Dear Readers,
It is almost 2010 and on almost the eve of the new year, I would like to reflect on some of the most significant events/changes that has happened to immigration law in 2009:
5.) In July of this year, Minister Kenney imposed visa requirements for temporary visitors from Mexico and the Czech Republic. The Minister publicly stated that these requirements were needed to stem the large numbers of refugees claimants who "may not be genuine" from these countries.
In my view, it is one thing for a Minister to impose visas on countries with high numbers of refugee claimants - Canada has imposed visas on almost all of the other high refugee-producing countries. It is quite another matter, however, for the Minister to state that refugee claimants from these countries are not genuine. Human rights abuses in these countries have been well-documented. In the last year, the Immigration Refugee Board has accepted 95% of the Roma claimants from the Czech republic as genuine refugees. Most of these claimants were fleeing Neo-Nazi beatings and attacks. For the Minister to broadly paint these claimants as non-genuine refugees presents serious issues of bias and disingenuity.
Bottom line: call a spade a spade - if you want to prevent refugees from coming to Canada by imposing visas, say so. Don't try to justify your actions by making the refugees the bad guys.
4.) In June of this year, CIC made significant changes to the Federal Skilled Worker procedures - see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2009/ob120.asp. One of the most important changes has been that officers are no longer required to ask applicants to submit further required documents. In the past, if they found that the documentation submitted by the applicant was insufficient, officers would give the applicants a second chance to submit further documents that they would need to pass. There are no more second chances. Any application with insufficient documentation will likely be rejected.
This will present serious issues for applicants who apply without proper counsel. Although the visa office has a document checklist, each individual's circumstances are unique and the documents on the checklist may be insufficient to satisfy the officer of the individual's qualifications. When one missing document can mean the difference between acceptance and refusal, submitting applications without the proper expertise will be akin to playing Russian roulette.
3.) In June of this year, MP Olivia Chow exposed shocking statistics about the refusal rates of spousal sponsorship applications for visa posts such as Hong Kong and Accra - almost half of the applications submitted to these visa posts are refused. See http://www.thestar.com/Unassigned/article/658649.
The separation from one's partner is one of the hardest burdens to bear. If one's application is refused, the entire appeal process can stretch on for a couple of years. In total, one could be separated from one's partner for 4-5 years throughout the entire process.
The problem, some may say, is that there are a lot of people who arrange fake marriages. Yes, this may be true - however, the officers must be trained to give proper interviews at the visa posts to determine whether or not the relationships are genuine or not. Simply speaking for a few minutes on the phone with an individual is not enough. Genuine applicants who apply on their own may be startled and not know what to say while applicants with fake marriages are usually prepped by the middle man to answer basic questions the way officers expect. Officers must be trained to smoke them out and not just blindly swipe away at any application that may seem suspicious. Doing so and causing genuine couples to be separated for years is harsh and indeed cruel.
2.) In April, a new citizenship law was passed that limits citizenship to be passed on by birth. According to the new law, children born outside of Canada to Canadians who acquired their citizenship through their parents (not by being born in Canada or through naturalization) will no longer be citizens.
Children who are adopted by Canadians outside of the country can also acquire citizenshp directly. However, for those considering international adoption, be wary of this process. If your child enters Canada as a permanent resident and then applies for citizenship through the naturalization process, your child will have the same rights to pass on their citizenship as if they were born in Canada. If you choose to have your child acquire citizenship without going through the permanent resident process, your child will not be able to pass on their citizenship to their children. The difference in the paperwork that is filed can mean a difference in the citizenship rights of your grandchildren.
1.) In October, Minister Kenney proposed regulation changes to "strengthen the protection of temporary foreign workers". One of the most controversial parts of the regulatory changes is a 6 year ban on workers from obtaining another work permit once they have worked in Canada for 4 years.
In my view, there is no explanation possible for imposing a 6-year ban other than to prevent the workers from being able to stay in Canada on a permanent basis. We are moving towards a system of two-tiered residents that is inconsistent with our heritage as an immigration country. If these regulations pass, then we are moving towards a system where we use foreign workers to work in jobs that Canadians are reluctant to do, to be paid wages and work in conditions that we would not accept, and then to ship them back to their countries because we are saying that they are not people we would want to stay in our country and be a part of our communities. This is not the Canada that I want. I do not believe that this is a country that most Canadians want.
Dear readers, join us in the new year as we examine and discuss these and other issues. Immigration law and policy shapes the future direction of our country and we invite you to join us as we examine the issues involved in the debate.
Happy New Year Everyone!
