In response to the demands of faith communities across the country, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is examining ways to make it easier for religious leaders to obtain landed immigrant status. Many of these clergy arrive to serve communities on temporary resident visas but are unable to meet the requirements for permanent residents.

Many of the clergy are not accepted due to a lack of English or French language skills. However community representatives are concerned that they are having difficulty retaining their well-liked priests. To address the needs of these faith groups, the Honourable Monte Solberg, Minster of Citizenship and Immigration is studying ways to make it easier for religious workers to make it through the selection process, according to a spokesperson.

According to an immigration Attorney, who represents a number of religious organizations in the Toronto area, some of these congregations have up to 15,000 members, and the means to sponsor their leaders. Many of these congregations are in immigrant communities that do not have adequate religious training institutions in Canada. As Gurmeet Singh of the congregation Nanaksar Satsang Sabha Ontario says simply “our priests are trained back home”. His large congregation has seven priests awaiting outcome of permanent residence applications, and has recently had one popular priest return to India when his visa expired. Mr. Singh is hoping new regulations can allow their group to keep their well-liked priests long-term.