According to the Toronto Sun, Canadian immigration officials say there’s little they can do to stop “child brides” from being sponsored into Canada by much older husbands who wed them in arranged marriages abroad. Immigration officials in Canada and Pakistan say all they can do is reject the sponsorships of husbands trying to bring their child-brides to Canada. The men have to reapply when the bride turns 16. The marriages are permitted under Sharia Law.

Muslim men, who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents return to their homeland to wed a “child bride” in an arranged marriage in which a dowry is given to the girl’s parents. Officials said some of the brides can be 14 years old or younger and are “forced” to marry. The practice occurs in a host of countries including: Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Lebanon.

The full article is available here.

On March 10, 2010, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) is streamlining the process for assessing the language skills of applicants under the Federal Skilled Worker and Canadian Experience classes. “The language requirements themselves have not changed,” said Minister Kenney. “But beginning April 10, 2010, prospective immigrants will be required to prove their English and French language abilities at the time they apply. This requirement supports our commitment to fast, fair and efficient application processing.”

Previously, to prove language ability in French or English, applicants could either submit an independent, third-party test (the IELTS for English or the TEF for French) or a written submission to a visa officer. The written submission was intended for people whose first language is either English or French. However, many applicants whose first language was not English or French were taking advantage of the written submission. The submission wouldn’t adequately prove their ability and they would have to provide further evidence, leading to processing delays that could take months.

“We expect that applicants will have the language skills they claim on their application. Now, applicants in these categories will have only one opportunity to prove their language ability,” said Minister Kenney. “They can still make a written submission to a visa officer if they wish, but only once.”

“We strongly encourage applicants whose first language isn’t English or French to take a language test,” said Minister Kenney. “We don’t want immigrants to be surprised if their written submission doesn’t match their reported ability, and they don’t get the desired assessment.”

According to CIC, an immigrant’s English or French language ability is one of the strongest predictors of their success in the job market. Canadian Experience Class applicants must meet minimum language requirements based on the job they do. On a selection grid worth 100 points in total, Federal Skilled Workers can be awarded up to 24 points for their official language ability.

The end result of this change is that applicants seeking permanent residence under the Federal Skilled Worker or Canadian Experience classes should take the IELTS and/or TEF test prior to applying, unless their first language is English or French or they can provide compelling evidence to support their claim that they have sufficient language ability.

The first Transatlantic Trends: Immigration survey was conducted in 2008, before the economic crisis began. The recently-published 2009 survey offers an opportunity to exam the shift in public opinion towards immigrants. Canada was also included in the survey last year.

Some of the key findings for Canada and the United States appear below.

Key Findings for Canada

1. Assessment of the Government’s management of immigration: Good or Fair (59%) / Poor or Very Poor (35%)
2. Public perception of what percentage of the population consists of immigrants: 37% (it is actually 20%)
3. Are there too many immigrants? Yes (24%)
4. Is immigration more of a problem than an opportunity? Yes (25%)
5. Do immigrants take away jobs from or bring down wages of native born workers? Take Jobs Away (32%) / Bring Down Wages (30%)
6. Do legal immigrants increase crime? Yes (29%)
7. Do illegal immigrants increase crime? Yes (51%)
8. Do you favor permanent over temporary migration? Yes (76%)

Overall, Canada’s score card was pretty good. Most Canadians think the Federal Government is doing a good or fair job of managing immigration.

Only 24% of Canadians thought that there were “too many immigrants” and only 25% of Canadians thought that immigration as more of a problem than an opportunity. Even with the current economic climate, a majority of Canadians did not blame immigrants for taking away jobs or bringing down the wages of native-born workers.

Although only 29% of Canadians believed that legal immigrants increased crime in the country, 51% did believe that illegal immigrants increased crime. However, the percentage was higher for all other countries included in the survey, with the exception of France.

In addition, Canadians overestimated the number of immigrants in the country. However, all countries included in the survey made this mistake.

75% of Canadians indicated that legal immigrants who come to the country should be given an opportunity to stay permanently. This would appear to run counter to the Federal Government’s move towards favoring temporary migration over permanent migration.

