Immigration in 2011
Minister Jason Kenney talks to Canadian Immigrant about what's coming up in 2011.
MINISTER KENNEY ON HIS TOP PRIORITIES FOR 2011
CI: What are Citizenship and Immigration Canada's top priorities for the new year?
JK: Our top priority is continuing to improve economic results for immigrants in Canada. That really is the focus of most of what we do. A second priority is to continue to improve the integrity of our immigration system, which includes a crackdown on human smuggling, fraudulent marriages and crooked consultants.
MINISTER KENNEY ON MARRIAGE FRAUD
CI: Where are the public consultations related to marriage fraud at now? Do you foresee any new policies coming out of this process?
JK: The public consultations are over. So now we have moved to the policy development phase on how we can strengthen the laws in Canada to better protect possible victims of marriage fraud and reinforce the integrity of our immigration rules. I'm hoping to move forward on that quite quickly; let's say the very early part of 2011.
The single most common proposal coming from the public in our consultations is that we ought to have a probationary period for sponsored spouses similar to what exists in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, etc., so we are giving that a serious look. I'm not going to prejudge what our policy changes will be, but that is very much on the table, and there seems to be pretty broad consensus on that idea.
Some of the other recommendations that came up were that if someone sponsors a spouse and that turns out to be a sham marriage then they should be prevented from sponsoring another spouse for a number of years ... Others have suggested that we should have more public awareness campaigns about the risks entailed for Canadians sponsoring spouses.
And certainly there were requests for more vigorous enforcement action on the part of the Canadian Border Services Agency. The problem with that, however, is that once people are landed as permanent residents in Canada, it becomes increasingly difficult to successfully prosecute someone for immigration fraud ... So I think the expectation that we can just throw out of the country anyone who turns out to be a bogus spouse is unrealistic. We have to focus on prevention and that's where we are looking at with our new policy.
MINISTER KENNEY ON THE INVESTOR PROGRAM
CI: What is the rationale behind doubling the required investment for the immigrant investor program? Won't this affect our competitiveness in relation to other countries' immigrant investor programs?
JK: The main reason we doubled the required investment (to $800,000) and asset level (to $1,600,000) was because Canada was massively underselling itself compared to its competitors in this immigration product. The United States and Australia both essentially have million-dollar price points. The United Kingdom has a price point of a million pound sterling. We were offering people the lowest price point at $400,000 for the best advantage, which is immediate permanent residency in Canada, which is also a track to the easiest citizenship process in the developed world ... Many people in China, in Hong Kong and India have said to me that the price point is still too low.
They've said that it's so easy for modestly wealthy people in Asia and the Middle East to qualify for the program and that we won't see any reduction in demand for the Canadian program. It may reduce, very marginally, the demand, but the demand is still excessive in terms of our ability to process applications.
MINISTER KENNEY ON THE ECONOMIC STRUGGLES OF NEWCOMERS
CI: New immigrants today are earning considerably less in comparison to newcomers in the 70s, 80s and even the 90s. Why do you think that is? Is this a settlement issue? How do we counteract this?
JK: My number 1 focus has been turning around the decline in economic results for newcomers. I am distressed to see that in the last 15 years, incomes and employment for immigrants have been on the decline. And I think there is a whole number of reasons for that. Arguably it is a function of how we select people. And I can tell you that we recently released a new study that assesses the economic progress of immigrants selected under the current points grid that was adopted in 2002 ... It indicates that there has been a huge improvement of employment and income for skilled workers.
The new study indicates that within three years newly selected federal skilled workers are generating, on average, $80,000 in household income, which is very strong. So the good news is that the situation is beginning to turn around. We also have launched consultations on further changes to the points grid for the skilled worker program, which we hope will further improve economic outcomes for newcomers.
Also, since 2006, our government tripled the federal investment in settlement and integration services to help people improve their language proficiency and their job search skills. All of the data indicates that the number 1 barrier to employment for foreign-trained professionals is language proficiency and that's why we put such a heavy emphasis on it. We are trying to find more and better ways to get newcomers, who need to upgrade their language skills, to enrol in free [language] programs.
MINISTER KENNEY ON FOREIGN CREDENTIAL RECOGNITION
CI: Are there any new developments with regards to foreign credential recognition?
JK: We have been doing a lot of work with the provinces and the more than 400 professional licensing bodies to streamline and simplify the process of credential recognition for foreign-trained professionals. A year ago, we launched the Canadian Framework for Foreign Credential Recognition, which was based on an agreement between the 10 premiers and Prime Minister Harper.
We have identified, in the first year, nine professional categories where we aim to hammer out a streamlined faster simplified process [for credential recognition]. We've put in $50 million into funding that hard technical work between the provincial licensing bodies. We are making huge progress on it and we will meet our objective of giving applicants an answer within a year of their application for those nine professional categories ... So progress is being made.
I know it will never be satisfactory for a foreign-trained professional who shows up and hopes to be working as a licensed practitioner immediately. That's not realistic. It does take time. We can't guarantee people that their foreign credentials will be recognized in Canada. But we should guarantee them a reasonably simple and efficient process and that's where we are making progress with the provinces.
