisis, Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) has made amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, introducing a probationary period for sponsored partners (akin to Australia, the U.S. and the UK).

These amendments -- which are an expensive endeavor implemented on the basis of minimal and unconvincing evidence -- threaten to open up a new front; one that will disproportionately impact and expose sponsored partners to abuse and violence.

Historically, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), Canadians enjoy the right to sponsor and bring to Canada foreign spouses, common law and conjugal partners. Even though processing times for spousal visas have continuously increased (due to global politics and bureaucratic inefficiencies), prior to this year once a marriage application was deemed legitimate the sponsored partner would receive permanent residence upon arrival at a Canadian airport. There would be no further requirements.

But as of October 25 a sponsored partner, who has been in a relationship of two years or less and has no children in common with their sponsor, will be required to live with the sponsor in a legitimate marriage for a probationary period of two years.

Failure to do so could result in revocation of the sponsored partner's PR status and the possibility of criminal charges and deportation. A further criticism is that making it past the two-year mark would not eliminate the threat of removal, as CIC would still have power to instigate removal proceedings if it believed a person had previously breached the condition.

The question then becomes: just how dire is the threat of marriage fraud in Canada? The evidence remains unimpressively and unacceptably unclear.

Surely, abuses to the spousal visa system are a reality. A 2010 CBC documentary estimated that over a thousand cases are reported by victims of marriage fraud. This necessarily means offering protection to Canadian citizens and permanent residents who face exploitation by foreign nationals seeking a quick and relatively easy route into Canada.

But the reality is that the little evidence available doesn't support the doomsayers, and certainly doesn't warrant wholesale changes to the immigration system.

Of the 46,300 immigration applications processed in 2010, 84 per cent were approved and 16 per cent were refused. The Canada Gazette reports that "most" of the applications rejected were done so on the basis of them being fraudulent relationships. "Most" is simply not convincing. And it is very well possible that of the 84 per cent deemed legitimate some were in fact a sham, and a great number of the rejected were in fact genuine.

Along with a lack of evidence the government admits that the quantitative costs of a new system greatly exceed any benefit. Estimates indicate that the first decade of the program will cost $11 million. The benefits -- stemming from a reduction in fraudulent applications -- will largely lag behind at a measly $5.5 million.

Acknowledging this financial imbalance, the government has asked Canadians to keep in mind the qualitative benefits. Eleven million dollars is the price to pay for a shinier, oiled and greased new immigration apparatus, one that is not seen as a "soft target" by fraudsters.

These costs become more difficult to justify when taking into account the fact that Canada's visa offices abroad are well equipped as is, and already spend considerable time and resources in screening relationships. Additionally, existing Canadian law already has provisions in place to (sometimes criminally) charge immigrants for application misrepresentation.

Others have criticized the new law as just another way of reducing the number of family-class immigrations. In the 1980s half of the total migration into Canada was under this class. Where it was once half the number of incoming immigrants, the family-class category now makes up hardly a quarter. And even though, on paper, family reunification remains a core objective of the IRPA, statistics tell a different story.

Family-class immigrants have come to be seen as burdensome, unskilled and less well-off category of new arrivals. The recent amendments would only exacerbate the situation by adding suspicion to an already messy brew of biases.

The changes -- implemented after two years of information gathering, which included a national online questionnaire and town hall meetings held by Kenney -- risk yet another storm of vituperation.

While the government has been busy painting portraits of an immigration system torn apart by rampant abuse, they seem to have missed the individual position of suffering and injustice. Conditional permanent residence and its accompanying threat of deportation and criminal charges will profoundly impact the power dynamics in a relationship between the sponsor and sponsored.

According to the Canadian Council for Refugees, abused partners -- often women -- are further victimized by the amendments, which also negatively impact children facing separation from parents exposed to deportation proceedings. Essentially, the new law wholly places power in the hands of the sponsor, who can use the probationary period as a tool for manipulation.

While the Regulations exempt victims of abuse and neglect, the abused partner still faces several obstacles; these include shouldering the burden of proof of abuse, information and language barriers, and paying for providing evidence of abuse and cohabitation.

