Canada Immigration Newsletter
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IMMIGRATION NEWS
by wpengine
Question: I am in the process of submitting an application for permanent residence as a skilled worker. Can I be awarded points for unpaid work performed outside of Canada?
Answer: No. Work is defined in section 1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations as : “an activity for which wages are paid or commission is earned..”
In some limited circumstances, it may be possible that points can be obtained for unpaid work performed in Canada on temporary work permit.
by wpengine
The RCMP has charged five people, among them an Immigration Canada official, with corruption and fraud after several raids in Ottawa.
The RCMP are alleging the group received up to $25,000 in fees from at least a dozen Arab immigrants seeking permanent resident status.
The arrests are the culmination of an investigation that began in January. There will likely be more arrests, the RCMP said. The suspects were allegedly approaching immigrants and promising that their applications would be fast-tracked for fees ranging from $4,000 to $25,000.
One of the five suspects is the 34-year-old operations manager at the Ottawa branch of Citizenship and Immigration. The office was shut down until further notice. Police say there is no indication that the group has any links to terrorist activity.
It is not yet clear whether immigrants who paid fees to the group will lose their status as permanent residents.
by wpengine
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and United States Customs and Border Protection have launched the NEXUS Air pilot project at the Vancouver International Airport.
The program is designed to speed up the border clearance process for pre-approved, low-risk air travellers. NEXUS Air uses biometric iris recognition technology to ensure the highest level of border security, while making travel convenient and safe for passengers.
NEXUS Air is open to citizens or permanent residents of Canada and the U.S. and allows low-risk, pre-approved travellers to clear customs and immigration by simply looking into a camera that recognizes the iris as proof of identity. This allows both Canada and the United States to focus efforts on unknown or high-risk travellers and goods. The processing fee is $80 CAN or $50 US and is good for the duration of the project.
This international partnership will allow pre-qualified, low risk travelers to be processed with little or no delay by both U.S. and Canadian border officials.
When traveling from the Vancouver International Airport, NEXUS Air members will be able to access the FasTrack lane at the airport’s security screening points by showing their NEXUS Air membership card and boarding pass to a screening officer. NEXUS Air members will continue to be subject to the same rigorous security standards as all travellers.
NEXUS Air was implemented on November 30, 2004, and will run until April 30, 2006.
by wpengine
The Canadian visa office in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, reopened mid- November, and resumed normal operations. The office is doing its utmost to eliminate the delays caused by the recent civil unrest in that country.
The visa office is now processing applications for temporary resident visas and study permits from all its satellite offices (Libreville, Yaoundé, Niamey, Ouagadougou, Bamako and Kinshasa) as before the crisis. The office has also resumed the reception and processing of applications for temporary resident visas from nationals of Ivory Coast. The processing of these applications may require up to three weeks.
The processing of applications for permanent residence has also resumed. For all applications, priority is being granted to applicants whose medical results, Certificats de sélection du Québec or Certificats d’acceptation du Québec are about to expire. Our visa officers will also identify and process any urgent humanitarian cases.
by wpengine
Draft-age Americans and their kin will no doubt be interested in the fate of Jeremy Hinzman, a former paratrooper who deserted from the 82 nd Airborne Division after his application as a non-combatant conscientious objector was turned down. Mr. Hinzman is now in Canada seeking asylum. He is arguing that U.S. soldiers committed war crimes in Iraq, and he would likely have been compelled to do so had he not deserted. To succeed in his claim, he will have to convince the Immigration and Refugee Board that he has a well-founded fear of persecution by the U.S. Government if he is forced to return to the U.S.Between 1965 and 1973, more than 50,000 draft-age Americans made their way to Canada, refusing to participate in an immoral war.
by wpengine
For a brief time in the mid 1980’s I resided in that jewel of a city, Hong Kong. The Sino-British Joint Declaration had just been signed, meaning that Hong Kong would revert to the control of China in 1997. Brits being Brits, they at the same time let it be known that henceforth most holders of British Hong Kong passports would not be permitted to reside in the U.K. There was a palpable sense of angst in the air as the city’s five million inhabitants weighed their options.
by wpengine
David Cohen, of the law firm Campbell, Cohen, one of Canada’s leading immigration lawyers, announced the launch of the Canadian Immigration Blog
The purpose of this new site is to express personal views on the cross-border movement of people in general and the Canadian experience in particular. Topics which will be touched upon include foreign politics, world events, notable immigration cases and landmark decisions, policy, domestic issues and personal anecdotes as they all relate to Canadian immigration.
Please visit http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-blog/ today.
by wpengine
Question: I am US citizen who was recently convicted of driving under the influence (D.U.I.). I have heard that this might prevent me from being admitted into Canada. Is this true?
Answer: A conviction for impaired driving may prevent you from entering Canada, even if the conviction or guilty plea was treated as a misdemeanor in the USA. This is not only true if you wish to become a Canadian permanent resident, but it is also the case if you plan to enter Canada as a visitor, student, or on a work permit.
To be admissible to Canada you will have to do one of the following:
• apply before entering Canada for a Temporary Resident Permit, if there are compelling reasons for you to be in Canada, or
• wait 5 years from the completion of your sentence, after which time you may submit an Application For Criminal Rehabilitation to the Canadian immigration authorities, or
• wait 10 years from the completion of your sentence, after which time you will be deemed rehabilitated, if you have not committed any subsequent offences.
by wpengine
The Government of Canada has introduced legislation to establish the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
“With the creation of the Canada Border Services Agency within the new portfolio of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Government of Canada is adopting an integrated approach to border management to facilitate the flow of people and goods while enhancing the safety and security of Canadians,” said the Honourable Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
The CBSA brings together key border security and intelligence functions previously carried out by three Government of Canada organizations. As an integrated border management agency, the CBSA facilitates legitimate cross-border traffic and supports economic development while stopping people and goods that pose a potential risk to Canada. Its role is to manage the nation’s borders by administering and enforcing approximately 90 domestic acts and regulations, as well as international agreements that govern trade and travel.
“The CBSA’s mission is to manage the access of people and goods to and from Canada to ensure the safety and economic prosperity of all Canadians,” added Minister McLellan. “To accomplish this goal, the CBSA works in close collaboration with its partners, both domestically and internationally.”
The CBSA is the first line of defence in managing the movement of people and goods into and out of Canada and, therefore, is an integral component of Canada’s National Security Policy. All people and goods entering Canada, whether by air, land or sea, must report to the CBSA at a port of entry. Operating at 1,369 service points across Canada and 39 locations abroad, the CBSA serves more than 170,000 commercial importers and approximately 92 million travelers each year.
With this Bill, the Government of Canada proposes to formally establish the CBSA as a corporate body and define its mandate, powers and authorities. The Bill’s key objective is to implement the Government’s decision of December 12, 2003, to create a border services agency. Establishing the CBSA as a legal entity is a government machinery change aimed at vesting in the CBSA the same powers and authorities that existed in the three legacy organizations (the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency). The Bill also includes consequential amendments to various statutes to reflect changes, which are generally of an administrative nature.
CIC NEWS