Archives for May 2005

Off-Campus Work

Since announcing expansion of the off-campus work program, which allows foreign students to work off-campus while completing their studies at public post-secondary institutions, many individuals have been wondering how the Government will implement the program.

In last month’s announcement, CIC and HRSDC promised to build upon the existing program, which applies to students studying at institutions in provinces that have signed agreements with CIC. These provinces include Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Quebec.

The new program commits the Government to negotiating with each of the provincial authorities so that students across the country in all provinces and territories will be able to work off-campus during their studies.

Post-graduation employment

The new post-graduation work program will give students the opportunity to work for up to two years in Canada after graduation, instead of only one year.

The post-graduation work permit is issued to new grads for employment in their field of study. Interested foreign students should apply within 90 days of confirming that they have met the requirements of their program and while their study permit is still valid.

Graduates can qualify whether or not they completed a degree, a diploma or a certificate program, so long as the graduated from a post-secondary institution authorized by provincial authorities.

The second year of authorized work in Canada is available to students who completed at least two years of full-time study in Canada before graduating. Otherwise, a one-year post-graduation work permit is still possible.

New graduates are eligible for the second year so long as they both found employment and graduated from an institution outside of the metropolitan areas of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Students wishing to undertake post-graduate or off-campus employment still require a work permit. However, they will be able to qualify for one without having to obtain a labour market opinion from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

On May 17, 2005, Belinda Stronach was made Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, a department responsible for working with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) on a number of issues related to immigration.

Since her election to the House of Commons in 2004, the Honourable Belinda Stronach has been a member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Subcommittee on International Trade Disputes and Investment.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada collaborates with CIC on many initiatives to help new immigrants find work, such as programs for professional accreditation and recognition, and adapt to their new country, such as Official Language training. Minister Stronach’s portfolio also includes responsibility for the issuance of Labour Market Opinions for temporary work permits and Arranged Employment Opinions to assist in permanent residency applications.

Question: Does immigrating lead to Canadian citizenship?

Answer: Immigrating to Canada is the first step to becoming a Canadian citizen. For many, becoming a Canadian citizen is the eventual goal of the immigration process. When an individual first lands in Canada as a permanent resident, he has already been accepted to live and work within this country so long as he shares it peaceably. The final step to accepting Canada and being a Canadian is citizenship.

Permanent residents who have lived for three of the previous four years in Canada can apply for citizenship. Citizenship is granted to people who have used their time as permanent residents to learn to communicate in English or French, to learn about Canada as a country, and to learn about the rights and responsibilities all Canadian citizens share.

All Canadians are privileged with the same freedoms, such as: the right to vote, the right to exit and enter Canada, the right to work and live in any part of the country, the right to be educated in either English or French, and the right to apply for a Canadian passport, among others.

Each year, almost 150,000 permanent residents take the final step and become Canadian citizens who enjoy the same rights as everyone who became Canadian by birth.

Question: What does ‘Conjugal Partner’ mean for Sponsorship?

Answer: The category of Conjugal Partnership was established by Citizenship and Immigration Canada in an effort to make spousal sponsorship possible for couples in exceptional circumstances.

Canadians can sponsor a partner to become a permanent resident who is either their married spouse or their common-law spouse. In Canada, the choice to legally marry or not is constitutionally protected, which has lead to recognition of common law partners.

In proving a common-law arrangement, CIC considers many factors, an important one of which is cohabitation. It is expected that the couple will have lived together for at least one year continuously and built a relationship that shows signs of permanence and interdependency.

However, where a couple is unable to legally marry or live together for the required period, CIC permits spousal sponsorships on the basis of a conjugal relationship. Couples may not be able to legally marry due to divorce laws in their country of origin or other constraints. Similarly, a Canadian may be in a conjugal relationship but unable to cohabitate with the partner due to an immigration constraint. In situations where the couple is unable to legally live in the same country long enough to establish a common-law partnership, a conjugal relationship may be recognized.

By recognizing conjugal partners as spouses who can be sponsored, many couples that would otherwise be without options are given the chance to be reunited and live together in Canada.