Success Story

CIC reports on recent immigration success stories. Here's one of them:

An Easy Choice

When Edmond began a serious search for a new country, the young Albanian kept reminding himself it would not be easy to start a new life, search for a new job and adapt to a new culture. While he kept preparing himself for the changes, he realized the easy part was making the choice about where to go.

“Canada has an attractive system for skilled immigrants,” says the civil engineer. “I had spent time in other countries in Europe, and while all of them are beautiful, I was looking for a place that had more acceptance. Canada was the easy choice.”

With his civil engineering degree from Albania and computer studies courses from Oxford, his wife and his 11-month old son, Edmond and his family arrived in Canada in 2003. It took time for Edmond to find a job in his field, but he was prepared for the wait.

“We were young and energetic and we knew it would take time,” he says. “I could have had my pick of positions in Europe, but the security and acceptance Canada offers were very important to us. We were willing to work hard and find our opportunities.”

Edmond is now working in his field with the Toronto Transit Commission while his wife, also a civil engineer, is gaining co-op experience to help increase her chances of a civil engineering position as well. Meantime the couple has welcomed a daughter into their family, born in Canada.

With two grandchildren in Canada, Edmond’s parents wanted to spend time with the family. After trying several routes, the couple was able to get a visa to visit for an extended period of time.

“We wanted them to move here and be with us,” says Edmond. “But they have their life and their friends in Albania, and we understood that. The key, though, was for them to be able to spend long periods of time with us.” As a result, the couple was then able to obtain a five-year visitor’s visa, and is now spending lots of time with the grandchildren while helping the young couple get started on their new life. The family will soon all be Canadian citizens, and feel positive about the move here.

“It was hard work and we had to persevere,” says Edmond, “but it was all worth it.”

The couple has made friends inside the Albanian community in Toronto and with many others as well. Says Edmond: “Everybody at a certain point in Canada was an immigrant. That’s one of the great things about this country – acceptance of new people.”

New Federal Budget Good for Immigration

The new 2007 Federal Government budget has just been released and there is a real commitment to enhancing the immigration system and attracting more people to Canada. I provide excerpts below:

Helping Immigrants Succeed

Immigration has played an important role in building the strong and vibrant economy that Canadians have come to enjoy. To stay competitive in the global economy, Canada needs to continue to draw on the talents and skills that immigrants bring with them.
Budget 2006 invested $1.3 billion over five years to enhance settlement and integration programs for newcomers. This investment will provide an additional $342 million per year at maturity for programs and services such as language instruction and employment-related support to help immigrants participate in the workforce as quickly as possible. Many of these immigrants will fill current and future labour shortages.

Advantage Canada stressed the importance of welcoming more immigrants who are most likely to succeed in the Canadian economy. Budget 2007 delivers on that commitment by putting in place measures intended to ensure that Canada’s immigration policies are more closely aligned with the needs of the labour market and newcomers are able to more quickly find employment that uses their talents, skills and experience by:

Helping employers meet their immediate skill shortages through improvements to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Selecting immigrants with the skills and experience Canada needs and who are ready to participate in the labour market.

Creating the Foreign Credential Referral Office to help immigrants get started.

Helping Employers Meet Immediate Skills Shortages

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is the Government’s principal tool to help employers meet immediate skill requirements when qualified Canadian workers cannot be found. Employers may recruit workers for any legally recognized occupation from any country. As a result of labour shortages in certain sectors and regions of the country, e.g. in the Alberta oil sands and the construction sector in British Columbia, the program has become increasingly important for businesses in their efforts to remain competitive in Canada’s booming economy.

Budget 2007 proposes a series of improvements to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program designed to reduce processing delays and more effectively respond to regional labour and skill shortages. New measures such as expanding the online application system, maintaining lists of occupations where there are known shortages of workers, and processing work permits more rapidly will ensure that the process of hiring skilled foreign workers for not only large, but also small and medium-sized enterprises, is easier, faster and less costly for employers. At the same time, the Government will ensure that these improvements do not result in reduced employment opportunities for Canadians. Budget 2007 provides $50.5 million over the next two years to support these improvements.

Selecting Immigrants With the Skills and Experience Canada Needs

With the current demographic challenges, slowing labour force growth and increasing labour shortages, Canada must take steps to ensure that it can attract and retain skilled individuals to sustain a competitive knowledge-based economy. As noted in Advantage Canada, Canadian-educated foreign students with Canadian work experience and skilled temporary foreign workers can adapt quickly and easily in the Canadian economy.

