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The federal budget, Economic Action Plan 2013, provided some funding to help CIC deal with a growing number of applications in both its temporary resident and citizenship streams. The department will receive funding of $42 million over the next two years for the Temporary Resident Program and $44 million for the Citizenship Program to enhance its capacity to process applications. This will be funded through increased fees, which do not currently reflect the cost of the service. We will be reviewing these fees and aligning them more closely with costs.
Also impacting CIC, in Economic Action Plan 2013, is funding for Canada’s International Education Strategy, aimed at strengthening Canada’s position as a country of choice to study and conduct world-class research. A world-class international education sector, with appropriate pathways for students and researchers to transition to permanent residency, such as the Canadian Experience Class, is essential to attracting top-level talent.
The budget also promised that a pilot program would be developed to test a new approach to attracting immigrant investors. This builds on last year’s budget, which promised that business immigration programs would be reformed to target more active investment for Canadian growth companies.
Commitments made under the Government’s Beyond the Border Action Plan were also supported in the budget. These include better information sharing with the United States; implementing an Electronic Travel Authorization system to improve screening of all visa-exempt foreign nationals (excluding U.S. citizens); and establishing an entry and exit information system with the United States, whereby the record of land entry into one country can be used as a record of exit from the other.
CIC launched a new pilot program to attract entrepreneurs. The Start-Up Visa Program, which opened for applications on April 1, 2013, links immigrant entrepreneurs with experienced private sector organizations that have expertise in working with start-ups.
Before applying, foreign entrepreneurs will require the support of a designated Canadian angel investor group or venture capital fund. They will also have to meet certain criteria regarding language proficiency and educational qualifications.
The program is unique in that most countries with immigrant entrepreneur programs attach conditions to the immigration status of the entrepreneur, such as the need to create a certain number of jobs. By granting permanent resident status up front, Start-Up Visa allows immigrant entrepreneurs to take risks and potentially build innovative companies that can compete on a global scale.
The pilot will run for up to five years.
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Under the new system, all eligible asylum claimants continue to receive a fair hearing on the merits of their case before the independent Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). But the new system will be faster. Under the old system, claimants waited, on average, close to 18 or 19 months to receive a hearing.
Most asylum claimants will now receive a hearing within 60 days of their claim being referred to the IRB. However, claimants from ‘designated countries of origin’ (DCOs) — countries that do not normally produce refugees, but do respect human rights, and offer state protection — receive a hearing within 30 or 45 days, depending on whether they made their claim at an inland CIC office or at a port of entry. Claimants from designated countries of origin will not have access to the new Refugee Appeal Division and will not generally have access to work permits.
The 35 countries now on the DCO list accounted for approximately 31 percent of all asylum claims made in 2011.
Under the new system, failed asylum claimants will be removed from Canada within a year of their final IRB decision. Previously, failed asylum claimants generally took about four and a half years to exhaust all recourses and be removed from Canada.
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The past several years have seen the highest sustained level of immigration in Canada’s history. At the same time, there have been record numbers of people coming to Canada on a temporary basis to visit, study or work. CIC is fundamentally changing the way we work, and striving to improve service as we manage these high levels of temporary and permanent immigration. This includes making information easier to find and making applying to come to Canada easier.
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CIC will be introducing biometric screening into Canada’s Temporary Resident Immigration Program.
Starting in fall 2013, visitor visa, study and work permit applicants from 29 countries and one territory will need to provide their fingerprints and photograph when they apply to come to Canada. Minister Jason Kenney announced the change in December 2012; as well, proposed regulations were published in the Canada Gazette allowing the government to require biometric information from these applicants.
Using biometrics will facilitate legitimate travel and strengthen Canada’s immigration program, as it will provide visa officers with greater certainty in screening applicants and will allow a person’s identity to be more readily confirmed upon arrival.
CIC is also expanding its network of Visa Application Centres, where most applicants will provide their biometric information, in 2013.
