U.S. applications for Canadian citizenship surge, causing delays

2026/05/18 Leave a comment

Surge is normal and to be expected following the opening up of citizenship by descent beyond the first generation. It remains to be seen in a year or so how much of this is an initial surge versus ongoing demand. Given the expansive nature of C-3, the PBO assessment of some 20,000 per year, stated by the Minister and officials, may understate interest. But too early to call:

Applicants for Canadian citizenship certificates now have to wait a year because of a surge of interest from Americans interested in taking advantage of new Canadian citizenship rules, according to the Canadian government’s processing-time estimator.

U.S. applications surged during the first few months of 2026, with millions south of the border estimated to be eligible for Canadian citizenship based on their ancestry, after Canada changed its citizenship law.

Demand from U.S. citizens added 14,000 applicants to the queue. That includes a large concentration of people who live in New England, where an estimated three million Americans are eligible due to Canadian ancestry arising from mass migration south from 1870 to 1930, as previously reported by National Post.

The wait will be shorter for applicants who filed in December 2025, before the American surge.

Under the change, if a citizenship applicant was born before December 15, 2025, and can trace his or her lineage back to a Canadian ancestor, they are automatically eligible to apply for proof of Canadian citizenship….

Source: U.S. applications for Canadian citizenship surge, causing delays

Filed under C-3, Citizenship Tagged with

Confusion around postgraduate work permit language resulting in rejections

2026/05/18 Leave a comment

Sigh…. Does IRCC not do any focus group or other user testing?:

…Will Tao, a Vancouver-based immigration lawyer, said he became aware of the confusion about the language test for the PGWP late last year. He said the layout of the website after the language test became a requirement made information about it hard to find.

“Folks who do it themselves have to answer this come-to-Canada survey that automates this checklist and tells you, ‘That’s what you need.’ There’s no message there, there’s no pop-up, there’s nothing in that process that they’re doing that flags, ‘Hey, the language test is there,” Tao said.

He said that, “depending on which term you Googled for the PGWP,” an applicant might find information about the test requirement on one web page, “in one small box that wasn’t even in special font or colours or really stood out.”

“And it was one of those expandable ones too, so you had to expand to get to it,” he added. “That’s where they had that information. So it was really hidden.”

He said changes were made to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada web pages late last year after some reporting on the issue….

source: Confusion around postgraduate work permit language resulting in rejections

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Meggs: Immigration : Les courbes sont à la baisse. Maintenant quoi?

2026/05/18 Leave a comment

Good commentary and related questions (full article has key charts):

…Ces quatre graphiques permettent deux constats : la tendance à la baisse de toutes les catégories et la situation pitoyable de notre système d’immigration dans toute sa complexité. On n’a toujours pas l’heure juste sur le nombre de personnes qui auraient été admissibles au PEQ, s’il n’avait pas été aboli. La guerre des chiffres est futile et ne peut donner lieu à une politique publique compréhensive.

Une planification efficace de l’immigration repose sur une évaluation plus large de la capacité à court et à long terme d’accueillir, d’intégrer et de soutenir avec succès les personnes qui arrivent pour s’établir en fonction des objectifs sociaux, économiques et démographiques clairs.

Pour rétablir la confiance du public, il faudra plus que les « solutions de dépannage » dictées par idéologie. Il faudra une planification d’immigration basée sur une approche transparente et fondée sur des données probantes.

Après plus de dix ans d’improvisation, nous nous trouvons devant un défi inimaginable pour remettre de l’ordre dans le système. Ce système kafkaïen coûte cher à tous les niveaux, pour les individus venus d’ailleurs à notre invitation; souvent pour leur pays d’origine; pour des employeurs embauchant dans le cadre du PTET; pour les contribuables qui paient pour un système administratif partagé entre deux ordres de gouvernement avec des chevauchements et dédoublements inefficaces. Il a ouvert la porte à la fraude, au trafic de la main-d’œuvre, à l’exploitation et à la précarité.

Avons-nous compris qu’on ne peut réduire le débat à un chiffre? Que proposeront des partis politiques pour réparer les torts créés et pour nous assurer qu’ils ne se reproduiront plus?

Source: Immigration : Les courbes sont à la baisse. Maintenant quoi?

… These four graphs allow two observations: the downward trend of all categories and the pitiful situation of our immigration system in all its complexity. We still don’t have the right time on the number of people who would have been eligible for the EQP, if it had not been abolished. The war of numbers is futile and cannot give rise to a comprehensive public policy.

