The A-LMO, which promises the issuance of a Labour Market Opinion within 10 business days, is not available to all employers. In order to be eligible, employers must, among other things, have been issued a positive LMO within the past two years. While this may benefit a few small businesses, the vast majority of employers that regularly secure LMOs for foreign workers are big national and multi-national corporations. They will likely make up a big part of the demographic that will use this A-LMO program the most.

In my March 2012 and December 2011 blog posts, I described how Canadian immigration policy is shifting to rely more heavily on employers. For both temporary and permanent immigration, the private sector is being given an increasingly large mandate to select workers and help shape the ways in which they are brought to Canada. I cautioned that such a focus on employer-driven immigration has the potential to result in a fixation on short-term solutions to Canada’s labour problems, as opposed to addressing labour market issues that will persist long after immigrants have become settled residents or returned home.

It seems that through this new A-LMO process, HRSDC is doing just that. It helps mostly big businesses grow their temporary workforce through skilled foreign labour that, given the current worldwide economy, is more and more being offered at a discounted price. For example, through the new A-LMO system, employers may offer a foreign national a job with wages that are up to 15% below the current prevailing average wage for that occupation in Canada. This can be done provided that other employees in the company are being paid that same lower wage. However, it stands in contrast to requirements for a traditional LMO, which mandate that employees are paid a salary equal to or exceeding the prevailing wage in their region.

The lowered wage option has the potential, while not directly undercutting the market, to slowly drive down labour costs. Canadians and foreign workers alike will be reluctant to demand higher wages when it is clear that the government condones work force growth at a payment level below the national average. These lower wages may be good for employers in the short term, helping them to keep costs down while expanding business. However, as I have mentioned before, “what is good for GE is not necessarily good for Canada”.

A goal of Canadian immigration is to create communities of financially and socially integrated immigrant communities. These are mostly created through permanent residents and Canadian citizens. Oftentimes, a temporary worker will come to Canada and then transition from temporary to permanent status. However, it is not necessarily in the interests of a private enterprise to keep workers on a permanent basis. For many businesses, the most cost-effective route may be to a rotating cast of skilled temporary workers, who will return home after a couple years in Canada. This may especially be the case if workers can be paid at less than the prevailing wage. Overall, this formula may result in the Canadian workforce suffering losses not only of personal income, but also of critical skills and knowledge as talented workers return home or go elsewhere after their temporary status expires.

This is not to say that employers are focused only on driving down workers pay –they’re not. However, any good business is responsible first and foremost for improving their bottom line, and keeping labour costs down is an important part of achieving this goal. Whether this will benefit Canadian economy and society is not the responsibility of a private enterprise, nor should it be. In focusing on employers, the current government is forgetting that setting immigration policy is not only an exercise in securing short term growth. It is also a long-term commitment to economic stability, and to nation-building.

Not surprisingly, Canadian commentators have generally reacted favourably to the idea of prioritizing would-be immigrants with prearranged employment. On the surface, it makes a lot of sense, but dig deeper and you will behold a whole lot of rot. The long and short of it is that employment-based immigration is rife with fraud and corruption.

Don’t take my word for it. Instead, read the comments below from the people who ought to know because they are on the front lines working for Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

The Canadian Visa Office in Hong Kong reported that, when it conducted verifications on Skilled Worker visa applications with prearranged employment between 2008 and 2010, only 22% of the cases were shown to be genuine. About 60% of the cases suggested some form of misrepresentation. The conclusion was that “there are serious problems with the validity of job offers in the Skilled Worker program”.

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The Canadian Visa Office in Taipei reported in March 2010 that “it is apparent that there are programme integrity concerns present in the Arranged Employment movement”. The report examined 31 cases and found that “the overwhelming majority of applicants who were issued visas in this category did not subsequently enter into the arranged employment, in the majority of cases because the applicants simply failed to show up”.

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The Canadian Visa Office in New Delhi reported in January 2010 the results of an investigation and stated that “the exercise examined in detail more than one third of all visa cases involving approved Arranged Employment applicants who became Permanent Residents of Canada within the past year […] Fewer than 40% of the applicants contacted were employed for even four months by the Arranged Employment employer after arrival, and over 60% of the cases never worked for the prospective employer in Canada”. This suggests that nearly 90% of the Arranged Employment applications submitted did not meet the program intent.

