ARCHIVED – Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, 2006

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Section 3
Selecting Foreign Nationals as Permanent and Temporary Residents

CIC aims to ensure that the movement of people into Canada contributes to the country’s social and economic interests and meets its humanitarian commitments. 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.

3.1 Selecting Permanent Residents

Overall, CIC maintains a balanced immigration program that contributes to meeting Canada’s labour market needs while fostering family reunification and honouring humanitarian principles of refugee protection. A permanent resident is someone who has been allowed to live and work in Canada indefinitely but who has not become a Canadian citizen. IRPA defines three basic classes of permanent residents: economic, family, and protected persons.

A 50% reduction in the Right of Permanent Residence Fee became effective May 3, 2006. The intention is to make it easier and more attractive to come to Canada by reducing the costs associated with migration. This measure contributes to the Government’s commitment to promote a welcoming and well-managed immigration program in Canada. Table 3 provides the number of new permanent residents admitted in 2005 under the various immigration categories.

Economic Class Immigrants

The Economic Class includes skilled workers, business immigrants, provincial nominees and live-in caregivers, as well as members of their immediate family. In recent years, approximately 55% to 60% of new permanent residents have been in this class. (Note that the figures in the Economic Class include the applicants’ spouses and children.)

Skilled Workers

IRPA places emphasis on the applicants’ level of education, previous work experience, and knowledge of English or French. In addition, applicants with pre-arranged employment are awarded extra points. These skilled workers are also expected to have enough funds to support themselves and their dependants as they settle in Canada.

The Department expects that the IRPA skilled worker selection grid will have a positive impact on the long-term ability of skilled workers to effectively integrate and adapt to changing labour market circumstances. CIC has developed an evaluation framework to monitor and evaluate the impact of these changes over the next few years and the long term, once larger numbers of immigrants selected under these criteria begin to arrive and establish themselves in Canada.

Business Immigrants

Business immigrants are selected on the basis of their ability to create jobs for themselves and other Canadian residents, to contribute capital to the Canadian economy, and to stimulate economic activity.

The three categories of business immigration are as follows:

(1) The Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) seeks to attract immigrants with business and capital management experience. Applicants must demonstrate that they have business experience and a minimum net worth of $800,000. They are required to make an investment of $400,000 that is used for economic development and job creation.

(2) The Entrepreneur Immigration Program is designed to attract immigrants with business experience that can be utilized in Canada. Within two years of their arrival, immigrants must hold at least one-third of the equity of a Canadian business, be actively involved in the management of that business, and employ at least one Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

(3) Self-employed persons must demonstrate their ability and their intention to be self-employed upon arrival and to make a significant contribution to specific economic activities in Canada in the area of culture, athletics, or farm management.

In June 2005, Newfoundland and Labrador became the most recent province to begin participating in the IIP. Ontario, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories also participate in the program and the Department is pursuing discussions with other provinces who have expressed interest in participating. As of March 31, 2006, CIC had outstanding net allocations of $711 million to the provincial government funds operating under the new IIP.

CIC actively monitors some 40 investor immigrant funds from the pre-April 1999 IIP. The majority of the remaining funds are managed by provincial/territorial governments for investment in their respective economies, and account for approximately $568 million in investments. CIC ensures that partners managing the funds are in compliance with the 1976 Immigration Act.

Provincial Nominees

The PNP allows provincial and territorial governments to actively participate in the immigration process. As noted in Section 2, a number of provinces have entered into agreements with the Government of Canada to identify and designate immigrants that will meet their local economic needs. While these nominees must meet federal health and security admission criteria, they are not subject to the skilled worker selection grid for determining eligibility. This program has grown five-fold in the past five years.

The PNP has the potential to support efforts to encourage immigrants to settle outside Canada’s three largest cities. The most active PNP, Manitoba, accounted for over 4,619 admissions in 2005, representing more than half (57%) of the 8,097 admissions in that province that year.

CIC concluded successful negotiations with the Province of Ontario upon the signing of the Canada – Ontario Immigration Agreement in November 2005. Under this Agreement, Ontario has the authority to develop its own pilot PNP. In addition, CIC renewed provincial nominee agreements with Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia and continues to negotiate the renewal or extension of agreements with Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta, Prince Edward Island, and the Yukon. See Table 2 for more details on federal-provincial/territorial agreements.

Live-in Caregivers

The Live-in Caregiver Program allows individuals residing in Canada to employ a qualified foreign worker in their private residence when there are not enough Canadians and permanent residents to fill the available positions. Live-in caregivers must be qualified to provide care for children, sick or elderly people, or persons with a disability. Initially, successful candidates are granted temporary resident status and, after two years, they are eligible to apply for permanent resident status.

