Evidence of meeting #45 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 nairobi.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Borys Wrzesnewskyj Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Chair, in consideration of the time, perhaps Mr. Boekhoven could provide to the committee those details and that information, especially from the official who travelled to the camps.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
9:40 a.m.
Director General, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
It's just that some of the questions are policy questions, and Mr. Boekhoven has no impact on which target he's going to get.
9:40 a.m.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
Mr. Gilbert, you raised the issue of movements within this immense area. This still leaves me a bit confused. We talked about the issue of the large area and the number of countries covered.
In the past, I've often raised the issue of centralizing file processing in Canada. I was told that we had to be close to people, have offices, be able to take advantage of being located near people. However, here we have a case were proximity is entirely relative.
Wouldn't it be better to take that logic to its conclusion? Rather than have a single office that handles an enormous area such as this one where there is no real proximity, we could have a number of offices that would actually be near people and would handle all the issues that must be addressed in the field. We would also repatriate everything we could to Canada.
9:40 a.m.
Director General, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
First, I'll clarify the issue of the immense area covering 18 countries. In China, we have two offices covering virtually the same area as that covered by the Nairobi office. You can't focus solely on the geographic boundaries of that part of Africa.
As far as possible, we try to perform all administrative functions in Canada. Our new system will enable us to do that. We have also started to do that on a larger scale for administrative functions.
As regards knowledge of local characteristics, expertise has developed over the years. Mr. Boekhoven talked about a specific trip, but in fact a number are being done. Expertise has been built up over the years. Two or three times a year, officers from Nairobi go to Uganda. A quantity of information has accumulated over a number of years. That would be harder to do if we covered the entire planet from the Canadian office.
So local knowledge nevertheless helps, especially in view of the fact that the vast majority of applications come from five countries in the region.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Borys Wrzesnewskyj Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Yes, sir.
Perhaps I could request an undertaking from Mr. Boekhoven to provide us with the report from the Citizenship and Immigration official from the Nairobi office who visited the various refugee camps.
9:45 a.m.
Immigration Program Manager, Nairobi, Kenya, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We have numerous officers who travel throughout the region going to a number of refugee camps. There are two principal ones in Kenya; one is Dadaab, and the other is Kakuma. We have teams over there in order to do that. I get trip reports, but there's not much that would respond to the--
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
Thank you, sir.
Mr. Wrzesnewskyj, I don't think it's a point of order, and it doesn't sound as though you're going to get an undertaking, so I'm going to suspend.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
We'll reconvene the meeting.
Mr. Gilbert, could you introduce our next witness from Taipei?
9:45 a.m.
Director General, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I'd like to introduce my colleague Sean McLuckie, who is working in our office in Taipei.
The Taipei office deals with applications received essentially from Taiwan.
Without any further delay, here he is.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
Welcome to the immigration committee. What time is it over there?
9:45 a.m.
Sean McLuckie Immigration Program Manager, Taipei, Taiwan, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
It is approximately 10:50 at night.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
I hope we don't keep you up too late.
Okay, sir, you have some introductory comments to make to the committee on wait times in Taiwan?
9:45 a.m.
Immigration Program Manager, Taipei, Taiwan, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I do, Mr. Chairman.
9:45 a.m.
Immigration Program Manager, Taipei, Taiwan, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm honoured to speak before the committee today. As mentioned, my name is Sean McLuckie, and I'm the immigration program manager at the Canadian trade office in Taipei.
I'm somewhat concerned that I may run long; the committee members may find that I deviate somewhat from the prepared notes.
Before providing an overview of the processing times here in Taiwan, I would first place our visa office in its wider context. Falling within the north Asia area network, Taipei is a full-service centre, and responsible for the delivery of the immigration program in Taiwan. Compared with offices like those in Nairobi and New Delhi, the visa section in Taiwan is quite modest, both in terms of its size--with 11 full-time staff--and in terms of the territory and population it serves.
In another point of key contrast--which has been mentioned--the programming integrity challenges that are faced in Taiwan are generally much less vexing. I would ask committee members to keep this in mind as they consider our respective presentations.
Now I'll address the issue of temporary residence applications processing.
While Taiwanese have historically visited Canada in very large numbers, this number has been declining—
I'm sorry; is there some way to cut off the translation to my monitor? It's feeding back to me.
All right, I'll do my best.
So I was saying that this number has been steadily and significantly declining over the past decade. Still, over 33,000 temporary resident visas were issued in Taipei in 2010.
TRV applications...
Is there a problem?
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
No, I hope we've solved the problem, sir. If we haven't, you let us know. We'll do our best.
9:50 a.m.
