Many informants felt that, when considered together, the program integrity measures currently in place are appropriate and generally effective at addressing integrity issues in the Program. The FRP, like all CIC programs, strives to maximize both efficiency and program integrity. For example, you are coming to live with your spouse or common-law partner. Often, information is present that calls into question the genuineness of the relationship, but solid evidence of fraud is difficult to uncover. Key documents included: Corporate / accountability documents: including CIC's Departmental Performance Reports (DPR), Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPP), CIC's current Strategic Plan (2013), and other documentation that provided information on CIC and Government of Canada priorities. For these reasons, it was concluded that the results of IAD appeals cannot always be linked to the defensibility of the visa officer’s original decision – when the IAD overturns a decision, the visa officer may not have made the wrong decision. 8. Immigrants in the Other FC category also show positive economic outcomes considering their young average age. According to the sponsor survey, 60% of S&P and 52% of PGPs volunteer in the community at least sometimes. All the PGP focus group participants felt that the process took too long and that the wait resulted in feelings of anxiety and uncertainty because of not being able to make plans for the future. This may be explained by the fact that processing files to a negative decision requires more time and additional resources, and there were a higher proportion of negative decisions processed during the period of the evaluation compared to the previous five-year period. As well, the full extent of undue costs to provinces is unknown, given that sponsorship debt is not tracked consistently across provinces (particularly among those without an information-sharing agreement with CIC). Ashton College Instructor – Immigration Consulting. The CMM is a CIC system that integrates financial and non-financial data, based on business processes. As well, some respondents reported receiving guidance from their colleagues and supervisors within their office, and guidance from staff in NHQ (either from OMC, IR or BCL). ), Focus groups with sponsored relatives (local CICs & CVOA site visits), ment with legislative and international commitments, Perceptions of key stakeholders regarding the federal role, Evidence of alternative options to current delivery, Document review (IRPA & regulations, int'l conventions/declarations/agreements, etc. Other issues that were mentioned included intake levels surpassing levels space and the resulting inventories, as well as the additional time that is added to a file as a result of medical exams – either when they expire and have to be resubmitted, or when applicants don’t have them completed in a timely way. Communication issues reportedly resulted from the lack of an integrated system between the organizations, as CBSA has read-only access to GCMS and is unable to enter notes to a file. Part 1: Center for Family Life [Podcast . Activities, outputs and expected outcomes are identified for each sub-component. Offering refresher training, conferring more with colleagues and standardizing processing procedures were mentioned as ways consistency can be improved. As indicated in Table 1-6, the sponsors of Family Class immigrants who landed between 2007 and 2011 were more often male than female, although their relative percentage decreased slightly over this timeframe. You also need to remember, some circumstances could affect the eligibility of family members. The departmental service standard for these cases is to process 80% of cases within 12 months. The scope of the evaluation covered the period from 2007 to 2011. L. 104-13) Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 0.75 hour per response, At the same time that the FRP budget is decreasing, the Department plans to land more family members, particularly within the PGP streams. Table 3-19 shows that the proportion of S&P immigrants reporting employment earnings is higher than, or on par with, the all-immigrant average. Immediate family is defined as a spouse or common-law partner, depended child, dependent child of a dependent child, parent or step-parent, or guardian. This is likely due to the young average age of these immigrants. Only immediate family members are eligible to petition under this program. On the sponsor side, PGP sponsors falsifying income when they did not meet the minimum necessary income requirement was mentioned by a few interviewees. The network- QA exercises conducted by OMC were not included in these counts. When asked, all key informants across all respondent groups felt that there is a continued need for the FRP, stating that family reunification is an integral part of Canada's immigration history and helps people settle and/or integrate into Canadian society. Canadians call for faster family reunification. OMC will liaise with internal partners to better promote points of contact within CIC and/or with external partners to strengthen communication and coordination across the CIC network to more effectively share program information. Likewise, the federal government has tended to emphasize funding for economic immigration within recent budgets. As part of the 2020 PGP announcement, IRCC also announced that it will open a new intake of interest to sponsor forms to accept a total of 30,000 new applications in 2021. There is currently no formal mechanism in place to achieve this. OMC also provides instructions on documenting decisions to maximize consistency and minimize the chances of officer decisions being overturned on appeal. 