Recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Improving the Immigration System

The Parliamentary Committee on Immigration, which has at least one representative from each major political party, released the results of its study on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected immigration to Canada. The report was presented in the House of Commons on May 13. It addressed issues related to economic immigration, family reunification and refugees.

Immigrants, lawyers and other stakeholders participated in the study. It described the problems that COVID-19 caused and presented 38 recommendations to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. The government has 120 days to respond to the report. While there is no obligation to change current policy, some of the recommendations have already been partially implemented or are in development.

Some of the changes proposed by the committee are described below.

Modernization of the immigration system

The Committee recommends that the immigration system be fully digitized so that applicants can apply for all programs electronically and that immigration officers conduct online interviews with applicants and issue immigration visas with a scannable barcode instead of putting a visa in their passport. Those who are granted immigrant visas should automatically be issued authorization to enter Canada.

Canada has already budgeted about $430 million CAD in the 2021 budget to build a new platform for electronic immigration processing within 5 years.

Transparency

The Committee advises that immigration applications should be tracked in real time to ensure that they are processed in a timely manner. The Department of Immigration is also advised to publish processing reports for all immigration streams with statistics on applicants by race, religion, gender, age, country of origin and parental status. All data should be anonymous. In the case of a denial of a permanent residence permit, the committee believes that the applicant should receive a full justification as to why it was denied. In order to monitor the activities of the Immigration Department, the committee proposed the creation of an immigration ombudsman.

Easing the rules

The Committee considers it necessary to allow international students to enter Canada for full-time study and to allow them to undertake internships as part of their study permit. The period of work permit after study is recommended to be extended to 5 years (currently the permit is issued for 1-3 years).

Priority should be given to applicants who are immigrating for family reunification, as well as to the processing of adoptions of children from other countries. In addition, the committee proposes to create super visas for spouses of Canadian citizens and permanent residents (currently super visas can be obtained by parents and grandparents of Canadian residents).

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Among the committee's other proposals are to allow applicants to correct errors in their immigration applications and send in missing documents rather than deny residency or force them to resubmit the application, and to allow asylum seekers to enter Canada.

Temporary measures due to the pandemic

The committee called on the Department of Immigration to allow those with expiring permanent resident status to return to Canada after the pandemic and to expedite applications for renewal of temporary resident status. The first recommendation is already in effect.

The committee also considers it necessary to extend the validity of the physical examination results required for immigration, and, in exceptional cases, to allow candidates to undergo a physical examination after arrival in Canada. And for those waiting to obtain permanent residency under Quebec's program for skilled professionals, the committee advises issuing interim work permits in Quebec.

New ways of immigration

Among the proposals is the recommendation to create new opportunities to obtain a permanent residence permit for those who work in Canada in in-demand professions. Such streams have already begun. They are accepting applications from doctors and specialists in other priority fields. Initially, Canadian graduates could apply in the stream, but the limit for English-speaking candidates is already exhausted. However, the Minister of Immigration does not rule out the possibility of expanding the application limit.

The committee also calls for an immigration program for those who made important contributions during the pandemic in Canada, as well as work permits for foreign caregivers and nannies to work during COVID-19.