New measures to help protect vulnerable people

May 24, 2019—Brampton, ON – Canada is taking decisive action to hold immigration and citizenship consultants to account by improving oversight, strengthening enforcement, and increasing accountability to protect the public from dishonest consultants who take advantage of vulnerable people.

Proposed legislation included in the 2019 Budget Implementation Act, will create a new statutory framework to regulate immigration and citizenship consultants, making the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (the College) the official watchdog of consultants across the country. The College will have the power and tools it needs to protect both the public and consultants in good-standing, including the authority for vigorous oversight, investigations and the means to root out fraudulent immigration and citizenship consultants and hold them accountable for their actions.

Consumer protection will be at the core and the primary purpose of the College to help ensure that immigration and citizenship consultants operate in a professional and ethical manner. The proposed legislation will give the College the ability to enter the premises of a consultant to investigate when it suspects wrongdoing and the ability to request court injunctions against unauthorized consultants.

To punish and deter illegal behavior, the proposed legislation will also double the current monetary penalty for offenses and provide new authority to the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to establish administrative penalties aimed at compliance with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Citizenship Act.

In addition, the Government will engage closely with the College to: implement mandatory and robust training courses for those wishing to obtain an immigration and citizenship consulting license; introduce transparency on fees; establish a better system for people to make formal complaints; and create a victims’ compensation fund.

Finally, the Government will launch extensive public awareness activities, including establishing dedicated community outreach officers in visa offices abroad, to help prevent susceptible people from falling victim to fraudulent consulting practices.

Quick facts

Budget 2019 proposes $51.9 million over 5 years, and $10.1 million per year ongoing to encourage compliance and deter criminal activities; to focus more resources on the enforcement of provisions relating to immigration advice and representation; to introduce a new administrative monetary penalty and bans regime; and to engage in activities aimed at raising public awareness.
Of the $51.9 million, the Canada Border Services Agency will receive $10 million to increase its resources for the criminal investigation of complex cases, including those involving unauthorized representatives, misrepresentation and organized fraud.
Budget 2019 proposes resources for IRCC for public awareness activities and targeted outreach. This includes outreach to diaspora communities in Canada; translation of basic messages into other languages; social media messaging; and displaying posters and pamphlets at Visa Application Centres abroad, at service provider organizations, and at Service Canada offices. Outreach positions will be established outside of Canada to ensure that information is spread locally regarding the legal requirement to use an authorized representative and the consequences of using an unauthorized consultant.

Please Contact Us for more information.

CIC, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada - IRCC, News, Operational Bulletin

Canada ends the Designated Country of Origin practice

June 13, 2019 nkic

May 17, 2019—Ottawa, ON—The Government of Canada is committed to a well-managed asylum system that’s fair, fast and final. Effective today, Canada is removing all countries from the designated country of origin (DCO) list, which effectively suspends the DCO policy, introduced in 2012, until it can be repealed through future legislative changes.

Claimants from the 42 countries on the DCO list were previously subject to a 6-month bar on work permits, a bar on appeals at the Refugee Appeals Division, limited access to the Interim Federal Health Program and a 36-month bar on the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment.

The DCO policy did not fulfill its objective of discouraging misuse of the asylum system and of processing refugee claims from these countries faster. Additionally, several Federal Court decisions struck down certain provisions of the DCO policy, ruling that they did not comply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Removing all countries from the DCO list is a Canadian policy change, not a reflection of a change in country conditions in any of the countries previously on the list.

De-designating countries of origin has no impact on the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement.

Designated Countries of Origin Policy

Most Canadians recognize that there are places in the world where it is less likely for a person to be persecuted compared to other areas. Yet many people from these places try to claim asylum in Canada, but are later found not to need protection.

Too much time and too many resources are spent reviewing these unfounded claims.

Designated Countries of Origin include countries that do not normally produce refugees and respect human rights and offer state protection.

The Designated Countries of Origin policy is meant to deter abuse of the refugee system by people who come from countries generally considered safe. Refugee claimants from Designated Countries of Origin will have their claims processed faster.

This will make sure that people in need get protection fast, while those with unfounded claims are sent home quickly.

Every eligible refugee claimant, including those from Designated Countries of Origin, will still have a hearing at the independent IRB.

Hearings on these claims should be held within 30-45 days after they are referred to the IRB. The time-frame for other refugee claimants is 60 days.

Please Contact Us for more information.

News, Studen Direct Stream, Study in Canada

Student Direct Stream (SDS)

June 13, 2019 nkic

The Student Direct Stream (SDS) is an expedited study permit processing program available to legal residents of India, China, Philippines and Vietnam who are living in 1 of these 4 countries and wanting to study in Canada at a post-secondary designated learning institution (DLI) and who meet specific requirements by providing upfront documentation.

About the SDS

SDS applications are centralized and processed by the Centralized Network (CN).

The service standard for SDS processing is 20 calendar days. Processing starts after receipt of a complete application and biometrics.

Only applications received electronically are eligible for SDS processing. All paper applications are processed under the regular study permit application stream and are subject to the associated processing times.

SDS processing is available to legal residents of India, China, Philippines and Vietnam who currently reside in 1 of these 4 countries. Applicants must be destined to study at a post-secondary DLI and meet the specific eligibility criteria below.

Foreign nationals eligible for SDS processing are still subject to all other eligibility and admissibility requirements under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR).

Transitional measures

SDS applications received before April 30, 2019, are continuing to be processed by the respective office or mission until all applications received before that date have been finalized.

