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FREEEVALUATION
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  • Posts tagged "Foreign Spouses"
 

Pilot Project for Foreign Spouses and Dependent Children of Highly Skilled Canadians or Permanent Residents Returning to Work in Ontario

Friday, 21 November 2014 by Colin R. Singer

Operational Bulletin 229-A – April 23, 2012

Pilot Project for Foreign Spouses and Dependent Children of Highly Skilled Canadians or Permanent Residents Returning to Work in Ontario

Issue

The authorities released Operational Bulletin 229 on November 24, 2010. Initially, this pilot was due to conclude on May 23, 2012. However, the authorities have extended this pilot program by a further span of 18 months. As a result, this pilot would remain in effect until May 23, 2013. Therefore, this Operational Bulletin would be effective until then, as well.

Background

The parties concerned with the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement agreed to certain terms. These terms found mention in the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) annex to the Agreement for Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement. The parties signed this agreement in August 2008.

According to Article 4.3:

“4.3 Where a Canadian Permanent Resident or Citizen who has left Canada returns to Canada to re-establish their residence in Ontario and work in Ontario as a Skilled Worker, and he/she is accompanied by a foreign spouse or common law partner and/or dependents, Canada agrees to issue open work permits to that spouse or common law partner and those dependents upon application, provided the applicants are otherwise legally able to work in Ontario. These open work permits should have a validity period of two years.”

In addition, Article 4.3 of the Annex mentions that officers would need to provide an exemption to the dependents described in the above-mentioned excerpt. This waiver would ensure that these dependents do not need to obtain a Labour Market Opinion (LMO). However, the applicants would still need to meet all the admissibility criteria. Only once they meet this, would the authorities give them the status of a Temporary Resident in Canada.

Readers could view the entire text of the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement on the CIC website.

The Pilot Parameters

This pilot began on November 24, 2010. The authorities had envisaged that it would run for an initial duration of 18 months, concluding on May 24, 2012. Thereafter however, the authorities concerned have extended this pilot by one year – from May 24, 2012 to May 24, 2013 – inclusively.

The terms of the pilot would only apply to qualifying foreign nationals as described subsequently. Moreover, the terms would only be applicable to qualifying foreign nationals destined to work in the province of Ontario.

In addition, the authorities have restricted the occupations for the Canadian or Permanent Resident re-establishing in Ontario only to accommodate:

  • Health professionals and,
  • Academics in post-secondary public institutions

This is in accordance with the purposes prescribed for this pilot project. The authorities would first complete the review of this pilot project. Only then would they consider making any changes to these parameters.

The Pilot Procedures

Applicants for this pilot program would need to refer to the Temporary Foreign Worker’s Guidelines (FW 1). This manual contains all the:

  • General eligibility criteria
  • Conditions specified by the work permit and,
  • The processing procedures

All the above-mentioned details would continue to apply in conjunction with the procedures listed below.

Eligible Participants

  • To become eligible for obtaining an open work permit under this pilot program, the applicants would need to meet all the following criteria
  • They would need to:
    • Be a spouse, a common-law partner or a dependent child of a Canadian citizen or a Permanent Resident, who:
      • Is returning to work in Ontario as:
        • A Health professional or,
        • An academic in post-secondary public institutions
        • This Operational Bulletin lists the occupations allowed under this pilot project at the bottom of this document
        • These conditions are in accordance with Section 2, Interpretation of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR)
      • Can provide a letter from the Province of Ontario – Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment, Business Immigration Branch, 18th floor, 56 Wellesley Street W, Toronto, Ontario, M7A 2E7 (Phone: 416‑325‑6975; Fax: 416‑325‑6653, [email protected]), confirming:
        • The employment
        • The location and,
        • The occupation
        • The applicant would need to provide this letter for confirming the employment, location and occupation on behalf of the returning Canadian citizen or permanent resident
    • Be eligible to work in the Province of Ontario
      • Situations could emerge where the applicants are working-age dependents
      • In this scenario, the employers of these working-age dependents would need to bear the responsibility of ensuring adherence to the provincial minimum age employment standards
    • Have the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Case Processing Centre – Mississauga (CPC-M) approve their application for Family Class sponsorship, filed by the returning Canadian citizen or permanent resident 

The Process for Issuance of Open Work Permits

The process for issuing open work permit involves the following steps:

  • Officers could issue a non job-specific open or open / restricted work permit to a foreign spouse, common-law partner or a dependent child
  • Officers would not need to check whether the applicant has a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) from Service Canada accompanying the application
  • In this situation, the dependent would need to apply for the work permit and pay the appropriate fees
  • Officers could issue these work permits based on the medical examination requirements, if applicable. This is applicable especially if the officers are issuing a restricted work permit to the foreign spouse, common-law partner or a dependent child.
  • The work permit only enables the participant to work in the Province of Ontario only – for the purposes of this pilot
  • Applicants could apply for an open work permit:
    • Overseas, or,
    • In Canada to CPC-Vegreville via:
      • Mail or,
      • E-Application
  • Applicants, who are nationals of visa exempt countries, could also apply at a Port of Entry

System Instructions

  • Officers would need to enter the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) exemption code as T13
  • This is in accordance with section R204(c) of the IRPR, which states that this is “an agreement entered into by the Minister with a province or group of provinces under subsection 8(1) of the Act”
  • Special Program Code
    • Officers would need to use the NEW Special Program Code #160 “RCS” for the spouse, common-law partner or dependent of the Canadian citizen or permanent resident in the:
      • Field Operations Support Systems (FOSS) or,
      • Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System (CAIPS)
  • Officers would need to use this code for:
    • Assisting immigration and border services officers, when they review these applications and,
    • Facilitating statistical research, evaluation and policy development purposes
  • Officers would need to ensure that the spouse, common-law partner or dependent’s work permit lists:
    • The province of Ontario only in the Province field and,
    • That this work permit is only valid for work performed in the province of Ontario in the printed Conditions

Duration and Extensions

Officers would issue this work permit for a span of two years. There would be no extensions to this work permit.

