Canada Resumes Online Citizenship Tests
New Online Testing Platform Only Offered to Select Applicants
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has finally made citizenship tests available online. This development comes after IRCC cancelled all in-person tests in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new online testing platform was launched November 26, and has been made available to just 5,000 people who are considered high-priority cases, along with those who had tests scheduled before the pandemic that were subsequently cancelled.
According to IRCC data, around 85,000 people were waiting to take their citizenship test as of September 7.
As the platform undergoes testing and performance monitoring over the next few months, IRCC will continue to invite more people to take their test online. Those invited to take the online test will be notified by email and do not need to reach out to IRCC directly.
Once their invitation has been received, Citizenship applicants will have 21 days to complete the test online at a time that is convenient for them.
Those who do not wish to take the test online can choose to wait for in-person testing to resume. However, IRCC has not set a date for when in-person tests will be offered again.
How Online Testing Will Work
The online test will follow the same format as the in-person exam – the participant has 30 minutes to successfully answer 20 questions.
Safeguards will be in place to ensure those taking the test online can be properly identified. For instance, participants must confirm their identity by providing personal information, and take a photo of themselves and their Identification documents with a webcam before the test can begin.
The platform will also take photos during the test, similar to other tests offered online, such as bar exams or law school admissions tests.
By passing their citizenship test, thousands of permanent residents will be able to finally become official Canadian citizens which grants them the right to vote and obtain a Canadian passport.
A Step in the Right Direction
This announcement will be welcome news for those who have been waiting for several months to take their citizenship test, along with advocates who held demonstrations calling for the resumption of testing.
The advocacy group Advocates for Resumption of Canadian Citizenship Tests told CIC News that the new online testing platform is “a step in the right direction” but may not be sufficient to handle the tens of thousands of applicants within a reasonable time frame.
Canada Announces New College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act
New Act Will Provide Legal Framework for Immigration and Citizenship Consultants
Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino has announced that the new College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act (‘Act’) is now in force and provides a statutory framework for regulating immigration and citizenship consultants.
The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (‘College’) will become the official regulator of immigration and citizenship consultants in Canada and is expected to be launched in 2021.
According to a press release from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the college will be an arms-length institution designed to regulate immigration consultants and protect the public from "dishonest actors who take advantage of vulnerable people."
The College will be given the tools to investigate professional misconduct and discipline its licensees. This means that they will be able to enter the premises of a consultant in order to gather information to support an investigation and compel witnesses to appear and testify before a Discipline Committee.
The College will also have the ability to request court injunctions against unlicensed consultants that are providing immigration advice without authorization.
What Are Immigration Consultants?
Immigration and citizenship consultants offer services to those seeking advice or assistance regarding immigration matters but are not immigration lawyers. In most cases, consultants lack formal legal training and education, and are not licensed to practice law. While many do offer legitimate services and must obtain a certificate and pass examination, many consultants target and overcharge vulnerable clients and make false promises that they cannot deliver.
With this new regulatory framework in place, the College will be subject to government oversight, and consultants must be licensed and follow a professional code of conduct.
“Today’s announcement reaffirms that our Government is committed to the implementation of a new professional governance regime," said Mendicino. "We’re taking decisive action to hold immigration and citizenship consultants to account by improving oversight and increasing accountability to protect both the public and consultants in good standing from dishonest consultants who are taking advantage of vulnerable people.”
When the College opens next year, public interest directors will be appointed to the College Board to manage the activities and affairs of the institution. A notice of opportunity has been published on the IRCC’s website so that interested parties can apply for one of the positions.
While greater oversight for immigration consultants is a welcome development, the Act unfortunately lends legitimacy to an industry that has been criticized by the Canadian Bar Association as “marred by incompetence and misconduct since its inception.”
According to a 2017 report by the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration that played a rule in pushing the federal government to take action, international students, live-in caregivers, and temporary foreign workers are often the most vulnerable to abuse and may be paying “thousands of dollars to consultants for false promises of permanent residency.”
A 2019 CBC report likewise revealed “unscrupulous” activity among some consultants that led to the exploitation of some 2,600 foreign workers and students who paid large sums of money, came to Canada on the understanding that they would be able to work or study here, and ended up being stuck in jobs that they did not apply to or having their wages withheld.