Effective immigration planning is based on a broader assessment of the short- and long-term ability to successfully welcome, integrate and support people who arrive to settle according to clear social, economic and demographic goals.

To restore public confidence, it will take more than “troubleshooting solutions” dictated by ideology. Immigration planning based on a transparent, evidence-based approach will be needed.

After more than ten years of improvisation, we are faced with an unimaginable challenge to restore order to the system. This Kafkaesque system is expensive at all levels, for individuals who came from elsewhere at our invitation; often for their country of origin; for employers hiring under the PTET; for taxpayers who pay for an administrative system divided between two levels of government with ineffective overlaps and duplications. It opened the door to fraud, labor trafficking, exploitation and precariousness.

Did we understand that we can’t reduce the debate to a number? What will political parties propose to repair the wrongs created and to ensure that they will not happen again?

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,

Pilot program for transgender refugees allows them to change identity, name on arrival 

2026/05/18 Leave a comment

Of note:

The Immigration department is piloting a program allowing transgender refugees to change their gender and name as soon as they arrive in Canada without having to clear the usual administrative hurdles, to ensure they are not retraumatized. 

In a bid to align refugee policy with government policies supporting members of the LGBTQ community, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is allowing transgender refugees to bypass long waits in Canada to formally change identity. 

The first transgender asylum seeker arrived from South America under the program in December. They were permitted to land in Canada under their preferred identity, without having to go through the usual administrative stages to change their name and gender once settled here. 

The refugees came to Canada through the Government-Assisted Refugees, or GAR, program, under which refugees are referred to Canada for resettlement by organizations such as the UN Refugee Agency, and receive permanent resident status on arrival.

An internal “flash report” from IRCC in the Colombian capital of Bogota, obtained under Access to Information laws by immigration lawyer and policy analyst Richard Kurland, reported on the successful processing of the first refugee under the pilot scheme….

Source: Pilot program for transgender refugees allows them to change identity, name on arrival

Filed under Immigration, LGBTQ Tagged with ,

Inside Canada’s sluggish process for deporting senior Iranian officials

2026/05/18 2 Comments

Of note:

..A key challenge in such cases is that Canada’s immigration law doesn’t specify who qualifies as a senior public servant or military officer. Instead, adjudicators at the Immigration and Refugee Board have come to rely on the “top-half test,” according to which anyone found to have held a position in the upper 50 per cent of an organization’s hierarchy can be deemed senior. 

During his hearing, Mr. Omidi faced detailed questioning about his responsibilities as deputy director-general of the exploration office in Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, a position he held from 2013 to 2020 before moving to Canada. He was asked whether he had the power to grant or cancel mining licences (he said he did not) and whether he could hire or fire employees (he could only approve their vacation requests when his boss was away, he said). 

The hearing moved at a glacial pace, frequently delayed by the challenge of translating technical terms. At one point, it ground to a halt while the adjudicator established that mineral permissions, licences and certificates all referred to the same thing. Later, there was considerable confusion over the chemical element molybdenum. 

Through it all, Mr. Omidi painted himself as a technician with no real authority. “How could I have any power over the influence of the government with the knowledge of geology?” he said on the final day. “This is a mistake.”

The top-half test first appeared in operation manuals for immigration officials more than two decades ago. It has since been endorsed by the Federal Court, which in 2023 found that rank alone is enough to label someone a senior official, regardless of their job description. …

Source: Inside Canada’s sluggish process for deporting senior Iranian officials

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Laïcité dans les écoles: Un nombre « marginal » d’employés ont quitté, dit Sonia LeBel

2026/05/15 2 Comments

Downplaying the impact:

…Elle était questionnée par la députée libérale Madwa-Nika Cadet lors de l’étude des crédits budgétaires, un exercice de reddition de comptes qui se tient annuellement à l’Assemblée nationale.

Le projet de loi 94, adopté en octobre dernier, étend notamment l’interdiction du port de signes religieux à l’ensemble du personnel dans les écoles et dans les centres de services scolaires (CSS).

Une clause de droits acquis existe pour tous ceux ayant été embauchés avant le 19 mars 2025.

Mercredi, Mme Cadet a voulu savoir combien d’employés avaient été licenciés en raison de leur refus de se conformer à la nouvelle loi.

« C’est marginal, a répondu la ministre LeBel. À ma connaissance, on est dans les dizaines, même pas les centaines, même pas 100. C’est très minime. […] À ma connaissance, c’est très peu. »

Selon ses explications, la plupart des gens qui ont été contactés étaient sur des listes de rappel.

