ARCHIVED – Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, 2011

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SECTION 2
Managing Permanent and Temporary Immigration

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) maintains a balanced immigration program that responds to Canada’s labour market needs while fostering family reunification, honouring Canada’s humanitarian commitments and traditions, and protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians. Canada’s immigration program is based on non-discriminatory principles—foreign nationals are assessed without regard to race, nationality, ethnic origin, colour, religion or gender. CIC works in partnership with the Canada Border Services Agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Public Safety Canada, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the federal Department of Justice and Health Canada, to fulfil its role of identifying applicants for permanent or temporary status who could pose security or health risks to Canadians.

Permanent Residents

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act defines three basic classes of permanent residents: economic, family and protected persons. Permanent residents are persons who have not become Canadian citizens, but have been authorized to live and work in Canada indefinitely, provided that they meet residency requirements and do not lose their status by reason of serious criminality, security, human rights violations, organized crime or misrepresentation.

Economic Class

The Economic Class includes federal and Quebec-selected skilled workers, federal and Quebec-selected business immigrants, provincial and territorial nominees, the Canadian Experience Class, and live-in caregivers, as well as their spouses and dependants.

The Federal Skilled Worker Program is the Government of Canada’s flagship program for selecting foreign skilled workers. In 2010, 85,117 immigrants arrived in Canada as permanent residents under the program. An evaluation of the Federal Skilled Worker Program published in 2010 confirmed that the program is working well. Applicants selected under the program’s current criteria (introduced in 2002) are faring significantly better than those selected under the previous criteria. The points system, which assesses applicants on the basis of key skills, is yielding positive results.

The evaluation also identified several opportunities to further improve the program. CIC is in the process of modernizing the selection points system for federal skilled workers (FSWs) to give greater emphasis to criteria that are demonstrated to predict success, for example, official language proficiency, younger age at immigration and a genuine offer of employment in Canada.

Language proficiency is a key predictor of success for skilled immigrants. In 2010, CIC moved to require that all future applications to the FSW and Canadian Experience Class programs include the result of an independent third-party language test. Mandatory language testing is the most efficient and reliable means to assess an applicant’s official language skills.

The Provincial Nominee Program provides participating provinces and territories with a mechanism to respond to their particular economic needs, by allowing them to nominate individuals who will meet specific local labour market demands. In addition, the Provincial Nominee Program was designed to spread the benefits of immigration across Canada by promoting immigration to areas that are not traditional immigrant destinations. The number of provincial nominees continues to increase and Canada admitted a record number of immigrants in this category again in 2010, in line with the annual levels plan. In 2010, CIC initiated the first national evaluation of the Provincial Nominee Program. The evaluation is expected to be completed in fall 2011.

The three streams under CIC’s Business Immigration Program—entrepreneurs, self-employed persons and immigrant investors—are intended to attract experienced business people who will contribute to national and regional economic development. International interest in the federal program remains strong with over 12,000 business applications received and almost 7,000 visas issued in 2010.

Under the immigrant investor stream, candidates must make a one-time investment in the Canadian economy in the form of a five-year, zero-interest loan to the Government of Canada. These funds are distributed to participating provinces and territories to fund economic development and job creation initiatives in their region. New regulations came into force for immigrant investors on December 1, 2010. These changes doubled the personal net worth requirement for investor applicants from $800,000 to $1.6 million and increased the investment amount from $400,000 to $800,000. These amendments were prompted by changing client profiles, international competitiveness and increased provincial and territorial participation in the program, as well as the diminished impact of a $400,000 investment today compared with a decade ago. When CIC starts to exclusively process the $800,000 investment applications (once the inventory of the $400,000 investment applications has been processed), the gross increase to the Canadian economy is projected to be approximately $600 million per year. In 2010 alone, over $681.2 million was allocated to participating provinces and territories for economic development.

