CIMM Committee Report

LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATION 1

Skilled worker immigration applications should be given second priority in processing. Within that group, the highest priority should be given to those with arranged employment.

RECOMMENDATION 2

In order to achieve a balance that is in Canada’s best interests, the components of non-discretionary processing should be analyzed.

RECOMMENDATION 3

Realistic service standards should be established and publicized for processing skilled worker applications.

RECOMMENDATION 4

Units dedicated exclusively to processing skilled worker applications should be established on a pilot project basis.

RECOMMENDATION 5

A system of inventory management should be fair and transparent; should promote excellence; should be efficient, simple and cost effective; should safeguard program integrity and security; and, should be sufficiently flexible to respond to Canada’s overall interests.

RECOMMENDATION 6

Accurate skilled worker processing times for each post should be publicized on their Web sites.

RECOMMENDATION 7

Restricting the ability of qualified people to submit a skilled worker application should not be used as a method to manage the immigration inventory.

RECOMMENDATION 8

Medical officers overseas must be provided with resources that are adequate to permit them both to screen prospective immigrants for tuberculosis and other diseases that impact public health in Canada and to continually monitor worldwide public health trends.

RECOMMENDATION 9

Citizenship and Immigration Canada should be permitted to tell sponsors about significant medical findings in relation to the person they are sponsoring, particularly when that information is likely to affect the sponsor’s own health.

RECOMMENDATION 10

More resources should be provided so that all customer service programs, including the Department’s call centres and the e-CAS system, can be improved to provide more information to clients.

RECOMMENDATION 11

Members of Parliament should inform constituents seeking file status information of the e-CAS Service. Other inquiries should be managed prudently by MPs, taking into account the high volume of applications at some missions.

RECOMMENDATION 12

Members of Parliament wishing to play an advocacy role in immigration matters should be encouraged to educate themselves about the Act and regulations.

RECOMMENDATION 13

As a part of the Department’s commitment to customer service, the flow of information to applicants should continue to be improved.

RECOMMENDATION 14

The Centralized Imaging Pilot should be expanded with due caution, and further options to centralize administrative processes should be examined. However, all major decisions must be made by overseas officers to maintain program integrity.

RECOMMENDATION 15

Additional resources should be allocated to process skilled worker immigrant applications at our missions abroad.

RECOMMENDATION 16

Additional resources should be used to enable:

RECOMMENDATION 17

Where a lack of space in Canada’s primary location in a country precludes effectively utilizing additional personnel, the government should consider expanding the use for immigration purposes of the consulates in the country or establishing new satellite offices.

RECOMMENDATION 18

Departmental budgeting should be flexible enough to address the increasing volumes of non-immigrant applications to ensure that the processing of skilled worker applications is not interrupted.

RECOMMENDATION 19

Consideration should be given to allocating application fees for non‑immigrant visas to the processing mission as a means of alleviating the budgetary impact of increasing volumes.

RECOMMENDATION 20

Significantly more immigration control officers should be hired to work overseas and the necessary administrative and technological support should be provided to them.

RECOMMENDATION 21

Immigration control officers should be assigned to work full-time at airports that have been identified as major transit points for illegal entry into Canada.

RECOMMENDATION 22

More resources should be provided to immigration control officers to train airline staff in fraud detection.

RECOMMENDATION 23

The Department should develop a communications strategy to inform the general public of the presence of Canadian immigration control officers at airports and of their ability to detect fraud. Such programs should target countries where fraud occurs regularly.

RECOMMENDATION 24

The importance of immigration control officers should be recognized and the position should be treated as a senior position within the Department.

RECOMMENDATION 25

Greater intelligence resources should be made available to immigration control officers by the RCMP, CSIS and the Canadian Security Establishment.

RECOMMENDATION 26

Department management should continue to encourage the development of informal information exchanges between Canadian immigration control officers and their foreign counterparts.

RECOMMENDATION 27

In order to prevent mission shopping, applicants for immigration should be required to submit their applications to the post that serves the country in which they have been living for a least one year.

