Kyle Seeback is the Member of Parliament for Dufferin – Caledon. He is the author of Bill C-242, the Reuniting Families Act. Bill C-242 would allow a parent or grandparent who applies for a temporary resident visa as a visitor to purchase private health insurance outside Canada and to stay in Canada for a period of five years. On June 7, 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced that it would enact these measures through public policy. The changes will come into force on July 4, 2022.
Borderlines Podcast #70 – The Importance of Compassion, with David Langlands, a 37-year Officer at CBSA
David Langlands is a recently retired 37-year officer of the Canada Border Services Agency. He worked at land, sea, air and even mail points of entry. We discuss his career, interacting with refugee claimants and people fleeing dire circumstances, compassion, how he once found a zip-log bag labeled Antrhax in someone’s suitcase, whether all CBSA interactions with applicants should be recorded, and more. Borderlines · #70 – The Importance of Compassion, with David Langlands, a 37-year Officer at CBSA
Borderlines Podcast #69 – COVID-19 as an H&C Factor, Mandamus and FSW vs. CEC Priorities, with Raj Sharma
A discussion about the Federal Court of Canada decision in Mohammad v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2022 FC 1, how being a COVID-19 front-line worker is considered in the H&C context, mandamus, tips for litigators, and how to prioritize FSW applications vs. CEC. Raj Sharma is a Partner at Stewart Sharma Harsanyi in Calgary.
Borderlines Podcast #68 – The Economic Pros and Cons of Canadian Immigration, with Mikal Skuterud
Mikal Skuterud is a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo. The paper on TR-to-PR transition rates can be found here: www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogu…01202200100002. The paper on outmigration can be found here: www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019…012340-eng.htm. 3:00 – Does Canada economically need high immigration levels because of low-birth rights? 6:00 Is it short sighted from an economic perspective to focus on labour market needs and the wishes of people to have their parents live with them? 9:00 Is there a way to measure whether economic immigrants are increasing or decreasing GDP per capita? 19:00 What role should immigration play in resolving short-term labour shortages? 32:00 What would be the economic consequence if all foreign workers became permanent residents? 42:00 Is there data to support the notion that international students perform better economically in Canada? 53:00 How does the concept of utility play into macroeconomic planning in the context of immigration? 60:00 The economic integration of immigrants. 67:00 How should the CRS be re-weighted? 1:18:00 Is Canada becoming too reliant on immigrants propping up housing to support the Canadian economy?
Work Permit Processing – India
The following are five Access to Information Act results on work permit processing manuals in India. The first pertains to general instructions to visa officers who process work permits at the Canadian visa office in New Delhi. It is current to April 12, 2022. The second are instructions specific instrcutions for open spousal work permits. The third is instructions for caregivers. The fourth PDF is instructions for truck drivers. The fifth PDF is instructions are agriculture workers. The following is the IRCC Country Information Library for India.
Borderlines Podcast #67 – Is IRCC Systemically Biased Against People from Africa, with Gideon Christian
A discussion about Canada’s low approval rates for study permit, work permit and temporary resident visa applications for people from Africa. Professor Christian can be found on Twitter @ProfXtian. The IRCC Anti-Racism Employee Focus Groups Final Report referenced in this episode can be found here – epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/200/301/pwgs…al_Report_EN.pdf
Borderlines Podcast #65 – AMA – Processing Delays, IRCC Transparency, AI, Family Class Issues and More
We took to Twitter to get listener questions for our first Ask Me Anything episode. Will a gay refugee be deported if her sexuality changes? Does Deanna have any insight or information into what is going on with caregiver applications? Why are local visa offices not processing already approved express entry applications? How do you think realistically IRCC should change their workflow and file processing? Do we need to mention previous visa rejections in spousal sponsorship applications? Why can spouses from visa exempt countries easily reunited with their loves ones in Canada while those who need visas cannot? Why is there a particular hatred towards outland spousal apps? What do you think about the IRCC’s local 3.5 workers to every 1 Canadian employed at the VO’s? Is this appropriate? Why does artificial intelligence refuse so many applications? Why is the IRCC so secretive?
The Federal Skilled Worker Program
The Federal Skilled Workers Class (the “FSWC“) has traditionally been one of Canada’s most popular immigration programs. It is currently one of the three programs that is managed through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (“IRCC“) Express Entry program. To be eligible for the FSWP, applicants must meet minimum eligibility criteria, and also get a minimum of 67 out of 100 points in a selection grid. Minimum Eligibility Criteria The minimum eligibility criteria to the FSWC are that applicants must: Within the 10 years preceding the date of the application for a permanent resident visa, have at least one year of continuous full-time employment experience or the equivalent in continuous part-time employment the occupation that they identify as their primary occupation that is listed in National Occupational Classification (“NOC“) TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3; During that period of employment performed the actions described in the lead statement for the occupation as set out in the occupational descriptions of the NOC; During that period of employment performed a substantial number of the main duties of the occupation as set out in the occupational descriptions of the National Occupational Classification, including all of the essential duties. have completed a language test from a designated … Read More
WatchTower / Lighthouse / Integrity Tend Analysis Tool
The following is a summary of information about an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) tool called Lighthouse. Lighthouse is a prototype risk detection tool developed by IRCC’s Advanced Analytics Solution Centre (“A2SC”). Lighthouse aims to automatically identify and summarize historical risk patterns for IRCC officials. It can be used to support frontline decision makers or to understand historical risk patterns. As the Memorandum to the Director General, Operational Planning and Perfromance Branch memo notes below, it is essentially a data-mining tool that identifies and presents fact-based information. The pattern reports that are used in Lighthouse are intended to provide sufficient evidence of any individual pattern. All patterns are “self-contained” in that they are intended to stand on their own merit regardless of the rest of the system. Encrypted data and model information is currently being retained to allow A2SC to recreate a model on-demand and provide the underlying data to explain how Lighthouse patterns were produced and why applications matched against these patterns. In 2020 Lighthouse uncovered over 800 unique risk patterns, some of which led to identification of larger-scale fraud trends.