The past 5 years have seen dramatic and widespread changes to Canada’s entire immigration program, whether it be for Economic Immigration, Family Class Immigration, or Canada’s Humanitarian/Refugee Program.

In recent years, we have seen some pretty quirky legislation such as the “Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants Act” and the “Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act”.

Both of these pieces of legislation, brought in strict new provisions.

Here are some of the highlights to changes in Canada’s immigration laws which have occurred in recent years:

 

The “Cracking down on crooked consultants” act 

 

In June 2011, this act, also known as Bill C-35, came into force.

Only lawyers licensed by a Law Society of Canada or consultants licenced by the Immigrations Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) could now assist individuals in the preparation of their immigration applications for a fee.

Prior to Bill C-35, it was commonplace in Canada for many parties to assist individuals in the immigration process, including schools with international students extending study permits; nanny agencies helping low-paid nannies with ongoing immigration paperwork; recruiters bringing foreign workers into Canada and human resources personnel assisting their own foreign workers with coming to Canada.

 

Loss of citizenship

 

In July 2011, the government launched an intensive review of three thousand citizenship applications under investigation for fraud. The Government is actively pursing individuals who obtained their citizenship based upon fraudulent information included in their applications such as providing false information about how much time they actually spent living in Canada.

It’s pretty basic – tell the truth or run the risk of both criminal prosecution and the loss of your permanent resident status. Applicants who are stripped of their citizenship on the basis of providing false information do not retain their permanent residence status and must start the entire immigration process from the very beginning.

 

Marriage fraud

 

In March 2012, changes to the family class spousal sponsorship criteria were made, limiting a newly sponsored spouse to Canada from being able to sponsor a future spouse for a period of 5 years from the time they first arrive in Canada.

These changes were introduced with a view to protecting Canadian citizens and permanent residents and attempting to minimize the potential for abuse by foreigners who are entering into marital relationships with Canadians, solely for the purpose of gaining the benefit of permanent residence to Canada.

Later that same year, in October 2012, the government implemented further new legislation targeting marriage fraud. Couples who have been in a spousal relationship for less than two years or that do not have children together - will be given conditional permanent residence that requires them to live together as spouses for a period of 2 years from when the sponsored spouse arrives in Canada as a permanent resident.

Catherine Sas (csas@millerthomson.com) is a practicing immigration lawyer based in Vancouver. For more information go to www.canadian-visa-lawyer.com.