Immigration News: January, 2005 - Volume 12

Canada: Immigration, Nafta

Canada admitted 221,000 permanent immigrants in 2004; the 2005 target is 220,000 to 245,000. Many of the newcomers have a difficult time getting their professional credentials recognized in Canada. Business groups are asking the government to bring in more skilled workers and to move faster to verify their credentials so they can use their skills in Canada; there is a backlog of 700,000 foreigners awaiting immigrant visas.

Canada received about 500 investor immigrants a year in 2000, but only 150 a year in 2004. To qualify as investor immigrant, applicants must have a net worth of at least C$800,000 and agree to invest C$400,000. There is a separate entrepreneur immigrant visa available to those with a net worth of at least C$300,000 who will operate a business in Canada that will create at least two full-time jobs. In recent years, the Canadian government has checked more carefully on the source of investor and entrepreneur funds.

Canada's labor minister, Joe Fontana, said that the country may need to double immigration levels to help fill enormous gaps in its skilled workforce. He said that Canadians must look at dramatically boosting the number of workers it brings in from overseas as well as improving skills training for underutilized employees.

Canada has 32 million residents and a land area larger than that of the US. Most immigrants are admitted through a point system that requires skilled workers to score at least 67 out of 100 on a test that awards points for education, language proficiency (French and English), work experience and age. Canada has about a million US-born residents; the US has 800,000 Canadian-born residents.

Canada has an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 Latinos, compared to 39 million in the US. Latinos in Canada have not had the political influence of other ethnic groups, such as the Chinese-Canadians or Italian-Canadians. In the past four years, however, nearly 20,000 refugees and 30,000 immigrants have arrived from Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Venezuela. Many are professionals.

Asylum. The Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement went into effect on December 29, 2004, requiring asylum seekers to ask for protection in the first country. The agreement is expected to end the practice of up to 1,000 foreigners a month who are in the US applying for asylum in Canada. About a third of the asylum applicants in Canada pass through the US, which has more international flights; Canada also provides benefits to asylum applicants.

Many Colombians in the US went to the Vive la Casa refugee shelter in Buffalo to get help applying for asylum in Canada before the agreement took effect; Canada has been approving over 80 percent of Colombian asylum applications, compared to 35 percent in the US. However, overall asylum application approval rates are 40 percent in each country, but the US requires foreigners to apply for asylum within one year of arrival, while Canada has no time limit.

Dancers. Canada allowed club owners to import 661 "exotic dancers" in 2003. Immigration minister Judy Sgro came under fire when it was discovered that she gave preferential visa treatment to a nude dancer who did volunteer work in her reelection campaign for Parliament in June 2004. Most of the dancers are from Romania, and most work in Toronto clubs, and most find ways to stay in Canada. Club owners deny that most of the women are forced into prostitution.

The Human Resources Ministry suspended the program in response to the outcry about the special treatment given to the dancer. Previously, the government said that the clubs are legitimate businesses facing a shortage of dancers. The controversy over Sgro arose when a Romanian dancer married a Canadian, ran into visa problems, and Sgro gave her a temporary residency, effectively jumping her over a queue of 700,000 applicants.

Canada admitted 19,000 temporary construction workers, 5,000 nannies and 1,560 university professors in 2003.

Economy. Canada's dollar rose 15 percent against the US dollar in 2004, bringing it to a 12-year high of $0.83 on the back of rising commodity prices and trade surpluses.

Canada is the largest trading partner of the US: two-way trade totaled $391 billion in 2003, or over $1 billion a day. However, there are several long-running trade disputes, including the US duty on Canadian softwood lumber, US challenges to the Canadian system for selling wheat and hogs, and a US ban on Canadian livestock imports since a calf in Alberta was found in 2003 to have mad cow disease.

The US has lost several challenges to the duty it levies on Canadian lumber since 1982, but continues to levy tariffs on Canadian wood and appeal the decisions. One reason for the aggressive US stance is the Byrd amendment, which transfers duties collected from foreign imports to American companies who complain and bring about their imposition. Canada supplies a third of US lumber despite the tariffs.

Clifford Krauss, "Refugees Rush to Canada to Beat an Asylum Deadline," New York Times, December 28, 2004. Doug Struck, "Canada Invites Strippers and Gets Scrutiny," Washington Post, December 5, 2004. Marina Jimenez, "Political veterans brought in to help redirect attention from 'strippergate,'" Globe and Mail, December 3, 2004. Sandra Cordon, "Canada must almost double immigration levels to expand workforce: minister," Canadian Press, October 30, 2004. Bertrand Marotte, "Integrating immigrants seen as key," Globe and Mail, October 19, 2004.