Source for the above: Lexbase (through Access to Information). To read the full report click here.

The list goes on and on because people really want to come to Canada and big bucks are involved. There’s no reason to think that opportunists are limited to Hong Kong, Taipei, and New Delhi. You can be certain that Canadian jobs are for sale on the streets of Moscow, Dubai, and London as well. It’s just too good to pass up, especially when most of the money exchanges hands beyond the reach of Canadian provincial restrictions on recruiting. And this is only one aspect of the fetidness lurking beneath the veneer of prearranged jobs.

Consider also the plight of motivated young workers in developing countries. Some of them will agree to mortgage a good chunk of their economic future to pay a huge sum to a middleman for a chance at Canadian permanent residency and an entry-level position in some Canadian business. Again, for the most part, all this goes on in faraway places, where Canadian provincial labour rules are scoffed at, if they are thought of at all.

And don’t think this nefarious activity is limited to employers of the mom and pop variety. A few years back, that 800 pound gorilla, Maple Leaf Foods, was caught up in a scandal involving the importation of Chinese workers to their facilities in Brandon, Manitoba. It turned out that these foreign labourers paid $10,000 each for the opportunity to do a job that few Canadians were interested in.

So, as Minister Kenney continues to extol the virtues of his new and improved employment-based immigration policy, keep in mind that surface stuff can be deceiving.

P.S: A few years back, CIC imposed more stringent language requirements on prospective Federal Skilled Worker applicants. Since then, these newer arrivals are doing relatively well economically, without prearranged employment. There’s nothing wrong with raising the bar, but our government should give more thought to the idea of closely tying a successful application to a factor that is so often abused.

Why these changes in particular? Because that’s what Australia does and there is a perception among our policy-makers that the Australian selection system produces better results than the current Canadian model. By “better results” I mean there is less of an earnings gap between newcomers and native-born Australians, when compared to Canada. So the reasoning goes that if we move closer to the way our friends Down Under do things, immigrants in Canada will have an easier time catching-up to the earning power of native-born Canadians. This assertion feels right but a recent paper out of the University of Waterloo debunks the proposition.

It is true that some years back Australia tightened its immigration program with respect to English fluency and professional credential equivalency and since then, the overall labour market success of immigrants has improved. So far, so good. However, the Waterloo study shows that when you dig beneath the surface, a different story unfolds.

The researchers tested the theory that Australia’s tightened immigration policy contributed to the success of immigrants in the workforce by looking at the labour market performance of three distinct groups of immigrants: men of British, Chinese and Indian origin. What they found was very interesting. As you would expect, British immigrants had little trouble being absorbed into the local labour market and quickly reached the earnings level of native-born Australians. However, the Chinese and Indian groups did not fare as well. Even though they were pre-screened for credential equivalency and language fluency their earnings lagged significantly. In fact, pre-screened Chinese immigrants in Australia not only did poorly when compared to native-born Australians, they also lagged behind Chinese immigrants in Canada, who are not vetted as carefully before their arrival. As for the Indian group in Australia, they were worse off than their countrymen who were admitted to Australia before the stiffer immigration rules.

The study concludes that there is no evidence to suggest that Australia’s tightened immigration policy helped newcomers get ahead in the workforce. What the policy shift did accomplish, however, was to change the ethnic composition of new arrivals in Australia. The tighter rules saw a tapering-off of Asian immigration and an influx of Brits. Like the rising tide that lifts all boats, so too have the average earnings of all Australian immigrants improved as a direct result of the recent British invasion. Today, UK nationals account for 20% of immigrants in Australia but less than 5% of Canada’s immigrant population.

So as the Australian model shows, unless our policy makers can come up with a program that attracts applicants who look a lot like their eventual Canadian employers and filters out most everyone else, don’t expect to close that earnings gap in Canada any time soon.

Nowhere were the international repercussions of this catastrophe more acutely felt than in Canada. Before the earthquake more than 100,000 citizens of Haitian descent lived in Canada, primarily in Quebec, and a further 6,000 in Haiti itself. It was with this shared political and cultural history in mind that our country initially led global efforts for emergency relief. Perhaps most importantly, Citizenship and Immigration Canada enacted an unprecedented plan to expedite Permanent Residency processing for thousands of Haitians waiting to receive word of their applications. Unfortunately, though this plan held the promise of reuniting countless families stricken by tragedy, it has failed to fully deliver on this promise.