48% of PGP sponsors said that having their sponsored relative in Canada helped them work more hours. I am taking temporary … Advocacy for Family Reunification at the Canadian . However, some informants also felt that CIC may not be identifying many instances of fraud. If the visa officer is satisfied with this plan, they may waive inadmissibility. Therefore, inferences drawn from the survey data should be valid. Additionally, the department is exploring new initiatives for communicating the level of performance that clients can expect to be provided for CIC services, including FRP applications. As part of CIC's Modernization of Manuals project, OMC has updated Operational Manual IP 8 (Spouse and Common-law partner in Canada Class), which will be available online shortly, and will review and update IP 2 (Processing Applications to Sponsor Members of the Family Class) and OP2 (Processing Members of the Family Class), to ensure that staff have access to the most up to date information. Sponsored S&Ps and PGPs also volunteer in the community and provide other social and cultural benefits by helping children learn about their cultural heritage, providing emotional support for their family and by enabling their sponsor to settle in Canada. The cost per application (i.e. CIC agrees with the recommendation and will develop, for implementation, a Performance Measurement Strategy for the FRP, including a plan to collect data that can support analysis of program performance and monitoring and reporting of program outcomes. The largest percentage of spouses and partners are coming to Canada from India and China, although close to 10% identify the United States as their country of last permanent residence (See Table 1-9). At the other end of the spectrum, close to 20% had less than 10 years of schooling and an additional 20% had 10-12 years of schooling. Processing times for the Other FC category remained steady for the sponsorship application, but increased from 12 months in 2007 to 16 months in 2011 for the PR application. Family reunification is an important part of Canada's immigration policy. During the pause on PGP applications in 2004-05, CPC-M stored PGP applications and did not enter them into their system as "received" until they were ready to be processed at a later date (sometimes a year or more later). New Canadians and permanent residents who want to bring in their parents and grandparents to Canada will have to once again . The fact that Program costs have decreased over recent years cannot be understood independently of the number of applications processed each year; i.e., reduced costs may simply reflect reduced processing numbers. Key CIC informants reported that a lack of resources is the primary barrier to identifying fraudulent FC cases. A related problem is with bottlenecks in the system. (Q4 2014/15), OMC will work with OPMB and IB to develop a plan for conducting a risk-based assessment of FRP operational pressures and identify opportunities for streamlining processes to ensure service standards are met. For example, data from CPC-M show that from 2008 to 2010 between 18% and 20% of all FC applications were returned to sponsors for additional informationFootnote 34. The same reason for a low rating was provided for IR Geographics Desk. Source: CIC, sponsorship databases 2012 Q4 and PR data FF2012. Foreign spouses and common-law partners of Canadians are exempt from coronavirus travel restrictions, however, many couples are . Key informant interviews were used to gather in-depth, qualitative information on all of the evaluation questions, covering areas of program relevance and performance (see Technical appendices for the interview guides). — Cntributed. Resource utilization – Program budget and costs, 3.7.3. This unconditional promise of support comes in the form of an “undertaking” with the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (in Québec this undertaking is signed with the provincial authorities). This comparison demonstrated a high level of correspondence between key client characteristics of the survey and the population as a whole, in terms of age, education, gender, knowledge of official languages, birth country, etc (see Appendix D in the Technical Appendices for a full comparison of all characteristics). "The Government of Canada has co-developed, with Indigenous peoples, provinces, and territories, new legislation to reduce the number of Indigenous children and youth in care and improve child and family services.". They initially met over a dating website, but then visited each other several times in Canada and the US. Following a change to the PAA, beginning in 2011-12, the FRP was paired with Discretionary Immigration Programs. Findings