Feds consulting on two-tiered immigration processing
Big changes are planned for the fall, but the government is staying tight-lipped on the details.
Immigration Minister John McCallum is consulting the public as his department prepares to make major changes to Canada's immigration system. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
By PETER MAZEREEUW
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016 12:00 AM
The federal government is seeking public feedback on letting some immigration applicants pay more for faster processing.
That idea is one of many put forward in an online consultation document the government is asking members of the public to fill out as it gears up for an overhaul of the immigration processing system.
The NDP’s immigration critic and a pair of Liberal and NDP MPs say bringing in a two-tiered Canadian immigration system is out of the question.
“I wouldn’t support it,” said NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.). “By doing that, effectively you’re saying you can buy your way into the system and bypass everybody.”
“They’re absolutely creating a two-tiered system if that were to proceed,” she said.
However, Liberal MP Peter Fonseca (Mississauga East-Cooksville, Ont.) and a Toronto immigration lawyer say such a system could help to improve immigration processing.
The issue is one close to MPs’ hearts as much of their constituency work is tied up in helping constituents with immigration questions, including application processing.
Many MPs have two staffers in their riding offices and at least one attends to constituents’ immigration needs. The most common complaints of constituents about immigration issues are related to long delays in the processing times of applications for family reunification, refugees, spousal sponsorship, temporary foreign workers, visitor visas, and Canadian citizenship applications.
Submission deadline approaching
“Is there any rationale for providing options to those willing to pay higher fees for an expedited process?” is one of 15 questions posed on the consultation document, which can be accessed through the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada website.
The questionnaire covers a range of subjects, including how best to welcome newcomers, how many should be admitted into the country, and whether there should be more programs for employees to hire permanent foreign workers when Canadians can’t be found for the job.
The government is accepting online submissions until Aug. 5.
Immigration Minister John McCallum (Markham-Thornhill, Ont.) has promised to speed up the processing of immigration applications, particularly those in the family sponsorship class, by “streamlining” the application process this fall. He has also promised to make it easier for international students to become permanent residents; for refugees, economic immigrants, and people seeking visitor visas to come to Canada; and to eliminate the requirement that new spouses wait two years in Canada before being granted permanent residency status.
Some of those changes could be made by simply altering the points system used by immigration officials, said Mario Bellissimo, an immigration lawyer in Toronto at Bellissimo Law Group.
Ultimately though, “they’re going to need more money, they’re going to need more officers,” he said.
Allowing some immigration applicants to pay more to have their documents processed quicker could be one way to speed up the application process, said Mr. Bellissimo.
For example, IRCC could use the extra cash to pay a second worker to process the more routine portions of an application—criminal and medical background checks, for example—while another immigration official works on the rest, reducing the amount of time spent on the applications for which higher fees have been paid, he said.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Mr. Fonseca.
Canadians can already opt to pay extra to have passport renewals processed quicker, and a similar option could be helpful for people who need last-minute visas for funerals or weddings, he said, adding that MPs are often approached by constituents desperate for help getting those last-minute documents.
Mr. Fonseca said IRCC told him that, were such a system implemented, the extra cash could indeed be used to pay for more processing officers, and thereby reduce wait times for both those who pay and those who do not pay.
The government questionnaire does not provide any further detail about what sort of immigration applications—for examples, visas or permanent residency applications—such a system could be applied to.
Keep ‘merit-based’ system: Dhaliwal
Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal (Surrey-Newton, B.C.) said that while “asking a question is not an issue,” Canada should have a “merit-based” immigration system.
“Money should not fast-track immigration to Canada. That’s what I believe in,” said Mr. Dhaliwal, who immigrated to Canada from India in 1984.
Kennedy Stewart, the NDP MP for B.C.’s diverse Burnaby South riding, also said any consultation process should involve asking “tough questions” like whether to create a two-tiered system.
However, the government shouldn’t use the questionnaire as cover to bring in such a system just because it wants to, he said.
The government should be providing reports on the results of its consultations to the public, he said.
IRCC had received 3,500 submissions to the online consultation by July 28, according to spokesperson Nancy Caron.
Mr. McCallum declined to be interviewed through a spokesperson, and IRCC officials did not directly answer questions about how seriously the government is considering that or other subjects raised in the consultation document.
“Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada will be reviewing the feedback gathered from Canadians to help guide decisions on how many people we will welcome in the coming years and the future of immigration in Canada. This is a consultation and no outcome should be implied or assumed,” wrote Ms. Caron in an emailed statement.
Ms. Kwan is circulating her own letter to interested constituents and community groups to gather feedback on possible changes to Canada’s immigration system, which she said she will eventually send to Mr. McCallum.
The office of Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel (Calgary Nose Hill, Alta.) did not respond to interview requests.
Changes expected in fall
Mr. McCallum has promised to make big changes to the way the government handles several types of immigration applications.
The Liberals campaigned on promises to double the number of applications allowed for parents and grandparents to 10,000 per year, to double the budget for processing family-class applications, to reduce processing times, to give more points under the Express Entry program for siblings, and to eliminate the two-year waiting period for permanent residency for new spouses.
Mr. McCallum promised during a public appearance last month to “have a much quicker entry process” for people seeking visas for weddings or funerals, to reduce times for family class applications, to “streamline” the admissions process, and to make it easier for international students to become permanent residents, the Mississauga News reported.
Mr. McCallum has also been under pressure from members of the Liberal caucus to speed up processing times, The Hill Times reported in June, with backbenchers forming regional caucuses to discuss the issue. The Ontario caucus is co-chaired by Julie Dzerowicz (Davenport, Ont.) and Mr. Fonseca, the Western and Northern caucus is chaired by Jati Sidhu (Mission-Matsqui-Fraser-Canyon, B.C.), the Atlantic caucus is chaired by Alaina Lockhart (Fundy Royal, N.B.), and the Quebec caucus is chaired by Steven MacKinnon (Gatineau, Que.).
“People who put me in here, they come to my office and they’re banging on my doors [asking], ‘What are you doing different from the previous government?'” Mr. Sidhu told The Hill Times in June.
Making it easier for international students to gain permanent residence status may only require a “quick fix” by Mr. McCallum, who could order that more points be given to those applicants through the Express Entry program, said Mr. Bellissimo.
Similarly, removing the two-year waiting time for new spouses could be done quickly by the minister, he said.
Whatever changes are made, the government should address problems in the immigration system in a “cohesive and comprehensive way”, said Ms. Kwan.
It’s also important that changes are communicated to potential applicants as plainly as possible, said Mr. Bellissimo, so that people have realistic expectations about how their applications will be processed.
peter@hilltimes.com
@PJMazereeuw
