Cut-off looms for workers in Gulf states who have Canadian landed status but don't actually live here

Oct 14, 2007 04:30 AM
Nicholas Keung
IMMIGRATION/DIVERSITY REPORTER

As the first of Canada's new Permanent Resident cards hit their expiry date, immigrants who haven't spent the required length of time in Canada – 730 days out of five years – face losing their landed status in the next few months.

The looming cut-off means hundreds, perhaps thousands, of "phantom" residents – some of whom settled their families here and then went back to well-paying jobs in China, India or the Middle East's Gulf states – will be out of luck.

A large number of them came through a single Canadian visa office: Abu Dhabi.

A government internal report estimates that a whopping 98 per cent of "permanent residents" processed in Abu Dhabi, which serves the Gulf region, had no intention of remaining in Canada after their initial landing.

Currently, 80 per cent of the permanent resident travel applications in the United Arab Emirates capital are for people who have failed the residency requirement.

As a result, they must return to Canada to appeal the revocation of their status.

"Unless something major happens in the region to make the Gulf less attractive for expat workers, there is not a pool of professionals who are serious about settling in Canada," notes the mission's annual overview, obtained under the access to information process.

"The high application rate is related to what Canada can do for them, not the other way around."

Since its June 2002 launch, the PR card, often called the Maple Leaf card, has become official proof of landed status for Canada's permanent residents, who must carry it to re-enter Canada on a commercial carrier (airplane, boat, train or bus).

The wallet-sized plastic card, which must be renewed every five years, was introduced after 9/11 to increase border security and improve the integrity of the immigration process.

It supplements the old IMM 1000, which allowed landed immigrants to return to Canada within an unspecified time span.

Under the new policy, those who don't meet the residency requirement by the card's expiry date will be stripped of their landed status.

Figures aren't available for the number of lapsed PR cards, but a Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokesperson said the department and the Canada Border Services Agency have systems in place to detect fraudulent documents.

The PR card situation mirrors the phenomenon of Hong Kong parents who deposited their children in Canada during the anxious run-up to China's 1997 takeover.

And it reignites the debate over how much time today's highly mobile skilled immigrants should spend in Canada to earn and keep resident status – an issue that flared last summer, when millions were spent to rescue Canadian citizens and permanent residents from Lebanon during the Israeli bombardment.

"It irks me with their absence of contributions to our country," says Quebec immigration lawyer Richard Kurland, who obtained the Abu Dhabi report.

"They are basically using the PR status as an insurance passport without living in Canada, so their kids can be exempted from foreign-student tuition fees and their spouses (in Canada) can get the GST credits."

News that PR cards are being revoked has been trickling in over the past few months. Kurland predicts it will get worse as more people try to return to renew them (renewals can be issued only in Canada).

Dubai-based Canadian immigration lawyer Carter Hoppe has been getting calls regularly from expatriates working in the Gulf.

Hoppe says today's "best and brightest" immigrants are different from those of the past, who wanted to stay permanently. Unlike the old rules, which stipulated that newcomers must spend half of each year in Canada, the new ones give people more time to decide – what Hoppe calls a "trial engagement."

"I don't think permanent residents who don't reside full-time and work full-time in Canada, and may even end up abandoning their PR status, are abusing anything at all," Hoppe argues. "That sort of thinking about immigrants is very much a 20th-century view and completely outmoded in today's global human capital marketplace."

According to the government report, Canadian resident status is especially attractive to South Asian expatriates who don't want to return to the developing world after living in the Gulf countries, where they can get work permits but find it almost impossible to obtain citizenship. (Typically, residence of 30 years is required even to apply.)

However, many, already working in middle-management jobs, are turned off by poor job prospects in Canada, where employers demand Canadian experience and hard-to-get credentials. Plus, they pay no income tax in the Gulf states.

To make things worse, immigration consultants abroad lure clients with promises of settlement assistance and help obtaining drivers' licences, social insurance, health and bank cards – with only a minimal absence from their Gulf jobs. "Many immigrants took permanent residence as a means to obtain a subsidized university education for their children while the parents remained abroad, an opportunity for a better passport, a place to go if they cannot stay in the Gulf at retirement, or war breaks out," the annual report says. "All this may become a bigger issue for Canada if thousands of Canadians working in the Gulf, many of whom either stayed in Canada the minimum time possible, if at all, decide to return to Canada in their later years to utilize social programs."

Toronto immigration lawyer Gregory James says people who fail the residency requirement and are turned back at a port of entry can apply for a "permanent resident travel document" at local visa offices abroad, though there's no guarantee it will be granted.