Family Class Immigrants

Reuniting families is an important principle of Canada’s immigration policy and legislation. Long-standing policy allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents to bring their family with them when they immigrate or to sponsor close family members for immigration to Canada. (For more information, see www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/index.asp.)

The Family Class is made up of people who join family members already settled in Canada. Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are 18 years of age or older may sponsor family members. Sponsors are responsible for addressing the essential needs of their family members upon arrival and ensuring that they do not become dependent on the Canadian social assistance system for a period of three to 10 years – depending on their age and relationship to the sponsor.

Since 2003, CIC has placed particular priority on ensuring prompt and efficient processing to facilitate family reunification in Family Class priority cases (sponsored spouses, partners and dependent children). As a result, the number of Family Class priority cases processed within six months rose from 38% in fiscal year 2002-2003 to 62% in 2005-2006. Nevertheless, inventories have been building up in the Parents and Grandparents category. To address this issue, on April 18, 2005, $72 million in new funding over two years was committed to increase processing of parent and grandparent applications and to cover integration costs once they arrive in Canada. This measure allows for the immigration of an additional 12,000 parents and grandparents per year. For 2005 overall, this resulted in an additional 6,971 parents and grandparents being admitted above the original target level of 5,500.

CIC is committed to ensuring that only those Canadian residents who meet IRPA eligibility criteria are permitted to sponsor relatives for permanent residence in Canada. Since 2002, sponsors in arrears of court-ordered support payments have been ineligible to sponsor. Sponsors who default on their undertaking to support a family member cannot usually sponsor again unless they repay the province the amount of social assistance received by a sponsored immigrant. IRPA establishes equal authority for the federal and provincial governments to collect payments from sponsors in cases of default – Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia have used this authority to establish their own systems to collect debts from sponsors. CIC continues to work with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the provinces on measures to collect debts owing from sponsors.

Permanent Resident Status on Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds

On an exceptional basis, IRPA gives CIC the authority to grant permanent resident status to individuals and families who would not otherwise qualify in any category, in cases where there are strong humanitarian, compassionate or public policy reasons to do so. The purpose of these discretionary provisions is to provide the flexibility to approve deserving cases not anticipated in the legislation.

As part of a review of CIC’s humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) policy, a national round table took place in March 2006 to enable government and non-government stakeholders to discuss possible improvements to H&C policy and to recommend improvements in client service and operations. This input will be incorporated into the overall policy review.

3.1.1 Statistical Overview of Permanent Residents Admitted in 2005 and 2006

Immigration Targets for 2005

Canada’s Immigration Plan for 2005, set out in the Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration – 2004, indicated a target range for new permanent residents of 220,000 to 245,000. The Plan underscored the Government’s commitment to balancing immigration in the Economic, Family, and Protected Persons classes and to maximizing the social and economic benefits to Canada.

In 2005, a total of 262,236 people were admitted to Canada as permanent residents.

This number falls above the planned target range of 220,000 to 245,000 permanent residents. The 2005 results represent an 11% increase over the 2004 total of 235,824 newcomers. There are a variety of factors that explain this spike in the level of admissions in 2005. The number of Skilled Workers exceeded targets by 17,742 in response to labour market needs. A decision was made to increase the target for the Parents and Grandparents category, which resulted in 6,971 additional admissions. As well, on average, immigrants used their visas faster in 2005 than in 2004 with the standard time between visa issuance and immigrant arrival in Canada declining by close to 30 days in 2005. This resulted in almost one “extra” month of admissions in 2005. Moreover, in 2005, the number of people with immigrant visas who chose not to use them dropped substantially compared with 2004. Additionally, permanent residents whose applications had been fully processed in 2004 but chose not to come to Canada in 2004 arrived in 2005.

Of the newcomers admitted:

• 59.61% (156,310) were Economic immigrants and their dependants in 2005, as compared to 57% (133,746) in 2004;
• 24.16% (63,352) were in the Family Class in 2005, as compared to 26% (62,246) in 2004;
• 13.64% (35,768) were Protected Persons in 2005, as compared to 14% (32,685) in 2004; and,
• 2.54% (6,653) were granted permanent resident status on humanitarian and compassionate grounds in 2005, as compared to 3% (6,945) in 2004.

Overall, in 2005, almost 60% of the new permanent residents were in the Economic Class, while just over 40% were in the non-economic classes. The totals for each immigration class exceeded the planned range in most categories. Table 3 provides more detailed breakdowns by immigration category and allows for a comparison with the 2005 Immigration Plan.

Table 3: New Permanent Residents in 2005, by Immigration Category (Compared to the Immigration Plan)

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2005.

Table 4 breaks down the categories in the Economic Class for 2005 into principal applicants and their dependants. Overall, 39% of the immigrants selected in the Economic Class were principal applicants who were evaluated on the basis of criteria developed to maximize their integration into the labour market or business world.