Key Findings for the United States

1. Assessment of the Government’s management of immigration: Good or Fair (34%) / Poor or Very Poor (63%)
2. Public perception of what percentage of the population consists of immigrants: 35% (it is actually 14%)
3. Are there too many immigrants? Yes (48%)
4. Is immigration more of a problem than an opportunity? Yes (54%)
5. Do immigrants take away jobs from or bring down wages of native born workers? Take Jobs Away (44%) / Bring Down Wages (44%)
6. Do legal immigrants increase crime? Yes (23%)
7. Do illegal immigrants increase crime? Yes (58%)
8. Do you favor permanent over temporary migration? Yes (70%)

The United States clearly did far worse than Canada, although arguably not as badly as some other countries. A majority of Americans believe that the Federal Government is doing a poor or very poor job of managing immigration.

Americans also overestimated the number of immigrants in the country. However, as stated above, every country made this same error.

Almost half of Americans believed that there were too many immigrants in the country and more than half considered immigration to be more of a problem than an opportunity. Almost half of Americans also believed that immigrants took away jobs and reduced wages for native-born workers.

While only 23% of Americans believed that legal immigrants increased crime in the country, 58% thought that illegal immigrants did increase crime. However, this percentage was higher for all other countries included in the survey, with the exception of France and Canada.

Surprisingly, 70% of Americans favored giving legal immigrants who come to the country an opportunity to stay permanently. Of course, the current immigration system in the United States makes it very difficult for many legal workers and international students to seek permanent residence, even when there are no U.S. workers available.

The 2009 Transatlantic Trends: Immigration survey is available here.

Since the end of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, several foreign spectators have now filed refugee claims. Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials said that the seven foreign nationals, whom they can’t identify because of privacy laws, stayed behind after the Olympics ended.

More than 5,500 athletes and officials were accredited for the Vancouver Games and officials expect more of them to surface as claimants during the coming weeks. Typically, claims surface as athletes and officials begin to return home and as the temporary resident status of spectators begin to expire.

Officials said some of the claimants entered Canada from the U.S. by posing as spectators or family members of those participating in the Olympics. Refugee claimants are not rare for international sporting tournaments.

It can take a year or more for refugee cases to be determined by the Immigration and Refugee Board. While waiting for their cases to be decided, applicants are entitled to work and receive health care.

Mr. Jason Kenny, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, says that the seven people who have claimed refugee status after coming to watch the Olympics are from Hungary, Russia and Japan. He also stated that it is “ridiculous” someone from Japan could make that claim and says its a sign the system has broken down.

In a statement issued on February 28, 2010, Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenny commented on the recent ruling of the Federal Court, dismissing Mr. Nasoh Raslan’s appeal of his citizenship denial. It is considered somewhat unusual for the Immigration Minister to comment on these types of cases. However, in his statement, Mr. Kenney called the decision in the case of the Syrian immigrant “an unmitigated victory for the rule of law.”

Following the advice of an immigration consultant, Mr. Raslan, a Montreal (Quebec) resident, falsely claimed that his address was in Mississauga (Ontario) because processing was faster than in Quebec. He alleged that he lived in an apartment in Mississauga but the citizenship officer noticed that Mr. Raslan had offered two different apartment numbers for his address on two separate documents. Further investigation revealed that Raslan’s home phone number had been used by 62 other citizenship applicants and that his mailing address had been used by 127 applicants.

When Mr. Raslan appeared before a citizenship judge in October 2008, he maintained that he lived at the Mississauga address and presented a lease agreement to support his claim. The Citizenship Judge ruled that Mr. Raslan was not credible and had not met the necessary residency requirement. Mr. Raslan appealed the decision of the Citizenship Judge to the Federal Court.

The Federal Court found that Mr. Raslan “knowingly and wilfully embarked on a course of conduct to deceive the Citizenship Court concerning his true residence in Canada for the purpose of jumping the queue. He falsified his citizenship application to obtain an advantage which was not his in order thus to obtain a fundamental right – Canadian citizenship.” The Federal Court then dismissed Mr. Raslan’s appeal.