« La grande majorité de ces gens-là n’avaient pas enseigné dans le réseau de l’éducation depuis plusieurs années. […] Cent cinquante personnes ont été contactées et beaucoup là-dedans n’enseignent même plus.

« Les gens […] qui étaient dans des écoles, qui occupaient un poste dans des écoles (et qui ont quitté), je pense qu’on les compte sur les doigts de la main », a-t-elle insisté.

Le mois dernier, des syndicats avaient pourtant dénoncé la perte de 150 employés, dont des dizaines d’éducatrices en service de garde, des techniciennes en éducation spécialisée (TES) et des préposées aux élèves handicapés.

Ils avaient dit craindre, sur les ondes de Radio-Canada, que ces départs forcés n’accentuent la pénurie de personnel dans les écoles à Montréal.

Le Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM) affirmait, lui aussi, que les congédiements allaient avoir un impact dans les écoles.

« La Coalition avenir Québec semble sous-estimer le défi de rétention de personnel touché par les dispositions du projet de loi 94 », a déclaré Mme Cadet, mercredi.

« Si plusieurs employées quittent, il y aura certainement des ruptures de services. Il faudrait tout de même se préparer à cette éventualité pour ne pas nuire aux élèves, alors que le milieu prépare déjà la prochaine rentrée scolaire », a-t-elle ajouté.

Selon les données du gouvernement, plus de 3100 postes (enseignants, personnel de soutien, professionnels) étaient toujours à pourvoir en date de février.

Source: Laïcité dans les écoles: Un nombre « marginal » d’employés ont quitté, dit Sonia LeBel

… She was questioned by Liberal MP Madwa-Nika Cadet during the study of budget appropriations, an accounting exercise held annually in the National Assembly.

Bill 94, adopted last October, extends in particular the ban on the wearing of religious signs to all staff in schools and school service centers (CSS).

An acquired rights clause exists for all those who were hired before March 19, 2025.

On Wednesday, Ms. Cadet wanted to know how many employees had been laid off because of their refusal to comply with the new law.

“It’s marginal,” replied Minister LeBel. To my knowledge, we are in the dozens, not even hundreds, not even 100. It’s very minimal. […] To my knowledge, this is very little. ”

According to his [her, translation program mistake] explanations, most of the people who were contacted were on recall lists.

“The vast majority of these people had not taught in the education network for several years. […] One hundred and fifty people have been contacted and many there do not even teach anymore.

“People […] who were in schools, who held a position in schools (and who left), I think we can count them on the fingers of the hand,” she insisted.

Last month, however, unions denounced the loss of 150 employees, including dozens of childcare educators, special education technicians (TES) and disabled student attendants.

They said they feared, on Radio-Canada, that these forced departures would accentuate the shortage of staff in schools in Montreal.

The Centre de services scolaires de Montréal (CSSDM) also said that layoffs would have an impact on schools.

“The Coalition avenir Québec seems to underestimate the challenge of staff retention affected by the provisions of Bill 94,” Cadet said on Wednesday.

“If several employees leave, there will certainly be service breaks. We should still prepare for this eventuality so as not to harm students, while the community is already preparing for the next school year, “she added.

According to government data, more than 3,100 positions (teachers, support staff, professionals) were still to be filled as of February.

Filed under Interculturalisme, Laïcité, Multiculturalism Tagged with

Jamie Sarkonak: The rake of diaspora politics hits Nate Erskine-Smith in the face

2026/05/15 Leave a comment

One view is that by allowing Permanent Residents to participate in candidate selection, political parties are facilitation overall integration. In discussions I have had on political representation benchmarks, some have maintained that the overall benchmark should be the number of both citizens and Permanent Residents, rather than citizens only. I favour citizens only and Sarkonak is correct to note the pandering nature and related electoral strategies:

…Well, we’ll see how the investigation goes. Already, some onlookers are gloating, seeing Erskine-Smith’s loss as a strike of karmic justice.

Erskine-Smith was absolutely one of them. He participated in Bangladeshi flag-raisings at city hall; he dressed up in the cultural garb. When he talks about immigration, he speaks in economic terms, not cultural terms. He speaks of the tide of asylum seekers as if they’re an inevitable force of nature, and of his desire to “regularize” the status of people who are in Canada illegally — a point so radical that even the CEO of the Century Initiative told him it’s not worth talking about.

