Operational Bulletins 060 – June 16, 2008

Regulatory amendments – Elimination of the guarantor requirement from the Permanent Resident Card application process

Background

The Permanent Resident Card (PR Card) was introduced with the coming into force of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) in June 2002. On October 15, 2002, persons who became permanent residents under previous legislation (pre-IRPA) were invited to apply for a PR Card. Since December 31, 2003, the PR Card has been the proof-of-status document required by permanent residents seeking to re-enter Canada on a commercial carrier.

Requirements for a PR Card application are outlined in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR). One of the requirements, as stated in paragraph 56(2)(b) of the IRPR, is that the application include a signed declaration by a guarantor. Paragraph 56(3) stipulates that an applicant, who is unable to provide a guarantor’s declaration, must complete a statutory declaration in lieu of guarantor, explaining why they are unable to provide a guarantor’s declaration. The objective of the guarantor provision was two fold: to confirm the applicant’s identity and to validate the information provided on the application form.

As part of its commitment to improve client service, CIC reviewed the PR Card application process and determined that the benefits of eliminating the guarantor requirement—efficiencies for CIC and facilitation of the application process for clients—outweighed the risk to program integrity. Accordingly, CIC proposed regulatory amendments to repeal the regulations governing the need for a guarantor in the PR Card application process. The proposal received Treasury Board Committee approval on June 5, 2008 and came into effect on June 10, 2008.

What has changed

The regulatory amendment repealed:

• the definition of “guarantor” [R56(1)(a)–(o)];
• the requirement for a signed declaration by a guarantor [R56(2)(a)(viii)and R56(2)(b)(i), (ii), (iii)];
• the guarantor’s signature on the submitted photos [R56(2)(e)(ii)]; and
• the requirement for a statutory declaration, where an applicant is unable to provide a guarantor when applying for a PR Card [R56(3)].

Procedures

The following instructions direct CPC-PR Card and local CIC offices on how to deal with PR Card applications following the repeal of the guarantor provisions.

CPC-PR Card

The PR Card application kit has been revised, with the sections on the guarantor and the declaration in lieu of guarantor removed. Only the revised application kit will be available to applicants effective immediately.

However, it is expected that CPC-PR Card will continue to receive PR Card applications submitted on the old form in the weeks following the coming into force of the regulatory amendments.

Effective immediately, there is no requirement to evaluate the guarantor declaration, nor the statutory declaration in lieu of guarantor, when processing PR Card applications. The CPC system has been updated to allow the processing of applications without having to complete the guarantor or in-lieu-of-guarantor fields; that is, these two fields are no longer mandatory.

Inland CIC offices

For cases referred to inland CIC offices, the information collected in the guarantor’s declaration, prior to the repeal of the guarantor provisions, has been obtained under lawful authority. As such, inland offices could use information stemming from the guarantor’s declaration for further investigation or enforcement action related to misrepresentation or compliance with the residency obligation.

Please address any questions or comments regarding this message to OMC at Fraud-Deterrence-RCZ@cic.gc.ca