2016 LIBERAL IMMIGRATION PLAN: Liberals Propose Ten Ambitious Changes to Canadian Immigration

Written by African Immigrant Magazine 

With the ascension to power of the liberals in the last parliamentary elections, much focus has been on changing current immigration laws set in place by the conservative government of Stephen Harper. The liberals believe that current immigration policies are too stringent and prevent the government from meeting its immigration targets in light of the need for skilled workers to support the growing economy. Accordingly, the following ten changes have been proposed;

1). An increase in the budget to enable CIC to increase its staff working on the family class immigration stream. This is designed to reduce waiting times.

2). Allow international students to count time spent in the country towards citizenship residency requirement.

3). Return to the immediate permanent residency status for those who were sponsored by their spouse. This will bypass the current policy of a two-year wait time designed to discourage fraudulent marriages.

). To return the maximum age of dependents to 19-22 . This means that Canadian citizens can bring their older siblings to the country through the sponsorship process.

5). To increase the number of applications that are allowed in the parent and grandparents category to 10,000 from 5,000 visas annually.

6). To restore the points allocation to PR applicants who have a sibling in Canada on their Express Entry application.

7). To remove the visa requirement for Mexicans entering Canada. The Harper government had imposed

posed a visa requirement in 2009 after finding wholescale violation of this exception.

8).Allowing refugees and asylum seekers free health care while they wait for their cases to be determined.

9). Removing the $1,000 Labour Market Impact Assessment fee for families that want to have the services of caregivers to cater for physical or mentally challenged family members.

10). Make it easier for international students to adjust their status to PR by making amendments to the Canadian Experience Class program to remove obstacles that prevent easier adjustment for this group.