The joint consultations are intended to receive comments on the implementation of commitments included in the United States-Canada Beyond the Border Action Plan and identify and assess new ways to facilitate cross-border business travel in the short and medium terms.

Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Vic Toews reiterated the fact that the Government’s top priority is jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. Minister Kenney stressed the importance of hearing directly from businesses on either side of the border about how to improve cross-border business travel.

The joint consultations will be facilitated by the Migration Policy Institute—a non-profit, non-partisan think tank based in Washington, D.C. Stakeholder comments regarding commitments made by the Canadian and U.S. governments to facilitate the conduct of cross-border business in the Action Plan, as well as recommendations for additional improvements, will also be accepted online until June 15^th.

Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney and U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano have announced joint consultations with stakeholders on increasing efforts to facilitate business travel between the United States and Canada

The joint consultations are intended to receive comments on the implementation of commitments included in the United States-Canada Beyond the Border Action Plan and identify and assess new ways to facilitate cross-border business travel in the short and medium terms.

Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Vic Toews reiterated the fact that the Government’s top priority is jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. Minister Kenney stressed the importance of hearing directly from businesses on either side of the border about how to improve cross-border business travel.  

The joint consultations will be facilitated by the Migration Policy Institute—a non-profit, non-partisan think tank based in Washington, D.C. Stakeholder comments regarding commitments made by the Canadian and U.S. governments to facilitate the conduct of cross-border business in the Action Plan, as well as recommendations for additional improvements, will also be accepted online until June 15^th.

The FIN Program is a Citizenship and Immigration –led initiative that gives newcomers to Canada the opportunity to gain valuable temporary work experience. Through the FIN Program, CIC will provide CGI and CIBC access to newcomers who have been screened for employment readiness to fill temporary and permanent position in their companies.

Minister Jason Kenney believes that this program is an excellent example of the federal government’s leadership role in helping immigrants enter the Canadian workforce.

In addition, under the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, individuals who receive a final negative decision from the IRB are barred from applying for a pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) for 12 months due to the duplicative nature of the PRRA. The Government is proposing to amend this provision so that the 12-month bar will apply as soon as Bill C-31 receives Royal Assent in order to remove the delay on the application of this provision. Once the Bill receives Royal Assent, the 12 month bar will be applied to all negative decisions from the 12 months preceding Assent. The amendment will increase the temporal bar from 12 to 36 months for individuals of designated countries who:

• Received a previous negative decision from IRB
• Abandoned or withdrew their refugee claim, or
• Received a negative PRRA decision within 12 months prior to Royal consent

Initially, the Government proposed mandatory detention without review for up to 12 months, for those who arrive as part of a designated irregular arrival. Opposition members asked for amendments to this detention review schedule, and as a result the Government is proposing a compromise with opposition members, for earlier detention reviews. The Government proposed that detained individuals have a review within 14 days and subsequent reviews every 180 days.

For additional safeguard, the Government has also proposed an amendment to allow the Minister of Public Safety to release a detained individual when the grounds for detention no longer exist.

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Lord Black was sentenced last June to 42 months in prison on fraud and obstruction of justice charges related to his work at Hollinger. He would normally be inadmissible to Canada because he isn’t a Canadian citizen and has a criminal record.

Minister Jason Kenney said he couldn’t comment on specific cases, but said officials can approve temporary resident permits if they believe the applicant is at low risk to reoffend and if the offence wasn’t violent.

Watch my CBC interview regarding Conrad Black here.

The question on everyone’s mind is whether Lord Black will be able to return to Canada and under what circumstances, given the fact that he renounced his Canadian citizenship and has since been convicted of criminal charges.

In the April 18 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Lord Black would not be allowed to re-enter Canada without special permission of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

The rule is that Lord Black would need to wait the stipulated five years before he is eligible to apply for rehabilitation and re-enter Canada.

Click here to see my comments on the Conrad Black case.

The proposed amendments to of the regulations would remove the current requirement that  the questions to assess language proficiency must be prepared by the Minister, thereby allowing the use of external evidence.

These new changes will encourage applicants to have the required language level to successfully integrate in their communities as well as enhance program integrity and efficiency.

With the current benefit coverage, the cost of the IFHP grew to $84.6 million in the 2010–2011 fiscal year. The Current IFHP provides basic health-care coverage similar to what is provided through a provincial or territorial health insurance plan, as well as coverage for supplemental health-care services, including pharmaceutical care, dentistry, vision care and mobility assistive devices.

The reformed program will end the coverage of supplemental health-care benefits. Medication and immunization may be provided in cases where there is a risk to public health or public safety. The program will provide health-care coverage for services and products of an urgent or essential nature for many IFHP beneficiaries.

After the changes are implemented, cost savings are projected to be about $100 million over the next five years.

This change will take effect on June 30, 2012, and will apply to all current beneficiaries, as well as those who apply after that date.

Effective April 25, 2012, HRSDC/Service Canada is implementing a new Accelerated Labour Market Opinion (A-LMO) Initiative. This new Initiative applies to employers hiring temporary foreign workers in higher skilled positions such as: management, professional and technical occupations.

The 2 main objectives of the new A-LMO Initiative are:

• improving the integrity of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and labour market outcomes;
• responding to the employers’ need for more efficient and timely LMO processing.

To be eligible to participate in the A-LMO Initiative, employers must:

• have been issued at least 1 positive LMO in the previous 2 years;
• have a clean record of compliance with the Program within the last 2 years;
• not have been the subject of an investigation, infraction or a serious complaint; and
• not have any unresolved violations or contraventions under provincial laws governing employment and recruitment.

This new A-LMO Initiative introduces efficiency measures by reducing the amount of paper-burden on employers in the application process, and by introducing attestations for specific assessment criteria that can be reviewed through a subsequent compliance review. In addition to the attestation-based assessment, HRSDC/Service Canada will provide an A-LMO based on:

• the genuineness of the job offer;
• the wage offered to the temporary foreign worker;
• whether the job offer is likely to fill a labour shortage.

If the employer is deemed eligible, HRSDC/Service Canada will issue an opinion, within 10 business days, based on the employer’s agreement to follow the necessary Program requirements and the A-LMO assessment criteria. In addition, employers ma

Please be advised that at the present time, the Initiative does not apply to the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, the Agricultural Stream and occupations in the film and entertainment sectors.
The Initiative is currently not implemented in the province of Quebec.

Contact us today to see if you are eligible!

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) intends to consult with industry associations in the development of a “start up” visa program for innovative entrepreneurs. This program will consists of linking immigrant entrepreneurs with private sector organizations that will help newcomers explore the Canadian business environment.

One proposed change would help CIC ensure FSW applicants meet current labour market needs. It would allow new rules set out in Ministerial Instructions to apply to people who have already submitted an application. For example, instructions could place a priority on a specific occupation, such as doctors, and have existing applications from doctors processed first, regardless of where they are in the queue.

A similar change would allow new regulations, once approved, to apply retrospectively to people who have already submitted an application. These changes would help ensure that immigrants are chosen based on Canada’s current needs and priorities.