Immigration News for May 2016

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Immigration News for May 2016

• By Russ Weninger
• Calgary Immigration Lawyer

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Private Refugee Sponsorship Slows

• For those looking a participating in a private
  refugee sponsorship application, the federal
  government has indicated that refugee sponsorship
  applications submitted prior to March 31, 2016
  will not count towards the cap of 10,500 private
  refugee sponsorship applications that the
  government will accept this year.
• However, even if you were lucky enough to get
  your private sponsorship application in before
  the end of March, there is a good chance that you
  will have to wait until the end of 2017 to have
  your application processed.

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Greater Flexibility for Short-Term TFWs

• Largely in response to the labour demands of the
  fisheries industry in Atlantic Canada, the
  federal government has eased cap restrictions on
  Labour Market Impact Assessments for seasonal
  industries employing low-skilled workers. Such
  eased restrictions may benefit employers in the
  tourism industry in Alberta.
• However, it is not clear that this easing of
  restrictions will remain a permanent exception to
  the LMIA cap requirement.

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Plan to End Conditional Permanent Residence

• The federal government has indicated it plans to
  remove the requirement that a sponsored spouse
  must remain in a relationship with his or her
  partner for 2 years after obtaining permanent
  residence in order to maintain his or her status
  as a permanent resident. This requirement has
  been referred to as conditional permanent
  residence.

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As such, I am supportive of this proposed change,
since conditional permanent residence rules have
encouraged sponsored spouses to remain in bad,
and in some cases abusive, relationships.
However, the proposed changes have not yet been
implemented, so the conditional permanent
residence rules are still in effect at this
time. It should be noted that sponsored spouses
may keep their permanent resident status if they
leave abusive relationships. Hopefully, the
government will take steps to remove the
requirement of conditional permanent residence as
soon as possible.
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For more insights or information about this you
can visit calgaryimmigrationlawyer.com Email
at russ_at_russweninger.com Call at 403-265-4496