Traditionally, family class sponsorship – the sponsoring of one’s close family in Permanent Residency applications – is a long process that can take one or more years. Despite critical losses of staff and infrastructure in Haiti, Canadian government officials pledged to expand the process in several ways. Firstly, Quebecois Haitians were allowed to broaden sponsorship restrictions to include adult siblings, nieces and nephews, and aunts and uncles. Secondly, adoption proceedings already in queue were immediately ratified, allowing Canadians to bring 217 children to their new homes within days of the quake. Additional measures were put in place to allow Haitians in Canada temporarily to extend their stay and secure open work permits.

These measures were initially greeted with praise from local and international communities, as well as hope from within Haiti. In the weeks following the disaster, the Canadian embassy saw hundreds of hopeful immigrants crowd its doors, passports in hand. Educated Haitians pledged to contribute to Canadian society. “I am a marketing professional, I speak English and French, and my family is in Canada. I think Canada should welcome me,” said Jean-Louis Claude Stuart as he stood near the embassy gates.

Two years later, it is doubtful that Jean-Louis’ hopes were realized. A month after the earthquake, only 22 permanent residency applications had been processed. Citing reduced efficiency and a backlog of refugee claimants, Canadian officials have been unable to date to accommodate the high volume of requests for expedited processing. Quebec Minister of Immigration Kathleen Weil stated that over 3,000 Haitians have arrived in Montreal each year under the auspices of the expedited program, but that a further 5,000 are still waiting to receive word on their applications. Detractors have criticized the immigration program as classist, arguing that the standard income requirements of sponsoring family members should have been waived for Haitians, many of whom are working class and thus did not qualify. “They’re saying if your family has enough money, you can bring them here. Does that mean […] the people with more money were in more necessity than others? What kind of priority is that?” stated a Haitian resident of Montreal.

In the face of these setbacks, the Canadian government has been keen to underscore its continued commitment to Haitians in both countries. The Canadian International Development Agency is quick to point out that Canada has pledged $1 billion to assist in further development (though much of this figure encompasses debt relief and aid already pledged before the quake). On January 10th, 2012, the government announced a new $20 million effort to relocate some 20,000 refugees from the area surrounding the rubble of the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince.

Compared to foreign aid, expediting immigration procedures has the ability to directly transform not only the lives of qualified Haitians, but those of their friends and family members as well. It is also a much more transparent and straightforward process, requiring none of the extensive oversight of funds needed when conducting work in a developing country. Moreover, the need to wade through international red tape, coordinate with global organizations, and risk uncertain returns on one’s contributions is greatly diminished. Indeed, the Haitian population has already proved to be a vital part of Canada’s cultural mosaic, and new arrivals would be welcomed into a well assimilated and established community. In this sense, there is the chance for a high degree of positive return on the time and money needed to accelerate application processing.

Canada already has intricate and refined immigration systems in place. To not take advantage of these in order to assist eligible Haitians runs the risk of appearing apathetic in the public sphere. This will not go unnoticed by Canadians, who through donations have shown their continued concern for Haiti. Moreover, by reaffirming its ties with Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, Canada could continue to position itself as a leader of economic and social development throughout the Americas. If Canada acted more effectively on its promise to welcome Haitians to Canada, it would not only gain respect of the international community, but the lasting gratitude of thousands of prospective residents.

Most will also agree that our dependence on newcomers will intensify in the years ahead. Our aging population continues to retire in ever larger numbers. Already, we face specific labour shortages in different parts of the country and this phenomenon will expand, both by location and industry, going forward. Whichever way you cut it, our continued prosperity depends to some extent on workers who are not yet in Canada. How they come here is worth consideration.

Until recently, Canadian immigration policy targeted economic immigrants (permanent residents) to fuel our country’s growth. However, in the past few years a significant shift has taken place. Starting in 2006, and for every year since, Canada has admitted more temporary foreign workers than economic immigrants. We are now choosing to fill labour shortages with guest workers ahead of permanent residents. This change in direction will have consequences.