To ensure that Canada retains the best and brightest with the talents, skills and knowledge to meet rapidly evolving labour market demands, the Government will introduce a new avenue to immigration by permitting, under certain conditions, foreign students with a Canadian credential and skilled work experience, and skilled temporary foreign workers who are already in Canada, to apply for permanent residence without leaving the country. Recent international graduates from Canadian post-secondary institutions with experience and temporary foreign workers with significant skilled work experience have shown that they can succeed in Canada, that they have overcome many of the traditional barriers to integration, and that they have formed attachments to their communities and jobs.

It is expected that each year some 25,000 Canadian-educated foreign students and skilled foreign workers will be able to apply to stay in Canada permanently. This will be accommodated within current immigration levels.

This initiative, along with the improvements to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, will increase the number of individuals wanting to come to Canada. Budget 2007 provides $33.6 million over the next two years to ensure that those who come to Canada through these avenues have the valid documentation and meet Canada’s health and security requirements.

Helping Immigrants Get Started

Many newcomers, even after considerable search effort, have difficulty finding work that is commensurate with their education, skills and international work experience. These circumstances highlight the importance of foreign credential recognition and the need to ensure that immigrants can use their skills and talents.

Budget 2007 confirms Advantage Canada’s commitment to facilitate the assessment and recognition of foreign credentials through the creation of the Foreign Credential Referral Office, which will be located at Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The new Office will provide prospective immigrants overseas and newcomers already in Canada with information about the Canadian labour market and credential assessment and recognition requirements. As well, it will provide immigrants with path-finding and referral services to identify and connect with the appropriate assessment bodies. The services provided by the Office will complement the programs and services currently provided by provincial governments and by provincial credential assessment agencies. With an investment of $6.4 million per year in support of its ongoing operation, the new Office is expected to be fully operational by late spring of 2007.

Never Misrepresent Yourself or Your Situation

Many (most?) people applying to immigrate to Canada do not understand the seriousness of even an innocent misrepresentation. I've had clients who've asked me if they should conceal a fact for fear of being denied entry. I always advise them to be completely truthful and we deal with any difficult or awkward facts separately. Make no mistake -- a misrepresentation can prevent you from ever coming to Canada. This rule is particularly harsh to those who already have family living in Canada -- they may never be able to join their loved ones in this country.

Here is a summary from King, a recent Immigration Appeal Division case (November 2007) that illustrates how tough the misrepresentation rule can be. The applicant lost on this appeal:

In his application for permanent residence, the person concerned (who was sponsored by his father) stated that he had never married. He married several weeks before being landed, and did not disclose that fact. The Minister alleged that the person concerned was inadmissible for misrepresentation. The person concerned claimed that the immigration officer at the port of entry asked him no questions and that, although he signed his Record of Landing, which reported his marital status as never married, he did not understand the significance of doing so. The Immigration Division found that the person concerned had a duty to disclose his marital status to the immigration officer at the port of entry, whether or not the officer asked him a direct question about it. The marital status of the person concerned was significantly material, as the failure to disclose that status may have had the effect of foreclosing or averting further inquiries by the immigration officer in order to determine if he was still admissible as a dependant. He owed a positive duty of candour with respect to it. The withholding of the information about his marital status at the port of entry, even though it may have been done innocently and without intention to mislead, induced an error in the administration of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The person concerned was inadmissible for misrepresentation.

Conjugal Partners

I get a lot of email asking about the conjugal partner category. As you may know, this category is for couples (either heterosexual or homosexual) who are not married but who are committed to a life together. Proving a conjugal relationship can be difficult. A rule of thumb is that the relationship has to "look" like a marriage -- shared property, shared accommodation (usually, but not always), shared money, shared travels. In essence -- a shared life together.

Here's a summary of the Malvina case at the Immigration Appeal Division (2006). Their application was denied at first because the Visa officer (wrongly) asserted that they if a couple can marry then they should marry. This is not the law (and it shows how important it is to have legal counsel as an applicant!). The case was won on appeal. It gives a good sense of what is expected for a successful conjugal application:

The sponsored application for permanent residence of the appellant's conjugal partner was refused on the basis that the applicant did not fall within the definition of conjugal partner. The visa officer noted that there was no obstacle to the couple's marriage, and stated that if couples can marry or cohabit, they are expected to do so before the immigration process takes place.

The appellant and the applicant were both in their 60s. Their relationship became serious in May 2001. They had lived together, sharing household chores, at least three times a year for three to four weeks each time. Their friends and neighbours regarded them as a couple. The application for permanent residence was submitted in March 2004.

It is not the case that if couples can marry or cohabit, they should do so before the immigration process takes place. Couples should have the right to choose the type of relationship that suits them best and the right time to marry, if they wish to do so. This was not a young couple about to start out in life together. They had built up a lifetime of assets and had independent incomes. The relationship was exclusive and monogamous and was more than a precursor to a future conjugal relationship. They had a plan to buy a house together and marry once the applicant settled in Canada. They were in a conjugal relationship for at least one year prior to the application.