When visa officers have concerns regarding a completed application, they often convoke interviews. The interview provides the applicants to address these concerns. In this post I hope to convey to applicants the basic procedural fairness rules that they can expect.
What Will Cause A Refused NEXUS Application
As I have previously written about in this blog, there are numerous benefits to being a member in the NEXUS program. Membership in NEXUS enables people to save time through the use of automatic self-serve kiosks at airports, designated lanes at the land border, and expedited security procedures at airports. Indeed, on November 13, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority started a pilot project featuring a new, expedited screening line for NEXUS members at the security screening checkpoint for flights to the U.S. in Terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson International Airport. NEXUS members who participate in this pilot are permitted to keep shoes, belts and light jackets on and leave laptops, large electronics, and compliant liquids, aerosols and gels in carry-on bags. For many people, one of the frustrating things about the NEXUS program is that the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA“) website is very vague as to what may cause Canada to refuse someone’s NEXUS application. It states: Canada’s Presentation of Persons (2003) Regulations, SOR/2003-323 (the “PoP Regulations“) are also not clear as to what may disqualify someone from being able to enrol in NEXUS. The Regulations state: 6. The Minister may issue an authorization to a person to present themself in an alternative manner described in paragraph … Read More
Appealing Loss of NEXUS Cards and NEXUS Application Rejections
Anyone who travels frequently understands the benefits of NEXUS membership. At airports, NEXUS members avoid long line-ups and save time using automated self-serve kiosks at eight designated Canadian international airports. The wait-times are much less than they are for non-NEXUS passengers. As well, NEXUS members are expedited through Canadian Air Transport Security Authority airport security screening lanes. This is the case even on domestic flights. Those crossing the US-Canada border by land enjoy a quick and simplified entry process using dedicated lanes. Wait-times are generally a fraction of what they are for non-NEXUS members. It is not uncommon for the NEXUS lane(s) to be empty while the non-NEXUS lanes have wait-times exceeding one hour. If you’ve never heard of NEXUS, you should read more about it on the CBSA website here. Considering all the benefits which membership in NEXUS provides, it is understandable why people whose NEXUS membership applications are rejected often seek recourse, as do people who lose their NEXUS. Legislation Regulation 6.1 of the Presentation of Persons (2003) Regulations, SOR/2003-323 provides that: NEXUS program (air, land and marine) 6.1 The Minister may issue an authorization that is recognized in both Canada and the United States to a person, other than … Read More
IAD Statistics
The Immigration Appeal Division has a webpage with useful statistics that can be found here. I have reproduced the data as of 2020 below in case the IRB for whatever reason moves the data. Appeals by Region – 2020 (January to December) All Appeals Filed Filed Stayed Finalized Pending (as of 2020/12/31) Allowed Dismissed Abandoned Withdrawn & Other Total Stayed Non-Stayed National 2,343 108 1,305 1,134 172 557 3,168 679 2,494 Eastern 544 43 314 342 37 134 827 226 580 Central 1,087 42 517 427 92 230 1,266 367 1,282 Western 712 23 474 365 43 193 1,075 86 632 Sponsorship appeals filed (subsection 63(1)) Filed Stayed Finalized Pending (as of 2020/12/31) Allowed Dismissed Abandoned Withdrawn & Other Total Stayed Non-Stayed National 1,244 0 852 570 122 471 2,015 0 1,234 Eastern 251 0 160 155 21 107 443 0 214 Central 540 0 326 197 67 192 782 0 639 Western 453 0 366 218 34 172 790 0 381 Removal order appeals filed (subsection 63(2), (3)) Filed Stayed Finalized Pending (as of 2020/12/31) Allowed Dismissed Abandoned Withdrawn & Other Total Stayed Non-Stayed National 410 108 262 197 30 38 527 679 514 Eastern 109 … Read More
Informing IRCC of a Pregnancy
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s acknowledgements of receipts for permanent residence applications generally contain some variation of the following statement: Please inform the visa office of any changes in your application (e.g. birth or adoption of a child, marriage or common-law relationship, new occupation or employer, change of address, change of e-mail address, change of immigration representative, etc). Please include a letter identifying what the changes are and any relevant supporting documents. If your documents are not in English or French, send a notarized (certified) translation with a copy of the originals. It is generally clear to most applicants that failure to do the above can result in an application being refused for failure to comply with s. 16(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (the “Act”), and s. 51 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, which together state: 16. (1) A person who makes an application must answer truthfully all questions put to them for the purpose of the examination and must produce a visa and all relevant evidence and documents that the officer reasonably requires. 51. A foreign national who holds a permanent resident visa and is seeking to become a permanent resident must, at the time of their examination, (a) … Read More
Paying to Wait to Immigrate
In the immigration world, the waiting game is a fact of life.