There are big differences between immigrants and foreign temporary workers. Immigrants come to Canada with the idea of laying down roots. They are committed and become part of the Canadian fabric as they make their way towards citizenship and full participation in our society. Guest workers are brought into the country and stay here legally only as long as their Canadian employer wants them. While it’s true that some foreign workers may qualify to upgrade their status to permanent residency, the majority of them never get the chance. Many work permits are valid for a maximum of four years and then guest workers are gone… or they’ve gone underground.

What’s happened is that our government has delegated the selection of newcomers to the private sector and more particularly to employers. The problem is that “what’s good for General Motors isn’t necessarily good for Canada.” Companies owe a duty to and look out for the interests of their owners. They like cheap labour and often think short term. Serving the public interest? That’s what good governments are supposed to do.

Is that a bad thing? I guess the answer depends on whom you ask. It’s safe to say that Mayor Ford of Toronto and many of his supporters are not losing any sleep over this relatively recent downward trend. On the other hand you have to wonder what Toronto would look like today without the major influx of international and provincial migrants over the last 30 plus years. It’s difficult to imagine any metropolis retaining its world-class stature once it ceases to be a magnet for the best and brightest.

On a practical note, the funding that the federal government provides to Ontario to help settle new arrivals has and will be adjusted according to the province’s reduced intake. In 2009/10 the amount was $390 million. In 2010/11 the sum was reduced to $346 million and next year it is projected to be lower still, at $315 million. We’re not talking about “chicken feed” here.

Ontario’s Minister of Immigration has warned that the disappearance of cash will hurt newcomers to his province but it’s difficult to find fault in the federal government’s position that settlement allocations across Canada be based on the share of newcomers that provinces and territories are able to attract. Besides, since 2005 the federal government has increased its funding to the provinces for immigration settlement almost threefold. The average per-immigrant amount that the Canadian government invests to help immigrants in the provinces outside Quebec stands at almost $3,000. By the way, Quebec has negotiated a separate funding agreement with its federal counterpart and will receive, at a minimum, in excess of $5,000 for each immigrant who settles in that province next year.

I’ll tell you where Ontario does have a legitimate beef with Mr. Harper’s government. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is to blame for the decline of immigrants to Ontario by slowing down, almost to a crawl, the processing of permanent resident visa applications submitted under the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) category prior to February 28, 2008. Most of those applicants were and are destined for Ontario. When they will arrive is anyone’s guess. CIC has indicated it hopes to work through the backlog by 2017… maybe.

This all happened because in 2008, the Federal Minister of Immigration gave himself the power to prioritize the processing of permanent resident applications. Promises were made that existing applications would not be affected. But as you won’t be shocked to learn, this commitment was not kept. CIC immediately began prioritizing applications under the various provincial nomination programs and the Canadian Experience Class while at the same time choking off the intake of new FSW applications and neglecting FSW applications already in queue.

Look, I hate to say I told you so but… see my October 2008 blog. Anyone, at the provincial level of government in Ontario who didn’t see this coming simply had his/her head buried in the sand. Section 95 of the Constitution Act, 1867 makes the provinces partners with the federal government in immigration matters. Our central government has no appetite for the continuation of an Ontario-centric immigration policy. They have made no secret of that. So again the first question for Ontarians to decide is whether or not they want to remain the destination of choice for new arrivals. If, on the whole, immigration is seen as positive then Ontario will have to do its own bidding to gain a fair share of the international talent beyond our borders.

Under the proposed regulations couples will have to prove that they have lived together for a defined period (two years or more according to the Minister) after arrival in Canada before the sponsored spouse gains permanent resident status. In my opinion, this new American-styled conditional visa will cause more harm than good.