There is simply no evidence a probationary period will deter marriage fraud. Sadly, the recent trend in Canada's immigration policies has left our nation as a shimmering shadow of its once best self. And in addressing this troubling phenomenon, neither complacency nor panic were the right response. Substantiated evidence, proportionality and evenness were dispensed with when these changes were made.

Now, in the words of Kenney, it remains to be seen "in the barrel, how many bad apples [really] are there."

Maria Kari is a writer and law student from Vancouver, B.C. Follow her on Twitter: @mariakari1414.

Source: http://rabble.ca/news/2012/11/till-marriage-fraud-do-us-part

LifeView: HSBC study reveals Canada's warm welcome

HSBC Bank Canada headquarters in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

immigrants to Canada share their arrival experiences

VANCOUVER, Nov. 1, 2012 /CNW/ - Canada may be known for cold weather, but 82% of new immigrants reveal they felt a warm welcome on arrival here. Montrealers, healthcare professionals and banks/financial institutions are cited as the most welcoming - and 84% of new immigrants confirm they would recommend immigrating here to family and friends.

These are some of the findings of HSBC Bank Canada's New to Canada survey released today, which polled over 600 new immigrants across the country regarding their relocation experience.

The study reveals that, while Canada offers a friendly reception along with quality of life and natural beauty, the arrival and adjustment process is not without its challenges.

Finding employment (62%), missing family (42%) and making friends (34%) were the top three difficulties faced. When reflecting on their experiences in settling their finances, respondents confessed they found it hard to understand Canadian investment options, secure approvals for loans, and obtain credit cards. When asked to share one piece of financial advice with other new immigrants, many said it would be to find a bank that enables you to manage your money both in and outside of Canada.

Betty Miao, Executive Vice President, Retail Banking and Wealth Management, HSBC Bank Canada, said: "Moving to a new country is an exciting experience on many levels, but it can be a challenge if you haven't prepared for your arrival in advance. In Canada, the financial institution that people first choose is often the one they stay with, so it's important for new immigrants to select the one that best suits their needs."

Other key survey results include:

Why Canada? Lifestyle (42%) and family (42%) tie as the top two reasons for choosing Canada - beating out professional reasons (27%), personal education (20%), children's education (15%) and financial reasons (17%);
Challenges: Employment (62%), missing family (42%) and making friends (34%) are more of an issue than the weather (29%) finding a home (18%) or adjusting to the language (18%);
City rankings: The most welcoming city was Montreal (89%), followed by Calgary/Edmonton (84%), Toronto (79%) and Vancouver(73%);
Friendly faces: Banks (86%) and health care workers (77%) were deemed the most welcoming groups. Work colleagues were next (67%), followed by school colleagues (55%) and prospective employers (48%);
What do immigrants like about Canada? Quality of life (78%) and its natural beauty and environment (73%) were more important than the people (42%) and education opportunities (39%);
What do they dislike? Over half (51%) pegged the cost of living as their top complaint. Interestingly, one in four (25%) expressed no grievance at all;
The international referral: 84% of respondents confirm they would recommend immigrating to Canada to family and friends overseas;
Financial advice to others making the move: Find a bank that can manage your money both in and outside of Canada was the leading tip (24%), followed by seeking a bank that will recognize your credit history (21%), obtain financial advice (18%), learn more about RRSPs (11%) and learn more about RESPs (6%).

Culture shocks: the biggest two shocks were the cost of housing and real estate (56%), closely followed by their education and training being undervalued (50%).

About the New to Canada Survey
The New to Canada survey was commissioned by HSBC Bank Canada in August 2012 and conducted online by Angus Reid Public Opinion. The survey investigated the arrival experience of 607 adult immigrants across Canada, who had arrived in the country within the last ten years. The margin of error which measures sampling variability is +/- 4.0% for the entire sample. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

About HSBC Bank Canada
HSBC Bank Canada, a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc, is the leading international bank in Canada. With around 6,900 offices in over 80 countries and territories and assets of US$2,652 billion at 30 June 2012, the HSBC Group is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organizations.