RHYME & REASON

Filipiniana New s - Rhyme or Reason 12 December 2008 On 28 November 2008, the much-awaited Ministerial Guidelines for the implementation of the immigration amendments imposed by Bill C-50 were finally issued.  The guidelines stated that for permanent resident applications submitted on or after 27 February 2008, only those that fall under any of the following categories will be processed:  those whose skills and work experience fall under the “38 high demand occupations such as health, skilled trades, finance and resource extraction” or “ have an offer of arranged employment or have already been living legally in Canada for one year as a temporary foreign worker or international student.”  Those applications which do not fall under any of these categories will be returned unprocessed.  These changes are meant to address the growing backlog in skilled worker applications which could take up to 6 years to process under the old system.    Howev...

Filipiniana News -  Rhyme or Reason 14 November 2008 In my immigration law practice, I often refer to spousal sponsorship applications as the “happy files.”  This is mainly because they are fun to put together, entails listening to and articulating the heartwarming love stories of the sponsor and his or her spouse/partner and organizing their various joint documents in the best possible way that will convince the visa officer of the genuineness of the marriage or common-law relationship.  Moreover, they are processed much more quickly than regular immigration applications – often, in a few months from sending the application, the spouse or partner is issued a permanent resident visa and landing documents. However, I have also been seeing a growing number of not-so-happy stories of refused sponsorships especially in cases where the applications were done by the sponsor and applicant themselves without professional legal assistance.  Although the marriage i...

Filipiniana News - Rhyme or Reason 15 October 2008 The Canadian federal election results have been released and we have another minority Conservative government.   Whether this is good or disappointing news for some, one thing is for sure: there are important lessons to be learned from the five-week campaign period that preceded the October 14 elections. First of all, as it appears that we are almost in the very same situation that we were in before the election was called, people are left wondering whether all the expense and effort was worth it.   From a financial standpoint, most will likely say no, as millions of dollars have been spent on campaign ads and election expenses with the end result of simply maintaining the status quo.  Why did we have to go through all that trouble and spend so much money in the process? From a more optimistic viewpoint, the campaign period served as a wake-up call not only for politicians, but also for the gener...

Filipiniana News - Rhyme or Reason 15 September 2008 Last month, I wrote about the Canadian Experience Class, and expressed the hope that the benefits from these and other changes to Canada’s immigration laws are truly well-meant and are not simply laid out to court people’s votes.  Coincidentally, an election call was recently made by the government.  As we know by now, the elections will be held on October 14, 2008.   This is a day when each and every Canadian citizen should participate and make their voices heard.    Here are a few reasons why going out to vote on election day is extremely important: A Citizen’s Right and Privilege Canadian citizenship law provides that citizenship can be obtained if one has physically resided in the country for at least three years within the last four years.  As a result, many recent immigrants could obtain citizenship after only having lived and familiarized themselves with the Canadian s...

Filipiniana News 14 August 2008 Citizenship and Immigration Canada recently announced details on the much touted Canadian Experience Class (CEC) within the current immigration system.  When the idea was first introduced a year or so ago, it was promoted as a solution to the problems relating to the unemployment or underemployment of immigrants whose credentials are not recognized in the Canadian system. In a nutshell, the CEC is a class of individuals who are eligible to apply for permanent resident status from within Canada provided certain criteria are satisfied.  Those who are deemed eligible to apply under this class are holders of study and work permits who have valid temporary resident status when the permanent resident application is submitted.  For study permit holders, they must have obtained a degree or diploma from an accredited Canadian educational institution after two years of full time study and must have obtained full time work experience w...

Filipiniana News 15 July 2008   Time and again, I receive inquiries on how to “convert” one’s visitor status into a work permit or permanent resident visa while here in Canada.   Many people tend to assume that once they are able to obtain a visitor visa to enter Canada, it would be much easier to work on their “papers” while inside the country rather than to apply at a visa office (i.e. outside of Canada).  It also does not help that the current processing times for permanent resident applications at visa offices like the Canadian Embassy in Manila for instance, is now taking about five years to complete.  Any quicker alternative to land on Canadian soil therefore becomes a much more attractive option. Depending on the individual’s personal circumstances, the above assumption may not necessarily hold true and may in some cases, prove blatantly false.   It therefore becomes a source of disappointment and/or frustration for many to realize t...