Mr. Raslan’s affidavit filed with the Federal Court said, “I now know that I definitely did not do the right thing but at the time, I thought that applying through Mississauga was simply a common and small stretch to the rules, and I was exhausted by all the applications and the complications so far.” Mr. Raslan was making his third citizenship application since arriving in Canada with his family in August 1999.

In Federal Court, Mr. Raslan’s lawyer argued that his client’s transgression was a “technical” one since he had met the Citizenship Act requirement to maintain a physical presence in Canada for three out of four years. But Judge Lemieux said he could not ignore Mr. Raslan’s lies since to do so would only encourage others to falsify their documents. Mr. Raslan retains his status as a permanent resident of Canada.

Immigration consultants have become a subject of discussion recently. We previously reported that there are more illegal immigration consultants than registered members of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants. In addition, we reported that the the RCMP is currently investigating allegations of alleged fraud by immigration consultants in Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) announced today that, as a result of the February 27 earthquake near the city of Concepción, the visa section of the Canadian Embassy in Santiago is temporarily closed. CIC is making every effort to restore services as soon as possible.

Temporary resident visa applicants who need to travel to Canada before the visa office re-opens are asked to submit their applications to another Canadian visa office. Persons with Permanent Resident applications in process are being told that full processing will resume shortly.

Former Immigration and Refugee Board judge Steve Ellis, 50, has pleaded not guilty to charges of breach of trust and bribery in relation to the refugee application. Prosecutors allege that Ellis told Ms. Ji-Hye Kim that he would deny her refugee claim in September 2006, unless she slept with him. He is facing one count of breach of trust and a second charge of seeking an improper benefit under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Several months after Mr. Ellis presided over the refugee hearing of Ms. Kim, he visited her on two occasions at the restaurant where she worked. When he asked to meet her privately, she set up a plan with her boyfriend Brad Tripp (now her husband) to record the encounter.

Ms. Kim met Mr. Ellis at a Starbucks coffee shop in Toronto to discuss her case and was allegedly told he would reverse his denial of her claim if she agreed to an “intimate relationship.” Kim was seeking asylum in Canada from an abusive father and threats from money lenders in her home country of South Korea.

What Mr. Ellis did not know is that the meeting at a Starbucks outlet in downtown Toronto was secretly recorded on audio and video by Ji Hye Kim and her boyfriend. The recording, especially portions where Mr. Ellis is heard promising to deliver a favorable refugee decision for the young woman and expressing a desire to be her “friend” is the centrepiece of the Crown’s case at his trial.

The video of Ms. Kim and Mr. Ellis has now been made public and is available for viewing on the Toronto Star website.

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today that more skilled immigrants to Canada will be able to access the help needed to jump-start their credential recognition process through expanded overseas orientation services. The Canadian Immigration Integration Project (“CIIP”), run by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (“ACCC”), will receive additional funding of $15 Million over the next three years to expand services in India, China and the Philippines. A new office will also open in London, United Kingdom, in the fall of 2011, which will also serve various Nordic and Arab states according to demand.

The CIIP, run by the ACCC, began offering orientation services in the Philippines, China and India on a pilot basis in early 2007. The existing sites, along with the London office, will offer access to more than 70% of the selected federal skilled workers around the world. These locations will also offer access to approximately 44% of selected provincial nominees around the world.

Newcomers report foreign credential recognition as one of their top challenges once they immigrate to Canada. As part of the Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada has allocated $50 Million over two years (2009-2010) to support a common approach to foreign credential recognition to better integrate immigrants into the Canadian labour market.

Minister Kenney also spoke of advancements and successes of the federal government in the area of foreign credential recognition in Canada, including the recent announcement of the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications – a landmark agreement between the federal, provincial and territorial governments to speed up foreign credential recognition for newcomers to Canada.

The official press release is available here.