Those denied PR card renewal could appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board, which is already facing a growing backlog because of Ottawa's slow pace in appointing qualified adjudicators.

A spousal sponsorship could work if one partner has already spent sufficient time in Canada to qualify. In the worst-case scenario, skilled immigrants can reapply from scratch.

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Dont help others because others have helped you,,,,help others because its the right thing to do!!!

http://www.indopia.in/

Good decision by the CIC/Federal Govt. - and about time, too.

I'm sure hundreds of thousands of dollars have come into the Canadian economy as a result of application and processing fees of these "phantom" PRs - all moneys that can be used for the Canadians who actually *live* in Canada.

Processing phantom PRs creates more jobs in the govt. sector, enables CIC to meet its immigration targets, creates more business for banks, etc.

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"Mah deah, there is much more money to be made in the destruction of civilization than in building it up."

-- Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind"

"It irks me with their absence of contributions to our country," says Quebec immigration lawyer Richard Kurland, who obtained the Abu Dhabi report.

"They are basically using the PR status as an insurance passport without living in Canada, so their kids can be exempted from foreign-student tuition fees and their spouses (in Canada) can get the GST credits."

There could be some other reasons as well ... but on face, the Lawyer has put it perfectly.
And its not just GST but better Tax benefits as well for Single Mother supporting kids with Lower Income.

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Mumbai Maazi Ladki ...

I do not agree with the view that Gulf expats send their families here to "collect" GST credit, get lower tax brackets for their families or to pay a reduced tuition for their children. The amount in question is peanuts for a Gulfee with a good job.
An average Gulfee who sends his family here pays approx $350,000 to buy a house and then proceeds to remit approx $4000 each month to pay for household expenses. Add to this the cost of frequent air travel. The emotional angle of being apart from one's family is another story.
The only reason that families do this is to give their children a future in a civilized country. Second generation immigrants settle here and contribute greatly to Canada's economy.

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goldie

Quote:

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Originally posted by RESP


A government internal report estimates that a whopping 98 per cent of "permanent residents" processed in Abu Dhabi, which serves the Gulf region, had no intention of remaining in Canada after their initial landing.

Currently, 80 per cent of the permanent resident travel applications in the United Arab Emirates capital are for people who have failed the residency requirement.

As a result, they must return to Canada to appeal the revocation of their status.

"

---

I will not blame the gulf people.
Has any research been done on IT people in the USA who take the PR card and land and then go back to the USA or the people who land in Windsor and work in Detroit or the IT people who land in Canada , work for 3 years,and then go south of the border. How much is this costing the economy. Maybe the people who take up the PR card but donot eventually come here may not cost the economy much but what about the legitimate people who were blocked/ pushed to the waiting line and who could not come to Canada immediately? Isn't Canada losing its income.

Of course there are people from other nationalities (africans, Carribians, South Americans, Middle eastern people, People from Refugee lands like Sri Lankans, Somalia) who stay in Canada who exploit this country big time . I wonder how the reporter Nicholas Keung was not able to do an article on them. The people that I mentioned are the ones who mostly tell very big lies to exploit the govt. None of the desi gulfies ever tell lies / exploit to this extent
IMO, People would come and settle in Canada, if the Canadian job market recogonised the skills of the immigrants. If it did not, why the hell would a gulfi with a solid job in the gulf ever want to settle here and do a labour job.

If Canada expects that the people who come here should have a min. passing mark , then what is wrong with a gulfi excersicing his options?

Most of the gulfi's that I know fall under this general catagory :
1. Applicant and or spouse work in the gulf
2. Children study here
3. Once a year, either of flys to the other for vacation
4. Applicant and or spouse send money to children / spouse in Canada
5. GST/HST is claimed.
6. In the cases that I have seen, none of the parents claim that they are single and exploit the govt..

TK A

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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.

Let's Look this from different Perspective. Perspective of a Family of 4. Not totally Hypothetical.
- Husband & Wife both are in Labour Jobs ... One in Night & other in Day shift, so that they don't have to send kids to Day Care.
- Kids suffer too, in their own Mute way.
- This family is Proud Canadian, working their A%% Off to make ends meet.
- Family is getting enough Government Support.

But the thing is that the Support is no different from the Family who is doing Good & does not have to go through physical labour every day & night. I am Blaming System & not people. Does not mater if immigrant is from Gulf or US - there is a Crack in System which needs to be Fixed.

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Mumbai Maazi Ladki ...