World Education Services (WES) is a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to helping international students, immigrants, and refugees achieve their educational and career goals in the United States and Canada. The weekly roundup includes research, stories, and events of interest to the Canadian immigration and settlement community. This content has been created by WES and is reproduced here with their permission, in partnership.
'Lost Canadians' citizenship bill tabled as court deadline looms’ (CBC)
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada is putting forward legislation to restore citizenship to “lost Canadians” after a recent court ruling found the existing law unconstitutional. The term “lost Canadian” refers to people who were born outside of the country to Canadian citizenship holders who were also born in another country. The 2023 Ontario Superior Court ruling has faced significant challenges in application, with the need for three extensions since first announced, due to factors including a prorogued parliament. The government received its fourth deadline extension to pass legislation to address the issue in April. Under new provisions, Bill C-3 will grant automatic citizenship to anyone previously denied citizenship with current law in place and would establish a new framework for citizenship by descent going forward. This stipulates that Canadian citizenship could be passed down to people born abroad, beyond the first generation, providing that their parents have spent at least three cumulative years in Canada.
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Quebec will drop permanent immigration targets to as low as 25,000 people per year (Globe & Mail)
The Government of Quebec is considering scenarios to welcome 25,000, 35,000, or 45,000 immigrants per year, according to Immigration Minister Jean-Francois Roberge. Quebec is projected to accept about 64,000 permanent residents by 2025. Roberge believes reductions must be put in place to adequately respond to the province’s rising unemployment, increased strain on housing, and challenges to protecting the French language. Quebec’s immigration department is also requesting that the federal government reduce the number of temporary immigrants in the province under federally managed programs to 200,000 from the current target of over 400,000. Minister Roberge says their government intends to hold consultations on the changes before announcing its final 2026 to 2029 targets.
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Canada cracks down on immigration applicants over spouses (Toronto Star)
Ottawa is continuing to crack down on perceived fraud within Canada’s points-based immigration application process. As part of the application process, married candidates have the option to exclude their non-accompanied spouses in the application and be assessed as if they were single, benefitting from additional points as an individual applicant. For some applications, it could bump their score by up to 40 points and make a difference in the current immigration landscapes. A trend indicates that married applicants are increasingly excluding spouses, opting to sponsor them later, after they themselves secure permanent residence. Experts are recommending that once a spouse is in the country, to ensure procedural fairness, the applicant should not be declaring unaccompanied status. This would alleviate the risk of an application refusal based on misrepresentation.
Refugees in limbo, with Ottawa silent on immigration jobs program due to expire within days (Globe & Mail)
With the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot set to expire this week, many refugees and advocates alike are concerned about the future of the program. Founded in 2018, the EMPP has served to match highly skilled displaced people with job vacancies in Canada. As the expiration deadline approaches, questions remain whether IRCC will follow through on the Trudeau government’s commitment to extend the Pilot and make it a permanent program by 2025. Applications that have already been received will be processed regardless of the program’s expiration, according to a spokesperson from IRCC. IRCC has not commented on whether the EMPP will be cut as part of the Prime Minister Carney’s promise to reduce and stabilize immigration targets or extended at the last minute, leaving many in limbo.
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