Question:
There are news articles appearing in the newspapers that Canadian Govt is considering giving general amnesty to all illegal workers in Canada. Please explain how the process would work?

Ans:
At the outset let me clarify that there is no such provision in the present immigration act and regulations to grant legal status to all illegal workers.

Last spring, Ms. Maria Mina Liberal MP was appointed to study the underground economy. She submitted her report and last week, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Hon. Denis Coderre conducted a press conference in which he announced that he is developing a program to deal with the hidden problem about thousand of illegal immigrants in Canada

In Construction Industry alone there are over 76000 illegal workers. These workers include
Dry Wall Workers
Painters
Carpenters
Homebuilders etc

They earn less and have no benefits.

He mentioned that once his initiative plan is developed, approved and passed by Govt of Canada it would give legal status to thousand of illegal workers who are not having any legal documents.

This would be implemented in Ontario first, if approved in Construction Industry, then Textile Industries and then in other services industries. It may be extended to other parts of Canada.

The program will not give a General Amnesty for all illegal immigrants

The cases would be dealt on case-to-case basis

There would be a process set up whereby following factors would be considered:

Language Skills
Job Skills
Ability to integrate in The Canadian System
Labor Market Demands (only those occupations which are in demand).
Security checks etc.

No other details about the dates, deadline etc is given

Temporary visa will be given for two years. Then they can apply for immigration

Who are illegal Immigrants?

Those who came on work permit and overstayed
Those who entered Canada on study permits and visitor visas and over stayed
Those who applied for work permit on the basis of the refugee claim they made and subsequently their case got rejected and they overstayed.
Those who entered Canada by any means and are now out of status.

It is to be noted that there are no regulations passed till date on this. It is only a press release about the things, which may come in the near future to grant work permits to illegal workers who are in high demand in Canada, but no general amnesty is being given to all illegal immigrants.

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