Archives for January 2004

Q. If I submit my case now and the pass mark changes again, how will that affect my application?

Answer: Although no changes to the Regulations or pass mark are presently under official discussion, this is always a possibility. In the last case in which this took place, we saw that the immigration department sought to apply these changes to cases already in the queue.

However, given political reaction to these measures, and the subsequent outcome of the class-action law suit on behalf of applicants in that position, it is not anticipated that this sort of retroactive implementation would again take place.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), an inter-governmental body with more than 100 member states, tries to address migration issues outside of the U.N. system and cooperates with the U.N. in the Geneva Migration Group.

A single global agency should be created to deal with the wide range of issues surrounding the increasingly important migration phenomenon, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday.

The group proposed creating a World Migration Organization (WMO), similar to the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is inetended to counter fragmentation of agencies worldwide.

Instead, Tthe organization would provide “systematic, coherent, impartial” information of interest for migrants’ home countries (popularly known as sender countries), host countries, migrants and civil society, comparable to the WTO’s country reports.

Foreign Students being Sought

Despite a soaring international reputation for quality post-secondary education and record numbers of foreign students enrolled across the country, Canada has fallen behind in the race to recruit international scholars. But with three new federal/provincial partnerships launched Oct. 31, 2003, in Manitoba, Alberta and New Brunswick, educational institutions and governments hope to restore Canada to the front of the pack.

“The government intends to make Canada a destination of choice for foreign students,” explained Claire Despins, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration.

In Manitoba, where some schools have seen a 40% increase in foreign student enrolment this year alone, 800 international students registered in full-time academic programs who have completed one year of study can now work off campus for up to 20 hours per week.

Stricter security measures brought in for the new year have left dozens of landed immigrants stranded overseas, barred from Canada-bound flights because they do not have permanent-resident cards.

At least 36 people were turned away from flights to Canada since the new rules went into effect on Dec. 31, Citizenship and Immigration spokeswoman Maria Iadinardi said.

Early after the implementation, 24 people around the world were referred to Canadian consulates for travel documents because they were not carrying a card, the department reported.

The new security measures, introduced in reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, require landed immigrants returning to Canada to carry the new card or a temporary travel visa.

“Our visa officers are there — like our migration-integrity officers are at the airport — because we need to continue to facilitate the re-entry to Canada of legitimate permanent residents,” Ms. Iadinardi said. “Our contingency plans are working.”

The Immigration Department’s figures on how many people are stranded don’t reflect the true depth of the problem, Toronto immigration lawyer Guidy Mamann said.

“I think it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Mr. Mamann said, referring to reports that while an estimated 1.5 million people in Canada are eligible for the cards, only 850,000 have been issued so far. “If you just subtract that, there’s several hundred-thousand people,” he said.

Other reports suggested that some airport immigration officials were turning a blind eye to the new rules, letting people without cards pass through with a warning.

But Mr. Mamann said airlines would still be less likely to take risks with passengers not carrying cards.

Mr. Mamann blamed Immigration Minister Judy Sgro for much of the confusion swirling around the cards after she hinted last month that measures would be taken to prevent permanent residents from being stranded outside Canada.