Mar 30, 2012 | In the News, Legally Speaking, New Laws, Processing Times, Skilled Workers
On March 22 we posted an article in which we discussed what Citizenship & Immigration Minister Jason Kenney considered would be an option to reduce the current processing times and never-ending backlog. Today, we are continuing our discussion on this topic.
In releasing Canada’s Budget on Thursday March 29, the Department of Finance revealed that Immigration Canada intends to bar the door to applicants who submitted their Skilled Worker applications before 2008. We were under the impression that Minister Kenney’s ‘consideration’ was only such; however we are now beginning to understand more about the “Economic Action Plan of 2012”.
In a media release the Government of Canada is “proposing to return applications and refund up to $130 million in application fees paid by certain federal skilled worker applicants who applied under previous criteria established prior to February 27, 2008”. Canada’s commitment to transforming Canada’s immigration system to a faster and more flexible one will kill the hopes and dreams of thousands of foreign nationals who have been waiting for their applications to be processed for years, some waiting for more than 10 years.
In order to reduce long processing times and a large backlog, Citizenship & Immigration Canada introduced a new set of criteria under Bill C-50. The changes included a yearly quota of 20,000 applications in certain preferred occupations. A year later CIC reduced the quota to 10,000 applications per year. As a result less applications were filed, however the large backlog still remains and those in the pipeline are and will continue to wait for an indefinite period of time. Now we know that these applicants will never have their applications processed. They will be returned and money they paid will be refunded.
A class-action law suit was filed against the Federal Government by several applicants which has now grown to more than 600. We are expecting this number to continue to climb as applicants become aware of this news.
Economic Action Plan 2012 proposes:
- Taking further actions to strengthen the immigration system to make it truly proactive, targeted, fast and efficient in a way that will sustain Canada’s economic growth and deliver prosperity for the future.
- Announcing the Government’s intention to better align the Temporary Foreign Worker Program with labour market demands and to ensure that businesses look to the domestic labour force before accessing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
- Signalling the Government’s intention to support further improvements to foreign credential recognition and to work with provinces and territories to identify the next set of target occupations for inclusion, beyond 2012, under the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications.
- Proposing to return applications and refund up to $130 million in fees paid by certain federal skilled worker applicants who applied under previous criteria established prior to February 27, 2008.
Tell us what you think! We want to hear from you – comment and share this article below!
Did you submit your application prior to February 27, 2008? How long have you been waiting? How do you feel that your application will never be processed?
Mar 29, 2012 | In the News
Starting June 1, 2012, Canadians returning from a 24-hour trip can now spend $200 at the duty-free shops. This is 4 times the current limit of $50.00 per person. The Canadian Federal Government has tabled a budget which harmonizes Canada’s limits with our neighbour to the south.
This is the most significant change in duty-free exemptions in many years. This increase will help speed up cross-border travel and will help free customs agents to focus on more crucial border issues. Of course, any change must have some negative side to it – in this case Minister Flaherty says that it will reduce Federal revenues by $13-million in 2012-2013 and by $17-million in 2013-2014.
I think you can expect more Canadians doing more shopping now!
Mar 29, 2012 | Family Immigration, In the News, Permanent Residency, Processing Times
The government of Canada has decided to redesign the parent and grandparent sponsorship immigration program. With long processing times and an ever increasing backlog, Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) is now consulting with stakeholders, including the public on how best to solve these issues.
On March 23, 2012, CIC Minister Jason Kenney announced that he will hold online consultations as well as multicity in-person meetings for public comment. “Our government is fully committed to helping families reunite,” said Minister Kenney. “The feedback provided by Canadians will guide our government in creating a new program in which future applications will be processed quickly and backlogs will not develop. It will also help ensure the program can operate on an efficient and sustainable basis.”
In November of 2011 CIC announced the Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification. As Phase 1 of this plan, CIC placed a temporary freeze on the parent and grandparent sponsorship program; however, they did increase the number of sponsored parents and grandparent they will approve by sixty (60) per cent to 25,000 for the 2012 immigration year. Also part of Phase 1 was the implementation of the Parent and Grandparent Super Visa, a visa that will allow permanent residents and Canadian citizens to sponsor their parents and/or grandparents to visit Canada for two (2) years at a time, valid for up to ten (10) years.
