Evidence of meeting #43 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was beijing.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Rob Oliphant Liberal Don Valley West, ON
But you're not really looking for cases. You're not looking for applications.
Director General, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We have plenty. We don't need to.
Liberal
Rob Oliphant Liberal Don Valley West, ON
You have enough. You're not going out asking for them, so you're not trying to reach a target. You're trying to limit a target.
Director General, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Well, I--
Liberal
Rob Oliphant Liberal Don Valley West, ON
You're not going out and saying, “Please, would you sponsor your spouse, because we are short on spouses”; you're not saying, “Please, would you sponsor your parents, because we're really short on parents this year, and I'm not going to reach my target.” You actually have a big pile of them ready to go, and you filter out what you can filter out, based on some kind of a triage, I assume.
I have to explain this all the time to my residents who are trying to sponsor someone. They say it's processing time. They blame the bureaucrats.
Liberal
Rob Oliphant Liberal Don Valley West, ON
But I don't think it's your fault. You're trying to do the best you can to get out as many people...but the target is only 11,200 this year.
It's ridiculous for me to be justifying...to try to defend the bureaucracy, because they're not the problem. I'm just trying to figure that out.
Bloc
Nicolas Dufour Bloc Repentigny, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Moving on to another area, I have questions regarding investor category immigrants.
Mr. Frank, during your presentation, you said that in the business class, processing times for 80% of the applicants in the federal program and in the Quebec program dropped from 47 to 30 months. Could you explain to us how you managed to shorten these times by 17 months?
Immigration Program Manager (Beijing), Area Director (North Asia), Department of Citizenship and Immigration
As we explained several times, we have targets and we receive a certain number of applications. The targets were increased in Beijing and we were therefore able to process a greater number of applications.
Bloc
Nicolas Dufour Bloc Repentigny, QC
In your view, are there still irritants between the federal government and the Quebec government with regard to wait times? Are there things that could be improved in this area in order for processing to be quicker still?
Immigration Program Manager (Beijing), Area Director (North Asia), Department of Citizenship and Immigration
There is a Quebec office in Hong Kong. We work together; we talk to each other often. I believe we have very good relations and that things are running very well.
Bloc
Nicolas Dufour Bloc Repentigny, QC
Excellent. Thank you very much.
Mr. Manicom, during your presentation, you talked about a business express program, in cooperation with 55 large firms. I am very interested by this.
Could you tell us more about it? Furthermore, might this type of program be applied at a greater scale?
Immigration Program Manager (New Delhi), Area Director (South Asia), Department of Citizenship and Immigration
This program was launched two and a half years ago in New Delhi. We are interested in those companies that have proven their reliability in the past and that have obtained a very high approval rate based on very reliable applications. We established direct links with these businesses, a contact point in order to avoid receiving fraudulent letters of invitation. The company communicates with us directly by e-mail. We have dramatically reduced the volume of documentation required, because we have been able to establish relationships of trust. The program developed gradually, and we are now dealing with more than 55 firms. These are mostly hi-tech firms and large multinationals that have the means to carry out a strict surveillance and control of the movements of their employees. Within the framework of this program, the reliability of the company facilitates decision-making.
The program has worked in a certain number of other markets, even if world markets are very diversified. Mr. Gilbert could talk to you more about this. We plan on determining if there are other markets where a similar program, tailored to the local context, might be put in place.
Bloc
Nicolas Dufour Bloc Repentigny, QC
Yes, because even if the companies and the context change from country to country, it remains that there are Canadian companies with which we can do business, no matter what region is involved.
Mr. Gilbert, I believe you wish to make a comment.
Director General, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We evaluated the possibility of setting up the same process in different countries. We did this in Mexico, for example, and in Argentina. The country in the world with the greatest number of business visitors is, by far, China, and it is very difficult to put in place the same process there. Mr. Frank might be able to enlighten you further in this regard.
Bloc
Nicolas Dufour Bloc Repentigny, QC
You could perhaps explain to us the reasons for these difficulties.
Immigration Program Manager (Beijing), Area Director (North Asia), Department of Citizenship and Immigration
There are two reasons. First of all, a good many of the business visitors who come to Canada are people who work for Chinese government-owned companies. The visa application system is different. It is the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese government that submits the applications, which prevents the establishment of a program able to work quickly. Furthermore, in the case of those business people who work for private companies, processing times are rather short, such that...
Bloc
Immigration Program Manager (Beijing), Area Director (North Asia), Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Indeed.
Conservative
Tim Uppal Conservative Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here.
Something was mentioned about political decisions being made here. Do you know personally of any time the minister set down targets, or MPs on the government side, or members of the Conservative Party being involved in setting targets, or do you decide targets with department officials?
Director General, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
It depends what we are talking about. The global target is set by the governments; we're not involved. But the individual targets are set by civil servants, to determine whether it should be so much in this mission and so much in that one.
The only exception, I would think, would be with certain commitments the minister has made with regard to refugee processing. It's not necessarily setting up a target in a place in particular, but since the community is mostly in a particular country, it has that impact. The individual mission target is set largely by my office, and in consultation with the mission--i.e., can you or can you not do it?
Conservative
Tim Uppal Conservative Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB
Very good. Thank you.
Many times when we're talking about wait times and processing times, the quick answer is to hire more staff.
Can you give me an idea of the cost to have one staff member in, let's say, Delhi, Beijing, Islamabad, considering their living expenses, salary, travel expenses for the year?
