Super visa – not so super

 

The new super visa for parents and grandparents took effect last December 1.

Canada Immigration promises to issue these visas within eight weeks of application. So, instead of waiting for eight years to visit their child or grandchildren, parents or grandparents can now come to Canada within a matter of eight weeks.

Canada Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announces the "super visa" program
 for parents and grandparents effective December 1st . Photo courtesy of  Adrian
Wyld/Canadian Press. Click link to view  "A Statement on the New Super Visa,"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgNJFG-MZX0

What a great relief! But wait, let’s see if this would really work.

Right now, there is a backlog of applications for sponsorship of parents and grandparents. Those waiting for approval for their visas will have to wait for eight years, possibly even ten years, if their applications were received in September 2007. In Manila, for instance, the Canadian Embassy will take 50 months or more than 4 years to assess the sponsors of these applications, and 36 more months or three years to assess the parents and grandparents being sponsored.

Why does it take so long to assess an application? How many eyes are looking at one application and how much paperwork is exchanged between Ottawa or Vegreville and the foreign office? This is where Canada Immigration should focus its efforts to reduce or eliminate the backlog.

There are about eight documents a sponsor fills out when applying to bring a parent or grandparents to Canada, which includes the checklist and the use of a representative form. This means that there are actually only six vital documents that must be reviewed by an Immigration Officer when the sponsorship application is received in Vegreville or in another immigration office inside Canada.

Assessment of an application entails examination of the applicant’s status in Canada, which is the starting point of any sponsorship application. Once status is determined, then a review of proofs of marriage, birth and other family information will follow. An evaluation of the applicant’s income will be made, and if the low income cut-off is satisfied, the application is approved in principle. This entire process does not require 50 months to complete, unless we count the number of times an Immigration Officer goes to the bathroom or breaks for coffee, lunch or a smoke of cigarette. Or factor the time spent in talking with other colleagues that may not be related to the assessment work being done.

Efficiency problem, not backlog

What this picture suggests is an efficiency problem, not a backlog.

Granting Canada Immigration could be short of manpower, still that doesn’t imply a problem of backlog. Besides, Canada Immigration measures backlog as a function of the total number of applications received each year, not as the number of applications actually processed in real time. You’ll always have a backlog problem if you simply look at the number of applications coming in, without effectively measuring efficiency. Therefore, Canada Immigration’s problem of backlog is illusory, if not totally misleading.

Just consider Canada Immigration’s claim, for example, that the new super visa application will take on average eight weeks to process. The same application forms will be filled out by the sponsors and their parents or grandparents, and similar proofs of identity, births, and other pertinent family data will be assessed. Yet, the super visa application will take only eight weeks to process, despite the additional requirements of buying Canadian medical insurance coverage and a medical examination.

The same requirements—8 weeks for a super visa to process and 8 years for sponsoring parents or grandparents.

This clearly indicates to us what the real purpose of the super visa application for parents and grandparents is. In effect, Canada Immigration is telling permanent residents and citizens that they don’t actually need to bring their loved ones in Canada to live with them. All they need is to visit, and they can stay for as long as two years, provided they have medical insurance and their sponsoring children have satisfied the low income cut-off. And they can always return again after leaving Canada because their visa will be valid for ten years. This moratorium is not a temporary pause, but a necessary conditioning of the minds of new Canadian permanent residents and citizens to accept the new order in Canada—the new policy on family reunification, which is exactly no reunification. The moratorium will surely be extended for another two or more years, especially if it works, and you have read it from this blog.

More roadblocks ahead

Intake of immigrants to Canada starting 2012 is already being significantly reduced. Whether these are foreign temporary workers, including live-in caregivers, and applicants for permanent residents.

Visas for foreign workers have already been relaxed by allowing temporary workers to stay for a maximum of four years, perhaps a concession to industry demand. The exodus of live-in caregivers has been slowed down by prolonging processing times for applications, both for first-time caregivers and caregivers applying for permanent resident status.

