Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Children of Immigrants: Disparity in Success

Interesting article in the Globe and Mail. Research shows a clear advantage enjoyed by the daughters of immigrants - who earn more than females born to Canadian born parents, and more than males born to immigrant parents. Article here. Excerpt: The study, using data collected in the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, followed 17- to 29-year-olds in the work force during two overlapping six-year periods between 1996 and 2004. Researchers compared the earnings of young men and women born to immigrant parents in Canada between 1967 and 1982 with the incomes of sons and daughters of Canadian-born parents. Taking education levels into account, Dr. Palameta found that young women with two immigrant parents earned wages about 15 per cent higher than did young women with Canadian-born parents. This held true whether or not the women with immigrant parents were members of visible minorities, he said. But their male siblings don't seem to be faring as well. Young visible-minority men earned roughly 38 per cent less when compared to men with Canadian-born parents. Read more →

Provincial Nominee Programs

An article from the Toronto Star indicates the high incidence of fraud in the Provincial Nominee Program: The Provincial Nominee Program gives provinces discretion to pre-select investors, entrepreneurs and skilled workers with job offers for fast-track processing, dramatically cutting the wait to immigrate from as long as five years to just a few months. "Unfortunately, PNP applications continue to be our most time consuming in terms of fraud, thus having a negative impact on processing times," says the Canadian visa office in Beijing in an internal report to the immigration department. Perhaps not surprisingly (given the high rates of fraudulent documentation and unscrupulous third parties), India has the highest incidence of application rejection: Top 10 source countries of provincial nominees in 2006 and their application rejection rates: 1. Philippines: 887 (2 per cent) 2. China: 549 (5 per cent) 3. Korea: 492 (7 per cent) 4. Germany: 462 (0 per cent) 5. United Kingdom: 461 (1 per cent) 6. India: 393 (21 per cent) 7. United States: 191 (3 per cent) 8. South Africa: 156 (0 per cent) 9. Israel: 134 (3 per cent) 10. Iran: 119 (0 per cent) Manitoba, which has the most aggressive PNP program -- accepting... Read more →

Montreal Imam Said Jaziri Deported

Montreal Imam Said Jaziri protests his deportation flight - CBC Article: A Tunisian-born imam deported from Montreal for falsifying his refugee application described his treatment by Canadian authorities during his 13-hour trip home as torture. Good overview by the Gazette: Saïd Jaziri, who has been one of Quebec's most quoted Muslim leaders during the debate on reasonable accommodation, was ordered deported after his refugee status, granted in 1998, was revoked last June. It was revoked after authorities discovered Jaziri, a Tunisian native, had not disclosed a criminal conviction in France in 1994. That conviction was related to his role in an assault on an individual whose actions had led to the closing of a prayer room. Jaziri, spiritual leader of a Bélanger St. E. mosque, is married and expecting a child with his wife, Nancy Ann Adams of Laval. He was arrested last Monday after he was judged likely not to show up for his deportation. Jaziri, who has bragged about converting at least one Quebec woman a week to Islam over the past few years, drew criticism recently for stating in a television interview with TV5 host Luck Mervil that homosexuality was an illness. He also has complained about... Read more →

Article: Work on Federal Court Stay Application

Here's a link to an archive from Radio Canada International for January 11, 2007. It covers my work for John Anthony Bonnick who was facing removal from Canada. Mr. Bonnick reported for removal to his native Jamaica after his application for a stay of the execution of the removal order was refused by the Federal Court. While Mr. Bonnick was convicted of numerous criminal offenses including living off the avails of prostitution, he will not be automatically eligible to return to Canada in 2013 (requiring the approval of the Minister of CIC). The article also does not mention his 6 children in Canada, or his other family here (or the fact that he was in Canada for more than 20 years). A stay remedy is 'extraordinary' and we were unable to persuade the Federal Court to grant one in this case. Permanent residents need to understand that criminality exposes them to the removal provisions in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. While the vast majority of people a. don't commit crimes and b. don't plan on being deported as a result of it, it's important to understand the nature of permanent residency. I'll post the Federal Court record (under representative... Read more →

US State Police Clearances

Looks like this is the definitive link to get info on getting police clearances from all of the States: http://geo.international.gc.ca/can-am/seattle/rightnav/police_certificates-en.asp Read more →

Refugee Reform

It appears that the work done by the Immigration and Refugee Board, particularly the Refugee Protection Division, is of little value or importance to the Conservative Government. I make this (logical) conclusion based on the fact that there has been a reversal of years of winnowing down a seemingly insurmountable refugee backlog. Number of outstanding claims has increased by 50% in the last two years; there are now over 30,000 refugee cases pending determination. The main reason for the increase in backlog is the Conservative’s refusal to appoint more decision makers to the RPD now suffering from a loss of over 45 decision makers. It could be however, that the neglect of the Board is simply a symptom of a broader neglect of immigration policy in Canada. Despite the insistence of both the Liberal and Conservative governments as to the importance of the immigration portfolio, one only needs to note the revolving door of the ministry – resulting in 4 different Ministers of CIC since December 2003. I wonder if any Minister has had the time to get a handle on the numerous complex issues involved. Essentially the Board must make more decisions, with far less resources. In that vein,... Read more →

Refugee News...

Toronto Star article on the increasing backlog for refugee claims - due to the Conservative governments' unwillingness to re-appoint RPD Board Members. Excerpt: ...the number of outstanding claims has grown by 50 per cent between 2005 and this August, from 20,552 to 30,891. At the moment, 46 positions remain unfilled on the board, more than one-third of the regular complement, and it takes an average of 14.2 months to process and determine whether an asylum claim is valid, compared with 11.9 months last December. CTV reports on a 65 year old US refugee worker that has been charged as a human smuggler under the IRPA after helping 12 Haitians to the border to claim asylum. Excerpt: Erik Paradis, spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency in Quebec, told The Canadian Press that seven people have been charged under the legislation since it became law in 2002. But he did not say whether Hinshaw-Thomas is the only human rights worker to be charged. "The law is quite clear," he said. "Organizing and aiding entry into Canada is an offence under Section 117 of the (act)." "We can't tolerate human smuggling. The CBSA (is) really going to continue its efforts to combat... Read more →