E-newsletter - Past Editions

Spring 2012

Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2012 – Proposed changes to Canada’s Economic Immigration System

Immigration was featured prominently in the recent federal budget. Economic Action Plan 2012 highlighted a number of proposed changes to Canada’s economic immigration system to make it more proactive, targeted, fast and efficient in a way that will sustain Canada’s economic growth and deliver prosperity for the future. Minister Jason Kenney made several announcements in the days following the budget to expand on his vision for a system that is flexible enough to get Canada the skilled people our economy needs, where and when they are needed. To make progress on this vision, a number of necessary legislative amendments were recently introduced with the Budget Implementation Act.

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CIC’s Media Centre Now Available by Email

In addition to this quarterly e-newsletter – which now has almost 20,000 subscribers – you can now subscribe to our Media Centre via email. You will receive an update whenever a news release or statement is published. You can also subscribe via RSS.

Consultations on a Redesigned Parent and Grandparent Immigration Program

CIC is currently holding an online consultation to seek feedback on possible options for the re-design of Canada’s parent and grandparent immigration program. As part of Canada’s Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification, the Government of Canada is taking action to address the growing backlog and seven-year wait times for sponsored parents and grandparents.

The consultation seeks feedback on how to manage intake of applications, and on options on what a modernized parent and grandparent immigration program could look like.

Learn more about it, and tell us what you think. The online questionnaire will be available until May 25. So far, the online consultation has received close to 3,000 responses.

Evaluation Shows Ministerial Instructions are Relevant and Necessary

According to a new evaluation, there is a continued need for CIC to manage the intake and processing of immigration applications in a timely and efficient manner, and ministerial instructions (MI) are a flexible and responsive tool to do so.

In 2008, the Government of Canada introduced changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act through Bill C-50 (the Budget Implementation Act) to tackle the backlog of federal skilled worker (FSW) applications. At the time, more than 640,000 people were waiting to be processed in the FSW category. In order to increase labour market responsiveness and overall efficiency, the Minister was authorized under Bill C-50 to issue special instructions to immigration officers to limit the number of applications processed, accelerate some applications or groups of applications, and return some applications without processing them to a final decision.

According to the evaluation, MIs have helped to reduce the overall FSW backlog. Without MI-1, the FSW backlog would have been more than 800,000 people by 2012. Prior to Budget 2012, the total number of people in the FSW inventory was around 470,000. After the elimination of FSW applicants affected by Economic Action Plan 2012 provisions, around 160,000 people would remain in the FSW inventory. Processing times for most new FSW applicants have improved considerably – from five years in 2008 down to less than 12 months now.

Find out more

Cracking Down On Marriages Of Convenience – New and Proposed Measures

The Government of Canada has put in place a bar on sponsorship in an ongoing effort to deter people from using a marriage of convenience to come to Canada. Regulatory changes now in force mean sponsored spouses or partners will have to wait five years from the day they are granted permanent residence status in Canada to sponsor a new spouse/partner. Until now, a sponsored spouse/partner arriving in Canada as a permanent resident could leave their sponsor and sponsor another spouse/partner themselves, while their original sponsor was still financially responsible for them for up to three years.

In addition to the sponsorship bar, a new measure is being proposed to further strengthen Canada’s ability to crack down on marriage fraud. Under the new proposal, a spouse/partner being sponsored by a Canadian or permanent resident would be required to live together with their sponsor in a legitimate relationship for two years following receipt of their permanent resident status in Canada. If these steps are not pursued, the sponsored spouse/partner’s status could be revoked, possibly leading to their removal and in some instances, criminal charges could also be laid. For all legitimate relationships, the condition would cease to apply once the conditional period has elapsed.

More about sponsorship restrictions and the proposed conditional measures.

Permanent Resident (PR) Cards Mailed Directly Under New Pilot Project

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is launching a pilot project as part of its overall modernization agenda to streamline procedures and improve services to newcomers. Effective April 30, 2012, the vast majority of permanent residents who apply for Permanent Resident (PR) cards will no longer need to visit a CIC office and will instead receive the card by mail.

Mailing PR cards directly to applicants is expected to decrease wait times by up to four weeks.

Pre-publication of Language Assessment Changes

Citizenship and Immigration Canada is changing the way it assesses the language abilities of prospective new citizens. The Citizenship Act already requires that applicants be able to communicate in one of Canada’s official languages. This regulatory proposal would not increase the language level required, but would change the way that citizenship applicants aged 18-54 prove their language ability.

Under the changes, adult citizenship applicants would be required to provide objective evidence of speaking and listening language ability with their citizenship applications.

Applicants would be able to demonstrate language ability by submitting a variety of evidence, including the results of a third-party test, or evidence of completion of a secondary/ post-secondary education in English or French, or evidence of achieving language training in certain government-funded programs.

Regulations outlining the changes were pre-published in the Canada Gazette on April 21, 2012, and will be posted for 30 days.

Reform of the Interim Federal Health Program

The coverage available to protected persons, refugee claimants and others through the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) is being reformed. The reforms, announced on April 25, are meant to ensure that IFHP recipients do not have access to benefits that are greater than those enjoyed by Canadians. For many beneficiaries, coverage for physician, diagnostic, and hospital services will remain similar to the coverage provided before the reform. The biggest change will be the ending of coverage to all beneficiaries for dental care, vision care, mobility assistive devices and pharmacy care other than medications and immunizations needed to treat a disease that poses a risk to public health or a condition of public safety concern.

The changes take effect on June 30, 2012.

Join us for the month of May as we acknowledge the long and rich history of Canadians of Asian descent and their contributions to Canada. Asian Heritage Month provides an opportunity for Canadians across the country to reflect on and celebrate the contributions of Canadians of Asian heritage to the growth and prosperity of Canada.

Click your way through historical highlights, tell us your story by sending photographs and testimonials that describe your experiences as a Canadian of Asian heritage, and download or order the new Asian Heritage Month poster which will soon be released. The Teachers and Youth Web Corner is also a great resource for teachers and a fun place for kids.

For more information on recent activities in our multiculturalism program, see the Annual Report on the Operation of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act 2010-2011.