Filipiniana News 14 June 2008   Prime Minister Harper recently issued an official apology to the former students of native residential schools and admitted that “ this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country .”   Much like the previous official government apologies for the internment of the Japanese and the Chinese head tax, this symbolic act is an important step towards healing old wounds and in paving the way for achieving meaningful reforms and social justice.  While it is a welcome symbolic act, it should not end up as another lip service to the ideals of fairness and justice that Canada has always claimed to uphold. Pardon me for sounding cynical, but I cannot help doubting the government’s sincerity as it continues to perpetuate immigration laws and policies which are clearly against the very same ideals of fairness and justice that it claims to promote.  For instance, this recent apology...

Filipiniana News – May 2008 RHYME & REASON Last month, I ended my column with the following paragraph: “I have often heard CBSA officers justifying their strict enforcement actions as simply  meant towards “preserving the integrity of Canada’s immigration system.”   I am not sure that this objective is truly met if the sole action is to punish the victims while the culpable ones remain scot-free.  But that can be the subject of another column…” Please allow me to discuss this matter further. Recently, I was made aware of the case of construction workers recruited from the Philippines after having been supposedly sponsored by a Canadian company.  Upon arrival at the airport, two of the workers were not issued work permits on the ground that their Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) have expired.  They were subsequently detained at the Immigration Holding Centre until released on bail and under strict terms and conditions while their immigra...

Filipiniana News – April 2008 RHYME & REASON Misrepresentation in the context of immigration law can be a tricky concept.  Hence, some people are caught by surprise when found inadmissible to Canada on this ground.  They learn too late that some act or omission they were not completely aware of, or some seemingly innocent wrongful declaration could either result in a denial of their immigration application, or worse, the stripping of their permanent resident status. In Canadian immigration law, misrepresentation is defined as “directly or indirectly misrepresenting or withholding material facts relating to a relevant matter that induces or could induce an error in the administration of the act.”  The words “directly or indirectly” imply that the act of misrepresentation may have been committed by the applicant/permanent resident or by other people.   Unfortunately for the applicant, the unscrupulous act of representatives or placement agents ...

Filipiniana News  –  March 2008 RHYME & REASON As an immigrant and foreign-trained professional, it only seemed logical that I gravitated towards the practice of immigration law.   This is not to say that immigrants and foreign-trained professionals do not have other skills and interests;  I just felt that my personal journey and struggles encountered in the process of migrating to Canada furthered my passion and determination to assist others in this oftentimes tricky and complicated area of law. The process of applying to migrate to Canada appears to be a rather simple and manageable one.  The comprehensive Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website with all the necessary forms, guides and manuals detailing the application process, allows practically anyone who can read and understand English to prepare an immigration application package.   In fact, the CIC website emphasizes that hiring a lawyer or consultant is not requir...

Filipiniana News – February 2008 RHYME & REASON Last month, I wrote on family sponsorship in general.  In this column, I would like to deal more specifically with sponsorship of spouses/partners in particular, due to the increasing number of inquiries received on this topic. Despite the notoriously slow processing times for immigration applications, it is refreshing news when one hears of spousal sponsorship applications being approved in just a few months, as I did recently for one of my clients.   It somehow reaffirms one’s faith in a system where frustrating delays are the norm rather than the exception.  However, the downside of this is that some unscrupulous individuals try to take advantage of the quick processing times by entering into marriages of convenience (i.e. those entered into solely for immigration purposes) as a faster way of obtaining permanent resident status.  Aside from being illegal, this could seriously lead to more pro...

Filipiniana News – January 2008 RHYME & REASON   Family reunification is among the pillars of Canadian immigration.  This is the principle upon which the provisions for sponsoring family members is based.  As a result, CIC allows the sponsorship of spouses, common law partners, children, parents, grandparents and other relatives (in certain exceptional circumstances), as a means of obtaining permanent resident status in Canada.   Applications to sponsor spouses, common law or conjugal partners and dependent children are given top priority such that these could take only a few months to process as contrasted to the several years that it takes for other types of sponsorships and permanent resident applications to be finalized.   (For instance, a family class application to sponsor parents from the Philippines is currently taking three to fours years to process.)  If the submission package is complete and is able to address all the ...