In today’s Daily Reckoning, Dan Denning analyzes the age demographics of numerous Western countries to determine the attractiveness of government treasuries. He summarizes the relationship between aging countries and government finances as follows: Through either low immigration or low birth rates, or a combination of both, aging countries face some grim demographic math. Pension (private and public) pensions are likely to increase even as the tax base shrinks. Taxes go up on younger people. But government borrowing probably increases too, unless benefits get cut. If the borrowing is not from domestic savings (where it would then NOT go to private enterprise) it must be done on global markets at whatever the market price for money is. Mr. Denning presents numerous US Census Bureau charts showing population tendencies for certain Western countries (and Iran). I have reproduced some of these to analyze how Canada compares to other Western countries. The charts show that the anglophone nations tend to not have as noticeable an aging pattern as other developed nations (in this case Italy and Japan). This suggests that our pension “crisis” will not be nearly as severe as what will be experienced in other Western nations. These nations have traditionally not … Read More
Singh v. Canada: The Charter Applies to Refugee Claimants
Singh v. Minister of Employment and Immigration) [1985] 1 SCR 177 was a 1985 Supreme Court of Canada decision that is to this day arguably the most significant decision that Canada’s Supreme Court has made in the area of Canadian immigration and refugee law. The Facts The Appellants were a mixture of Sikh and Guyanese individuals who sought refugee status in Canada during the late 1970s and early 1980s. At the time, the Immigration and Refugee Board did not yet exist. Rather, asylum claimants submitted refugee claims directly to Canada’s immigration department, who would determine whether someone was a refugee based on advice received from the Refugee Status Advisory Committee. If the claimant was unsuccessful, they could appeal to the Immigration Appeal Board. Both the initial claim and the appeal were based on written submissions, and at the initial petition for asylum a claimant would also be questioned under oath by an immigration officer. Applicants were not allowed to make oral appeals. Nor could they respond to arguments made against them by the Refugee Status Advisory Committee. The Appellants in Singh argued that the lack of a hearing violated Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Supreme Court’s Decision The Supreme Court of … Read More
Ministers Instructions Resulting From Changes to s. 25 H&C Applications
On Saturday, August 14, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC“) released Ministers Instructions regarding proposed changes to the Immigrations and Refugee Protection Regulations (the “Regulations“) that will correspond to changes to humanitarian & compassionate (“H&C“) applications under s. 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (“IRPA“) that resulted from the Balanced Refugee Reform Act (“Bill C-11“). The changes will impact H&C applications under IRPA s. 25, which provides that an individual who does not meet the eligibility requirements to apply within an immigration class may be granted permanent resident status or an exemption from any criteria under humanitarian and compassionate or public policy grounds. Prior to Bill C-11, s. 25 stated: 25. (1) The Minister shall, upon request of a foreign national in Canada who is inadmissible or who does not meet the requirements of this Act, and may, on the Minister’s own initiative or on request of a foreign national outside Canada, examine the circumstances concerning the foreign national and may grant the foreign national permanent resident status or an exemption from any applicable criteria or obligation of this Act if the Minister is of the opinion that it is justified by humanitarian and compassionate considerations relating to them, taking … Read More
When Will a Hearing be Necessary at a PRRA Review
On August 4, 2010, the Federal Court released its decision in Sayed v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2010 FC 796 (“Sayed“) The decision involved a discussion of many Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (“PRRA“) issues, including when a PRRA officer will be required to call a hearing. The PRRA is based on the principle of non-refoulement, and provides that persons should not be removed from Canada to a country where they would be at risk of persecution, torture, risk to life, or risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. Approved applications generally result in the same refugee protection afforded to persons whose refugee claims are approved by the Immigration and Refugee Board. PRRA is generally carried out through a paper review process. However, officers have the discretion to hold an oral hearing in certain cases, as outlined in s. 167 of the Regulations. This section states that: Hearing — prescribed factors 167. For the purpose of determining whether a hearing is required under paragraph 113(b) of the Act, the factors are the following: (a) whether there is evidence that raises a serious issue of the applicant’s credibility and is related to the factors set out in sections 96 and 97 of the Act; … Read More
Am I a Tax Resident in Canada or China?
A person who is a Canadian tax resident must pay income tax on his/her worldwide income. As previously noted in this blog, people who try to evade paying taxes in Canada on income earned abroad face heavy penalties.