Background

On January 16, 2010, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) announced special immigration measures for Haiti. Shortly after, a unit was set up in Canada to provide support to the visa office in Port-au-Prince by identifying and prioritizing adoption and family class sponsorship applications. On February 15, 2010, CIC published an update on its progress in expediting Haiti cases.

CIC Begins Issuing Permanent Resident Visas

CIC recently began issuing permanent resident visas to some people whose applications were close to being finalized before the earthquake struck Haiti. As of February 14, a total of 22 permanent resident visas have been issued. More visas will be issued in the coming weeks and months.

CIC has set up a unit in Ottawa which is supporting CIC’s office in Haiti by identifying and expediting existing adoption and family class sponsorship applications. The office in Ottawa has responsibility for processing these applications until Port-au-Prince resumes operations.

Priority processing is being given to family class applications for people who self-identify as having been seriously and directly affected by the earthquake. CIC is also processing pre-existing economic class applications through the office in Ottawa.

All applicants must continue to meet all standard admissibility requirements, including security and medical screening. CIC is working closely with its partners to expedite applications while respecting the Government of Canada’s commitment to protect the safety, security and health of Canadians.

Existing Sponsorship Applications

CIC advises that, applicants who had a family class sponsorship application already in process before the earthquake should ask their sponsor in Canada to contact CIC if they haven’t already done so. Sponsors and applicants presently in Canada should notify the CIC Call Centre at 1-888-242-2100 (in Canada only, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday) or by email at question-Haiti@cic.gc.ca to identify their existing applications, if the sponsor or the sponsored family have been significantly and adversely affected. If sponsors choose to contact CIC by email, they should include any pertinent information about the application and all relatives being sponsored.

New Sponsorship Applications

New sponsorship applications should be started in Canada by the sponsor. Once the sponsor has completed the sponsorship application, they should write “Haiti” prominently on the mailing envelope to receive priority handling. The sponsor is responsible for demonstrating that his or her family member is significantly and adversely affected by the situation.

Do No Go the Embassy of Canada Unless Instructed

If applicants have already applied, they should not go the Embassy of Canada in Port-au-Prince unless they have been specifically instructed to do so by CIC officials. Showing up at the Embassy will not cause the application to be expedited.

Medical examinations

Only sponsored spouses, partners and dependent children of Canadian citizens and permanent residents may take their medical exams when submitting an application for permanent residence. All others should only schedule a medical examination when instructed to do so by CIC officials. Applicants who take their medical examination before receiving instructions from CIC officials, will have to take another medical examination at their own expense.

As most of you know, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics start today. Given the added congestion that will inevitably result from this event, it is important to mention that Canadian Border Service Agency (“CBSA”) has established Automated Border Clearance self-serve kiosks at Vancouver International Airport (“YVR”).

Canadian citizens and Canadian permanent residents who have a valid Canadian passport or permanent resident card have the option of using an Automated Border Clearance kiosk to facilitate their admission upon their return to Canada. Although these kiosks may not be used by foreign nationals, their use by Canadian citizens and Canadian permanent residents will allow CBSA to focus its resources on foreign nationals visiting for the Olympics, which should speed up the inspection process for these travelers as well.

The self-serve kiosks are quick and easy to use and, unlike other programs such as NEXUS, will involve no advance registration process or fee. One person can make a declaration for up to four people using one kiosk, provided they all live at the same address.

Automated Border Clearance kiosks are being tested on a trial basis and will be available at YVR for two years. This will enable both the CBSA and YVR to evaluate the concept, validate projected costs and benefits, and fine-tune operational procedures and technology.

Canadian citizens and permanent residents who use the Automated Border Clearance kiosk will follow this procedure:

1. Fill out the CBSA Declaration Card;
2. Use one of the Automated Border Clearance kiosks, located in the Canadian inspection services area, and follow the instructions on the screen; and
3. Proceed to the designated border services officer for a verification of your travel documents.

Before using Automated Border Clearance, travelers should have the following items readily available:

1. A completed CBSA Declaration Card;
2. A valid Canadian passport or permanent resident card; and
3. Receipts for purchases made abroad.