Archives for June 1998

Q. I recently got married outside of Canada and was thinking of bringing her here as a visitor and then starting the sponsorship process. I do know that one can sponsor within Canada but my question is that by bringing her here as a visitor for the purpose of sponsorship will that be looked us un-favourable?

Answer: Requesting admission as a visitor in order to be eligible for inland processing of a sponsorship application may adversely affect the eligibility for such admission. By definition, an individual who intends to remain permanently within Canada would not be considered a visitor. This is not to
say, necessarily, that such admission is not possible, however, as the expression of dual intent may be possible.

Q. Is it possible for immigration law to change (become more strict) in coming years?

Answer: Immigration laws, policies, and orders are constantly subject to change. It could be expected that changes to the existing Regulations will take place. The ‘strictness’ of such changes, however, are subject to individual circumstances. What may seem strict to one applicant may not affect the eligibility of another.

Information on the Legislative Review is available at our Web Site.

Q. It is possible for someone who is waiting for asylum approved in Canada at the same time send an application for independent PR to Buffalo? If yes, will he have problems asking from his homeland and Canadian police clearance or any others documents like employer’s letter even though he has enough work experience in his field?

Answer: The most common problem in applying for PR while a refugee claim is in progress is that selection interviews are held outside of Canada. If the individual is not able to travel to such an interview, the application could be refused.

The ability to obtain police clearance documents and letters of reference should be possible by correspondence, but would obviously vary depending on the individual circumstances.

Q. Recently I received a response to my case status request from Buffalo (medicals done, interview waived) saying that they are waiting for a response from another government office and cannot give specific time frame at this time.

Can anybody tell what could it mean and what kind of the government/office it could be?

Answer: This typically refers to the background clearance, which is conducted in the cases of all applicant between the ages of 18 and 65 years of age. In some cases, conclusion of this process takes longer than others.

Q. I have gone through that list a thousand times and there is no title that matches mine. I have visited the human resources dept. on the internet of Canada to seek further definitions of the limited titles in the occupational list which pertain to the information technology industry and none are equivalent to my title !

Answer: Occupational titles in the GOL do not necessarily reflect industry titles for professions with similar duties. Although you must select an intended occupation which appears on the GOL, the title of such will not always match your professional title, although the duties should be the same.

You must look at the definitions of the available computer professions to determine which is most similar to your own responsibilities.

Intended occupations are best selected on the basis of the profession on the GOL which best reflects the duties performed in your recent positions of employment. In cases where this may refer to multiple occupations, priority should be given to the most recent employment.

Quality assurance interviews have been implemented by the IAPC in Buffalo as a means of assessment of the viability of the interview waiving process.

By randomly selecting and interviewing applicants who would have otherwise been scheduled of an interview waiver (or who had already been scheduled), the visa office hopes to determine whether or not the criterion being used to grant waivers accurately selects those applicants who would have qualified in the process regardless of the points allocated for personal suitability.

The Quality Assurance interview is different from a selection interview in that it is intended primarily to verify the authenticity of documentation submitted in support of an application, and to determine the consistency of such documentation with the applicant’s actual qualifications. In the event, however, that any discrepancies are found, the interview can become a Selection Interview, with similar potential pitfalls.

If possible, it may be best for adult dependents to accompany the principal applicant to a Quality Assurance interview. Although it can be conducted without the presence of such individuals, their presence may be more important in the event that a Selection Interview does become necessary.

Preparation for such interviews may be minimal, in that the intended purpose is only to verify documentation which has already been prepared and provided to the visa office. Any questions which are asked as part of the Quality Assurance process would be aimed at ensuring that the information provided about the applicant is correct. As the interview may become Selection oriented, however, applicants may wish to give some consideration to preparation in that regard.

OTTAWA, May 26, 1998 — Lucienne Robillard, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and M.P. for Westmount-Ville-Marie, today identified nine visa offices abroad as Business Immigrant Centres. As of June 1, 1998, all business immigrant applications — that is, as entrepreneurs, investors, and self-employed — must be submitted to one of these nine offices.

“This approach has clear benefits for the Canadian public and CIC,” said the Minister. “Concentrating the appropriate personnel in a limited number of centres provides all applicants access to our expertise in business immigration. At the same time, we can better screen applications for fraud or inappropriate business activities, thereby ensuring that the integrity of the program is maintained globally.”

“We remembered our clients’ needs when choosing the locations of the centres”, continued the Minister. “Based on our statistics, we have determined that over 80% of them will find that the closest visa office, and one of the nine centres, are one and the same.”

Intending business immigrants must now submit applications at one of the following nine Centres: Beijing, Bonn, Buffalo, Damascus, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Seoul and Singapore. These Centres also have the option of forwarding business applications, after initial review and without cost to the applicant, to one of four other visa offices for interview and finalization. The four were chosen in consideration of Departmental responsibilities and applicant and provincial interests. They are: Buenos Aires, Moscow, New York City, and Seattle.

Business applications received prior to June 1 will be processed to conclusion by the visa office at which they were originally submitted.