New Immigration Regulations

New Immigration and Refugee Protection Act Regulations

On Saturday December 15th 2001, the Canadian government published the proposed new Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations in the Canada Gazette Part I. You may view these Regulations at the following URL:<http://www.canada.gc.ca/gazette/hompar1-2_e.html>, Pages 4577 to 4698 for the text of the proposed regulation and pages 4477 to 4576 for the text of the regulatory impact analysis.

The Regulations are to be implemented along with the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, Bill C-11, on June 28th 2002. But some provisions of these regulations have immediate effect. Part 5, selection of skilled workers and business applicant, will be applicable to applicants who have not yet obtained a selection decision. According to article 259 (part 16, transitional provisional for economic class) the regulations are applicable to foreign nationals who submitted an application for an immigrants visa which have not been awarded the numbers of unit of selection required by the immigration regulations of 1978 (the old regulations). They must obtain a minimum of 75 points based under the new regulations if they had applied before December17th, 2001. For all applications received after 17th they must obtain a minimum of 80 points under the new regulations.

The new regulations repeal the old regulations of 1978 (see art 261), and they are due to come in force on the day the Act (the new immigration law, C-11) comes into force, 28th June 2002.

The selection system for Skilled Workers in the new Regulations will be different from the present criteria. Some individuals will benefit, while others, mostly from non-Anglophone or francophone countries, will qualify with difficulties due to the way the points for language are calculated.

Most importantly, many occupations that were previously considered ineligible under the Skilled Worker program are now considered eligible; previously closed occupations are now effectively open.

Under these new regulations the minister could designate an occupation as a restricted occupation. It is anticipated that a negative occupation list would not contain any occupation during the start-up phase of the new skilled worker class. The purpose of this list is to permit the minister to protect the Canadian labour market should an overly large number of immigrants with narrow occupational skills apply for immigration under the skilled worker class.

The old and the new regulations specify that skilled workers applicants must have sufficient funds to support themselves during the period of their initial establishment. A family unit of three (3) persons used to need C$ 12,939 but under the new regulations they need to demonstrate that they have available funds of at least C$ 27,805.

The new Immigration law and regulations are also introducing a new residency card (permanent resident card), article 51, for the permanent residents. For the first time, Canada is issuing a renewable, secure, proof-of-status document valid for five years. This card will facilitate the return and entry of permanent residents to Canada by providing a presumption of their status as permanent residents in Canada. All new residents under the new Act will no longer get the record of landing (IMM1000) and will get the new card as a document indicating their status. Individuals who are already permanent residents must apply for this card. These cards are issued and delivered in or outside Canada. When the card is due for renewal, individuals have to show proof of residency for 2 years out of 5 years, upon which the card can be renewed again for another 5 years.

Finally, all applications for permanent resident visa MUST be made at the immigration office outside Canada that serves the applicant's place of habitual residence.

Over 70 percent of new jobs in Canada require some form of post-secondary education, and Human resources and Development Canada (HRDC) predicts that fewer than 6 percent of jobs in the next five years will be available to those with less than a high school education. This explains why the new regulations gives more weight to the applicants (principal applicant and the accompanying spouse) level of education and the principal applicant's language abilities.

The number of applications in the system awaiting assessment has increased every year. Currently, the inventory of skilled workers cases totals over 170,000 cases involving more than 400,000 people. At present, 50 percent more applications are being received than are needed to meet program targets. If potential skilled workers find they must wait several years to be processed they will look elsewhere to immigrate and Canada will lose their skills.

The new regulations will have a negative impact on the applicants who are currently awaiting assessment. On its own, the act of increasing the qualifications expected of the skilled workers applicants under the new system would result in a decrease in the quantity of individuals who could receive permanent resident status. Some applicants who might qualify under the present system will not succeed under the new system. However, many qualified individuals who have not been able to apply in the past because of the restricted occupations, such as managers or assistant managers in any field, will now be able to submit an application.

© Sam Bayat, B.Sc., LLB. All Rights Reserved.