The first thing to realize is that no fraud prevention system is infallible. Any process that has legal Canadian residency as its outcome is going to be the target of abuse, at least to some extent. At the present time we rely upon visa officers and intelligence officials at Canadian missions abroad to weed out fraudulent applicants and to uncover sophisticated schemes. From the accounts I’ve read they do an excellent job and if more of them are needed to control the fraud then that is where our limited resources should go. It will prove more cost effective to wage this fight before these con artists reach our shores. The government will tell us that they now plan to fight schemers both inside and outside of Canada, but human nature being what it is, more applicants about whom visa officers have doubts will be granted entry to Canada given that another line of defence supposedly exists. Remember that it costs a lot more to try and remove someone from Canada than to refuse them entry in the first place. Consider that the new regulations will supposedly contain an escape clause from the cohabitation requirement in the case of abuse. This will inevitably lead to a “he said, she said” fiasco that in the end will benefit mostly the lawyers. And what about the young bride who feels she has to tolerate an abusive relationship for a number of years because her spouse threatens to have her deported if she gets out of line? You want more complications? Canadian children might become part of the picture. Needless to say, enforcement officers and the courts will have their hands full.

There are two kinds of fraudulent schemes that occur. The first type usually involves cash and must have a willing Canadian co-conspirator as the sponsor in order to succeed. The government does not need to change the existing regulations in order to stop this illegal activity. Simply, increase the penalty on conviction to something closer to the U.S. model of a $250,000 fine and five year imprisonment. Publicize this well and watch the would-be Canadian participants vanish.

The second type of fraud involves unwitting Canadian sponsors and will likely prove more difficult to eradicate under the current law. In this scenario the unsuspecting Canadian gets taken advantage of by the sponsored spouse, who bolts the relationship soon after the coveted permanent resident card is obtained. These situations run the gamut; from culturally accepted arranged marriages to the lovestruck paunchy middle aged guy who believes that the young beautiful Eastern European babe whom he connected with online really wants to settle down with him in Sudbury. No doubt these relationships come with sadness for the Canadian sponsor. This is especially the case because sponsors sign an undertaking, valid for 3 years, in which they agree to reimburse the government in the event that their sponsored spouse ends up on welfare.

Still it makes more sense to beef up the existing safeguards than to embark on a new program that will surely cost significantly more to administer. Bringing the heavy lifting to Canada will only exacerbate tensions that already exists between Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency. I say punish corrupt Canadians meaningfully and educate naive Canadians about the potential pitfalls of spousal sponsorship. After that … buyer beware. Those who choose to engage in risky behaviour can’t expect the government to spend more taxpayers’ money than is necessary in order to extricate them from their precarious circumstances

In the end, I’ll be surprised if the new regulations don’t come into force. For the government the optics are too good to pass up. The regulations appear to fit with the Conservatives’ tough on crime agenda. Their core supporters will applaud any effort to straighten out the crookedness they perceive everywhere in the immigration system. And finally, the government gets to curry favour with some of the cultural communities, whose  votes they very much desire.

Just don’t say  I didn’t tell you so.

It’s been said that Ireland’s chief export is people and there is a tradition of Irish immigration to Toronto that dates back some 200 years. So it’s no surprise that an ailing Irish economy has given rise to an inpouring of work-hungry young men to Canada’s Queen City in search of better opportunities.

Make no mistake, this is all legal and above-board thanks to Canada’s generous International Experience visa program, which allows recipients to travel, work and live temporarily in Canada. And although this particular visa cannot be extended beyond one year it can, under the right circumstances, morph into Canadian permanent residency. If you are interested in learning more about the International Experience Canada visa program you can check out the latest edition of CICNews.

By all accounts this is a “win-win” situation. The newspaper reports that virtually all of the Irish visa holders find work within days of their arrival in Canada. And as far as Citizenship and Immigration Canada is concerned, this must all be good because since 2008 Ottawa has doubled the number of these visas offered to Irish citizens. About 5,000 will be issued this year.

Two observations come to mind. The first has to do with the commentary section that followed the Globe and Mail story. What readers had to say was overwhelmingly positive. A few examples follow:

“Welcome to the Irish!!! Come one, come all!!!”

“Welcome to Canada. May you have a wonderful life in our great country.”

“Canada needs immigration. It is only smart to try and bring in immigrants that need less costly support to get them started.”

Usually, newspaper articles that focus on immigration get a somewhat mixed response from those who bother to post their opinions. A common theme centers on new arrivals taking jobs that would otherwise go to Canadians. And that’s one of the milder complaints. Yes, it’s probably true that the majority of Canadians don’t harbour such negative feelings, but as a rule they don’t bother to contradict the naysayers. In this particular situation there was very little griping and lots of cheers to the idea of Irish immigration. I wonder what the comments would have looked like had the story been about a similar bunch of unemployed tradespeople from India.