In a recent example, a Northwest Territories judge awarded a Chinese woman with aspirations of becoming a permanent Canadian resident $185,000 in damages in her suit against an immigration consultant who had withdrawn $160,000 from her account without her consent.
While a compensation fund will be set up to help victims of consultant misconduct and while the College will set education and training requirements for the profession and develop a tiered qualification regime, a core issue nevertheless remains: immigration consultants are not professionally trained lawyers and will be taking on sensitive cases that they do not have the expertise to handle. Some have therefore suggested that immigration consultants should be allowed to work only under the direct supervision of a lawyer.
Underlying this concern is that many international applicants facing language and other barriers will continue to be vulnerable to abuse by consultants and may not be able to differentiate between scrupulous consultants and legitimate legal representation.
Addressing Queen’s University’s new diploma in immigration and citizenship law for immigration consultants, Ravi Jain, national chair of the Canadian Bar Association Immigration Law Section reflected that: “This program is a terrible idea. Graduates will claim that they have ‘gone to law school.’ The public will be even further confused. Most think that they are hiring lawyers when they hire immigration consultants … Immigration consultants have a horrific history in Canada.”
The Act and its regulatory regime are unlikely to resolve this underlying concern and may, therefore, fail to address the abuse of vulnerable applicants coming to Canada in search for education, work, and a new start.
Judge Rules That Couple with Different Sexual Orientations Can Form Conjugal Relationship
Federal Court Ruling Marks Dramatic Development in Immigration Law
The Federal Court of Canada recently ruled in a landmark case that a gay man and straight woman raising a child together can form a conjugal relationship. Prior to the ruling, the parents had submitted a sponsorship application but were denied due to their unconventional relationship.
While the circumstances surrounding their situation are unusual, the Federal Court found that sexual intimacy, or the lack thereof, should not necessarily be a determining factor in whether a "couple" is in a conjugal relationship.
The Facts Surrounding This Landmark Case
The following are the key details of this landmark case:
A man, who was only identified by his initials "A.P.," came to Canada seeking asylum due to claims that he was subject to persecution in his country of origin because of his sexual orientation. He obtained protected person status and, eventually, permanent residency in Canada.
While traveling abroad, A.P. later had sexual relations with a heterosexual female friend identified as "A.M.," which resulted in a pregnancy. A.M. was not a resident of Canada. Even though A.P identified as gay, both he and A.P decided to try to raise the child together as a couple.
A.P. applied to sponsor both his child and A.M. as his conjugal partner. However, an immigration officer denied the application.
A.P. appealed to the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). However, the IAD upheld the decision, ruling that A.P. could not sponsor A.M as his conjugal partner.
In its decision, the IAD stated that “a homosexual man and a heterosexual woman are [not] able to meet the sexual component of conjugal partnership,” and that "the sexual and personal behaviour of the couple was inconsistent with a conjugal partnership.”
A.P. appealed the IAD decision to the Federal Court of Canada, which determined that the immigration officer’s decision to reject the sponsorship application was unreasonable. Federal Court Justice Fuhrer then remanded the decision back to another officer for redetermination, stating that the IAD had erred in its decision that A.P. and A.M. were not considered a conjugal unit.
Justice Fuhrer noted that, despite the differing orientation of A.P. and A.M., the couple were still able to enjoy sexual intimacy. Justice Fuhrer also cited the landmark Supreme Court of Canada case M. v. H. (1999) which provided a framework for the existence of a conjugal union, and found that sexual intimacy does not provide the basis for a conjugal relationship. Justice Fuhrer concluded that a ‘mixed-orientation couple’ such as A.P. and A.M. could still form a conjugal union in the absence of sexual intimacy.
A.P. and A.M. must now await a secondary decision from the new officer overseeing their file.
Statistics Canada Reveals Labour Market Outcomes of Refugees who Came to Canada in 2003
Study Finds That Privately Sponsored Refugees Are the Highest Earning Refugees
Statistics Canada has released a study that compares different categories of refugees who came to Canada in 2003 when it comes to their success in entering the labour market. More specifically, the study breaks down how many refugees in each category were successful in gaining employment and how many required social assistance.