The National Occupation Code list (2006) of eligible occupations as part of the Ontario pilot for returning high-skilled Canadians or Permanent Residents of Canada

Health Professionals

Post-Secondary Education (Academics) for Public Institutions

3111 – Specialist Physicians

4121 – University Professors

3112 – General Practitioners and Family Physicians

4122 – Post-Secondary Teaching and Research Assistants

3113 – Dentists

4131 – College and Other Vocational Instructors

3114 – Veterinarians

 

3121 – Optometrists

 

3122 – Chiropractors

 

3123 – Other Professional Occupations in Health Diagnosing and Treating

 

3131 – Pharmacists

 

3132 – Dieticians and Nutritionists

 

3141 – Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists

 

3142 – Physiotherapists

 

3143 – Occupational Therapists

 

3144 – Other Professional Occupations in Therapy and Assessment

 

3151 – Head Nurses and Supervisors

 

3152 – Registered Nurses

 

3211 – Medical Laboratory Technologists and Pathologists’ Assistants

 

3212 – Medical Laboratory Technicians

 

3213 – Veterinary and Animal Health Technologists and Technicians

 

3214 – Respiratory Therapists, Clinical Perfusionists and Cardiopulmonary Technologists

 

3215 – Medical Radiation Technologists

 

3216 – Medical Sonographers

 

3217 – Cardiology Technologists

 

3218 – Electroencephalographic and Other Diagnostic Technologists n.e.c.

 

3219 – Other Medical Technologists and Technicians (except Dental Health)

 

3221 – Denturists

 

3222 – Dental Hygienists and Dental Therapists

 

3223 – Dental Technologists, Technicians and Laboratory Bench Workers

 

3231 – Opticians

 

3232 – Midwives and Practitioners of Natural Healing

 

3233 – Licensed Practical Nurses

 

3234 – Ambulance Attendants and Other Paramedical Occupations

 

3235 – Other Technical Occupations in Therapy and Assessment

 

  

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) 

Dependent ChildrenForeign SpousesHighly Skilled CanadiansOntariopermanent residentsReturningwork
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  • Published in 2012
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Foreign Spouses Trapped in Canada Due to Sponsorship Backlog

Tuesday, 15 July 2014 by Colin R. Singer

In Ottawa it is now going to take double the time than it already does to process immigration applications for foreign spouses already living in Canada. This has driven fear that the “inland sponsorship program” could be eliminated.

Canada allows a foreign national married to a Canadian to apply for sponsorship in the country if they are already there legally. Spouses could also apply from their home countries but most prefer the in-Canada route so that they don’t have to give up their jobs and careers or be separated from their wives or husbands for years while their application is being processed.

A two-step process is applied to both inland and overseas applicants – initial assessment of the sponsor’s eligibility and then an examination of the sponsored spouse, which involves health and criminal clearances.

The waiting period has now been increased from six months to 11 for the in-Canada applicants to get past the first stage.

Such delays in sponsorship processing have caused financial and emotional stress for thousands of Canadian couples.

More than 8,000 new in-Canada applications are processed each year and it is estimated that many more are backlogged.

Kathryn Abercrombie, 41, and James Bordwine, 35, got married in March 2013 and applied in October for James’ sponsorship. The two have lived on Kathryn’s income while Bordwine, a computer network security specialist, is jobless at home. In February, Kathryn got a $50,000 second mortgage to help pay off the bills.

“I could afford a home and scrape by with my single income. It would’ve been so much easier if James could work. It’s not cheap to live in Toronto,” she said. “A few weeks ago, he cut his fingers. Instead of going to the hospital to get stitches, we just had them wrapped.”

Alexis Pavlich, spokesperson for Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, blames the former Liberal governments for reducing immigration levels and making huge backlogs that the Conservatives have been “working diligently to fix” since they came into power.

“Family reunification is an integral part of our immigration program. Canada has one of the most generous family reunification programs in the world. . . Shamefully, under the Liberals, families had to wait decades to be reunited,” said Pavlich. “Our government is actively working to shorten wait times.”

Adel Karsou, 34, who applied for his Jordanian wife, Rana Shiha, 27, last year, is not convinced. He feels that temporary foreign workers are the real priorities for the government.

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the initial assessment of spousal sponsorships filed overseas takes 55 days, compared to 11 months for the in-Canada applicants.

But the second-phase screening can take anywhere from nine months in Beijing to 32 months in Islamabad (compared to the average of eight months for inland applicants), thus bringing the overall processing time for both routes at par with each other.

Even though immigration officials say that applicants are free to decide whether to apply in or outside Canada, a letter from Alexander’s office as obtained by the Star clearly mentioned the government’s preference: “It is always in the client’s best interests to apply abroad.”

The same letter which was addressed to a disgruntled Canadian sponsor further said, “There are distinct disadvantages to applying from within Canada, including noticeably longer processing times, lack of status, inability to work and ineligibility for provincial/territorial health insurance coverage.”

In another case, Justin Laufer, 40, remembers how his American wife, Kirsten Laufer, 33, could not visit her father who was hospitalized for a seizure earlier this year because her sponsorship would be deemed abandoned if she left Canada.

“She’d like nothing more than to see her father,” said Laufer. “These sponsored spouses may be foreigners now, but they are on track to be future citizens. Kirsten is going to be a voter one day and she will remember her treatment by our elected officials.”

Source: The Star

 

 

 

Foreign Spousesliving in Canadasponsor’s eligibility
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  • Published in July
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