The first set of Ministerial Instructions (MI-1) was launched in 2008 to meet the three goals of the 2008 Action Plan for Faster Immigration. MI-1 prioritized new FSW applicants with experience in 38 eligible priority occupations, as well as applicants with job offers from Canadian employers, and temporary foreign workers and international students with one year or more of legal, in-Canada status. CIC prioritized these applicants to improve labour market responsiveness and to reduce intake, thus accelerating work on backlog reduction and improving processing times for new applicants. While initially successful on all fronts, application intake began to climb by late 2009 as applicants adapted to the new requirements.

By early 2010, intake numbers had achieved pre-2008 levels and began to erode earlier Action Plan gains. In response, the second set of Ministerial Instructions in 2010 (MI-2) was implemented, placing an overall annual numerical cap on new FSW applications (20,000), as well as a cap of 1,000 per eligible occupation. MI-2 also required all FSW applications to include a valid language test result from a designated third-party language testing agency. Lastly, MI-2 introduced a temporary moratorium on the acceptance of new federal immigrant investor applications until regulatory amendments came into effect in December 2010.

Application intake caps have been very effective in stabilizing intake and establishing greater predictability in new applications, thus allowing for sustained progress on processing pre-cap applications for permanent residence, while also continuing to attract the skills Canada needs most.

Despite the significant progress on Action Plan objectives, the still sizable FSW inventory of applications influenced the third set of Ministerial Instructions (MI-3), announced June 25, 2011. MI-3 lowered the FSW annual cap, to 10,000 in total and 500 per prioritized occupation. This further restriction on new FSW applications is necessary to sustain progress on processing and backlog reduction goals, and is seen to be a short-term measure in support of long-term system stability and efficiency.

Family Class

Family reunification remains a key objective of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. To facilitate the reunification of families, Canadian citizens and permanent residents may sponsor Family Class immigrants—spouses or partners, dependent children, parents, grandparents and other close relatives—to become permanent residents. Sponsors must undertake to provide for the basic requirements of the sponsored person and his or her family members for a specified period of time. Sponsors of parents and grandparents and some other relatives must also meet a minimum necessary income test.

Regulatory changes to strengthen the Department’s capacity to refuse cases of suspected marriage fraud were brought into force on September 30, 2010. In addition, measures to strengthen the integrity of the family immigration program were pre-published in the Canada Gazette on April 2, 2011. The first would strengthen the provisions against family violence, while the second, as a deterrent to marriage fraud, would bar a sponsored spouse or partner from sponsoring a new spouse or partner for five years after becoming a permanent resident. Finally, a Notice of Intent seeking public comment on a proposal to introduce a period of conditional permanent residence for spouses or partners in new relationships was published on March 26, 2011, in the Canada Gazette. This measure is also intended to address marriage fraud.

To improve accountability and client service, in April 2010, CIC implemented a service standard for applications in the category of Family Class: spouses, common-law partners, conjugal partners and dependent children overseas. For these applications, the goal is to make a final decision within 12 months from the time the application is received at the Mississauga Case Processing Centre for 80 percent of applications. As of the end of June 2011, 75 percent of the overseas Family Class applications were processed within the 12 month service standard and 80 percent were processed within 15 months. It is anticipated that the new 12 month service standard will be met by March 2012.

Protected Persons

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there were about 10.6 million refugees in the world at the end of 2010, many of whom have been living in exile for decades. By offering protection to refugees and persons in need of protection, and through active participation in international forums on refugee protection, CIC plays a significant role in upholding Canada’s international obligations and humanitarian tradition. Canada actively participates each year in all meetings of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Standing Committee, Executive Committee and Working Group on Resettlement. In 2010, Canada joined the United States and Australia in a presentation of each country’s resettlement programs at the Annual Tripartite Consultations with the aim of encouraging growth in resettlement globally.

