Category: Immigration Trends

Several Federal Court of Canada decisions affirm that a visa officer’s assessment of humanitarian & compassionate considerations will be unreasonable if the officer assesses hardship on the basis that a foreign national will reside in a country other than their country of citizenship.

In Hermann v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2014 FC 266, Justice Zinn stated:

I have very serious doubt that in making an H&C assessment an officer can assess hardship on the premise that the applicant relocate to a country other than his country of nationality, regardless of any mobility agreements between countries. If an applicant is in Canada without authorization and is to be removed, Canada cannot remove him to a country other than his country of nationality. Why then should Canada consider any other country when examining hardship to the applicant in a H&C application?

In Abdullah v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2019 FC 954, Justice McAffie stated:

This Court has held that assessing an H&C application with reference to a country where the applicant has no legal status is an error that renders a decision unreasonable. In Joe (Litigation guardian of) v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2009 FC 116 [Joe], the minor applicant was a citizen of New Zealand, although she had resided in China with her parents, who were Chinese citizens, before coming to Canada. In assessing the H&C application, the immigration officer concluded that the applicant was a Chinese citizen and assessed the hardship that would be faced by her returning to China.

Justice Maurice E. Lagacé found that the applicant did not have legal status in China and that the officer therefore erred in basing his decision on China as the country of reference rather than New Zealand.

 » Read more about: H&C Third Country  »

A Temporary Resident Visa (“TRV”) is a document issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) which shows that the person has met the requirements for admission to Canada as a temporary resident.  It is typically a counterfoil that is placed in a person’s passport.

Statistics

From 2011-2021 (February) the temporary resident visa approval rates based on country of citizenship were as follows:

 » Read more about: Temporary Resident Visa 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
43
111
96
9
14
230
226
146

Central
220
42
104
56
18
14
192
367
287

Western
81
23
47
45
3
10
105
86
81

Residency obligation appeals filed (subsection 63(4))

Filed
Stayed
Finalized
Pending (as of 2020/12/31)

Allowed
Dismissed
Abandoned
Withdrawn & Other
Total
Stayed
Non-Stayed

National
680
0
184
361
20
47
612
0
723

Eastern
179
0
41
89
7
12
149
0
212

Central
327
0
87
173
7
24
291
0
355

Western
174
0
56
99
6
11
172
0
156

Appeals filed by the Minister (subsection 63(5))

Filed
Stayed
Finalized
Pending (as of 2020/12/31)

Allowed
Dismissed
Abandoned
Withdrawn &  » Read more about: IAD Statistics  »

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.

 » Read more about: Top Source Countries of Immigration to Canada  »

Last updated on August 5th, 2021

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is increasing processing fees.

• Starting in 2020-21, permanent resident processing fees for Economic class applicants increase as follows:
  • Fees for principal applicants of the Economic business class (including self-employed, start-up visa, Quebec investor, Quebec entrepreneur, and Quebec self-employed) will increase from $1,050 to $1,575 (an increase of 50%).
  • Fees for principal applicants of the Economic non-business class will go from $550 to $825 (an increase of 50%). Note: this increase will not apply to fees for principal applicants and their families in the Caregivers programs, which will remain unchanged.
  • Fees for spouses or common-law partners of all Economic classes will go from $550 to $825 (an increase of 50%).
  • Fees for dependent children of all Economic classes will go from $150 to $225 (an increase of 50%).
  • The right of permanent resident fee will increase from $490 to $500 (an increase of 2%).
• Starting in 2022-2023, on the day of the two-year anniversary of the coming into force of these Regulations and every two years thereafter, selected permanent resident processing fees will be increased every two years by the applicable Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase, rounded to the nearest $5. The approximation assumption being that the CPI is 2% per year on average, but the fees would nevertheless be subject to inflation calculated cumulatively from the time of coming into force. The following prospective fee increases below are provided for illustrative purposes only:
  • Permanent resident processing fees for all economic business class principal applicants (including self-employed, start-up visa, Quebec investor, Quebec entrepreneur, and Quebec self-employed) will be increased to approximately $1,640 (projected) in 2022-2023,

 » Read more about: IRCC Increasing Processing Fees  »

On June 21, 2018 Bill C-46, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (offences relating to conveyances) and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (“Bill C-46”) received Royal Assent.

Bill C-46 is the companion legislation to Bill C-45, The Cannabis Act, which essentially legalized the possession of regulated marijuana for personal use in Canada.  Bill C-46 reforms the transportation related offences in Canada’s Criminal Code including drinking and driving, dangerous driving, fleeing the scene of an accident, refusing to give a breathalyzer, fleeing the police and operating a vehicle while prohibited from doing so.  Bill C-46 repeals all existing Criminal Code provisions regarding these offences and replaces them with offences that have slightly different wording and new maximum sentences.

The changes in Bill C-46 will come into force 180 days after Royal Assent, which is December 21, 2018.  On that day, as a result of the changes, many individuals who could previously travel to or stay in Canada will become inadmissible for serious criminality.  People who could previously enter Canada will now instead be denied entry.  Permanent residents who commit any of the above actions could be deported.  While the Liberal  government has indicated that it is aware that these harsh consequences are problematic, it has not proposed any solutions nor offered any timeline for when it may.

The government has, however, indicated that it is open to overhauling how Canada determines whether someone should be inadmissible for criminality. This is a welcome development, and one which hopefully lead to a system that considers public risk and individual offences, rather than blanket exclusions.

Understanding Criminal Inadmissibility

Section 36 of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act regulates when foreign nationals and permanent residents will be inadmissible to Canada for having been convicted of,

 » Read more about: DUIs to Become Serious Criminality  »