On January 27, 2016, the British Columbia Provincial Nomination Program (“BC PNP“) re-opened its Skills Immigration and Express Entry BC programs, and introduced the Skills Immigration Registration System. The Skills Immigration Registration System is an expression of interest system to manage BC PNP Skills Immigration application intake. It is similar to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (“IRCC”, previously “CIC”) Express Entry system, as only registrants who are invited by the BC PNP to submit full nomination applications can actually apply for nomination certificates. Simply meeting program requirements does not guarantee an Invitation to Apply for nomination. The BC PNP determined that an application intake management system would be necessary in 2016 as the BC PNP had to frequently suspend intake to its programs in 2015. On March 31, 2015, the BC PNP announced a 90-day pause on intake to its Skills Immigration programs. On July 2, 2015, the BC PNP re-opened its Skills Immigration program to limited intake, and the programs were full within 36 hours. On September 1, 2015, the BC PNP suspended intake to its Express Entry BC programs, and, with the limited exception of a 50 spot opening in November, the BC PNP has not accepted applications to … Read More
Judges, Referees, and Work Permits
Does a rodeo announcer require a work permit and a Labour Market Impact Assessment to give background information on radio contestants during a rodeo? The answer is.. it depends. Section 186(m) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (“IRPR“) provides that: Work Without a Work Permit 186. A foreign national may work in Canada without a work permit (m) as a judge, referee or similar official at an international amateur sports competition, an international cultural or artistic event or competition or an animal or agricultural competition; Amateur Sports Competitions and Events The Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC“) website states that for judges, referees and similar officials involved in an international amateur sports competition, the event should be organized by an international amateur sporting association and should be hosted by a Canadian organization. The distinction between “organizing” and “hosting” becomes important, and supporting documents needs to reflect this. The CIC website further states that events may include international or university games, winter or summer Olympics, etc., and that an “amateur” sports competition is generally defined as one in which the participating athletes are not paid to compete or otherwise participate in the event. The CIC website notes that there are exceptions to this, as of … Read More
Refugee Claimants and Fake Documents
A challenge that arises in many refugee claims where a claimant has used fraudulent documents to travel to Canada is the balancing of the need to determine a claimant’s identity with jurisprudence that cautions against drawing negative credibility findings from the use of false documents where refugee claimants have little choice but to to use false documents to leave their country. In Gulamsakhi v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 FC 105, for example, the Federal Court stated that: … this Court has repeatedly cautioned against drawing negative conclusions based on the use of smugglers and forged documents to escape violence and persecution. Travelling on false documents or destroying travel documents is of very limited value as a determination of the claimant’s credibility. This is partly because it is not uncommon for a person fleeing persecution to follow the instructions of the person(s) organizing their escape. Another, and perhaps the most frequently cited case on this principle, is Rasheed v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2004 FC 587, where the Federal Court stated that: Where a claimant travels on false documents, destroys travel documents or lies about them upon arrival following an agent’s instructions, it has been held to be … Read More
Performing Artists and Work Permits
I was recently asked whether an opera singer working in Canada for three months requires a work permit and a Labour Market Impact Assessment. The answer is.. it depends. Section 186(g) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (“IRPR“) provides that: Work Without a Work Permit 186. A foreign national may work in Canada without a work permit (g) as a performing artist appearing alone or in a group in an artistic performance — other than a performance that is primarily for a film production or a television or radio broadcast — or as a member of the staff of such a performing artist or group who is integral to the artistic performance, if (i) they are part of a foreign production or group, or are a guest artist in a Canadian production or group, performing a time-limited engagement, and (ii) they are not in an employment relationship with the organization or business in Canada that is contracting for their services. No Work Permit Required Examples of performing artists who do not need a work permit to work in Canada include: Foreign-based musical and theatrical individuals and groups and their essential crew; street performers (buskers), DJs; busking; a foreign or traveling … Read More
Environmental Overview – Rome
The following is a summary of the Environmental Overview of the immigration functions at the Canadian Embassy in Rome (the “Environmental Overview”). The Environmental Overview was prepared as part of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada 2015-2016 planning exercise. Environment The Canadian Embassy in Rome (“CIC Rome”) provides visa services to residents of Albania, Greece, Italy, Malta, San Marino, and the State of the Holy See. Economic turbulence in Greece resulted in an increased interest in Canada from Greek nationals. The economic crisis in Greece and Malta, as well as, the political and economic crisis in Italy continue to affect our programs. We continue to receive an increasing number of inquiries related to both our TR and PR programs. We receive approximately 2000 emails per month from persons inquiring about our programs. Our VACs indicate that they too have not only seen an increase in the number of walk-in inquiries on TR programs but also on PR programs. Clients are all referred to the CIC website. Modernization Since arriving this summer, new IPM has made several changes to better leverage GCMS and improve processing times across all lines of business. Backlogs and long processing times have been eliminated and Rome is back to well within all CIC published processing standards. … Read More
Environmental Overview – Port of Spain
The following is the Environmental Overview of the immigration functions at the Canadian High Commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka (the “Environmental Overview”). The Environmental Overview was prepared as part of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada 2015-2016 planning exercise.