But the conservatives out there should limit their gloating and use the moment to get their own house in order. They engage in diaspora politics all the same.

Without getting into any specific ridings, it’s not unusual for nomination races to be co-opted by diaspora interests. Conservative or Liberal.

Just as Liberals allow non-citizens to vote in their nominations, Conservatives do, too. When some members of the party sought to end the practice of allowing permanent residents to participate in nomination votes, they were shut down by the rest. This is a clear vector for foreign interference.

If individual parties can’t be trusted to ensure that the gears of democracy are turned by citizens only, then their hands should be forced by legislation. And at a higher level, they need to learn that diaspora pandering is like walking through a field of rakes. It might not whack you in the face today, but there’s always a risk it will — just ask Erskine-Smith.

Source: Jamie Sarkonak: The rake of diaspora politics hits Nate Erskine-Smith in the face

Filed under Multiculturalism, Politics Tagged with , , , ,

3rd-party fraud, security risks flagged in some Canadian visa hubs abroad: internal records

2026/05/15 Leave a comment

Of note. Officer comments are telling:

…CBC made an access to information request to IRCC in 2024 about government site visits to Bangladesh and Russia visa application centres, after hearing concerns from applicants.

The records took about two years to receive and contain emails and redacted reports between Canadian immigration and embassy staff and VFS employees. The documents note “deficiencies” and other issues, including overcharging applicants with “premium” fees, security screening concerns, technical outages, and a malware attack.

“We could write a novel about all the fraud we are seeing,” reads an email from a government official who was planning to visit Bangladesh in February 2024, alluding to third-party misconducts. They asked for more information on the “scale of fraud, most common types/trends of fraud, [and] the role [of] ‘consultants’ in the fraud we are seeing.” 

Those emails indicate Canadian officials were concerned about the type of appointment reselling in Dhaka that Uddin experienced — enough that they tried creating accounts and simulating booking as an applicant and ran into issues as well. 

Resellers were somehow block-booking appointments and selling them at high costs to desperate applicants trying to meet IRCC’s deadlines, according to the records.

“The fact that [redacted] of the clients need to go to third parties to be able to provide their passports to your office is also an issue. It means that [redacted] of the client do not have access to the service as they are supposed to,” a government official wrote to VFS in January 2024.

Canadian staff flagged that it was hard for clients to follow IRCC’s strict processing timelines “unless they use the premium services, which is more expensive,” calling that “a concern.”

“How can that be ethical?” asked Uddin, who pointed out that applicants already pay a standard processing fee to IRCC. “VFS should get the money they’re due from IRCC, not from the people.”

“They just made people hostages. You have to come through this back channel, pay some extra money,” Uddin added about the resellers….

Source: 3rd-party fraud, security risks flagged in some Canadian visa hubs abroad: internal records

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , ,

Des refus de permis de travail après 60 jours qui font mal

2026/05/15 Leave a comment

Seems like another administrative screwup:

Alors que le gouvernement fédéral resserre les règles d’embauche de travailleurs étrangers, une autre pratique inquiète grandement des avocats et des employeurs qui dépendent de l’immigration : des refus quasi systématiques — au 60e jour pile — des dossiers de permis de travail si l’Étude d’impact sur le marché du travail (EIMT) n’a pas été versée au dossier parce que celle-ci est encore en traitement.

L’avocate Joanie Landry l’a constaté et dit suspecter l’utilisation de l’intelligence artificielle (IA) dans ces décisions. « Ça semble être des réponses automatisées », dit celle qui termine actuellement un mémoire de maîtrise sur l’utilisation de l’IA en immigration. « Les employeurs en région sont dévastés par ces refus. »

Selon elle, cette automatisation des processus permettrait d’aviser systématiquement le personnel d’Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada (IRCC) que le délai de 60 jours pour faire approuver l’EIMT par Service Canada est échu. Ce document sert à démontrer qu’il n’y a pas d’employés disponibles localement pour le poste à pourvoir. Si l’EIMT est toujours en traitement et n’a pas été versée au dossier, IRCC refuse le dossier, sans préavis ni délai supplémentaire. « Il y a un manque de transparence », dénonce Me Landry.