RECOMMENDATION 28

Citizenship and Immigration Canada should not move files from post to post in an attempt to relieve processing bottlenecks.

RECOMMENDATION 29

Greater resources should be provided at the file screening stage to allow for more careful scrutiny of identity documents, police certificates, and employment and educational records.

RECOMMENDATION 30

Medical officers at Canada’s overseas missions should be provided with greater resources to allow for more effective monitoring of local designated medical practitioners.

RECOMMENDATION 31

The use of locally engaged officers at our overseas missions is essential and should be continued.

RECOMMENDATION 32

Canada-based officers should be responsible for making final decisions regarding the issuance of visas where a personnel analysis indicates potential risk.

RECOMMENDATION 33

A rigorous program of review and audit should be maintained to ensure the integrity of decision-making by all overseas personnel.

RECOMMENDATION 34

The Minister should discuss the issue of “visa schools” and shortcomings in provincial licensing and accreditation requirements when meeting with the provinces and territories at the upcoming conference of immigration ministers. All levels of government should work towards eliminating these enterprises and raising standards.

RECOMMENDATION 35

The definition of “instruction” in the regulations should be modified to better reflect the requirements of full-time post-secondary education.

RECOMMENDATION 36

Canadians involved in the fraudulent use of documents or other forms of immigration fraud should face prosecution and significant penalties. This should be a higher priority for the Department of Justice.

RECOMMENDATION 37

Resources should be provided to ensure that where local law enforcement procedures exist, Canadian immigration control officers are able to assist in the prosecution of those involved in immigration fraud.

RECOMMENDATION 38

Where local law enforcement procedures do not exist or are inadequate to deter immigration fraud, the Canadian government should encourage and assist the host nation to develop effective criminal enforcement and penalties. This is particularly important for transit areas in airports.

RECOMMENDATION 39

Provinces and territories should be encouraged to enter the provincial nominee program, or, if they already have an agreement under the program, to continue to develop and refine it.

RECOMMENDATION 40

Provinces participating in the provincial nominee program should ensure that local employers are fully informed about the program’s potential to assist them in attracting the skilled workers they need.

RECOMMENDATION 41

The question of the role that immigration representatives play in referring immigrants to provincial authorities should be discussed at the upcoming federal-provincial-territorial conference of immigration ministers.

RECOMMENDATION 42

The possibility of municipalities, in partnership with the provinces and the private sector, directly recruiting immigrants to suit their particular needs should be explored.

RECOMMENDATION 43

Citizenship and Immigration Canada should proceed expeditiously, in conjunction with the groups representing immigration consultants, to establish a Canadian college of immigration practitioners.

RECOMMENDATION 44

Citizenship and Immigration Canada should only deal with a representative who is a citizen or permanent resident of Canada; and, a member in good standing of the Canadian college of immigration practitioners or a member in good standing of a provincial or territorial Bar in Canada.

RECOMMENDATION 45

Citizenship and Immigration Canada should undertake more promotional activities and proactive recruiting of skilled workers.

RECOMMENDATION 46

The provinces should be encouraged to undertake more promotional activities.

RECOMMENDATION 47

The government should encourage student exchange programs for Canadian colleges and universities.

RECOMMENDATION 48

Once immigration consultants are regulated and their marketing practices made subject to a professional code of conduct, they should be encouraged in their promotional activities.

RECOMMENDATION 49

Information regarding the bodies in Canada that perform educational and technical professional assessments should be centrally compiled and available on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada Web site and the Web sites of the individual missions.

RECOMMENDATION 50

The various bodies regulating trade and professional accreditation in Canada should be encouraged to work together to address issues of foreign education and skills assessment.

RECOMMENDATION 51

The recognition of foreign credentials should be given priority when the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of immigration meet later this year. Partnerships between the federal, provincial and territorial governments, and the licensing bodies, should be pursued.

RECOMMENDATION 52

Incentives should be provided to encourage individuals to obtain a provincial professional or trade assessment prior to applying for permanent residence.

RECOMMENDATION 53

The future business plan of each mission should reflect the Committee’s recommendations and should specify, taking into account the particular pressures on the post in question, how they will be implemented.