Thursday, January 19th, 2012
On January 6, 2012, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it was proposing a regulatory change that would allow spouses and children of U.S. citizens who are in the United States but need an immigrant waiver of unlawful presence bar to apply for the waiver within the United States.
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, January 19th, 2012
On December 30, 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) issued Operational Bulletin 373 (“OB 373”). OB 373 provides additional information relating to the Excessive Demand Cost Threshold (the “Demand Threshold”) for 2012, which became effective on December 1, 2011.
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, December 15th, 2011
On December 7, 2011, US President Obama and Canada’s Prime Minister Harper released their Beyond the Border Action Plan, which discusses their shared vision for perimeter security. In furtherance of this objective, the plan proposes several immigration-related initiatives.
Read the rest of this post »Friday, September 16th, 2011
Most Ontario residents are already aware of the recent controversy that has brought immigration to the forefront of the upcoming provincial election. It started with the Ontario Liberal pledge to offer tax credits of up to $10,000.00 to employers who hire new immigrants in Ontario who have been here for five years or less. Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak responded by calling it an “affirmative action” program.
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, August 18th, 2011
The Free Trade Agreement (“FTA”) between Canada and Colombia was originally signed on November 21, 2008. However, it did not come into force until August 15, 2011. As in the case of other FTAs, the Canada-Colombia FTA contains provisions for the temporary entry of treaty nationals pursuant to Section 204 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. These provisions appear in “Chapter 12 – Temporary Entry for Business Persons.”
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, July 21st, 2011
On July 4, 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) issued Operational Bulletin 316 (the “Bulletin”). The Bulletin contains additional instructions regarding the assessment criteria that should be considered when adjudicating specialized knowledge intracompany transferee work permit applications.
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, June 30th, 2011
Legislation cracking down on crooked immigration consultants (Bill C-35) comes into force on June 30, 2011. At the same time, the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) is confirmed as the new regulatory body for immigration consultants. The ICCRC will…
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, June 16th, 2011
The Ontario Bar Association Citizenship and Immigration Section recently met with representatives of Opportunities Ontario, the province’s Provincial Nominee Program (“PNP”). During this meeting, they provided insight into the level of recruitment activities that would be expected from an employer who files a PNP application on behalf of a prospective employee.
Read the rest of this post »Friday, June 3rd, 2011
This case is a stunning example of mistreatment of migrant workers: a live-in nanny recently launched a wrongful dismissal claim against her employer in the Ontario Superior Court seeking damages in the amount of $195,000 for breach of contract, unpaid wages, statutory holiday pay and vacation pay.
Read the rest of this post »Monday, April 25th, 2011
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has updated its H-1B cap count for the current fiscal year. As of April 15, 2011, approximately 7,100 H-1B cap-subject petitions were receipted. Additionally, USCIS has receipted 5,100 H-1B petitions for aliens with advanced (master’s or higher) degrees from the United States.
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, April 21st, 2011
On August 4, 2010, the governor-general-in-council published amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, which were expected to adversely affect many temporary foreign workers; these regulatory amendments became effective on April 1, 2011. On April 1, 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) issued Operational Bulletin 275-C, which provides operational instructions to both CIC and the Canada Border Services Agency in relation to these recent regulatory amendments.
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, February 17th, 2011
On February 13, 2011, Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism announced that, in 2010, Canada welcomed the highest number of legal immigrants in more than 50 years (280,636 permanent residents). A day later, New Democrat immigration critic Olivia Chow stated during a press conference that information obtained under an Access to Information Act request revealed that the federal government intends to further reduce the immigration targets for parents and grandparents from 15,300 in 2010 to 11,000.
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, January 20th, 2011
Earlier this month, the QMI Agency reported that senior Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials had said illegal work experience could count towards a permanent residence application filed under a Provincial Nominee Program. Was this fact or fiction?
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, September 16th, 2010
On June 30, 2010, the Minister of International Trade announced that legislation to implement the recently signed Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement had received Royal Assent. From the perspective of immigration practitioners (and perhaps HR professionals), this is exciting news because once the legislation is effective, several additional work permit categories will become available to Colombian Citizens.
Read the rest of this post »Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
On occasion, Canadian HR professionals will be asked if one of their employees requires a work permit to enter the United States. The answer to this question depends on whether the proposed activity falls within the scope of the B-1 business visitor category. The problem lies in the lack of clear guidelines for B-1 business visitors and the considerable amount of discretion given to USCBP officers, who inspect foreign travelers seeking admission to the United States.
Read the rest of this post »
Leslie D Foreman:Andrew Taillon:
Copyright © 2012 - First Reference | Entries (RSS) | Comments (RSS) | Twitter | Facebook
WordPress theme designed by 
web design
