On July 2, 2015, the British Columbia Provincial Nomination Program (“BC PNP“) re-launched with new program requirements and processes. The BC PNP remains divided into the Skills Immigration stream and the Entrepreneur Immigration stream. The most significant changes to the BC PNP include: Introducing an online application process with an electronic payment system; Streamlining the Business Skills and Regional Business programs into one Entrepreneur Immigration stream based on an expression of interest model similar to Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (“CIC”) Express Entry program; Capping the intake in the Skills Immigration program to 200 new applications in 2015 (Express Entry BC, the Health Care Professionals Stream, and the North East Pilot Project are excluded from this cap); and Requiring in the Skilled Immigration Stream that applicants with job offers in National Occupational Classification (“NOC”) B positions pass an English language test. Skills Immigration and Express Entry BC The Skills Immigration is divided into the following substreams: Skilled Worker Health Care Professionals International Graduates International Post-Graduates Entry Level and Semi-Skilled North East Pilot Project As well, the Express Entry BC stream is divided into the following substreams: Skilled Worker Health Care Professional International Graduate International Post-Graduate Most of the requirements to the Skills Immigration … Read More
When Procedural Fairness Requires a Fairness Letter
One of the most complicated topics in immigration law is determining when procedural fairness will require an immigration officer who is assessing an application to seek clarification in the form of a fairness letter or interview. As the Supreme Court of Canada noted in Baker v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) the the concept of procedural fairness is eminently variable and its content is to be decided in the specific context of each case. When a visa officer does not rely on third party extrinsic evidence to make a decision it can often appear unclear when exactly it is necessary for an officer to afford an applicant an interview or a right to respond to the officer’s concerns. However, there will be a right to respond under certain circumstances. Requirement to Provide Complete Applications Visa officers do not have any legal responsibility to advise applicants of incomplete or inadequate applications. In Kaur v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2010 FC 758, for example, the Federal Court dismissed a judicial review application of a visa officer’s refusal of an applicant under the Federal Skilled Worker Program. A visa officer determined that the application was deficient as it failed to include required information regarding … Read More
Substituted Evaluations for Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trade Applicants
There is a myth amongst potential Federal Skilled Worker Program applicants that their application is guaranteed if they can get 67 points. This is not true for several reasons, including the possible use of substituted evaluations.
The Bill of Rights and Canadian Immigration
The Canadian Bill of Rights, S.C. 1960, c. 44 (the “Bill of Rights“) is a Canadian federal statute that was enacted in August 1960. It is quasi-constitutional in nature. As it is an Act of Parliament it applies only to federal law. It also predates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which has largely superseded the Bill of Rights in importance. However, not all of the provisions of the Bill of Rights were reproduced in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 2(e) of the Bill of Rights provides: 2. Every law of Canada shall, unless it is expressly declared by an Act of the Parliament of Canada that it shall operate notwithstanding the Canadian Bill of Rights, be so construed and applied as not to abrogate, abridge or infringe or to authorize the abrogation, abridgment or infringement of any of the rights or freedoms herein recognized and declared, and in particular, no law of Canada shall be construed or applied so as to […] (e) deprive a person of the right to a fair hearing in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice for the determination of his rights and obligations. In Canadian National Railway Company, the Federal Court established that four basic conditions must be met … Read More
Differential Treatment for People from Africa
An unfortunate reality of Canada’s immigration system is that one’s country of citizenship can impact the likelihood of success in a visa application. When it comes to visitor visas, study permits and work permits certain source countries consistently have higher approval rates than others. The approval rate for people from Africa has been consistently lower than other regions for years. In October 2021 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) published a report titled “IRCC Anti-Racism Employee Focus Groups.” IRCC employees in the report stated what many already suspected, which is that applications from Africans are often treated with more scrutiny than elsewhere. Statistics The statistics for Africans submitting temporary residence applications are mostly abysmal. This is especially the case for Africa’s largest country, Nigeria. For example, from January – June 2020 the study permit approval rate for the top ten source countries of applicants to Canada was, in alphabetical order, Bangladesh (27%), Colombia (66%), India (51%), Iran (30%), Japan (97%), Korea (95%), Nigeria (12%), People’s Republic of China (64%), Philippines (57%), Vietnam (56%). For some of Africa’s other large source countries of applicants the rates were 18% for Ethiopia, 26% for Kenya, 20% for the Congo, and 54% for South … Read More
Program for Out of Status Construction Workers
The following are several Memorandums to the Minister about the immigration program for out of status construction workers.
Divorce of Convenience
Regulation 4.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227 (the “IRPR“) 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 foreign national has begun a new conjugal relationship with that person after a previous marriage, common-law partnership or conjugal partnership with that person was dissolved primarily so that the foreign national, another foreign national or the sponsor could acquire any status or privilege under the Act. This section is often referred to as prohibiting “divorces of convenience.” Jurisprudence In Fang v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2020 FC 851, Madam Justice Walker explained that regulation 4.1 of the IRPR “prevents a couple from appearing to dissolve an existing relationship to permit one spouse to obtain immigration status in Canada, for example through a non-genuine relationship with a Canadian citizen [or permanent resident], only to subsequently resurrect the initial relationship.” Madam Justice Walker also stated that section 4.1 is premised on three conjunctive elements to determine whether someone is caught by the provision. Justice Southcott succintly summarized the test as follows in Zhang v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2021 FC 744: the immigration … Read More
Permanent Residents Module
The following PDF is the Instructor’s Guide and Participant’s Guide for processing permanent residence applications.
Borderlines Podcast #64 – Artificial Intelligence Deciding Visa Applications, Part 2, with Aditya Mohan
Aditya Mohan is the founder of Robometrics, a company at the forefront of the intersection of artificial intelligence and human emotions like empahty. We discuss the increasing use of artificial intelligence in Canadian immigration legislation, its benefits, and ways to increase transparency and oversight. 8:00 – What are deep learning systems? 14:00 – How does the use of artificial intelligence intersect with the rule of law? 21:00 – How do machines learn? 24:00 – Benefits of machine learning and immigration. 27:00 – Ways to improve transparency. 41:00 – Artificial intelligence providing reasons for refusals.
Borderlines Podcast #63 – Artificial Intelligence Deciding Visa Applications, with Mario Bellissimo
A discussion about the increasing use of artificial intelligence to decide immigration applications. Mario Bellissimo is a Canadian immigration lawyer in Toronto, and the former past Chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s National Immigration Law Section. 4:00 How imprecise wording in the forms can result in misrepresentation findings where immigration becomes a game of gotcha. 10:30 How the laws of procedural fairness and discretion will need to be re-written as a result of the implementation of artificial intelligence and predicative learning in immigration systems. 13:30 How using AI to triage applications is itself a form of automated decision making and why is there a lack of transparency about this? 19:25 The history of the introduction of AI at IRCC. 28:20 What is Chinook and ? 36:00 How processing delays can lead to applications being denied simply because they are moot. 39:00 How does one learn what AI is being used or whether a decision was made by AI? 44:45 If AI flags a file as being problematic does that create a proxy decision wherein a visa officer will want to affirm the AI. 55:00 Is it possible that AI will lead to a better immigration system as the AI … Read More