Unable to cope with the task of optimally organizing the processing of applications and restoring order, the Canadian immigration department ultimately admitted its own powerlessness and took a timeout.
So, what do we have as of today? According to a statement by Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Mr. Kenny, as of July 1, the acceptance of applications under the following federal immigration programs has been suspended:
Skilled Worker
During the 2011–2012 period, this program had restrictions both on the number of applications accepted and on the requirement that the applicant's occupation match one of the professions on the list of those in demand in Canada (the list of 29). Let me remind you that for a long time this was the main program through which the majority of immigrants entered Canada. Currently, acceptance of applications under it has virtually ceased. The exceptions are individuals who have a confirmed job offer or who are enrolled in a Ph.D. program or have obtained a Ph.D. degree in Canada.
All this is happening against the backdrop of the government having been regularly talking about new selection rules that are about to come into effect for a year and a half. They were expected on July 1, 2011, and even more so on July 1, 2012. As it turned out, in vain. The ministry announced that the introduction of new rules is postponed until January 2013. We can only hope that the promise will be kept.
Investor
Let me remind you that this program was revised only a year and a half ago, and it was promised that cases would be processed quickly. Promises remained just promises. A year ago, an additional limit was introduced on the number of applications accepted, with a quota of 700 applications per year. This quota was filled, according to Canadian media, within the first 30 minutes.
Everyone was waiting to see what changes awaited this program as of July 1, 2012. It turned out that it was decided to close it entirely. Moreover, unlike the Skilled Worker program, for which at least some promises are made and some timelines are given, for the Investor program everything is in complete uncertainty. It looks like it will not be opened anytime soon, and if it is opened, it will be in a greatly altered form. At least, it creates the impression that the government has a very vague idea of what it would like this program to look like.
IT IS ALSO worth recalling that the following federal programs were previously closed:
* Acceptance of applications under the Entrepreneur program has been completely discontinued. This happened a year ago, on July 1, 2011, and since then no one in the ministry even mentions this program. The prospects of this program—that is, when it will be opened, in what form, and whether it will be opened at all—are all in a state of complete uncertainty.
* Acceptance of applications under the Family Class program has been discontinued in the part concerning parents and grandparents. Instead, the possibility of obtaining a so-called super visa was introduced, which is issued for 10 years, with the possibility of a single stay in Canada for up to 2 years. However, this super visa does not grant a work permit and does not provide government health insurance, which immediately reduces its value. Currently, applications for spouses are still being accepted and processed under this program, but soon serious restrictions are expected for them as well.
For now, the only federal program that remains fully open is the Canadian Experience Class, under which individuals with at least one year of work experience in Canada in an occupation not below a certain level can apply.
As a result, as of today, applications for immigration are actually being accepted only from individuals who have work experience in Canada or have a confirmed job offer certified by HRSDC. Given how difficult it is to obtain such an offer, it is obvious that this opportunity makes no difference for those planning to immigrate to Canada through professional channels.
What explains this strange decision by the Canadian Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration? In my opinion, there are two reasons.
The first reason, which I consider the main one, is the complete lack of understanding on the part of the ministry's leaders of the essence of the issue—that is, what to do with immigration, what kind of immigrants Canada needs, and what benefit they want to derive from them. This explains the countless consultations and subsequent experiments that fail to achieve their stated goals. Given that the Conservatives have been in power for six years and Mr. Kenny has been serving as minister for over three and a half years, the strange situation that has now developed in the field of immigration can only be explained by a lack of understanding of the subject.
The second reason is the huge number of applications awaiting processing. In particular, as of now, under the Skilled Worker program, there are 463,214 applications in the queue awaiting processing, and under the Investor program, about 25,000 applications are waiting to be processed. All the experiments of recent years conducted by Mr. Kenny, which were aimed at drastically reducing application processing times, have led to nothing good. All the loud promises remained just promises. Moreover, in my assessment, the situation has only worsened, as processing times have noticeably increased.
The recent scandals surrounding the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration are also linked to large backlogs. On March 29, 2012, Mr. Kenny announced that all immigration applications under the Skilled Worker program submitted before February 27, 2008, would be returned without processing, and applicants would receive a refund of the government fees paid. Naturally, this caused a storm of protests, after which an instruction was sent from the ministry to the embassies to continue processing applications submitted before February 27, 2008.
At the same time, a class action lawsuit was filed against the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada by immigrants affected by this instruction, which was resolved in their favor. At the beginning of September, the appeal filed by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada is expected to be considered, and a lot depends on this final decision. If Mr. Kenny's step of returning applications is declared illegal, then the question immediately arises: can the ministry handle processing the applications waiting in line? Most importantly, how?
According to the ministry's own estimates, even if they do not accept new applications for the Skilled Worker program, processing the existing ones will take several years. This immediately calls into question the reality of introducing new rules on January 1, 2013. Personally, I got the impression that the court ruling that declared the return of applications illegal, and which apparently came as a bolt from the blue for the immigration department, was the reason why the new rules were not put into effect on July 1, 2012, but postponed for six months. Apparently, they will wait for the court decision and then develop a strategy on what to do next. As I already wrote, it may happen that the promise to open the Skilled Worker program remains just a promise.
However, if there is at least some clarity with the Skilled Worker program, then there is none at all with business programs. It is especially unclear what will happen with the Entrepreneur program, which I consider the most useful among the entire set of immigration programs.
The only plus in what is happening, I see, is that there is hope for accelerated processing of those applications that are currently under review.
NOW about the prospects of immigration policy, and what to do in the current situation.
In order to understand where Canada's immigration policy is moving and what changes to expect, it is worth remembering that the Canadian immigration department chose Australia's immigration policy as a model. A completely incomprehensible step, since the Canadian immigration model was considered one of the best, copied by many countries around the world. Nevertheless, the focus on Australia allows us to understand in which direction the development of immigrant selection principles in Canada will go.
If we talk about what those who have plans regarding immigration to Canada should do, there are two paths. The first is to wait for clarity on federal programs and apply through one of them when they open. The second path is to choose provincial programs. Both paths have their drawbacks.
In any case, against the backdrop of what has already been closed from federal immigration programs, only provincial immigration programs remain operational now. The only problem with them is that most of them require specialists to have a job offer certified by HRSDC. In addition, it is possible that requirements for most programs will be tightened, as has already happened with the Quebec program.
Therefore, in my opinion, the most promising way for immigration to Canada now is studying in Canada. Let this path be longer and require funds for education, but it is the most reliable and best way to successfully go through the immigration process and then settle well in Canada. Moreover, the Canadian government primarily relies on this category of immigrants - those who have a Canadian education and have a job offer.
AS YOU CAN SEE, the situation in the immigration sphere has become so uncertain that it is practically impossible to make any forecasts now. For example, I do not even rule out that in the event of a negative decision on the appeal of the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration in early autumn, Mr. Kenny will be transferred to another position, and then there will be no talk of introducing new rules for the Skilled Worker on January 1, 2013. That is, the situation can change drastically at any moment, and what is now being stated as big plans may turn out to be just another talking shop, without transformation into real action. In any case, for now, nothing remains but to hope that in the next six months at least some clarity will emerge in the field of immigration to Canada.
Elena RYABININA.
