RHYME & REASON

Filipiniana News  -  October 2013 RHYME & REASON Amidst the public warnings and stricter government scrutiny of this class of immigration  applications, cases of spousal sponsorship fraud still seem to abound.  I have spoken with a number of Canadian sponsors who, after learning that their foreign spouses only married them for purposes of gaining immigration status in Canada, wanted to know how they can have their sponsored spouses deported.  At this point, the sponsored spouses have already been granted permanent residence and the sponsors cannot simply revoke the three-year undertaking to support that they submitted with the sponsorship application.  As much as they would want these alleged fraudsters deported immediately, they are disappointed to learn that the legal processes which need to be undertaken before the sponsored spouse can be deported from Canada can take a long time.  Meanwhile, there are couples in genuine, committed an...

Filipiniana News – September 2013 Due to the frequent changes in Canada’s immigration laws and regulations, it is not surprising that many people get confused with the various legal changes and their implications.  One common area of confusion relates to the immigration applications of parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens or permanent residents.  With the creation of the super visa, prospective sponsors of parents and grandparents tend to think that this involves the same requirements and will automatically mean eventual permanent residence for their sponsored family member. It must be noted that the super visa is a temporary resident visa which could be issued for up to a period of 10 years and may allow the visa holder to stay in Canada as a visitor for up to two years at a time.   This is in contrast to the regular temporary resident visas (TRV) for visitors which may be valid only up to the expiry date of one’s passport and would allow a visitor...

Filipiniana News  -  August 2013 Rhyme and Reason Despite a number of changes to the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) in recent years that were meant to improve the situation of its participants, there are still many caregivers who  fail to complete the program or end up losing their temporary resident status.  This is partly due to the fact that many of these caregivers are either terribly misinformed or have no knowledge of even the most basic requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and its regulations that are relevant to maintaining their legal status in Canada. Hopefully, the following review of the most basic provisions of Canada’s immigration law and regulations as they relate to participants of the LCP will help avoid further instances of caregivers inadvertently losing their temporary resident status while in the program and/or awaiting the grant of their permanent resident status: The initial LCP work permit issued by ...

Filipiniana column - JULY 2013 RHYME & REASON In the morning of 15 July 2013, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a major cabinet shuffle in which Ajax-Pickering MP Chris Alexander was named the new Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (C&I) while former C&I Minister Jason Kenney is named Minister of the newly created Ministry of Employment and Social Development (formerly Human Resources and Skills Development Canada).  It is interesting to note that Minister Kenney was moved to a department that is still closely related to the functions of his former portfolio, particularly in matters relating to offers of employment for temporary foreign workers and prospective immigrants to Canada.  This could mean a continuing slew of legislative and policy reforms consistent with those that he started in his previous posting and which could significantly affect the socio-economic landscape in this country.  It may be recalled that some four years ago, a...

Filipiniana News –  JUNE  2013 RHYME & REASON Citizenship and Immigration Canada recently posted a notice on its website which reads: “ June 11, 2013 — The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO) union is currently taking strike action.  PAFSO union members responsible for processing visa applications have been walking out of offices in Canada and overseas. Posted processing times for both temporary and permanent resident visa applications do not take into account work stoppages. Anyone applying for a visa should anticipate delays and submit their application as far in advance as possible . Contingency plans are already in place to ensure all offices remain open and are providing at least a minimum level of service. Priority will be placed on urgent humanitarian applications. CIC continues to closely monitor the situation .” This notice serves to highlight once more the fact that Canada’s  immigration system is ...

Filipiniana News – MAY 2013 RHYME & REASON When I wrote last month’s column, the list of qualifying occupations for the new Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) class had not been released.  Just recently, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced the following list of occupations which may qualify an applicant under the FSW class even without a validated job offer from a Canadian employer: 0211   Engineering managers 1112   Financial and investment analysts 2113   Geoscientists and oceanographers 2131   Civil engineers 2132   Mechanical engineers 2134   Chemical engineers 2143   Mining engineers 2145   Petroleum engineers 2144   Geological engineers 2146   Aerospace engineers 2147   Computer engineers (except software engineers/designers) 2154   Land surveyors 2174   ...

Filipiniana News – April 2013 RHYME & REASON On 1 July 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) temporarily stopped accepting applications for permanent residence under the Federal Skilled Worker category unless the applicant has a validated arranged employment offer from a Canadian employer,  is enrolled in good standing in a PhD program for the last two years or graduated from a PhD program within the last 12 months from a Canadian university.    Many have been waiting for CIC to announce when the Federal Skilled Worker Program will be reopened and to see what the new program will look like.  Recent announcements from CIC have given us a general idea of the changes, which are expected to include the following: ·          Language points will be given the biggest weight among all the selection factors for up to a maximum of 28 points (or 24 points for the first official language and 4 points for the sec...