Tag Archives: cic

Canadian Visa Office Changes

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The visa and immigration sections of the Canadian Embassy in Caracas have closed. Nationals and legal residents of Venezuela will now be required to submit work permit applications to the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City. Current average historical delays for work permit applications at that office are 1 month.

In the USA, all work permit applications are now being processed in New York City. The Canadian Consulate in Los Angeles will no longer process work permits, and will be responsible for all study permit applications in the USA. Current average historical delays for work permit applications at the New York City office are 2 months.

Bridging Work Permits for Successful Economic Class Applicants

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Citizenship and Immigration Canada has introduced provisions allowing for the issuance of bridging open work permits to foreign workers in Canada (i.e., holding a valid work permit) who have been approved in certain economic class applications. The eligible economic class category and the criteria for approval are as follows:

Federal Skilled Worker Program: the status of the  “Ministerial Instructions” criteria has been stated by CIC as “Met”, or a positive Final Determination of Eligibility letter/ e-mail has been issued to the applicant.

Provincial Nominee Program: the status of the “Eligibility EC-QC/PNP” is set to “Passed” or the Acknowledgment of Receipt been issued by mail or email by the Centralized Intake Office (CIO).

Canadian Experience Class: the status of the “Eligibility CEC” decision is set to “Passed” or the Acknowledgement of Receipt has been mailed or emailed from CIO.

Federal Skilled Trades Program: the Acknowledgement of Receipt has been mailed or emailed from CIO.

Eligible candidates may submit an inland change of terms application to the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville, requesting an open work permit. Such permits will be valid for one year. Renewal applications are possible, but the expectation is that the economic class permanent resident application would be completed by the end of that one year.

Province/Territory-specific open work permits for nominated foreign nationals

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As part of the Federal Skilled Worker Backlog Reduction Pilot, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has permitted provinces and territories to nominate candidates based on work experience from existing backlogs. These are individuals who do not have existing offers of work from Canadian employers.

The Canadian provinces and territories have requested a mechanism for issuance of open work permits to the candidates that they nominate, that would allow for faster entry to Canada while permanent resident processing is under-way. In an effort to respond to labour market needs, CIC is allowing nominated foreign nationals to apply for one of up to 1,500 province-specific open work permits (i.e., not specific to an occupation and not requiring a job offer in advance).

These work permits may be granted for a duration of up to two years, and are not eligible for renewal thereafter. The intent is for the candidate to have permanent resident status in Canada by the end of this validity.

The program is open only to selected foreign nationals with a letter of support from the nominating province. A Labour Market Opinion will not be required in these cases, which can be processed through the normal avenues (i.e., visa office abroad, port of entry when permitted, and inland).

New Temporary Resident Visa Requirements

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Citizenship and Immigration Canada has imposed Temporary Resident Visa (TRV, also referred to as a visitor visa) requirements for nationals of Botswana, Namibia, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Swaziland. Citizens of these countries must now apply to the responsible  visa office in advance of travel in order to be eligible to appear at a Canadian port of entry.

This means that work permits must also be sought at a visa office prior to travel to Canada. Eligible TRV exempt nationals can commonly apply for work permits at the port of entry while travelling into Canada. The imposition of the TRV requirements in these cases means that this will not be possible for nationals of these countries. The most significant impact of this is to the timing of such applications. Whereas a port of entry case can be concluded in a matter of hours if clear and complete, a visa office application will require several weeks at a minimum, and possibly months.

British Columbia Pilot Project Facilitates Open Work Permits

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The province of British Columbia and Citizenship and Immigration Canada have announced a program which expands the availability of open work permits to family members of foreign workers in that province. Under the newly announced Pilot Project, in effect from August 15 2011 to February 15 2013 and with a cap of 1800 open work permits, the spouses, common-law partners, and working-age dependants of holders of most classes of occupation-specific work permits.

In all provinces at present, the spouses and common-law partners of highly skilled work permit holders, those classified as doing work in NOC 0, A, or B categories, are eligible for such open work permits without any caps. The Pilot project therefore expands this to include most NOC C and D classified occupations (exceptions are Live-In-Caregivers, Seasonal Agricultural Workers, and International Experience Class youth program workers), and to allow dependent children of working age to participate.

New Work Permit Forms in Effect August 1 2011

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Following the introduction of a new version IMM1295 application form on February 15th of this year, the Department has announced that effective August 1 2011, no other application forms will be accepted (with the exception of SAWP cases in Mexico and Jamaica until September 30 2011). The forms contain a bar coding system that requires validation prior to finalization; this validation makes correct completion of the form mandatory.

This version of the form does contain additional fields that require a greater depth of information as compared to the prior version. New sections include details on education and work history.

Candidates should ensure that the version 01-2011 or later form is used in any submission on or after August 1 2011.

CIC Promoting Long Term Multiple Entry Visas for Business Travellers

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Citizenship and Immigration Canada has announced a policy decision to promote the use of long-term multiple-entry visas. For foreign nationals engaged in ongoing business activities in Canada, and who officials accept as genuine temporary residents of Canada, the goal of this policy is to facilitate such business activity without the need for repeated single-entry visa applications.

The policy permits issuance of a multiple-entry visa for a maximum duration of the validity of the candidate’s passport less one month. Depending on the normal passport validity of an issuing country, this means that the normal maximum validity will be up to 59 months (just under 5 years), although in some cases it could be as much as 119 months (just under 10 years).

An entry visa permits the foreign national to appear at a Canadian port of entry to seek admission. The maximum duration of such admission on any given occasion is subject to the discretion of the Canada Border Services Agency official.

IT Worker Program Extended in BC

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For most provinces in Canada, the Facilitated Processing of Information Technology Workers program ended on September 30 2010. However, the provinces of Quebec and Alberta maintained the program until March 31 2011. Quebec has now terminated this program as well, but the province of British Columbia has announced that it will extend the program once more, this time until September 30 2011.

Eligible candidates may seek work permits in this program without the requirement of a Labour Market Opinion Confirmation first.

Revisions to Temporary Foreign Worker Program

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On April 1 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Canada implemented changes announced in 2010 which constitute a significant increase in the level of scrutiny that applications in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) will be subject to. Officials reviewing applications, including HRSDC; CIC; and CBSA, now have more power and obligation to evaluate the job offer, the employer, the and the employer’s history in the TFWP.

When an offer is made to a foreign national, officials must assess the following factors:

(1) the genuineness of the job offer, including whether or not the employer is continuously and actively engaged in commercial activities in Canada; whether the position offered is credible in the light of the business in which the employer is engaged; and whether or not the employer is capable of fulfilling the terms of the offer of employment.

(2) the employer’s history of compliance with requirements of the TFWP and of providing “Substantially the Same” wages, conditions, and responsibilities to the foreign national as were approved by the Canadian government officials (STS).

(3) the consistency of the request with agreements established with the various provinces and territories and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Applications can be refused if the above are not consistent with program requirements, and employers could potentially be prohibited from benefiting from the services of a foreign worker for a 2 year duration if they are found to have failed to comply with STS requirements.

Foreign nationals may also now be required to adhere to a 4 year maximum duration of work in Canada. After a cumulative duration of 4 such years, it would be necessary for a period of 48 months to pass prior to which the foreign national would become eligible for work in Canada in the TFWP again. Exemptions to this rule do exist, which may include candidates admitted pursuant to international treaties (e.g., NAFTA), candidates admitted in certain high skill occupations, and those contributing a significant benefit to Canada.