Le phénomène ne serait pas si récent, soutient l’avocate Laurence Trempe, membre du conseil d’administration de l’Association québécoise des avocats et avocates en immigration (AQAADI), qui a plusieurs clients qui ont vécu ce problème. Selon elle, il faut aussi regarder du côté de Service Canada — le point de service d’Emploi et Développement social Canada (EDSC) —, qui met désormais plus de temps à traiter les demandes d’EIMT, un temps qui n’excédait que rarement les 60 jours auparavant. « Avant, on déposait le dossier et on réussissait à avoir l’EIMT en 60 jours, donc tout était beau, mais maintenant, on a beaucoup plus d’échanges, souvent surréels, avec les agences de Service Canada, et ça allonge les délais », dit-elle.

Elle croit que les agents de Service Canada ont reçu la consigne de mettre en doute davantage l’offre d’emploi, par exemple le salaire offert, ce qui retarde l’affichage déjà allongé. « Pourquoi ils font ça ? Ce n’est pas leur bataille ! » Selon EDSC, le temps de traitement, qui est de 65 jours ouvrables, varie en fonction du type de demande et de la quantité reçue…

Source: Des refus de permis de travail après 60 jours qui font mal

While the federal government tightens the rules for hiring foreign workers, another practice greatly worries lawyers and employers who depend on immigration: almost systematic refusals — on the 60th day — of work permit files if the Labour Market Impact Study (LMIA) has not been paid into the file because it is still being processed.

Lawyer Joanie Landry noted this and said she suspected the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in these decisions. “It seems to be automated answers,” says the one who is currently completing a master’s thesis on the use of AI in immigration. “Exployers in the region are devastated by these refusals. ”

According to her, this process automation would make it possible to systematically notify Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) staff that the 60-day deadline for Service Canada to approve the LMIA has expired. This document is used to demonstrate that there are no employees available locally for the position to be filled. If the LMIA is still in process and has not been paid for the file, IRCC refuses the file, without notice or additional delay. “There is a lack of transparency,” denounces Me Landry.

The phenomenon would not be so recent, says lawyer Laurence Trempe, member of the board of directors of the Association québécoise des avocats et avocats en immigration (AQAADI), which has several clients who have experienced this problem. According to her, we also need to look at Service Canada — the Employment and Social Development Canada (EDSC) point of service — which now takes longer to process LMIA applications, a time that rarely exceeded 60 days before. “Before, we filed the file and we managed to get the LMIA in 60 days, so everything was fine, but now we have many more exchanges, often surreal, with Service Canada agencies, and it extends the deadlines,” she says.

She believes that Service Canada agents have been instructed to further question the job offer, for example the salary offered, which delays the already extended posting. “Why are they doing this? It’s not their battle! According to EDSC, the processing time, which is 65 working days, varies depending on the type of request and the quantity received…

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , ,

Scott Stinson: Spending scandal at Conestoga College is a reminder of Canada’s shameful international student boom

2026/05/14 Leave a comment

Yep:

…But the Liberals in Ottawa weren’t the only guilty party. The provinces did request an influx of potential workers during the pandemic, and then no one seemed to realize that the huge increases in foreign students in post-secondary institutions were not going to address those labour shortages, since they were largely in low-paying, unskilled jobs. The kind that didn’t require a college degree, in other words.

Indeed, the federal Auditor General issued a report this week that said immigration officials made little to no effort to investigate fraud within the student visa program, saying that they were overwhelmed by the large numbers.

More than 150,000 such cases were identified in 2023 and 2024 alone, with many of them flagged to the department because visa holders might not have been following the requirements of their study permits, as can happen when they do not attend classes, for example. A tiny fraction of those cases were even investigated, and in almost half of those that were, the student in question did not respond to inquiries from immigration officials. 

It is, in sum, a hot mess. 

Opposition politicians in Ontario sought to pin most of the blame this week on the Ford government, saying the Progressive Conservatives’ 2019 tuition freeze forced the post-secondary sector to look abroad for needed funds. “Now communities, workers, and students are dealing with the fallout while the government tries to act like this is all someone else’s fault,” said NDP MPP Catherine Fife, who represents Waterloo, after the Conestoga news was announced. “What did they think was going to happen?”  

It’s a fair question, but as was the case when the Ford government took over various public school boards after allegations of lavish expense mishaps, Conestoga College at this moment in time does not make a particularly sympathetic victim.

Mostly it stands as a symbol of a truly wild time in the post-secondary education sector in Ontario, when a lot of people who were supposed to be minding the store were doing the opposite.

And a time that a considerable number of politicians, at multiple levels, would rather we all forget.

Source: Scott Stinson: Spending scandal at Conestoga College is a reminder of Canada’s shameful international student boom

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

← Older posts