Immigration Program Manager, Taipei, Taiwan, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Okay. Thank you.
TRV applications from Taiwanese have historically been low-risk and uncomplicated, with over 99% of cases approved by the following business day. Against a backdrop of consistently low rates of refusal and refugee claims, the Government of Canada announced a visa waiver for Taiwan on November 22, 2010.
The waiver decision necessitated significant workforce adjustments in the visa section; 55% of the locally-engaged staff complement was laid off in December 2010.
Study permit processing in Taiwan is relatively uncontroversial. Of the more than 1,500 applications received last year, fewer than 1% were refused.
Given the very low refusal rate, clients identified as needing medicals are immediately issued instructions upon file creation. This practice has allowed this office to process cases relatively quickly, with 71% of cases finalized within 14 days.
Work permit applications are relatively more challenging. In large part, this is because they are an offshore movement, with only 40% of applicants in 2010 being Taiwanese. Almost 56% of applications received in 2010 were by nationals of the Philippines.
Accounting for more than one-quarter of the work permit total, nearly 800 live-in caregiver applications were received in 2010. As you may be aware, the LCP is often targeted for abuse. As such, it's routinely necessary to request additional documentation, to hold interviews, and to conduct verifications. Fraud is regularly identified, and is the primary driver of 2010's 12% LCP refusal rate.
In terms of other work permit categories, it is worth noting that last year saw the launch of a youth mobility agreement between Taiwan and Canada. Called International Experience Canada, or IEC, the program saw about 700 work permit applications processed in 2010.
Work permit processing times in Taipei remain well above the global average with only 31% of cases finalized in 28 days or less. Against a backdrop of medical requirements for Taiwan and noting the complexity of the LCP cases, it's not anticipated that a significant reduction in processing times will be achieved in 2011.
That said, it's hoped that practices such as reducing the window of time allotted to applicants to perform medicals will serve to deliver a modest improvement.
Before turning to an overview of permanent resident processing in Taipei, I'd mentioned that non-immigrant processing is highly seasonal. In 2010, three-quarters of the temporary resident visas and two-thirds of the study permit applications were received in the five-month period from April through August. Also, the IEC program quota is open at the beginning of each calendar year, resulting in a flood of work permit applications in January. The seasonality necessitates that the office resources be allocated primarily to non-immigrant processing during the peak periods.
During permanent resident processing, I would say that with the exception of the decline in inventory of pre-Bill C-50's skilled worker cases, Taipei does not have any real permanent resident backlog to speak of. Family class cases in Taipei are generally straightforward and have a very low incidence of fraud. In this context, we were able to process 80% of spousal cases and partner cases within six months in 2010. For dependent children, 80% of cases were processed within four months.
Sponsored parents and grandparents are subject to globally-managed targets. Of the cases finalized in 2010, 80% of cases took 20 or fewer months to process. With a reduction in the levels allocated to Taipei for 2011, processing times in this category are expected to grow. This said, the visa waiver makes it even easier for parents and grandparents to visit loved ones in Canada while their cases are in process.
Turning now to our skilled worker movement, I am pleased to say that headway has been made in reducing the number of cases awaiting processing in Taipei. Whereas there was over 1,100 such cases at the end of 2008, there were only around 600 at the end of 2010. Our current inventory is comprised almost entirely of pre-Bill C-50 cases and includes applications lodged between April 2007 and February 26, 2008.
Notably, there has been significant reduction in the number of new skilled worker applications out of Taiwan. While over 600 applications were received in 2007, fewer than 90 were received in 2010. This low intake of new applications has allowed Taipei to keep a good number of pre-Bill C-50 applications moving through the pipeline.
In 2010, pre-Bill C-50 applications accounted for approximately two-thirds of the skilled workers visas issued. Continued progress in reducing pre-Bill C-50 inventory will occur in 2011, and it is expected that pre-Bill C-50 cases will account for approximately one-half of the skilled worker visas issued.
Finally, I know that the committee is interested in hearing about Taipei's investor movement. In 2010 we finalized 302 federal investor cases, which is roughly 9% of the global total. Of these, 80% took 22 months or less to process. This is down from 23 months for the cases finalized in 2009. As with skilled workers, Taiwan has been processing more applications than are coming in. In 2010 fewer than 200 new investor applications were received. By the end of quarter three last year, only 324 applications remained in inventory. Working with the expectation that the number of applications under the new investor regulations will be significantly below pre-change levels, continued reductions in processing times are anticipated in Taiwan.
Having provided this broad overview of operations in Taipei, I would emphasize that we are well placed to deliver our service commitments in 2011.
I would gladly answer any questions that the committee might have.