Most live-in caregivers waiting for the approval of their permanent resident status have already lapsed work permits and have been advised by Canada Immigration not to worry and that their work permits will be approved as soon as they are granted permanent status. Why would they still need open work permits when they are already permanent residents?

There is now a long delay in the processing of permanent resident applications by live-in caregivers, and it is unnecessarily tying them up indefinitely to their employers, even beyond their two-year work contract. This way, Canada Immigration is able to cut the supply of incoming caregivers by forcing those caregivers in the country and who are simply waiting for the approval of their permanent resident status to remain with their employers. This creates an illusion that the demand for caregivers by Canadian families is being met.

Closing the doors permanently to parents and grandparents is not possible under the current law without tinkering with the original make-up of Canadians to be allowed as permanent residents.

Will Canada, for example, disqualify applicants with older parents, such as those over 50 and above, or discriminate against married applicants with children and living grandchildren? To do this, the present law has to be amended to dispense with the objective of family reunification. A moratorium on parents and grandparents may appear reasonable and a super visa looks like a good thing in the interim.

Onerous obligations

But looking at the requirements that an applicant must meet in order to be eligible to apply for a super visa, there are at least three onerous obligations that need to be satisfied.

One, the sponsoring child or grandchild must provide a written commitment of financial support even though the low income cut-off is met. This is equivalent to a sponsorship undertaking or agreement when sponsoring a family member for permanent residence. This written commitment is unnecessary since the parent or grandparent will not be eligible for social assistance when they visit Canada.

Second, parents and grandparents must undergo medical examination, which is also a requirement under regular sponsorship. This process already takes a lot of time from the total of eight weeks allotted to complete the application.

And third, applicants or their sponsors must purchase comprehensive Canadian medical insurance, valid for at least one year. The medical insurance must provide a minimum of $100,000 in coverage and must cover the cost of the applicant’s health care, hospitalization and repatriation. The premium for this medical insurance will be a big burden for most parents and grandparents, or even to their sponsors.

Denial of right to sponsorship

Sponsorship of parents is critical to most new immigrants in this country, especially to those who have young children who can benefit from the care of their grandparents. These immigrants have contributed to the Canadian economy and many of them are on their track to citizenship; thus, they have earned the right to sponsor their parents. Yet, Canada Immigration is denying them this right and making it more difficult for parents to come here to reunite with their children and grandchildren on the pretext that they’re trying to fix the backlog problem.

We are living in critical times. The fragile world economy, the lingering eurozone crisis and the continuing joblessness in the United States, all help spur on immigration hysteria.

Advanced economies are closing their borders to the mass exodus of refugees from the Third World. Under the helm of the Conservative Party for the next four years, the Canadian government will stay on course with this trend of tightening its doors to prevent the influx of immigrants to this country.

Exploiting cheap immigrant labour

New immigrants and foreign workers with approved visas always end up being short-changed, by the government, their employers and recruiting agencies. It’s the heavy price they pay for the opportunity to come to North America, whether in the United States or in Canada.

In Prince George’s County and Baltimore in the state of Maryland, about 1,000 Filipino teachers face deportation or run the risk of being undocumented immigrants. These teachers were recruited by Prince George’s County Public School (PGCPS) to fill vacancies and help meet federally-mandated “No Child Left Behind” standards imposed by former U.S. President George W. Bush. Only a handful of them will survive the threat of deportation, mostly from the first batch of mentors who came in 2003-2004 and have already obtained their “green cards.”

Filipino teachers in Prince George's County in Maryland say their visas will not
be renewed after the U.S. Department of Labour found that their school violated
H-1B visa rules. Photo courtesy of All Voices. Click link to view "Pinoy Teachers
in PGCPS," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vh1o7ky4AI

These teachers were recruited from the Philippines under the U.S. H-1B program which requires that workers hired under the program must be paid at least the same wage rates and benefits as those paid to U.S. workers doing the same job in the same area. The rationale for the law is to ensure that the wages of similarly employed U.S. workers are not adversely affected.