from the visa office survey are consistent with the opinions of key informants, with offices reporting that most applicants and sponsors have a moderate to good understanding of the application requirements. A large majority of respondents to the surveyFootnote 67 (85%) said their parent or grandparent provided child care often or sometimesFootnote 68, which would provide a significant benefit to these families. In 2002, the IAD conducted an evaluation of the ADR Process which showed that unresolved ADR cases that went to a full hearing took on average 4.8 months (in Toronto) and 2.4 months (in Vancouver) longer than cases that were never streamed into ADR.Footnote 82. The Operations Sector of CIC is responsible for coordinating the department’s program delivery activities. *Because there is no Canadian benchmark, we have developed the divorced or separated rate which is a relative measure that compares diverse groups to others. The increasing trend in cross-border population movements has led many countries to adopt more stringent immigration policies, especially in the requirements for the purposes of family reunification. This book sheds light on one of the most controversial issues of the decade. Family Reunification Canada. Supporting consistent and defensible decision-making, 3.4.2. ADR cases may be resolved by the sponsor withdrawing their appeal or by the Minister's counsel (CBSA officer acting on behalf of CIC) consenting to it. Visa offices were satisfied in general with the timeliness of their decision-making on FC Priority and FC4 cases. Due to the way finances were reported in these years, it was not possible to show the amounts of additional funding over specific time periods. QA was mentioned by all respondent groups as helpful in ensuring quality of decision-making. Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR), family living abroad may be sponsored as well as spouses or common-law partners living in Canada with their sponsor. Interviewees confirmed that there is no formalized governance structure specific to the FRP; however, they reported that there was no need for one as the current structure works well. This problem predates the pandemic and is hence something that the government should remedy as soon as possible. FRP policies and procedures are generally legally defensible due to active monitoring and regular assessment of legal risks and trends. Unlike CPC-M, CPC-V assesses both the sponsor and principal applicant on these applications. A lack of performance information related to program integrity is also an issue for ongoing management of the Program. They are looking to open up the 2021 program to 30,000 applicants. Budget allocations for the Family Reunification Program will decrease over the next few years, while planned FC levels targets are growing and will include a higher proportion of parent and grandparent applications, which have been increasingly costly to process. Family Reunification Immigration Services. You will not receive a reply. Most S&Ps felt that the wait had little impact on their lives other than uncertainty and the desire to get on with planning their lives, although financial costs of the wait were mentioned by several participants. When compared to spouses of economic immigrants, S&Ps compare favourably with a higher initial incidence of employment earnings in years 1 to 5 (see Table 3-19). The pattern for PGPs varies from this but, unlike S&Ps, it is not related to demand; rather, the numbers processed are based on levels and priorities.Footnote 12 Similarly, it isn’t possible to assess trends over time in the number of sponsorships under the Children and Other FC group. An exclusive dating relationship means the person is in a romantic relationship with a Canadian citizen, person registered under the Indian Act, or permanent resident, have been in the relationship for at least 1 year and have spent time in the physical presence of that person at some point during the relationship. IRCC has introduced several measures to support the processing of permanent resident applications in general, including spouse or common-law partner sponsorship applications, such as providing additional time to provide documents. This trend is mirrored in the S&P category where the number of applications increased annually between 2002 and 2007, but then decreased each year, until 2011, when there was a spike in the number received. The survey sample frame (presented in Table 2-4) was based on a 5% margin of error within groups and an expected response rate of 15%. A variety of training opportunities were described by respondents, with in-house training, on-the-job training and job shadowing/mentoring being the most common. As well, for each YSL, the proportion of S&Ps reporting SA usage is lower than that of all immigrants. Compounding the ability of the IAD to make informed decisions, a few informants felt that IAD members do not have sufficient awareness of local conditions and cultures in other countries or experience in assessing trends in fraud. Appeal may not be filed the same year as the application refusal. ), Data analysis (Cost-Management Model, provinces), Interviews (CIC, CBSA, RCMP/CSIS, provinces), Interviews (CIC, CBSA, immigration consultants). Outside of NHQ, visa offices abroad assess and make decisions on applications for permanent residence from family class applicants residing overseas, as well as assess and make decisions on overseas dependents included in applications of spouses and common-law partners in Canada. However, key informants also believed that enforcement of the CPR will be difficult and interviewees from CBSA confirmed this, reporting that resources to conduct investigations and enforce it are limited. It was felt that this information was required to keep track of family composition and was necessary to adequately represent CIC’s position on a case. Table 1-1 shows program spending for all Programs within the IP (a breakdown for FRP is not available). The undue costs of sponsorship default for BC and ON are a relatively small percentage of overall social assistance costs to the provinces and have been lower in recent years as fewer sponsors are in default and some of the costs are being recovered. Any resemblance in names, dates, and places (whether individuals, organizations, regions, or countries) is coincidental. Foreign nationals who wish to reunite with immediate family members in Canada may qualify for an exemption if they are travelling to Canada for a non-discretionary purpose. (Q2 2014/15). It is not possible to bring children over 19, siblings, parents, or other family members through a family reunification program. After a few days, he tearfully acknowledged to his mother that he had been alienated. Sponsors and principal applicants generally have a good understanding of the application process and requirements, although some challenges exist. The demand for the program is much higher than the available levels space. For example, Vanderplaat et al (2009) note, “Not only is the family good for the well-being of the individual, it is good for society as a whole because access to family relationships and networks can support and mitigate the settlement and integration process.”Footnote 69 Other benefits noted by Vanderplaat et al (2009) include: The sponsor survey and focus groups with sponsored relatives were able to provide some evidence regarding the extent to which sponsored relatives provided emotional support for the family and helped the sponsor’s children learn about their cultural heritage. The average unit cost to the Government of Canada (i.e., CIC and all OGD costs) was based on data from 2006/07 to 2011-12. Family reunification in Canada further complicated by COVID-19. What's the pilot project to improve the family reunification process for protected persons? Six focus groups, involving a total of 42 sponsored relatives, were held during site visits to local CIC offices in Vancouver and Etobicoke. The inland offices (excluding CPP-O) and CBSA officers were most likely to report that roles and responsibilities are not always clear. Some interviewees felt that this new initiative should improve program integrity once it has been in place long enough. The IAD is able to consider new evidence (de novo information) presented by sponsors when they appeal the visa officer decision. Sources: dwsweb;Development/CAIPS/imm_caips_e_c50 from download of October 3, 2012; FOSS, GCMS, CPC, and NCM. For example, there is no centralized data captured by CIC on the incidence of suspected fraud, or active and standardized tracking of the types of fraud seen across the CIC Network. FRP policies and procedures were found to be evidence-based to the extent that information is available, however, necessary information is lacking in some key areas related to fraud within the FRP, among others. These same respondents felt that it would not be appropriate for the provinces to take on an expanded role in the Program, primarily because they lack the national perspective that is required and do not have an overseas presence for managing fraud or admissibility issues. This amount includes the annual expenditures for H&C and Public Policy Considerations, which is a small component of the overall Program Activity budget. With regard to earnings, PGPs earned, on average, $14,036 after one year in Canada and $19,982 after 8 years in Canada. The findings generated by the focus groups cannot be taken as representative of all sponsored relatives. The factors related to family engagement, assessment and case planning, and service delivery, as well as a number of systemic issues, shed light on States' successes and challenges in this area. The reasons for an incomplete application that were listed most frequently by CPC-M were: form 5406 (additional family information) was either incomplete or not provided, and proof of relationship to either the sponsor or the spouse/partner was missing. In Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has adopted a policy of suggesting DNA […] The family reunification project is part of the campaign titled "My Canada Includes All Families", which involves a coalition of community-based organizations that include the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), the ... A few people in the CPCs mentioned that WebCart is an extremely useful tool but requires updating. 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