With regard to the quota system, we're very happy to see that the quota is the highest its been since 1910.
The first issue is with the super visa. While it provides a very swift entry to parents and grandparents for newcomers, the financial requirements are unrealistic and, in most cases, unattainable. Newcomers, on average, take about 10 years to achieve the level of an average Canadian. To do that for three consecutive years and to be able to submit an application, and then wait for that application to be approved with a processing time of over two years, represent lost years to parents coming to the country and lost years for assisting in the settlement, stability, and contribution of these newcomers to the Canadian economy.
Most newcomers have to go to school to do an upgrading, and most of them have been admitted in skilled workers programs. Both parents will not be able to enter the labour market without that upgrading, which leaves.... If the family achieves the income necessary to pay the high cost of day care, which is a much higher threshold, it will make them ineligible for a lot of subsidies for day care. One member of the couple will have to stay home. That is a lot of lost contribution. Having the grandparents here would not only provide stability and family values and peace of mind for the newcomer family, but would also speed up the length of time it take the newcomers to enter the labour market and contribute.
The first question most of our clients ask is “How do I bring my parents and my children who are over the age of 19?” Your responsibility toward your parents does not end at any age, and your responsibility toward your children does not end automatically at the age of 19. A lot of newcomers are faced with a situation where they will have to leave somebody over the age of 19 when they come to Canada. Having to wait the processing time will leave them even older, even if it's pushed.
The other issue is spousal sponsorship. The matter of processing time is one thing, but the other thing is the lens through which these applications are viewed and assessed. It's a very specific and very rigid sense of what constitutes a legitimate marriage. A lot of officers are not aware of premarital interactions between spouses in different cultures. We have seen a lot of clients whose spouses are actually not deemed credible because they did not know their exact date of birth; a lot of people in the Middle East do not celebrate birthdays after the age of 10. Or, they might not know the exact details of their spouse's job, or the full name of the first spouse. We have a lot of clients with that issue.
The last issue is the fees for these applications. They are very problematic for our clients, in general, as is the case for most newcomers. A citizenship fee of $600 for a newcomer who is working minimum wage to be able to support their family is not something they can pay within a month, or within six months. A lot of them are not able to submit their applications because of the amount of money these require, not only to submit the application but also to translate the documents, and then the waiting time.
Thank you.