Mr. John McCallum, Minister of IR CC(Immigration, Refugees and Citizen- ship) announced a plan to bring in between 280,000 and 305,000 new permanent residents in 2016. The proposed plan emphasis mainly on family reunification.
The Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration outlined government’s plan as to how it will increase levels of family class immigration and will address the application backlog and reunite families more quickly.
The government also confirms its commitments to welcome refugees to Canada. The main issues that Canadians are expecting during the year are as follows:
1) Renewing and expanding a safe, secure and humane refugee program for Canada
As announced in 2015, the Government of Canada is expanding Canada’s intake of refugees from Syria by 25,000, by the end of February 2016, through immediate government sponsorship and working with private sponsors. Additional funding will support increased refugee processing, sponsorship and resettlement services capacity in Canada. The Government will also provide funding to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to support the critical relief activities in the region.
2) Additional Reforms to the Refugee System
The in-Canada asylum system for designated countries and the over-all functioning of the refugee system is currently being examined with the goal of ensuring a safe but effective refugee determination system.
3) Reuniting Families
Reuniting families will be a top priority for the Government of Canada. The processing time for family sponsorships will be decreased by having more applications processed. The maximum age for dependent children will be increased to 22 from 19, allowing more Canadians and permanent residents to bring their children to Canada.
The Government will also remove conditional permanent residency to new spouses entering Canada and will also remove the conditional two-year waiting period.
4) Caregivers
The Government of Canada will make it easier for hiring Caregivers by developing a system of regulated companies to hire caregivers on be-half of families. This will make it simpler for families to hire caregivers and will protect caregivers by allowing them to change employers in the case of bad relations or abuse. The Government will modify the Temporary Foreign Workers Program to eliminate the $1,000 LMIA fee to hire caregivers.
5) Express Entry
It is the general opinion of the government that the Express Entry system is functioning well in order to prevent any backlogs. However it is expected that the review for the process shall be considered in the coming years after receiving comments from general public.
6) Temporary Foreign Workers and International Students
Canadian government will explore for the Canadian Experience Class Program to reduce barriers to international students. Move to restore the residency time credit given to international students and other temporary residents to make it easier to become a Canadian citizen will be proposed.
For more information about the program and requirements you may contact Nanda and Associate lawyers at nanda@nanda.ca.
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