A proposed two-year moratorium on applications to bring parents and grandparents of immigrants into the country is intended to cut the existing backlog of applicants, but could result in difficulties for immigrant families.
The mortorium intends to cut down the backlog of about 165,000 family members trying to enter Canada.
In addition to stopping applications, Canada, in 2012, will take an increased number of grandparents and parents who have already applied.
To help family members who still want to enter the country but haven’t applied, the government has introduced a super-visa that allows parents and grandparents to stay up to two years at a time. The visa also allows family members to make multiple two-year visits over a period of 10 years.
When Immigration Minister Jason Kenney made the announcement last month he said the changes are “not about reducing immigration, it’s about managing the applications so it’s in line with our very high immigration levels.”
But for diverse neighbourhoods such as Centretown, the changes will have an effect on immigrant families looking to bring parents and grandparents to Canada.
Ottawa immigration lawyer Silvia Valdman has worked with many immigrant services in Centretown.
She says it remains to be seen what the overall effect will be, but there is no certainty that those who apply will get the visa.
She says the super-visa could allow more parents and grandparents to come sooner, but will not address the importance of obtaining permanent resident status.
“Permanent residency comes with greater rights, better legal rights, better benefits,” she says.
After Kenney’s announcement, NDP immigration critic Don Davies told reporters the moratorium was the wrong approach for dealing with family reunification.
He says every year for the last five years the Conservative government has reduced the number of visas granted to parents, spouses, children and grandparents.
Davies says the moratorium will hurt families without reducing the backlog, adding that Canada must accept more family class immigrants to deal with the problem.
“Family class is the most successful class of immigration we have. When they have a family structure, a social structure, they find jobs easier, they integrate into our communities better.”
Valdman says Kenney’s claim that the super-visa will be issued within eight weeks may work at first.B
But eventually the process will slow down as visa offices may not have resources to deal with additional applications. She says the changes ask the offices to “do more with less.”
Mohamed Dalmar, manager of the settlement department at the Catholic Immigration Centre, says granting visas is good for immigrants who want to see their families sooner, but family members will eventually want permanent residency.
Dalmar agrees more resources are necessary.
“The right policy would have been to place enough resources or immigration officers to the visa offices so they can speed up the applications, instead of suspending applications.”
The government intends to draw more skilled workers to Canada. But Dalmar says if the government wants skilled workers, it needs to accept their families.