Borderlines Podcast #43 – An Interview with John McCallum, Canada’s Immigration Minister from 2015-2017
The Honourable John McCallum served as Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada from November 2015 to January 2017. A Member of Parliament from 2000 – 2017, he also served as Defence Minister under Jean Chrétien, and Veterans Affairs Minister, National Revenue Minister, Natural Resources Minister and as Chair of the Expenditure Review Committee under Paul Martin. As Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, Mr. McCallum led Canada’s effort to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees over a period of three months. He also increased the age of dependency from 18-22, repealed conditional permanent residency and reduced family class processing times. 5:00 – The resettlement of 40,000 refugees in Canada. 22:00 – The division of immigration repsonsibilities between IRCC, CBSA and ESDC. Should they be combined? 28:00 – What goes into reducing processing times. 33:00 – Abolishing conditional permanent residence. 39:00 – Mr. McCallum’s approach to being immigration critic towards the end of the Harper era. 42:30 – The Barbaric Cultural Practices Act and the Niqab ban. 44:00 – Caregivers 48:00 – Helping as Minister on individual files. 54:00 – What goes into levels planning?
Top Source Countries of Immigration to Canada
One of the interesting trends of Canadian immigration during the past five years has been the explosion of India as a source country, the flat-lining of China, and the decline of the Philippines. There has also been a steady increase in immigrants from Brazil, Eritrea, the USA and Nigeria.
Judicial Reviews of BC PNP Decisions
An interesting aspect of judicial review is that provincial courts show much more deference to provincial nomination programs than the Federal Court does of visa officers. Here are some key passages of two British Columbia Provincial Nomination Program judicial reviews. Chaudan v. British Columbia (Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training), 2016 BCSC 2142 This case essentially stands for the proposition that officers can look beyond an offer of employment to determine whether a proposed job offer meets BC PNP program requirements. Justice Bowden wrote: In determining whether an applicant met the criterion of PNP, if a decision maker relied only upon a future offer of employment, that might well be unreasonable. Not only would that ignore the factor of past employment over a nine month period but also an offer of employment in the future is not an assurance that the criterion will be met. Raturi v. British Columbia, 2017 BCSC 9 In this case Madam Justice E.A. Arnold-Bailey provided a useful summary of existing jurisprudence on provincial nomination judicial reviews. She wrote: Moving from more general statements of principle to specific cases more closely aligned to the present case, I note that among the cases referred to by the … Read More
Determining Whether a Marriage Is Genuine
Arguably the most important part of any spousal or common-law sponsorship application is establishing that a relationship is not encompassed by r. 4(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227 (“IRPR”). Regulation 4(1) provides that: 4. (1) For the purposes of these Regulations, a foreign national shall not be considered a spouse, a common-law partner or a conjugal partner of a person if the marriage, common-law partnership or conjugal partnership (a) was entered into primarily for the purpose of acquiring any status or privilege under the Act; or (b) is not genuine. Despite the importance of applicants demonstrating that their relationship is genuine and not entered into primarily for the purpose of acquiring any status or privilege under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (the “Act”) there are no set criteria which determine whether an application is bona-fide. As the Federal Court noted in Koffi v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2014 FC 7 (citations removed) It is well established in the case law of this Court that there is no specific criterion, or even a set of criteria, to determine whether a marriage is genuine pursuant to section 4 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. It is exclusively up … Read More