Family reunification is extremely important for Canada and therefore a revamp of the program is necessary. The current pause until 2014 may help to reduce the processing and wait time as well as help clear the backlog, but unless the demand for parent and grandparent sponsorship to Canada is managed, both the processing wait times and the backlog have the potential to quickly grow again to unmanageable numbers.
Different options are being considered to address a number of questions:
- Should we try to ease the economic impact of parents and grandparents by, for example, requiring sponsors to be financially responsible for their parents and grandparents over the Parent and Grandparent immigration programs lifetime, applying a fee, or requiring sponsors to have a higher income?
- Should we redefine the eligibility of family members who accompany parents and grandparents by, perhaps, focusing on parents rather than on the siblings of sponsors, or by applying a “balance of family test” in which parents and grandparents would be required to have from half to the majority of their children living permanently in Canada?
- Should we emphasize a commitment to Canada on the part of sponsors by, for example, making it mandatory to be a Canadian citizen (and not just a permanent resident) in order to apply?
- Should we focus on special needs or exceptional cases by, for example, requiring that the parent and grandparent be widowed or have other exceptional needs?
What is your opinion on the above questions? Do you have any recommendations for the Canadian government on how to better improve the parent and grandparent sponsorship program?
Mar 22, 2012 | Processing Times
You might be pleased to find out that Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) has been speeding up when it comes to processing applications submitted within Canada.
Up until recently applications for visitor extensions, study permits, and work permits would take anywhere between two (2) to four (4) months to be finalized. Below is a chart which shows current processing times for all temporary status applications submitted inside Canada.
Current Processing Times:
Visitor Visa Extensions – 1 month
Student Permits (including extensions) – 27 days
Off-campus Work Permit – 18 days
Work Permit (for new employer) – 18 days
Work Permit (same employer) – 25 days
*Note that these are approximate processing times and can change at any time for many reasons. Applications submitted online (as opposed to paper applications) are processed slightly faster.
Mar 22, 2012 | Immigrate to Canada, In the News, Legally Speaking, New Laws, Permanent Residency, Skilled Workers
If you submitted your application prior to February 27, 2008 your application may never be processed. Minister Jason Kenney expressed that he is considering wiping out the current immigration backlog by introducing new legislation. This is similar to what New Zealand had done in 2003 to wipe its backlog.
In 2008, Minister Kenney gave priority to those applicants with specific work experience, and those who have job offers in Canada. This did help to reduce the number of overall applications, however it did not help those who applied prior to 2008. Those applications have been put on “hold”, if you will. The Minister said that at 80 per cent of skilled workers are being pulled from the backlog, 20 per cent are newer applications chosen under the new criteria.
As of September 2011, the current backlog includes 472,549 skilled worker applicants, 96,085 business class applicants and their dependants. The current worldwide wait for processing skilled worker applicants is approximately 8 years. Some applications are taking nearly 15 years to process.
Minister Kenney is considering creating legislation that would wipe the current backlog and allow for more timely processing of newer applications from people who can improve Canada’s economy. He proposed a “just-in-time” immigration system, one that would give me businesses a more important role in selecting immigrants. New Zealand created a “pool” from which it selected those applicants who benefited the current economy. Minister Kenney is planning to create a similar “pool” from which individual provinces could sift through applications for their own provincial nominee programs.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been waiting patiently for years for their applications to be processed. In October of 2011, 128 upset skilled workers launched a law suits in the Federal Court pleading the court to order CIC to process the dusty files. Now over 650 applicants from the following visa posts are involved: London, Vienna, Accra, Pretoria, Nairobi, Colombo, Singapore, Damascus, Bogota, Warsaw, New Delhi, Seoul, Port of Spain, Manila, Hong Kong and Beijing.
We’re interested to hear what you have to say about this. Comment below and share!
