On April 29, 2013, the Government of Canada announced that numerous changes were being made to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, particularly the Labour Market Opinion (“LMO“) program. While most of the changes will be phased in, some of them, including the suspension of the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion (“ALMO“) program, took effect immediately. Just… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Family Class
Spousal Sponsorships where the Sponsor Does not Live in Canada
Section 133(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (the “Regulations”) provides that: A sponsor who is a Canadian citizen and does not reside in Canada may sponsor a foreign national who makes [an application to sponsor a member of the Family Class] and is the sponsor’s spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner or dependent child who has… Continue Reading
Court Certifies Question on Judicial Review of 117(9)(d) Refusals
The Federal Court (the “Court“) in Habtenkiel v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), has certified a question that if answered in the affirmative would seem to pretty much shut the door on humanitarian & compassionate (“H&C“) appeals of s. 117(9)(d) refusals. The certified question is: In light of sections 72(2)(a), 63(1) and 65 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c.… Continue Reading
Video Marriages
Tom Godfrey of the Toronto Sun recently published an articled titled “Married by video chat? Come to Canada!” The article has generated alot of attention. However, people who are criticizing Citizenship and Immigration Canada recognizing telephone (and video) marriage are missing the crucial point that it is not how someone gets married that matters, but rather the marriage… Continue Reading
Immigration Appeal Division Must Address Bona Fides Before H&C
The Federal Court has confirmed that s. 65 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act requires that the Immigration Appeal Division determine whether an applicant is a member of the Family Class before considering humanitarian & compassionate considerations (“H&Cs“). Accordingly, people appearing before the Immigration Appeal Division in a Family Class appeal should be prepared to… Continue Reading
CIC Releases Requirements for Super Visa
Citizenship and Immigration Canada has released the requirements for the new parent and grandparent super visa. Super visas will be valid for up to ten years and allow applicants to stay in Canada continuously for two year periods. Applicants must: provide proof of the parent or grandparent relationship to a Canadian citizen or permanent resident;… Continue Reading
Spousal Sponsorship Bar on Violent Spouses
In April the Gazette announced that a sponsorship bar would soon come into effect prohibiting individuals that have been convicted of certain offenses from sponsoring family members. One of the offenses that would result in a bar was violence against someone that the wannabe sponsor had dated, which seemed a little vague. Now that the… Continue Reading
Clearing the Parental Backlog
It looks like Citizenship and Immigration Canada is serious about clearing that parental and grandparent sponsorship backlog. On November 7, 2011, CIC released Operational Bulletin 353 – Change in Procedures for Processing Family Class Parent and Grandparent Applications. If you have an application to sponsor a parent or grandparent in processing take note. Starting mid-November,… Continue Reading