The second point I want to make concerns the International Experience visa program, itself. Canada grants privileged entry to the young, and in some cases I’m sure, shiftless citizens of select countries. Noticeably absent from the list of the lucky are all of the countries that make up South Asia. Keep in mind that it’s no small number of these visas that are issued each year. Last year, more than 35,000 individuals were able to come live and work in Canada within weeks of applying. More than that, as I mentioned above, these “temporary workers” were put on a path in Canada that can lead to permanent status. Is that fair to the thousands of qualified South Asian Skilled Worker applicants, who have been waiting for years just to have their applications assessed? Here’s a suggestion for our policymakers. Put a moratorium on the International Experience visa initiative and give those 35,000 slots to the people who remain patiently in line to start new lives in Canada.

Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants

Legislation came into force on June 30, 2011 making it illegal for anyone to operate as an unauthorized representative, for a fee, at any stage of a Canadian immigration application or proceeding. Authorized representatives must be a member in good standing of a provincial bar (a licensed lawyer), a Quebec notary, or the government body for immigration consultants as designated by the Minister of Immigration. The Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) is the new body that the Minister has designated for this purpose. Unauthorized representatives who accept a fee for Canadian immigration services are liable, on conviction, to a fine of up to $100,000 and/or imprisonment for up to two years. Applicants who pay an unauthorized representative and fail to disclose this information to the Canadian Government may have their applications returned or refused.

This legislation is clearly meant to educate consumers about the fact that there are many unscrupulous “ghost” consultants out there and that ultimately the applicant is responsible for choosing a properly authorized representative. In addition, the Government had lost confidence in the ability of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) to regulate the activities of its members and so it was replaced under the new law. It remains to be seen whether the newly designated body, ICCRC, has any more luck in reining in its members. Personally, I have my doubts.

Revoking Fraudulent Citizenship Status

Last week Mr. Kenny confirmed that as many as 1,800 Canadians could be stripped of their citizenship because they were allegedly obtained through fraud. This follows a three-year joint investigation carried out by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the police. Notice of the Government’s intention to revoke citizenship is being sent to each of the accused individuals and they will have 30 days to file a contestation in Federal Court.

The reality is that some foreign nationals do not want to live in Canada but desire a Canadian passport so they can hop on a plane and come to Canada when all hell breaks loose in their country of residence. To their chagrin, Canada requires three years of residency to qualify for citizenship and it often happens that these Canadian citizens of convenience use fraudulent means to show they have been living in Canada when they have not. To boot, they don’t pay taxes, but consume our social benefits.

The knee-jerk reaction here is to say “good riddance to bad rubbish”. While this response is understandable we should be mindful that the revocation of citizenship status is about as serious as it gets and as a result our government should proceed with caution. This issue has complexities.

What happens to the minor children who obtained their Canadian citizenship through the fraudulent actions of their father? Do the sins of the father extend to them even if they are living in Canada? It doesn’t seem fair. In fact, it would be downright un-Canadian.

The Minister has indicated that these alleged fraudsters hired crooked consultants to obtain false proof of Canadian residency so as to qualify for citizenship. But suppose this wasn’t the case. Let’s say that instead of hiring crooked consultants these misguided citizens worked with or relied on the advice of a Canadian financial institution’s agent or a lawyer at a top-tier law firm. If you think that can’t happen you would be wrong. Not so many years ago, a lawyer with one of Canada’s most distinguished law firms was advising wealthy clients from Hong Kong on how to gain Canadian citizenship without having to spend much time in Canada. The scheme was somehow uncovered and as I recall, the lawyer involved took his own life before all the details of his mandate became known. Could his clients have been acting on what they thought was sound advice? Who knows? The point is that prudence is called for and all Canadians deserve the full benefit of any doubt before their nationality is taken away.

Give Mr. Kenney credit. He is doing his best to put right a murky area of his domain. His predecessors, both Liberal and Conservative, chose to look the other way even though most everyone in the immigration field suspected this kind of cheating was taking place. As a result, since 1977 only 63 individuals have lost their citizenship status in this manner. Better late than never.