But Prince George’s County charged visa, travel and other various fees from the teachers’ wages, prompting the U.S. Department of Labour to find PGCPS in wilful violation of H-1B visa rules. Instead of imposing sanctions against the school, however, the labour department barred the teachers from participation in the H-1B or the green card visa program for two years and threatened them with $100,00o fine.  Currently, some 957 Filipino teachers are scheduled to lose their jobs as their visas are about to expire. They are being forced to leave the U.S. or stand to become undocumented immigrants.

Interestingly, the labour department’s order did not cover about 600 Filipino teachers in Baltimore who were also subjected to the same hiring practices that were found in violation of the H-1B program. The Baltimore Public School System quietly paid back the fees that were illegally collected from their Filipino teachers, thus avoiding the fate that befell the Prince George’s County teachers.

Fillipino teachers stage rally in Prince George's County in Maryland. Photo by Gabriela
Garcia. Click link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhSxUTV1jzY&feature=related
 to view "The U.S. Dept of Labor rules that the Prince  George's County Public School
violated H-1B Program."

Here in the province of Ontario, Canada, new immigrants are now being labelled as “foreigners” in the eyes of the Progressive Conservative Party (PC) that is attempting to replace the incumbent Liberal government which has been in power for the last eight years. PC leader Tim Hudak denounced the Liberal plan to offer $12 million in tax credits for businesses to defray training costs for skilled newcomers so they can get job experience as an “affirmative program for foreigners.”

Only a few months ago, the PC’s federal cousins led by Jason Kenney, the Minister for Citizenship and Immigration, have praised the valuable contributions of new immigrants to Canada’s economy, whose skills, Kenney tells everyone, the country needs. Now, all of a sudden, the provincial PCs are calling them “foreigners.”

Ontario Progressive Conservative Party (PC) ad attacking Liberal Party tax credit
plan. Click link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz0phhykru4  to view
"Ontarians Need Not Apply" 

There is one word in Filipino that best describes Tim Hudak’s about-face categorization of new immigrants as foreigners: “Hudas!”

Aren’t we all foreigners in this land at one time or another, including Mr. Hudak?

In the first place, Canada is responsible for placing new immigrants in jobs they were slotted or targeted to do when their impeccable qualifications and credentials were being reviewed by immigration officers. Unaware that their credentials would not be recognized upon coming to Canada, these new immigrants would further be humiliated during their job hunting when prospective employers require them to show Canadian work experience. So, they end up doing survival jobs like taxi driving, working as hospital orderlies or maintenance workers, jobs far beneath their qualifications.

Any provincial program that would facilitate the integration of newcomers in this country’s labour market by giving them the required job experience is nothing different from any government training programs designed to prepare or retrain workers who lost their jobs in the recession. In fact, such program would help in dismantling the barriers that seem to be the primary stumbling block to the employment of newcomers. If relevant Canadian work experience is indeed necessary for the job a new immigrant is applying for, then this type of program bridges that chasm.

Calling new immigrants “foreigners” is irresponsible, divisive and full of racial undercurrents. It is dividing the people of Ontario into “us” and “them,” and that is not good for our society as a whole.

The impending deportation of Filipino teachers in Prince George’s County is both an unfair labour practice and also an act of racial discrimination. Where is fairness in a decision to allow the visas of these teachers to expire and remove them out of the country when it is not even their fault that their hiring violated the H-1B program? It is reasonable and lawful that the PGCPS be fined or barred from hiring foreign workers under the H-1B program but the ban should apply to prospective hirings, not to those already in the system and have nothing to do with the school’s fault. For one thing, these teachers should be commended for improving the school’s performance and meeting state measurements.

This reminds us whether Ontario provincial legislation, the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act (Live-in Caregivers and Others) or EPFNA, which came into effect last March 2010 is being complied with by both employers and recruitment agencies. Two salient provisions of this Act prohibit recruiters from charging any fees to foreign live-in caregivers and prevent employers from recovering placement costs from the live-in caregiver. How do we know these provisions are being followed?

Not until a live-in caregiver files a complaint can an investigation proceed. We have not heard of complaints by caregivers except for the claim filed against a former federal member of Parliament, a case that was obviously driven by political motivation. Don’t expect a foreign live-in caregiver to initiate a complaint knowing full well that her dream of permanent resident status hangs on the balance, so she would rather bear the hardship and abuses while she waits to be entitled to apply for permanent residence.

