Regulation 181(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations provides that a foreign national may apply for an extension of their authorization to remain in Canada as a temporary resident if: the application is made by the end of the period authorized for their stay; and they ahve complied with conditions imposed on their entry to Canada. Regulation 181(2) further states that an officer shall extend the foreign national’s authorization to remain in Canada as a temporary resident if it is established that the foreign national will leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay, holds a passport and is not inadmissible to Canada. Factors There are many factors that immigration officers will consider in assessing whether to extend someone’s status in Canada. These include: What is the individual doing in Canada? How long has the individual been in Canada? How long is the extension request for? Do they have a valid job offer? If so, are they able to perform the work? What activities has the individual done during their time in Canada? Are they earning enough to support themselves? Can someone else provide adequate support? Does the individual have the means and ability to either … Read More
Statistics – Temporary Residence Approvals by Visa Office
I was recently provided with Access to Information Act results that an immigration consultant obtained which lists for 2016, 2017 and Jan – Aug 2018 the number of applications finalized, the approval rate, and the processing time, for the following applications from every IRCC office: Temporary Resident Visa Study Permit Work Permit Electronic Travel Authorisation The results can be found in the embedded PDF below. Here is another PDF which shows the work permit approval rates by country. Here are the approval statistics based on province of destination. And finally, here are the work permit approval rates based on NOC. Finally, the approval rates for Hong Kong and China for temporary residence applications can be found here.
eTA Regulations Amended
On April 13, 2017 the Government of Canada introduced several regulatory amendments to the Electronic Travel Authorization (“eTA”) regime. The changes to the eTA program came into effect on May 3, 2017. Before reading about the changes, those who are unfamiliar with the eTA should read my previous posts on this topic titled ETA Regulations Announced and Electronic Travel Authorizations. In brief, the eTA is an electronic document requirement for visa-exempt air travellers to Canada, excluding citizens of the United States. Travellers who are visa-exempt must apply online for an eTA by providing basic biographical, passport and personal information. An automated system then compares this information against immigration and enforcement databases to determine if the traveller is admissible to Canada. The vast majority of applications are approved automatically, with a small percentage referred to an officer for review. It is similar to ESTA in the United States. Brazil, Bulgaria and Romania Effective immediately, citizens of Brazil, Bulgaria, and Romania no longer need to apply for temporary resident visas to visit Canada and can instead apply for eTAs if they have held a temporary resident visa at any time during the 10-year period immediately preceding the day on which they make their application or hold a … Read More
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
Canada Imposes Visas on Five New Countries
Canada has imposed visa requirements on five new countries. The countries are St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Namibia, Botswana, and Swaziland. In its press release the government stated that the reasons for the imposition of the visa requirement on these countries were to: Reduce the risk that individuals engaged in organized crime or the trafficking of persons could gain entry to Canada, and to address concerns over fraudulent documents. Address the issue of unreliable travel documents from St. Lucia and St. Vincent because criminals from these countries can legally change their names and acquire new passports. In some instances, people who were removed from Canada as security risks later returned using different passports. Refugee Data Of course, the unspoken reason behind any decision to impose a temporary resident visa requirement on the country is that the government is concerned that people will not leave Canada at the end of their authorized stay, and in some cases claim refugee status. Data from the Canadian Council of Refugees confirms that concern over refugee claims was likely a factor in imposing visa requirements on at least two of the above-mentioned countries. In 2011, the Immigration and Refugee Board decided, or claimants abandoned, 824 refugee claims … Read More
Canada to Promote Long Term Multiple Entry Visas
Good news to those who have complained (and there are many) that while they had no problem getting a 10-year multiple entry visa to the United States they could only get a 6 month-single entry visitor visa to Canada. On June 3, 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Canada wrote an e-mail to all embassies abroad. The e-mail encourages embassies to issue long term multiple-entry visas wherever possible, especially for those who are already in the permanent resident (PR) queue and business travelers. Recently re-iterated in an Operational Bulletin, CIC has specifically instructed that such visas should be issued for as long a validity period as possible. Immigration guidelines states that the maximum validity period of a multiple entry visa is for the validity of an applicant’s passport, minus one month. According to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada e-mail, embassies should issue multiple-entry visas up to the expiry of an applicant’s passport where appropriate, and even cites the example of the 10-year multiple entry visa as an appropriate example. Indeed, the Operational Bulletin specifically notes that “the Department is moving towards the issuance of long term multiple-entry visas as the norm.” It then goes on to add teeth to that statement, instructing … Read More
The Mexican Visa Requirement to Visit Canada
On July 14, 2009, the Canadian government introduced a Temporary Resident Visa (“TRV”) requirement for Mexican nationals. The decision was and continues to be extremely controversial. Mexico responded by slapping a visa requirement on Canadian diplomats. During the 2011 Federal Election campaign, the Liberal Party promised to revoke the visa requirement. On May 9, 2011, the Globe and Mail featured an editorial titled “The Visa for visiting Mexicans has run its course.” I believe that once Bill C-11 is in full affect, the costs of the TRV requirement will far outweigh its benefits, if they do not already. Acknowledging the Success of the TRV Requirement There is no question that the TRV requirement has reduced the number of refugee claimants from Mexico. In the first three months of 2009, 2,757 Mexicans applied for refugee status. During the same period in 2010 the number was 384. The acceptance rate, which was always low, continues to hover at around 10%. The Inconvenience to Travelers is Massive While the TRV requirement has reduced the number of Mexican refugee claimants, it has also greatly inconvenienced tens of thousands of Mexicans, and deterred many hundreds of thousands more from coming to Canada. In 2010, the … Read More
Visa Requirement Removed for Taiwan
Effective November 22, 2010, holders of ordinary Taiwan passports that contain a personal identification number and are issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan will no longer require a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) to visit Canada.
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