For the second year in a row, Canada resettled more than 12,000 government-assisted refugees and privately sponsored refugees. Refugees resettled to Canada in 2010 represented 70 nationalities and were processed in 40 countries. The largest groups represented were Iraqis and Bhutanese. Canada, as part of multilateral efforts to provide durable solutions to some of the most protracted refugee situations in the world, has committed to resettling 5,000 Bhutanese out of Nepal between 2008 and 2012 and 20,000 Iraqis between 2009 and 2013. In 2010, Canada resettled over 1,400 Bhutanese refugees and over 4,000 Iraqi refugees. Of the 4,000 Iraqis resettled in 2010, over half were privately sponsored refugees. The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program is a key component of Canada’s refugee resettlement program, whereby Canadian citizens and permanent residents can come together to sponsor refugees for resettlement in Canada.

The Immigration and Refugee Board is an independent tribunal responsible for determining claims for asylum made in Canada. In 2010, Canada granted permanent residence to over 9,000 individuals who requested asylum on or after their arrival in Canada and were found to be in need of protection, along with over 3,500 of their dependants abroad.

In 2010, the volume of asylum claimants fell by approximately 10,000 from that of the previous year. The reduction is mainly attributed to the reinstatement of a temporary resident visa requirement for the Czech Republic and, for the first time, the imposition of a visa requirement for nationals of Mexico. These moves were prompted by high rates of unfounded or withdrawn asylum claims made by nationals of these countries, which have placed substantial pressure on the asylum determination system.

Active cooperation with the United States continued under the Safe Third Country Agreement. Under the agreement, persons seeking refugee protection must make a claim in the first country they arrive in (United States or Canada), unless they qualify for an exception under the agreement. CIC also continued to share information with the United States, on a case-by-case basis.

Permanent Resident Status on Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds

In exceptional circumstances, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act gives the Minister the authority to grant permanent resident status to individuals and families who would not otherwise qualify in any class, in cases where there are humanitarian and compassionate considerations or for public policy reasons. The purpose of these discretionary provisions is to provide the flexibility to approve deserving cases not anticipated in the legislation. In 2010, 8,736 people were admitted into Canada based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. The Department carries out ongoing policy and operational analysis of the humanitarian and compassionate provision in the Act and implemented a number of changes to it as part of the Balanced Refugee Reform Act.

Statistical Overview of Permanent Residents Admitted in 2010

Canada’s immigration plan for 2011, set out in the Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration 2010, indicated an admissions range for new permanent residents of 240,000 to 265,000 people. The plan underscored the government’s continuing commitment to balancing immigration objectives in the Economic, Family and Protected Persons classes, and to maximizing the social and economic benefits to Canada. Although school-leavers and other domestic sources contribute the largest proportion of new labour market entrants, immigration is projected to account for all net labour force growth in Canada within the next decade and all population growth within the next two decades. The Department is on track to meet its projected ranges in most categories. Periodic updates on current admissions, and the most recent quarterly figures, can be found on CIC’s website.

Although the projected admissions range for 2010 was 240,000 to 265,000, a total of 280,681 permanent residents were admitted, with the largest proportion in the economic stream (nearly 67 percent of total admissions). This represents an 11.3 percent increase from 2009 and it is the highest level of permanent resident admissions since 1957.

These higher than anticipated admissions permitted CIC to balance competing priorities while meeting overall economic, family reunification and refugee protection objectives. High economic admissions brought skilled labour, talent, innovation and investment to Canada. Canada remains committed to family reunification, bringing Family Class admissions to within the planned range (60,220 were admitted in 2010, within the admission range of 57,000 to 63,000). Overall admission numbers for refugees and protected persons were also within the planned range (24,696 were admitted in 2010, within the admission range of 19,600 to 26,000).

The high volume of admissions in 2010 was the result of a combination of unique factors. This includes ongoing work since 2008 to improve immigration system efficiency and reduce wait times; planned increases in economic immigration announced in June 2010; a rise in non-discretionary family reunification linked in part to events such as the earthquake in Haiti; and growth in categories with high approval rates such as the Provincial Nominee Program. Also, while CIC had anticipated a significant increase in demand for temporary visas (for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, for example), the actual growth was lower than expected and there was a real decline in temporary foreign workers due to the economic climate, which freed up capacity in the system to increase production in the permanent stream. Finally, a faster visa usage rate meant many applicants who would have normally arrived in 2011 arrived in 2010. This combination of factors is not expected in 2011 and beyond, and therefore 2010 is likely to remain a high watermark year in terms of admissions.