Table 4: Permanent Residents in the Economic Class in 2005, by Principal Applicant and Dependants

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2005

Canada receives its immigrant population from region of origin, Table 5-B shows that over half over 200 different countries of origin. As (52.65%) of the newcomers admitted in 2005 indicated in Table 5-A, 55% of new immigrants came from the Asia and Pacific Region, admitted in 2005 came from 10 source followed by the Africa and Middle East Region countries. China and India were the leading (18.79%), Europe and the United Kingdom source countries, representing 29% of new (15.6%), South and Central America (9.4%), permanent residents. From the perspective of and the United States (3.53%).

Table 5-A: Permanent Residents Admitted in 2005, by Top 10 Source Countries

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2005

Table 5-B: Permanent Residents Admitted in 2005, by Source Area

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2005

As demonstrated in Table 6, as in previous years the most popular provinces of destination in 2005 were Ontario (54%), British Columbia (17%), and Quebec (16.5%).

Table 6: Permanent Residents Admitted in 2005,
by Destination and Immigration Category

NOTE: Due to privacy considerations, some cells in this are replaced with the notation “–”. As a result, components may not sum to the total indicated.
* “Other” includes Post-Determination Refugee Claimants, Deferred Removal Orders and Temporary Resident Permit Holders;
** Due to small numbers, values for “Live-in Caregivers” in these cases were grouped with “Skilled Workers” for privacy considerations.
*** Due to small numbers, values for “Dependants Abroad ” in these cases were grouped with “Protected Persons in Canada” for privacy considerations.

In terms of the language profile of permanent residents admitted in 2005, 64% spoke French, English, or both official languages.

Table 7: Knowledge of Official Languages Among Permanent Residents, 2005

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2005
* where p.a. refers to principal applicants and s.d. refers to spouses and dependents

Table 8 provides a mid-year report on the number of people in the various immigration categories who became permanent residents in the first half of the year – between January and June 2006. The admissions for 2006 are generally on target. The number accepted under the Family Class is expected to be higher than in previous years. This is due to the new measures announced in April 2005 to speed up the processing of sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents in order to increase the number of parents and grandparents immigrating to Canada by an additional 12,000 applicants each year over 2005 and 2006. As shown in the table, the targets for the Protected Persons class were also adjusted upwards as the Department continues focusing its efforts on reducing inventories.

Table 8: New Permanent Residents Admitted in 2006 (January to June)

*Percentage of Plan calculated using the low end of the 2006 plan.

3.2 Selecting Temporary Residents

In addition to selecting permanent residents, Canada’s immigration program provides for the temporary entry of:

• Foreign workers and business people who are important to our economic growth;
• Foreign students attracted by the quality of our educational system; and,
• Visitors.

These temporary residents contribute to Canada’s economic development by filling gaps in the labour market, enhancing trade, and purchasing goods and services.

Foreign nationals wishing to come to Canada as temporary residents must show that they will respect the conditions that apply to temporary residents. One of these conditions is that they will leave voluntarily at the end of the visit. Individuals who apply to come to Canada as temporary residents must satisfy the visa officer abroad that they are in good health (in some cases, a medical examination may be required); have not committed a crime; do not pose a threat to Canada’s security; have a valid passport or travel document; have enough money to support themselves and their family members while in Canada; will leave Canada voluntarily at the end of their authorized stay; and, meet all other requirements under IRPA.

Foreign Workers

CIC facilitates the temporary entry of 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. As a general rule, foreign workers must have an approved job offer and a work permit before arriving in Canada. CIC works in close collaboration with HRSDC to ensure that the admission of foreign workers does not adversely affect employment opportunities for Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

In 2005, CIC admitted 99,146 foreign workers for whom employment was authorized, to fill skill gaps in the domestic labour market. This total represents an increase of about 9.5% over the level of 90,668 recorded in 2004.

Before a work permit can be offered to a foreign worker, the employer’s job offer is assessed by HRSDC. In addition, HRSDC can enter into agreements with specific sectors that are experiencing serious labour shortages to help expedite the issuing of the necessary work permits. In certain circumstances, foreign nationals in Canada can receive a work permit without having the job offer approved by HRSDC, or they may not need a work permit issued by CIC. (For more information on specific cases allowed under IRPA, see www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/apply-who-nopermit.asp.) In addition, specific hiring criteria apply to some sectors and professions including universities, seasonal agriculture, movie production and performing arts, information technology, and live-in caregiving.

CIC is actively involved in initiatives to further facilitate the entry of temporary foreign workers into Canada. On-going discussions at the federal and provincial levels and with individual stakeholders in certain sectors with acute labour shortages have resulted in faster processing of the requests for the entry of foreign workers. CIC has developed Temporary Foreign Worker Units in regions with acute labour shortages to provide better screening services and outreach programs.