Competing for Foreign Students
The Economist this week has published an interesting article called Foreign University Students: Will they Still Come? While the focus of the article is Britain, the same conclusions that it reaches apply to Canada.
PR Card Renewal Wait Times Continue to Increase, plus: Use of a Representative : 說不出代辦名字易惹官質疑
Less than three weeks ago I commented on the increased delay in processing PR Card Renewals. The processing time had gone from roughly 40 days in January, to 80 days in April, to 171 days on July 16th.
Canadian Refugee Board Member Offered Visa for Sex
The Toronto Star is reporting that Steve Ellis, a former Immigration and Refugee Board member, has been sentenced to 18 months in jail. He was found guilty of breach of trust and bribery after being caught on videotape trying to pressure a Korean refugee claimant into having sex in return for a favorable decision.
Student Partnership Program Expands to China : 中加學生合作計劃
The Canadian embassy in Beijing has expanded the Student Partnership Program originally launched in India to China. The program creates a special processing channel at the Beijing visa office for students destined to member institutions of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges, whose membership includes Camosun College, Douglas College, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and Vancouver Community College. Students using the program will experience a far shorter wait time than normal applicants, in some cases less than two weeks. The application form can be viewed here: http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/china-chine/assets/pdfs/immigration/beijing/documents/SPP_Application_Kit_2010_07_EN.pdf This story broke in today’s Ming Pao, both as a front page story, and as a small story with my comments here: 在技術移民難度顯著增加的情況下，加國駐中國大使館新推出的中加學生合作計劃，有望成為中國一般社會人士移民加拿大的新途徑。 移 民律師辛湉王(Steven Meurrens)指出，先到本地學院習得一技之長，又有實習經驗的留學生勢必更受加國移民部歡迎，只要符合規定，無論通過聯邦經驗類(CEC)，還是省 提名類別(PNP)移民均更易成功，因為加國非常需要這些能夠通過技術服務社會、能有效融入本地的青壯年，他認為SPP有望成為一個新的移民增長點。 留 學顧問丁方方表示，通過留學移民的途徑日漸熱門，許多私立學校亦以此招攬生源，但實際上這些學校良莠不齊，其課程更可能完全不符合移民政策的要求，因此 SPP計劃中的公立學院是好得多的選擇，它們提供多種多樣的文憑或證書課程，比大學更注重職業性和實際操作，兼有帶薪實習課程(Co-op)，有利於就 業。她認為，這對於有意移民的普通人，SPP計劃可能是個比技術移民或投資移民更可行的選擇。
Wait Times for PR Card Renewal Dramatically Increase : 申請人及律師炮轟 中國新移民遭歧視
The processing time for PR Card renewals has ballooned from roughly 42 days to 171. There are several reasons for this, including personnel reductions at Case Processing Centre Sydney, a higher than expected number of permanent residences wanting to renew their permanent resident card instead of applying for citizenship, and increased complexity of some of the files. I was quoted on this matter in yesterday’s Ming Pao: 不增人手 問題更惡化 移民律師辛湉王(Steven Meurrens)則說，移民部完全錯估了楓葉卡第一次5年到期後、仍未累積夠居住時間而須再更換楓葉卡的人數。他指出，2002年楓葉卡推出5年 後，2007年開始接受換卡，今年才是接受換卡的第3年，人數已多到令現有人力無法負擔的程度，如果再不加人手，問題只會更惡化。 辛湉王 說，楓葉卡更換的過程比想像中複雜，例如被派到國外加拿大公司工作的永久居民，必須盡可能繳足所有證明在當地居住的文件，由於之前有個案造假，移民部對派 駐海外工作永久居民的楓葉卡更換申請，調查特嚴格，如此均拖慢所有的申請進度。 Yesterday I also recommended to an individual who is a frequent flyer and whose PR card was set to expire in February that he start the application process now. He replied that this would cause great difficulties because he would have to turn in his existing, still valid, PR Card. This is not the case. From Immigration Canada’s website: If you are applying to renew your present card and: your card has expired, you should return it with the completed application for a new card or your card is still valid, you may hold on to it and return it to a CIC officer when you pick-up your new card at a local CIC office. If you are applying to replace your damaged card, you … Read More