Table 2 provides a more detailed breakdown of admissions by immigration category and allows for a comparison with the 2010 admission ranges. More statistical information on admissions in 2010 can be found in CIC’s Facts and Figures 2010.

* The Government of Quebec released its 2011 plan after CIC, with a higher Quebec-selected skilled workers range of 33,200 to 34,300. Due to operational constraints, CIC is not adjusting its ranges.

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2010.

In terms of the linguistic profile of permanent residents admitted in 2010, 73.4 percent of principal applicants self-identified as having knowledge of English, French or both official languages. For economic immigrant principal applicants, the proportion is much higher (90.9 percent).

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2010.

Canada receives its immigrant population from over 200 countries of origin. As indicated in Table 4, over 50 percent of new immigrants admitted in 2010 came from 10 source countries.

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2010.

Temporary Residents

In addition to selecting permanent residents, CIC also processes applications for the temporary entry of:

• foreign workers, who are important to Canada’s economic growth;
• international students, attracted by the quality and diversity of Canada’s educational system; and
• visitors, who come to Canada for personal or business travel.

These temporary residents contribute to Canada’s economic development by filling gaps in the labour market, enhancing trade, purchasing goods and services, and increasing cultural and people-to-people links. As shown in Table 5, CIC processed applications for and admitted almost 280,000 temporary foreign workers and international students in 2010.

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2010.

Temporary Foreign Workers

CIC facilitates the temporary entry of foreign workers needed to address labour market shortages and to provide other economic opportunities for Canadians, such as job creation and the transfer of new skills and knowledge. Temporary foreign workers help meet acute and short-term needs in the labour market that could not easily be filled by the domestic labour force. CIC works with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to ensure that the admission of foreign workers does not adversely affect employment opportunities for Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

In response to labour market demand, and further to the Government of Canada’s commitment to making improvements to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to respond to employer needs, Canada welcomed 182,276 temporary foreign workers in 2010. This is a small increase of 2.2 percent from 2009 (178,268), consistent with the improvements in the economy after the recent recession. Arrivals of foreign workers with work permits that do not restrict employment by occupation or employer increased by 12.1 percent (from approximately 51,400 in 2009 to 58,500 in 2010). As such, they now represent over one-third of temporary foreign worker arrivals. This category includes work permits issued under the International Exchange Canada program, which allows foreign and Canadian youth to travel and work internationally.

International Students

International students bring with them new ideas and cultures that enrich the learning environment within Canadian educational institutions. International students who enter Canada on temporary resident visas are also an important source of easily integrated immigrants since they are well prepared for the Canadian labour market. The number of foreign students entering Canada in 2010 was over 96,000, a rise of nearly 13 percent from the previous year’s total of just over 85,000.

In collaboration with its partners, CIC continued to successfully deliver key initiatives to help Canada maintain its competitive edge in attracting and retaining international students. Important vehicles for accomplishing this include the Off-Campus Work Permit Program, a national program that allows certain international students to seek employment off campus, and the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program, which allows graduates from participating post-secondary institutions to gain valuable Canadian experience for up to three years. In 2010, CIC issued over 20,000 off-campus permits and over 17,000 post-graduation permits, demonstrating the success of these permit programs for international students.

In 2010, CIC began important work with provinces and territories to enhance the integrity of the international student program, with a view to reducing fraud in international student movement and improving services to foreign nationals destined to genuine educational institutions. Increased collaboration with provinces and territories will be key to successfully achieving the shared goal to increase Canada’s competitiveness as a destination of choice for international students. Negotiations with provinces and territories have been ongoing since 2010, and CIC looks to publish new regulations to enhance the program’s integrity in late 2012.