The Canadian Visa Requirement for Mexican Citizens – A Policy which is No Longer Needed
During Canada’s 2015 federal election, the Liberal Party of Canada, led by Justin Trudeau, promised that if they were elected government that Canada would lift its visa requirement on Mexico. This campaign promise is reflected in now Prime Minister Trudeau’s mandate letter to John McCallum, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, which states that one of Minister McCallum’s top priorities will be to lift the visa requirement on Mexico. The decision by the previous Conservative Government of Canada in 2009 to implement a visa requirement for Mexican citizens was extremely controversial. It is difficult to determine whether it was a good public policy decision because of the numerous factors involved, each with corresponding benefits and costs. It is clear, however, that the implementation of the visa requirement did achieve the government’s primary objective, which was to dramatically reduce refugee claims from Mexican citizens in Canada. However, subsequent changes to Canada’s immigration refugee system, likely mean that the visa requirement is no longer necessary to achieve this objective. The Visa Requirement Canada imposed a visa requirement on Mexican citizens on July 14, 2009. The Canadian government stated that it did so to dramatically reduce the number of unfounded refugee claims … Read More
Supreme Court Issues Decision in Kanthasamy
On December 10, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its most significant immigration judgment in almost twenty years. Its decision in Kanthasamy v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) will likely result in visa officers assessing applications for Canadian permanent residence on humanitarian & compassionate grounds in a much more holistic and equitable manner than previously. H&C Applications People who would not normally be eligible to become permanent residents in Canada may apply to immigrate on humanitarian & compassionate (“H&C”) grounds. A typical H&C applicant is someone who does not meet the requirements of any of Canada’s economic or family reunification programs. As well, applicants who do qualify for more traditional immigration programs, but who are inadmissible to Canada, may also request (with narrow exceptions) that their inadmissibility be waived for H&C reasons. When visa officers review H&C applications, they analyze several factors, including the person’s establishment in Canada, their family ties to Canada, the best interests of any children involved, and what could happen to the applicants if their H&C applications are not granted. Prior to Kanthasamy, the criterion for an H&C application was whether applicants would suffer “unusual and undeserved or disproportionate hardship” if their applications were refused. Indeed, … Read More
Chris Alexander – The Good, The Bad, and the Barbaric
On November 4, 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed John McCallum as the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship. He replaced Chris Alexander, who had been the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration since July 15, 2013. Mr. Alexander was one of 60 Conservative Party of Canada Members of Parliament who lost their seats in the October 19, 2015, federal election. Had the Canadian public on election night not replaced CPC with the Liberal Party of Canada as government, or had Chris Alexander at least even won his own seat, it would have perhaps been difficult to summarize Mr. Alexander’s tenure as the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. However, at least one of the causes of the Conservative defeat was the Canadian public’s rejection of a party that increasingly encouraged what can only be described as intolerance and callousness. Both of these descriptions will likely be remembered as the defining features of Mr. Alexander’s term as Minister. It is difficult to write this because I do not know how much influence Chris Alexander actually had within his own department. It was often speculated by immigration policy observers that Mr. Alexander was running CIC under the subtle direction of his predecessor, Jason … Read More
Environmental Overview – Bangkok
The following is a summary of the Environmental Overview of the immigration functions at the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok (the “Environmental Overview“). The Environmental Overview was prepared as part of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada 2015-2016 planning exercise, and is current as of March 2015. Environment The Canadian High Embassy in Bangkok (“CIC Bangkok”) provides temporary resident visa services to residents of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. It assists in permanent resident applications where possible, as it is a sub office of the Regional Processing Centre based in Singapore. It is a small office and does not have the resources to undertake sites visits. Temporary Resident Program As with other visa posts, CIC Bangkok is reporting that E-apps “sap considerable resources” due to the time that it takes to process an E-app compared to a paper file. The fact that Thai police certificates take 4-6 weeks also significantly impacts processing times. The TRV approval rate is 87%. For study permits the overall approval rate is 65%, with most refusals being based on lack of medicals. The full report is below. Please note that this report did not occur with the affiliation of the Government of Canada, and the report was obtained through an Access … Read More