Under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, a live-in caregiver is also entitled to be paid the minimum wage and for overtime work. But there’s a loophole which an employer can exploit. An employer is allowed to deduct from the caregiver’s wages amounts corresponding to room and board. With respect to overtime, how do we know if an employer pays overtime pay when a caregiver exceeds 44 hours of work each week? When a caregiver wakes up in the middle of the night because the child she is taking care of is crying or the senior person under her care needs to go the bathroom, does she get compensation for overtime?

Granting for the sake argument that a caregiver files a complaint against her employer and the latter is found in violation of the EPFNA or the Employment Standards Act. The employer would be probably be fined, and that is all right. But what would happen to the caregiver? Presumably, she would be released and be looking for another employer, or perhaps, she goes undocumented and will keep on hoping to stay until Canada Immigration catches on her and removes her out of the country.

In both the United States and Canada, the foreign worker is under the mercy of the government and the employer. Lured by a dream of a better life abroad, foreign workers have been subjected to different forms of exploitation, manipulation and abuse. Placement agencies take advantage of the complexities of the recruitment process, sometimes with the collaboration of employers. In most cases, foreign workers leave their country deep in debt in raising money needed to cover for exorbitant placement fees, visa and travel expenses.

But one lesson we learn from the exploitation of foreign workers is that their government is also complicit in this. The Philippine government, which relies on export of cheap labour and their dollar remittances, is equally at fault. Instead of developing local industries, generating jobs at home, and restructuring the economy to serve national interests rather than foreign investors, the Philippine government keeps on relying on overseas workers to sustain the economy. But dollar remittances from overseas workers only raise consumption spending and do not go to investment in industries that will create jobs and really strengthen the economy in the long run.

Nannies’ new conundrum

They thought the program offers them a pathway to permanent residence after completing their work contract. But the new rules for temporary foreign workers which took effect last April 1, 2011 say otherwise. It’s not with certainty. The devil is in the details, as the idiom goes.

Effective April 1, Canada will now subject temporary foreign workers to a four-year cumulative duration limit. This means that temporary foreign workers in Canada, including live-in caregivers, may only work for a maximum of four years. After reaching this limit, temporary foreign workers must go back to their home countries, wait for another four years to lapse before re-entering Canada again as temporary workers.

Orwellian doublespeak

Canada's Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney.
Photo courtesy of dmix06.

This must be a big blow to Filipino live-in caregivers and their advocates who have embraced Canada’s Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney as their hero. Mr. Kenney, who has been riding high on his status as a folk hero to many Filipino women workers in Canada, is guilty of Orwellian doublespeak. He has promised before that nannies will not be covered by the new regulations, but the details clearly say that that would be subject to certain preconditions. Just like the time when Mr. Kenney said there would be no more need for caregivers to undergo a second medical examination when applying for permanent residence, yet the rules still state that medical officers overseas retain the right to examine for excessive demand. This includes, for example, those who may have illnesses or other inadmissibility issues which may impact on the ability of the government to provide health and social services.

Of course, there are exceptions to the new rules but not enough to guarantee that live-caregivers will not be subjected to the Conservative government’s policy of treating immigrants as mere economic units that they can dispose at will. This government seems bent on simply exploiting temporary foreign workers every four years based on supply and demand instead of opening up opportunities for skilled workers to migrate permanently to Canada which the country really needs to replenish its greying population.

Migrant workers in Picton, Ontario. Photo courtesy of mariza.gaspar.

In the words of Minister Kenney: “We saw a need for clear regulations to better protect workers from poor treatment and to ensure that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program continued to address short-term labour and skills shortages.”

Seasonal agricultural workers who come to Canada to work during harvest time are exempt from the four-year limit. Live-in caregivers who have applied for permanent residence after completing their contract are not covered by the rules if they have received an approval in principle letter. And so with other temporary foreign workers such as those in managerial or professional occupations, those employed under an international agreement, and those exempt from the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) process.

