Concerns regarding Employer(Huawei) and Citizenship - Kindly advice!

[vivek261088]

Hello All,

I wanted to talk about my current situation and am hoping that I can get advice on this forum. I came to Canada in 2014 to study and completed my masters. I received my PR on Sept 2018, and currently, hold Indian citizenship. I'm planning to apply for citizenship by 2020. My background is in data science and artificial intelligence. I have recently started working for Huawei Technologies Canada (4 months), and I like my job and the team so far. However, with the recent turn of events and news, I am getting worried if working for this company may impact my citizenship process. My concern stems from reading a couple of articles where people have got their PR application denied because of association to Huawei, under section 34(1)(f) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which deems individuals involved in espionage, terrorism or government subversion inadmissible. See link below.

Related Links:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/huawei-china-telecom-arrest-spying-1.4934905
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-to-reject-residence-applications-for-chinese-telecom-workers/article30133896/


I have weighed my options bearing certain assumptions in mind:
OPTION A:
Stay put. (Assumption- That working for Huawei will not impact my citizenship process due to the association)
- I am an Indian citizen, my association with the company should not be deemed as security risk
OPTION B:
Leave the job and find a new one. (Assumption- Working for Huawei will impact my citizenship process)

Maybe I am overthinking this issue but I would still appreciate any advice. Thanks!

 

[Seym]

Option A.
Your work history is NOT considered by IRCC during the process. It only adds weight to the fact that you've been in Canada for the period you claim.
And the current situation will be in all cases old news by the time you apply...

Good luck in advance

 

[scorph]

Hello All,

I wanted to talk about my current situation and am hoping that I can get advice on this forum. I came to Canada in 2014 to study and completed my masters. I received my PR on Sept 2018, and currently, hold Indian citizenship. I'm planning to apply for citizenship by 2020. My background is in data science and artificial intelligence. I have recently started working for Huawei Technologies Canada (4 months), and I like my job and the team so far. However, with the recent turn of events and news, I am getting worried if working for this company may impact my citizenship process. My concern stems from reading a couple of articles where people have got their PR application denied because of association to Huawei, under section 34(1)(f) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which deems individuals involved in espionage, terrorism or government subversion inadmissible. See link below.

Related Links:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/huawei-china-telecom-arrest-spying-1.4934905
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-to-reject-residence-applications-for-chinese-telecom-workers/article30133896/


I have weighed my options bearing certain assumptions in mind:
OPTION A:
Stay put. (Assumption- That working for Huawei will not impact my citizenship process due to the association)
- I am an Indian citizen, my association with the company should not be deemed as security risk
OPTION B:
Leave the job and find a new one. (Assumption- Working for Huawei will impact my citizenship process)

Maybe I am overthinking this issue but I would still appreciate any advice. Thanks!

I personally think the bad reputation of Huawei in many western countries including Canada has reached a peak, and I believe it’s clumsy to say that working for this company will not raise red flag on your Canadian citizenship application.

My advice is try to apply for a similar job with other companies and keep track of those applications. This will be very helpful should you be questioned during the background checks in your Canadian citizenship application over your employment with Huawei.

Please don’t get me wrong. Don’t quit your current job, but start to apply with other companies.

Matters relating to threats to national security, work for companies considered as spies, can be damaging to a citizenship application.

 

[Gibe]

I believe that there should not be any issue. IRCC is mostly interested at checking that you meet the physical presence, were not condemn for anything and is able to speak one of the official languages.

Working at Huawei does not make you a criminal (unless you are actually spying ).

Anyway in the unlikely case that your application takes ages to complete, then you may want to consider option B.

On the other hand if when you receive your citizenship and if the situation hasn’t evolve until then, then you may want avoid going to China. Immigration and judicial system does not work the same there.

 

[Joshua1]

Hi

You can work for the “devil” and still get citizenship.

Unless there’s a relevant immigration law that stipulates or forbids Permanent Residents from working for foreign companies that are under investigation or deemed to be a security threat, there’s no correlation.
Huawei, in Canada, is a legally registered company that does business with major telecommunications corporations here and employ directly and indirectly thousands of Canadians. So, are all those employees security threats to Canada?

Unless the government of Canada declares Huawei to be illegal and national security threat or the OP is a high level executive... even then, the worst that could happen is the background and security would be prolonged.