Foreign Students

Foreign students bring with them new ideas and cultures that enrich the learning environment within Canadian educational institutions. Foreign students who enter Canada on temporary visas may also be an important source of future immigrants in the skilled worker category since they are well prepared for the Canadian labour market.

To obtain a study permit, candidates must submit an application to a visa office outside Canada for approval. With the introduction of IRPA, foreign nationals taking a course or participating in a short program of study that is less than six months in duration no longer require a study permit. This exemption also applies to minor children already in Canada whose parents are not temporary residents in the visitor category (for further information on minor children studying in Canada, see www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/study-minors.asp), and to all family members or employees of foreign representatives in Canada. The number of foreign students entering Canada in 2005 totalled 57,476, which is consistent with the volume from the previous year’s total of 56,536.

Building on the success of the pilots for off-campus work opportunities for foreign students, the Minister announced in April 2006 the national roll-out for the off-campus work permit program which will allow foreign students to gain valuable Canadian work experience. The Government of Canada has invested $10 million a year for five years to support these new initiatives. Foreign students will be able to work off-campus during their course of study and for up to two years after graduation. (For more details on these new programs, please visit www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/work-postgrad.asp.)

Visitors

Under IRPA, every foreign national 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 unless they benefit from certain other limited exceptions, for example, members of the diplomatic corp. At present, citizens from over 140 countries require Temporary Resident Visas to visit Canada while citizens of less than 50 countries are visa-exempt. The list of countries requiring visas to enter Canada can be found at www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp.

Tourists and business visitors make a significant contribution to our economy by creating a demand for services in the hospitality sector and allowing Canadian businesses to benefit from their specialized expertise. In 2005, CIC processed applications for 920,664 persons seeking temporary resident visas for tourists and business visitors to Canada, a 7.6% increase over the previous year (850,950 persons). Millions of additional foreign visitors from countries whose citizens do not require a visa to travel to Canada also cross our borders every year.

In addition to the above, 105,149 visitor records were issued to foreign nationals on entry into Canada, marking a decrease of about 11% over 2004 (118,880). These include, for example, foreign nationals who want to stay in Canada for over six months without working or studying, visitors who intend to work but who are not required to obtain a work permit, and business visitors under the North American Free Trade Agreement who provide after-sales service for longer than two days.

In the continuing World Trade Organization negotiations concerning trade in services, Canada tabled a revised offer to liberalize further rules and regulations on the temporary entry of certain business persons. However, future negotiations have been indefinitely postponed. CIC contributed to the federal government initiative to improve the accessibility and quality of information about Canada to tourists and business visitors by providing content on temporary entry rules and regulations on the Going to Canada Web site at www.goingtocanada.gc.ca/CIC/display-afficher.do?id=0000000000096&lang=eng.

Temporary Resident Permits

Subsection 24(1) of IRPA authorizes the Minister and CIC to issue temporary resident permits to foreign nationals who may be inadmissible. These permits are issued only when there is little or no risk to Canada and there is a compelling reason for the inadmissible individual to be in Canada. Issued for a limited period of time and subject to cancellation at any time, temporary resident permits give CIC the flexibility to address exceptional circumstances or cases affecting the national interest.

In May 2006, the Minister announced that the federal government had adopted new measures to help victims of human trafficking in Canada. Trafficking in persons violates the basic human rights of its victims. Traffickers use a number of methods to control their victims including the confiscation of identification papers, restraint, and violence or threats of violence to the victim or the victim’s family members. To assist victims of human trafficking, temporary resident permits can be issued for up to 120 days. The permit will enable victims to begin to recover from the impact of this crime. Victims who receive temporary resident permits will also be exempted from the processing fee, and will be eligible for health-care benefits under the Interim Federal Health program. The new measures have been carefully designed so that only bona fide victims of human trafficking will benefit from them.

Table 9 indicates the number of temporary resident permits issued in 2005, categorized according to grounds of inadmissibility under IRPA. In 2005, 13,970 temporary resident permits were issued. The number of permits issued represents an increase of 372 permits over the 2004 total of 13,598. Of the 2005 total, 433 individuals (3%) were issued permits upon ministerial instruction. The balance was authorized by departmental officials.

Authority to issue temporary resident permits is shared between CIC departmental officials and CBSA officials working at Canadian ports of entry. In 2005, 17% of the permits (2,396) were issued outside Canada, another 8% (1,128) were issued inside Canada, and 75% (10,446) were issued at ports of entry such as the land borders and airports.

Table 9: Temporary Resident Permits Issued from January 1 to December 31, 2005 (to persons seeking to enter Canada and found to be inadmissible under IRPA)

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