Applicants who have submitted a paper application that meets SDS eligibility criteria before 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on May 15, 2019, are eligible for SDS processing by the respective office or mission until that time.

Visa application centres (VACs) are considering paper applications for SDS processing only until 11:59 p.m. ET on May 15, 2019.

Eligibility criteria

The applicant must include the following 5 documents to be eligible for SDS processing:

proof of a valid language test result, completed within 2 years of the date the SDS application was received, showing either of the following:
- an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of 6.0 or higher in each language skill: listening, reading, writing and speaking
- a Test d’Évaluation de Français (TEF) score that is equivalent to a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) score of at least 7 for each ability: at least 310 for speaking, 249 for listening, 207 for reading and 310 for writing. See Language test equivalency charts for more information.
proof of a Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC) of CAN $10,000 or more from any bank insured by the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) or any bank listed on the IRCC SDS Web page. The GIC must meet the following criteria:
- When the GIC has been purchased, the bank provides a letter of attestation, the GIC certificate, the Investment Directions Confirmation or the Investment Balance Confirmation to the applicant.
- The bank holds the funds in an investment account or a student account that is inaccessible for release to the applicant until the applicant’s arrival in Canada.
- Upon entry to Canada, the bank must validate the client’s identity before releasing funds to the study permit holder.
- The applicant receives an initial disbursement upon identifying themselves, and the remaining funds are disbursed in monthly or bi-monthly installments over a period of 10 to 12 months.
- Note: It is at the officer’s discretion to validate the authenticity of the GIC. If the authenticity of the GIC is in question, it should be referred to a risk assessment officer.
proof of full payment of tuition for their first year of study This may be in the form of the following:
- a receipt from the DLI
- an official letter from the DLI confirming payment of tuition fees
- a receipt from a bank showing that tuition fees have been paid to the DLI
- proof that the tuition fee amount has been transferred into a repository account at the DLI to be applied to the tuition bill at a later date
letter of acceptance from a post-secondary DLI
proof of completion of upfront medical examination from a panel physician for applicants:
- who have lived or travelled for 6 months in designated countries or territories during the year before coming to Canada
- whose field of study requires upfront medical examination results. Note: The medical examination confirmation may be either an information sheet printout, if the physician uses eMedical, or an Upfront Medical Report form [IMM 1017B].

Applications that do not meet SDS eligibility criteria

Officers must make the eligibility decision based on the information provided in the application. If an officer receives an SDS application that does not meet SDS eligibility criteria, the officer must either refer the application for regular study permit processing to the migration office or request further information, if there is information missing that could support a final decision at the Case Processing Centre in Edmonton (CPC-E).

Examples

If the system does not trigger the required document, the officer must request the missing document from the applicant.
If the system triggers the required documents, and the applicant has not submitted a document required to be eligible for a study permit, or if they have failed to submit an explanation as to why it was not submitted, the officer may refuse the application.
If the system triggers the required documents, but the applicant has submitted documents that do not meet the SDS eligibility criteria, the officer is to remove the SDS special program code and refer the application to the appropriate office.

Global Case Management System (GCMS) coding

Note: The instructions below are interim. Once the system is updated, all family packs with at least 1 study permit application coded as SDS will be automatically assigned to the CPC-E for processing.

GCMS automatically codes eligible e-applications as SDS. If family packs are submitted, only members who meet SDS eligibility requirements should be coded as SDS.

At the promotion stage, the Operations Support Centre (OSC) changes the primary office and e-transfers all applications in the family pack to the CPC-E for concurrent processing.

See the Family members of study permit applicants under SDS section below for additional information on how to process a family pack.

Referring an application

Officers must refer an application to the migration office if any of the following occur:

The required upfront medical examination has not been initiated (CPC-E to remove special program code).
The applicant is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident (CPC-E to remove special program code).
There are documents that require translation (CPC-E to remove special program code).
There is adverse history, that is, admissibility concerns (special program code is not to be removed).
There are adverse medical results (special program code is not to be removed).

To refer an application, officers must:

remove the SDS code and enter a note in the “Notes” section of GCMS explaining why the application is being reassigned to the mission; the note should read as follows: “Application does not meet SDS eligibility. Referred to <insert name of the migration office> <insert reason>.”
not remove the SDS coding for case referrals with adverse findings and add a note in the “Notes” section of GCMS indicating “Application is referred to <insert name of the migration office> for review of X <insert adverse info to be reviewed>.”
e-transfer the file to the appropriate migration office

The migration office is responsible for accepting the e-transfer.

For more information, see instructions on how to accept an e-transfer on GCMS Online Help.

Once the e-transfer is accepted by the migration office, the primary office in the application will change.

Incomplete applications

Incomplete applications are refused. With the exception of the biometric fee, if the application processing fee has not been included or is incorrect, the application is refused. If the biometric fee is missing, the officer is to request the fee.

Family members of study permit applicants under SDS

Family members of principal applicants who are applying under SDS are eligible for concurrent processing if they apply at the same time as the primary applicant. For more information, see the definition of a family member in subsection R1(3).

Temporary residence applications (work permit, study permit or temporary resident visa applications) of the accompanying family members must be submitted online as part of a family grouping. Family members must not be coded as SDS unless they also meet SDS eligibility criteria.

Prerequisite courses and bridging programs of study

Applicants who are taking a prerequisite course or bridging program of study at a DLI before starting their main program may be eligible to apply under the SDS, provided they meet all the program eligibility criteria.

Please Contact Us for more information.

NK Immigration Consultants

Global Immigration Consulting Services