Refugees who were studied by the researchers include government-assisted refugees, refugee claimants who became permanent residents, privately sponsored refugees, and refugee claimants who did not become permanent residents throughout the study. Researchers used data from landing records and tax records to help determine the findings.
Privately Sponsored Refugees and Claimants With PR
The study found that privately sponsored refugees had the highest employment rates within their first five years after arriving in Canada or making a refugee claim. This is likely due to the strong network of support that they have with their sponsors along with strong English or French-speaking capabilities.
Privately sponsored refugees also reported the highest income, with an average income of $35,000 reported after 11 years.
Refugee claimants who obtained permanent residence reached the same level of employment as privately sponsored refugees after just four years. By the six-year mark, this group showed the highest employment rate.
Government-Sponsored Refugees
Within 13 years after they arrived in Canada, 72.4% of government-sponsored refugees reported steady employment income. However, government-assisted refugees also start their time in Canada as the lowest-earning refugees.
Only 50% of refugee claimants who were unable to obtain permanent residence reported an income over their 13 years in Canada.
Rates of Social Assistance
Refugee claimants who obtained permanent residence were reported to be considerably more likely to require social assistance within one year after making a refugee claim. However, in contrast, their financial outcomes improved at a significantly faster rate compared to other refugees.
The majority of government-sponsored refugees also received social assistance, with 91% requiring assistance within their first year. By year two, this number dropped to 68.5%. The reason for this high number is the Refugee Assistance Program, which provides income support to new refugees and helps them pay for expenses during their first year.
Unsurprisingly, privately sponsored refugees reported the lowest rates of social assistance within their first year in Canada, likely due to the financial support they receive from their sponsors. For instance, private refugee sponsors must provide refugees with lodging, settlement assistance, and financial and emotional support, usually for 1 year after they arrive in Canada. Because of the level of community support that they receive, it's evident – based on the findings from Statistic Canada – that privately sponsored refugees find the most success as the years pass compared to any other category of refugee.
How U.S President-Elect Joe Biden’s Administration Could Affect Immigration
After Taking Office, Biden Plans to Reverse All of Trumps Anti-Immigration Policies
After a tumultuous four years under the Trump administration, the United States has elected Joe Biden to be its next president. This will likely have a significant effect on the country’s immigration policies.
When it comes to immigration, President Donald Trump made it clear that immigration was not a priority for his administration. Throughout his 4-year term, Trump issued over 400 immigration-related executive orders, effectively launching a war on both legal and “illegal” immigration.
Some of Trump’s anti-immigration moves include, but are not limited to:
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A 400-mile border wall constructed between the U.S. and Mexico
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COVID-19 travel bans
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Visa restrictions
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Reducing legal immigration
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Reducing the annual ceiling for refugees
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Expediting deportations
Biden’s Anticipated Immigration Reform
Based on comments made by former Vice President throughout his recent presidential campaign, Biden has made it clear that his stance on immigration could not be any more different from his predecessor. Biden has even described Trump’s immigration policies as part of a “cruel, anti-American agenda.”
In fact, some of Biden’s anticipated policies would appear to be even more progressive than former President Barack Obama.
“I believe in the United States of America, an America that is strengthened by its diversity, proud of our heritage as a nation of immigrants, and where families belong together,” said Biden. “Those are the values that shape my immigration policy.”
When Biden is sworn into office in January 2021, he will face significant challenges related to immigration reform due to the extent of executive orders and other anti-immigration related policies currently in place. However, the new President-Elect is expected to make significant strides when he takes office.
Here is what we can likely expect from the new President-Elect:
A more humane approach towards immigration Reuniting asylum-seeking parents and children separated at the border Holding Customs and Border Protection (CBP) accountable for inhumane treatment Reversing travel bans from many predominantly Muslim countries Modernizing the immigration system Passing legislation that would create a clearer path towards citizenship for undocumented immigrants Reversing policies that would strip legal rights from immigrants and asylum seekers Raising the annual cap on refugees from 18,000 to 125,000 Reinstating Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Releasing a 100-day ban on deportations Sending additional support to border police
It is safe to say that we can expect significant change from the Biden administration come 2021, and not just related to immigration.