Find out more
Please send questions or comments to biometrics@cic.gc.ca.
If you access CIC’s manuals and operational bulletins regularly, you will soon notice a significant change to the way refugee protection content looks online.
This new section brings together material that was previously found in several locations, including manuals and operational bulletins, into a single information source. Keeping in mind the way users look for information online, this new section will combine policy and operational guidance using the latest web features.
This is in keeping with our continued focus on service improvement, and is part of a project to improve and modernize CIC’s work tools by making it easier to find and use key operational content. In addition to improved guidance to staff, as a user outside the Department, you will also benefit from these improvements. The new format will make it easier to locate more up to date information on the most popular topics and services.
Refugee Protection will be the first business line to be put in the new format. Watch for additional new sections coming soon. This includes information that applies to multiple business lines, such as requirements for fees, language, and medicals, for example. Such content will be centralized and linked to as needed — instead of repeating it in different locations, as is currently the case. A new Citizenship section is planned for this spring with operational content related to permanent and temporary residents to follow next year.
Information to help you with the transition from the previous ‘manual’ format to the new web version will be included with the new sections. As with all change, it may take some time to get used to accessing this information in a new way. However, in the long run, these improvements will go a long way towards a more efficient and modernized approach to delivering CIC programs and services.
On January 2, CIC began accepting applications for the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP). This brand-new program is designed to meet the demand for skilled tradespeople across Canada. Through the FSTP, up to 3,000 people will arrive in Canada in 2013. The FSTP complements other immigration streams, such as the Canadian Experience Class and Provincial Nominee Programs, that also bring in skilled tradespeople to Canada.
The FSTP will attract much-needed skilled tradespeople to Canada, from electricians and welders to heavy-duty equipment mechanics and pipefitters. The full list of eligible occupations is available here.
To be eligible for the FSTP, applicants must show
basic language proficiency in English or French;a valid offer of employment in Canada or a Certificate of Qualification from a province or territory in a qualifying skilled trade;at least two years’ of full-time work experience (or the equivalent in part-time work) in their occupation within the last five years. The experience must have been obtained after becoming qualified to independently practice that occupation; andthat they meet the employment requirements set out in the National Occupational Classification system (in this guide, see “Determining your NOC category.”)Trades licensing requirements are addressed separately. While applicants are not required to meet licensing requirements at the time of application, a CIC officer must be satisfied that they are capable of performing the job offered to them and to successfully qualify for licensing/certification if required.
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An Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education is being offered this year for teachers of Grades 6 to 12 (in Quebec, Elementary 6 to Secondary 5) by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. This one-time award recognizes excellence in Holocaust education, promotes the application of pedagogical methods and teaching guidelines endorsed by the Alliance, and facilitates the sharing of innovative teaching ideas within Canada’s education community.
The winner will receive $5,000, to be reinvested into Holocaust education at his or her school, a certificate of recognition, and a trip to Toronto for the presentation ceremony in October 2013. Two runners-up will receive honourable mentions and certificates of recognition.
The best practices and learning materials of the top three candidates will be published on CIC’s website as a resource for other teachers. The deadline for applications is May 15.
The award marks Canada’s one-year chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Canada’s year began with a ceremony held March 5 in Berlin.
In February, CIC wrapped up its multi-year Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP).
Sixty-eight community-based commemorative and educational projects have been funded by CHRP, administered by CIC’s Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch. These projects acknowledge ethno-cultural communities that were affected by historic government measures: the Head Tax imposed on Chinese immigrants, the early restrictions on South Asian immigrants, the wartime internment of Italian-Canadians and the anti-Jewish immigration policies epitomized by Canada’s 1939 refusal of entry to Jewish refugees aboard the MS St. Louis. The projects also mark these communities’ contributions to building Canada.
CHRP projects yielded documentary films, plays, books, public memorials, digitized historical content and other products.
Since CHRP began in 2008, the Government of Canada has contributed $13.5 million toward eligible community projects.
More information
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