An important success story in the improvement of program integrity and client service for the international student program is the Student Partners Program (SPP), a pilot between the Canadian visa offices in New Delhi, Chandigarh and Beijing and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. To enhance program integrity, SPP requires applicants to submit mandatory, verifiable documents on language skills and financial support. An information feedback agreement with member colleges is also in place to monitor whether students actually study at their college. The program started in New Delhi with 20 member colleges of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges and has grown to 39 participating colleges. Since SPP was introduced in New Delhi, overall outcomes for Indian students destined for participating colleges have improved significantly. In 2010, over 5,000 study permits were issued to Indian SPP applicants. The approval rate increased to 60 percent compared with 35 percent in 2008 and 56 percent in 2009, for Indian applicants destined for SPP colleges. In July 2010, the SPP was expanded to China, another high-volume student market. There are 44 community colleges participating. The average processing time is 10 working days from the date of the application.

In 2010, CIC continued to deliver on Budget 2008 commitments to modernize the immigration system by extending the on-line application to study permit applicants from select visa-exempt and medical-exempt countries overseas. This is in addition to the on-line application services available to all temporary in-Canada applicants (study permit and study permit extensions, off-campus work permits, post-graduation work permits, work permits and work permit extensions, and visitor records).

Tourists and Business Visitors 

Tourists contribute to the economy by creating a demand for services in the hospitality sector, and business visitors allow Canadian businesses to benefit from their specialized expertise and international links. Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, all foreign nationals wishing to visit Canada must have a temporary resident visa before arriving in Canada unless they are from countries specifically exempted in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, or benefit from certain other limited exceptions, for example, being accredited diplomats in Canada. As of March 31, 2011, citizens from 143 countries and territories require temporary resident visas to visit Canada. [Note 26] In 2010, CIC processed applications (new and extensions) from over one million persons seeking temporary resident visas as tourists and business visitors to Canada, and issued visitor visas, permits and extensions to 920,412 persons. Most applications are approved—82 percent in 2010.

Temporary Resident Permits

Subsection 24(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act authorizes designated officers to issue temporary resident permits (TRPs) to foreign nationals whom they believe are inadmissible or who do not meet the requirements of the Act. These permits are issued when there are compelling reasons to admit an otherwise inadmissible individual into Canada. In exercising their discretion, decision makers must take into consideration any instructions issued by the Minister under subsection 24(3), and weigh the risk to Canada against the reason for permitting temporary residence. TRPs are issued for a limited period of time and are subject to cancellation at any time. The TRP provides flexibility to address exceptional circumstances and can be used to further Canada’s national and international objectives.

CIC makes an important contribution to the Government of Canada’s multi-faceted efforts to combat trafficking in persons. Since May 2006, immigration officers have been authorized to issue TRPs to foreign nationals who are victims of this crime. An initial short-term permit, which may be issued for up to 180 days, provides victims with a period of reflection to escape the influence of their trafficker and consider their options, including pursuing immigration avenues or returning home. A longer-term permit, valid for up to three years, may be issued to a victim of trafficking in cases where individual circumstances warrant. In 2010, 55 TRPs were issued to 47 victims of trafficking. This figure includes subsequent permits issued to the same victim to maintain legal status in Canada.

On September 1, 2010, CIC announced a new temporary resident visa policy to exempt certain foreign nationals from some inadmissibility provisions. The aim of this policy is to advance Canada’s national interests and to minimize bilateral irritants, while continuing to ensure the safety of Canadians. As of December 31, 2010, a total of 17 visas were issued under the provisions of this policy.

Table 6 indicates the number of TRPs issued in 2010, categorized according to grounds of inadmissibility under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. In 2010, 12,452 permits were issued, with 5.8 percent (719) representing permits issued to foreign nationals who continued to maintain their status as permit holders from within Canada. Of the total, 195 TRPs were issued under instruction of the Minister. The remaining permits were authorized by departmental officials. The authority to issue TRPs is shared between designated CIC officials and Canada Border Services Agency officers working at ports of entry.

Source: Field Operations Support System, as of April 4, 2011.

Note: The statistics in this table include the number of temporary resident permits used to enter or remain in Canada in 2010.

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