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Minister Jason Kenney talks to Canadian Immigrant about what's coming up in 2011.
MINISTER KENNEY ON HIS TOP PRIORITIES FOR 2011
CI: What are Citizenship and Immigration Canada's top priorities for the new year?
JK: Our top priority is continuing to improve economic results for immigrants in Canada. That really is the focus of most of what we do. A second priority is to continue to improve the integrity of our immigration system, which includes a crackdown on human smuggling, fraudulent marriages and crooked consultants.
MINISTER KENNEY ON MARRIAGE FRAUD
CI: Where are the public consultations related to marriage fraud at now? Do you foresee any new policies coming out of this process?
JK: The public consultations are over. So now we have moved to the policy development phase on how we can strengthen the laws in Canada to better protect possible victims of marriage fraud and reinforce the integrity of our immigration rules. I'm hoping to move forward on that quite quickly; let's say the very early part of 2011.
The single most common proposal coming from the public in our consultations is that we ought to have a probationary period for sponsored spouses similar to what exists in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, etc., so we are giving that a serious look. I'm not going to prejudge what our policy changes will be, but that is very much on the table, and there seems to be pretty broad consensus on that idea.
Some of the other recommendations that came up were that if someone sponsors a spouse and that turns out to be a sham marriage then they should be prevented from sponsoring another spouse for a number of years ... Others have suggested that we should have more public awareness campaigns about the risks entailed for Canadians sponsoring spouses.
And certainly there were requests for more vigorous enforcement action on the part of the Canadian Border Services Agency. The problem with that, however, is that once people are landed as permanent residents in Canada, it becomes increasingly difficult to successfully prosecute someone for immigration fraud ... So I think the expectation that we can just throw out of the country anyone who turns out to be a bogus spouse is unrealistic. We have to focus on prevention and that's where we are looking at with our new policy.
MINISTER KENNEY ON THE INVESTOR PROGRAM
CI: What is the rationale behind doubling the required investment for the immigrant investor program? Won't this affect our competitiveness in relation to other countries' immigrant investor programs?
JK: The main reason we doubled the required investment (to $800,000) and asset level (to $1,600,000) was because Canada was massively underselling itself compared to its competitors in this immigration product. The United States and Australia both essentially have million-dollar price points. The United Kingdom has a price point of a million pound sterling. We were offering people the lowest price point at $400,000 for the best advantage, which is immediate permanent residency in Canada, which is also a track to the easiest citizenship process in the developed world ... Many people in China, in Hong Kong and India have said to me that the price point is still too low.
They've said that it's so easy for modestly wealthy people in Asia and the Middle East to qualify for the program and that we won't see any reduction in demand for the Canadian program. It may reduce, very marginally, the demand, but the demand is still excessive in terms of our ability to process applications.
MINISTER KENNEY ON THE ECONOMIC STRUGGLES OF NEWCOMERS
CI: New immigrants today are earning considerably less in comparison to newcomers in the 70s, 80s and even the 90s. Why do you think that is? Is this a settlement issue? How do we counteract this?
JK: My number 1 focus has been turning around the decline in economic results for newcomers. I am distressed to see that in the last 15 years, incomes and employment for immigrants have been on the decline. And I think there is a whole number of reasons for that. Arguably it is a function of how we select people. And I can tell you that we recently released a new study that assesses the economic progress of immigrants selected under the current points grid that was adopted in 2002 ... It indicates that there has been a huge improvement of employment and income for skilled workers.
The new study indicates that within three years newly selected federal skilled workers are generating, on average, $80,000 in household income, which is very strong. So the good news is that the situation is beginning to turn around. We also have launched consultations on further changes to the points grid for the skilled worker program, which we hope will further improve economic outcomes for newcomers.
Also, since 2006, our government tripled the federal investment in settlement and integration services to help people improve their language proficiency and their job search skills. All of the data indicates that the number 1 barrier to employment for foreign-trained professionals is language proficiency and that's why we put such a heavy emphasis on it. We are trying to find more and better ways to get newcomers, who need to upgrade their language skills, to enrol in free [language] programs.
MINISTER KENNEY ON FOREIGN CREDENTIAL RECOGNITION
CI: Are there any new developments with regards to foreign credential recognition?
JK: We have been doing a lot of work with the provinces and the more than 400 professional licensing bodies to streamline and simplify the process of credential recognition for foreign-trained professionals. A year ago, we launched the Canadian Framework for Foreign Credential Recognition, which was based on an agreement between the 10 premiers and Prime Minister Harper.
We have identified, in the first year, nine professional categories where we aim to hammer out a streamlined faster simplified process [for credential recognition]. We've put in $50 million into funding that hard technical work between the provincial licensing bodies. We are making huge progress on it and we will meet our objective of giving applicants an answer within a year of their application for those nine professional categories ... So progress is being made.
I know it will never be satisfactory for a foreign-trained professional who shows up and hopes to be working as a licensed practitioner immediately. That's not realistic. It does take time. We can't guarantee people that their foreign credentials will be recognized in Canada. But we should guarantee them a reasonably simple and efficient process and that's where we are making progress with the provinces.
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