On March 30, 2012 the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website released an announcement named Government of Canada transforms economic immigration program which said CIC would propose legislation to close the files of FSW applicants who applied before February 27, 2008.
I would not be surprised at all if this news becomes the most drastic policy move in the Canadian immigration history because it will cut nearly 300,000 applicants out the immigration queue if it is realized. As a FSW applicant in that “would-be-cut” category myself , I don’t think I can be grateful to the Canadian immigration authorities any more.
I could still remember how hopeful and delightful I was when I sent my application files to the Canadian Embassy in Beijing back in 2007, with the information from the CIC website indicating the process time would be 24-48 months. Under the SAP programme of the FSW immigration which was said the fastest ever , I did not anticipate that it would be a long and fruitless ride. But now everything seems grey and uncertain after this sudden change.Since I’ve been in the immigration queue for 5 years, I think I am in a good position to discuss the changes that the CIC has adopted in recent years.
Back on February 27, 2008, the CIC introduced a new policy, which was to select immigration applicants mostly by an occupation list which contains 38 job codes. Those who applied after February 27, 2008 would have the priority to be processed over who did before the date as the legislation, namely Bill C50, had authorized the minister to give such instructions. Although the Bill C50 did not mention anything to do with the applicants before February 27, 2008, actually it changed everything and everyone in the game ever after. On June 26, 2010, a new occupation list came with a new policy to give it the higher priority over the previous ones. The same story happened on July 1,2011, with the latest and highest prioritized track in action. “First-come, first-served” had become “Late-come ,first-served” in reality. Under such rules , anyone in the queue would feel unstable because they knew the new ones were to come with higher priority. Many chose to reapply in order to stay ahead and the visa officials had to review the same applicant files once more to select. But the most applicants remained where they were.
Then the ride showed yet another twist with the words from Immigration Minister Jason Kenney that “Having to process applications that are as many as eight years out of date reduces our ability to focus on new applicants with skills and talents that our economy needs today.” That is one of the main reasons to make such changes according to the CIC website. I fully understand the one million name long queue does not serve much good to the Canadian immigration as a whole, but I don’t think PreC50 applicants, the least privileged, are to blame. We don’t want to wait one more day to get our process finished. We are the victims and now we are to be punished for being too long in this queue.
Who should be charged for this gradually accumulated tragedy? I think it’s the bad policies.
I for one believe Minister Jason Kenney knew very well about the backlog situation back in 2008 when he took the office and he chose to let the backlog grow. He could have adopted measures to prevent what he later called “ the madness in the system” , but he didn’t.
Today, Minister Jason Kenney talks about” the 21st century immigration system that Canada lacks “, but I think the idea is just used by him to tell Canadian people “the country first needs to deal with a staggering backlog”. If it takes a massive and sudden slash-off like this, with nearly 300,000 people‘s immigration dream broken to build this 21st century immigration system, what is good about it?
However unjustifiable it has been , the Conservative government is set to get the finance support and the legislation with retrospective power to make this drastic policy come true. That means the Parliament will have to choose where this madness goes.
I hope this country that I applied to be a part of will show to me and the rest of the world that it is a land that puts values ahead of money . Fairness , tolerance, humaneness these are what people in this country look to, isn’t it?
I am a FSW immigration applicant living in Beijing. If you have any questions, please contact me by this Email address: weasone2012@gmail.com.
I would not be surprised at all if this news becomes the most drastic policy move in the Canadian immigration history because it will cut nearly 300,000 applicants out the immigration queue if it is realized. As a FSW applicant in that “would-be-cut” category myself , I don’t think I can be grateful to the Canadian immigration authorities any more.
I could still remember how hopeful and delightful I was when I sent my application files to the Canadian Embassy in Beijing back in 2007, with the information from the CIC website indicating the process time would be 24-48 months. Under the SAP programme of the FSW immigration which was said the fastest ever , I did not anticipate that it would be a long and fruitless ride. But now everything seems grey and uncertain after this sudden change.Since I’ve been in the immigration queue for 5 years, I think I am in a good position to discuss the changes that the CIC has adopted in recent years.
Back on February 27, 2008, the CIC introduced a new policy, which was to select immigration applicants mostly by an occupation list which contains 38 job codes. Those who applied after February 27, 2008 would have the priority to be processed over who did before the date as the legislation, namely Bill C50, had authorized the minister to give such instructions. Although the Bill C50 did not mention anything to do with the applicants before February 27, 2008, actually it changed everything and everyone in the game ever after. On June 26, 2010, a new occupation list came with a new policy to give it the higher priority over the previous ones. The same story happened on July 1,2011, with the latest and highest prioritized track in action. “First-come, first-served” had become “Late-come ,first-served” in reality. Under such rules , anyone in the queue would feel unstable because they knew the new ones were to come with higher priority. Many chose to reapply in order to stay ahead and the visa officials had to review the same applicant files once more to select. But the most applicants remained where they were.
Then the ride showed yet another twist with the words from Immigration Minister Jason Kenney that “Having to process applications that are as many as eight years out of date reduces our ability to focus on new applicants with skills and talents that our economy needs today.” That is one of the main reasons to make such changes according to the CIC website. I fully understand the one million name long queue does not serve much good to the Canadian immigration as a whole, but I don’t think PreC50 applicants, the least privileged, are to blame. We don’t want to wait one more day to get our process finished. We are the victims and now we are to be punished for being too long in this queue.
Who should be charged for this gradually accumulated tragedy? I think it’s the bad policies.
I for one believe Minister Jason Kenney knew very well about the backlog situation back in 2008 when he took the office and he chose to let the backlog grow. He could have adopted measures to prevent what he later called “ the madness in the system” , but he didn’t.
Today, Minister Jason Kenney talks about” the 21st century immigration system that Canada lacks “, but I think the idea is just used by him to tell Canadian people “the country first needs to deal with a staggering backlog”. If it takes a massive and sudden slash-off like this, with nearly 300,000 people‘s immigration dream broken to build this 21st century immigration system, what is good about it?
However unjustifiable it has been , the Conservative government is set to get the finance support and the legislation with retrospective power to make this drastic policy come true. That means the Parliament will have to choose where this madness goes.
I hope this country that I applied to be a part of will show to me and the rest of the world that it is a land that puts values ahead of money . Fairness , tolerance, humaneness these are what people in this country look to, isn’t it?
I am a FSW immigration applicant living in Beijing. If you have any questions, please contact me by this Email address: weasone2012@gmail.com.
