Category Archive

On July 1, 2011, the third set of Ministerial Instructions came into affect. Dubbed M-3, the changes introduced have certainly grabbed the attention of what one immigration lawyer calls the oligarchy of overseas consultancy firms that specialize exclusively in investor applications. Under the changes, a maximum of 700 new federal Immigrant Investor applications will be … Read More

On July 1, 2011, the third set of Ministerial Instructions (“MI-3”) came into affect.  MI-3 introduced significant changes to the Federal Skilled Worker Program (“FSW”). Cap on the number of applications to be processed per year reduced On June 26, 2010, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) announced that a maximum of 20,000 Federal Skilled Worker … Read More

If you are a multi-national employer looking to transfer an employee to Canada what is the minimum that you should be forced to be that employee?  Is it the minimum wage the employee’s current country?  Is it the minimum wage in the employee’s future respective province?  Or should it be more?  Should it be on … Read More

Macleans is reporting that Rumana Monzur, the UBC international student that was brutally assaulted and blinded when she was visiting her home country of Bangladesh, has been issued a Temporary Resident Permit to return to Canada.  The article states: The University of British Columbia student who was blinded by her husband during an attack in … Read More

Sing Tao newspaper recently published an editorial of mine stating that Canada still welcomes immigrants.  The article was a response to an article by another immigration lawyer stating the opposite.  The article was in Chinese, and stated that: 作者：穆偉士(Steven Meurrens)律師、王捷(實習律師) 最近有移民律師表達了對加拿大政府不再歡迎移民的顧慮。這會讓在加拿大移民部工作的官員感到奇怪，因為在2010年來到加拿大的永久居民和國際學生的數量創了新高，外國工人的數量也接近紀錄。 很多人對最近移民入籍考試的修改、續楓葉卡時要求730天居住義務，以及對聯邦技術移民和加拿大經驗類別要求的語言考試這三方面，非常關注。 在分析這些變化時，須要考慮的一個重要也是更深層問題就是，確保移民到加拿大的人在經濟上成功融入加國。菲沙研究所最近有一項研究表明，2006年的調查顯示加國移民收入顯著低於本地出生的居民。移民部引入這些政策是為了減少這種不能讓人接受的差距。 關 於引進標準化語言考試，值得指出的是，聯邦技術移民和加拿大經驗類別不需要先找到工作，它們是基於該移民能夠立即找到工作的可能性而設立的類別。顯然，英 文或法文能力是某個人能否達到這一要求的關鍵因素，語言考試提供了測試的標準方式。但是，如果你已有工作安排，而對語言考試有顧慮，那麼對你來說可能有其 他更好的移民方式。 關於強制730天居住義務，須要注意的是它的目的是促進新移民對加國的經濟融入。舉個極端例子，它避免人們在獲得永久居民身分 後回到本國，直到退休才回來。五年中在加拿大境內居住兩年的義務，包括為加國公司在境外工作或陪同加國公民在境外旅行，並不是過於嚴苛。並且，和公眾所認 知的相反，移民部和移民部覆議庭經常以人道主義和同情因素作出豁免。 關於對入籍考試的更改，我曾經說過我認為這些更改非常無聊，但不是基於它們增 強一致性或減少多元文化。我的立場是不明白為甚麼要答對九成問題。和永久居民身分相比，國籍帶來可以永遠居住加國和投票的好處。我不理解關於加國歷史、地 理和體育的問題和這些好處有甚麼關係。我們容忍在加國出生的人在地圖上找不到自己國家，那又何必在這些無關緊要的事情上測試移民呢？ 讓我們回到加 拿大如何歡迎移民的話題上來。過去幾年中，聯邦政府為國際留學生引進了校外工作簽證項目和畢業後工作簽證項目。獲得省提名移民的人數，因此有極大增長，省 … Read More

Effective May 25, 2011, the Canadian visa section in Taipei will no longer be accepting new applications.  It will cease operations permanently on June 17, 2011.  All Taiwan files will now be processed in Hong Kong. The decision is largely a result of the dramatic reduction in work following the removal of the temporary resident … Read More

On May 17, 2011 the Fraser Institute published a study titled “Immigration and the Canadian Welfare State”.  It was the first Fraser Institute study that I’ve read on a topic which I am very familiar with.  Unfortunately, by the time I had finished reading the report, I realized that I might have to approach their … Read More

In the final days of the 2011 Canadian federal election, many prominent immigration lawyers and academics released an article detailing reasons why ethnic minorities and newcomers should not vote for the Conservative Party of Canada.  The gist of the article was that the Conservative record on immigration has been dismal.  The article raised many good … Read More