Canadian Immigration Questions and Answers with Attorney David Cohen

Every month, Attorney David Cohen will answer a few general Canadian immigration questions submitted by our readers. These questions cover immigration programs, eligibility, processing, language requirements, investing in Canada, landing, admissibility, studying in Canada, working in Canada, and much more. Here are this month's questions and answers.

I am from Cameroon, where French and English are the national languages just like in Canada. I wrote the TCF exam (Test de Connaissance du Français) as proof of French ability, plus IELTS. Will I obtain points for French knowledge under the Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System?

Candidates in the pool with proven French ability may obtain additional points under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). This additional points factor was introduced on June 6, 2017. However, please note that in order to obtain CRS points for French ability you must have taken the Test d'Évaluation de Français (TEF).

A candidate who has taken steps to prove ability in French and English may be in line for a greater number of points. In addition to the points awarded for language ability under the core human capital and skill transferability sections of the CRS, candidates with proven French ability may obtain additional points on the following basis.

French CLB* 7 or better + English CLB 4 or below (or no proven English ability)	15 CRS points
French CLB 7 or better + English CLB 5 or better	30 CRS points

*CLB = Canadian Language Benchmark

I want to visit some family in Canada but I am not Canadian myself. My country, Argentina, requires a visa to come to Canada. If I come, can I leave Canada and re-enter without having to apply for another visa?

According to the directive issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to its own officers, the issuance of a multiple-entry visa should now be considered the standard and any single entry visa issuance requires an explanation. Therefore, unless the officer has particular reason to issue a single entry visa, it is probable that a multiple entry visa would be considered. This decision rests with the officer.

If or when you have a multiple entry visa, you may enter Canada, leave, and re-enter, as long as you abide by the conditions of the visa. On each entry to Canada, a visa holder will be assessed at a Port of Entry for the bona fides of their reasons for coming to Canada.

Will the Parent and Grandparent Program reopen again in 2017?

It is possible that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) may invite more prospective applicants to apply to the Parent and Grandparent Program (PGP) before the end of the year.

In April of this year, IRCC announced that it had randomly selected 10,000 potential sponsors from this pool of approximately 95,000 individuals who had earlier submitted an Interest to Sponsor form, and invited them to submit a sponsorship application under the PGP. Invited individuals had 90 days from the receipt of the invitation to submit a complete application, but only around 700 had been received by early June.

At a Canadian Bar Association (Immigration Section) conference held in June, an IRCC representative stated that the department may conduct a further invitation round to invite more individuals to submit an application for the sponsorship of parents and grandparents to immigrate to Canada through the Parent and Grandparent Program (PGP).

If IRCC decides to conduct a second draw, it may occur in the coming months.

“If the department does not receive the 10,000 new applications within the stipulated timeframe, additional persons will be invited to apply [from] a randomized list of Interest to Sponsor submissions,” the IRCC spokesperson said. “If we don’t receive complete applications we will go back and draw from that existing list.”