Filipiniana News – March 2012
RHYME & REASON
Just this month, Citizenship and
Immigration Canada (CIC) has issued a number of press releases introducing more
significant changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and its
implementing regulations.
Changes to Address Spousal Sponsorship
Fraud
As a way of addressing the growing
problem of spousal sponsorship fraud and marriages of convenience, CIC has
imposed a five-year bar for sponsored spouses and common-law partners from
submitting spousal sponsorship applications in favor of subsequent spouses or
partners. The five-year period is
counted from the day that the sponsored person became a permanent resident. Thus, even if the marriage or common-law
relationship has broken down in less than five years from obtaining permanent
residence and the sponsored person has entered into a genuine marriage,
common-law or conjugal partnership with another, the former cannot sponsor the
new spouse or partner until after the five-year period has elapsed. This change took effect on 2 March 2012.
A few days later, CIC published
another proposed significant change to the program – the grant of conditional
permanent residence to sponsored spouses and partners. The conditional permanent residence will be
for a period of two years from the time that the sponsored person obtains
permanent residence in Canada.
However, the conditional permanent
residence will not apply to all sponsored spouses and partners but only to
those who have been married or in common-law relationships with their sponsors
for less than two years and who have no common children at the time that the
spousal sponsorship application was submitted.
Again, this change is meant to
discourage marriages or relationships of convenience that are entered into
simply for purposes of obtaining permanent resident status in Canada. This change was not without its critics
however, as it was seen as potentially causing serious prejudice to sponsored
persons who are affected by various forms of domestic abuse. To address this concern, the proposed change
has granted an exemption for the following situations: a) death of the
sponsoring spouse or partner; and b) situations where there is evidence of
abuse or neglect of the sponsored persons and their dependents suffered in the
hands of the sponsoring spouse or partner.
Changes Towards a “Fast and Flexible
Immigration System”
The CIC Minister had also announced
upcoming major changes to permanent residence applications under the federal
skilled worker category. Aside from
putting further emphasis on admitting those with skills that are in “high
demand” in Canada’s labour market, CIC plans to give Canadian employers a more
active role in determining which applicants deserve to be admitted as permanent
residents under this category.
There are also indications that the
current points system will likely be given a major overhaul in that language
ability will not only be given greater weight but that different competency
levels will be required depending on the type of the applicant’s
occupation.
The CIC Minister has expressed a
keen interest in attracting more investors and entrepreneurs who will be the
“next Steve Jobs” or “the next Bill Gates” and who will help boost the Canadian
economy by generating more jobs particularly “in the areas like technology,
energy and environmental innovations.”
All of these changes are meant to
fulfil the goal of creating a “fast and flexible immigration system” while
trying to reduce the tremendous backlogs at visa offices worldwide.
Changes to the Refugee Protection Program
The present government has also
recently tabled Bill C-31 or “Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act” which
is actually a revival of a previous bill meant to overhaul Canada’s refugee
protection system.
In a nutshell, Bill C-31 seeks to
fast track refugee applications from designated countries of origin which will
be determined solely by the CIC Minister.
There will also be very strict and speedy timelines within which refugee
claims will be heard and there will be restrictions on the right to appeal for
those coming from designated countries.
In an attempt to discourage human
smuggling, the Bill also proposes to detain refugee claimants for at least a
year, restrict refugees and protected
persons from applying for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate
grounds and grant them conditional permanent resident status in Canada for a period
of five years.
Although the intention of
discouraging false refugee claims is laudable, the overall effect of the Bill
in its present form is unfortunately perceived as an attack on real
refugees. Advocates are therefore
seeking reforms that will not cause serious prejudice to genuine refugees and
persons seeking protection from various forms of persecution in their homeland,
nor violate Canada’s avowed commitment to human rights as embodied in the
Charter of Rights and other relevant legislation.
The present CIC Minister’s serious
and diligent efforts to implement changes meant to address the problems in
Canada’s immigration system are greatly appreciated. However, it is hoped that these changes will
not only be based on economic considerations but will continue to reflect fairness,
respect and compassion, in accordance with Canada’s proud humanitarian
tradition.
The author
is an immigration lawyer in the GTA and
may be reached at deanna@santoslaw.ca.
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