How will the new rules negatively affect Filipino caregivers in Canada?

Under the new rules, visa officers will issue initial work permits to live-in caregivers that will be valid for four years plus three months. A live-in caregiver must complete the employment requirement in her contract within four years in Canada, while the additional three months allow for a transition period to apply for permanent residence.

Most live-in caregivers can easily complete their contract of employment in less than three years, allowing them enough time to apply for permanent residence and continue working as caregivers while waiting for the approval of their applications for permanent residence (PR). But herein lies the problem: when is that approval-in- principle letter going to be in the mail?

No reprieve for varying situations

Not all caregivers are in similar situations and would expect smooth processing of their PR applications. Some would have problems with family members such as their spouses or children who are supposed to be examined before a live-in caregiver’s PR application is approved. A live-in caregiver’s spouse in the Philippines, for example, could be stubbornly uncooperative and would not bring him and the children to a medical examination. Or he would not simply fill out the required documentation. He would rather simply receive money remittances every end of the month from his wife who works like a slave in Canada to support the family. There are hundreds of husbands who prefer this type of arrangement so they could carry on with their new-found lifestyle of freedom and the luxury that Canadian dollars bring. An obstinate and uncooperative husband could delay the PR application process for an inordinate time, while the hapless nanny continues to wait for the approval in principle letter of her application.

Or, the marriage between the nanny and her husband has broken down due to the strains of a difficult and long separation or perhaps, either one of them is now in a relationship with another person. The wife then decides to apply for divorce which she needs to show to Canada Immigration as proof of the marriage breakdown. This again will delay the processing of the PR application. Let’s also mention that if there are minor children involved, the longer the process will take especially if the husband refuses to allow the children to travel to Canada in order to join their mother.

As in some cases, one of the children would have medical inadmissibility issues such as a child having Down syndrome or has a heart problem which the visa officer deems as imposing a heavy burden on Canada’s health and social services. So, the PR application will be denied. Under the rules, all family members of the live-in caregiver, whether accompanying the principal applicant or not, are required to be examined. Live-in caregivers cannot become permanent residents if any of their eligible family members are inadmissible.

I have encountered a number of cases where the PR applications of live-in caregivers have been unnecessarily delayed. Some of them have been here in Canada as temporary workers for over five years because their PR applications were either delayed due to bureaucratic red tape or disallowed because of medical inadmissibility issues. The new rules will not protect them as Mr. Kenney has promised. Many of these caregivers have already received removal orders.

It is not important for immigration officers to know whether live-in caregivers will seek permanent residence after completing their work contract. The question is whether an immigration officer is satisfied that the person would not stay in Canada illegally. This is what their Operations Manual directs them to find out. Advocates of Filipino caregivers in Canada should wake up and face this grim reality, and stop cuddling Mr. Kenney and the Conservative Party.

The present Conservative government under Stephen Harper has not done much for the benefit of immigrants. Mr. Harper tried to overhaul Canada’s system of accepting refugees and skilled workers. He cut the right of landing fee to half of the old fee of $975, and many ethnic minorities shifted their support to the Conservative Party. The Conservative government has imposed stricter conditions for refugees to enter Canada and cut funding for group sponsorships for refugees from countries ravaged by civil strife. Temporary foreign workers will now have a four-year limit on the length of time they may work in Canada.

What’s next?

Filipino caregivers hold rally in Toronto.

This year, there are over 150,000 people waiting for 11,200 visas. That would take about 14 years to process. Sponsorship of parents would be next if the Conservative Party wins a majority of Parliament’s seats this coming May 2nd federal election. They have already made known that they prefer to bring in younger family members who can work and therefore pay taxes, rather than older parents who would only sap the country’s pension or social assistance programs.

Canadians, especially the blocks of new Canadian voters who may likely make or break a government, need to hear solutions to our immigration dilemma. We’re tired of hearing the same pledges every time there is an election from both the Liberals and Conservatives. There are gaping holes in their credibility fences. We will need a giant grain of salt if we would only listen to their promises.