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Criminal record hastens loss of immigration status
Recently, the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act (FRFCA) was passed into law.
This new law brings in significant and widespread changes to many aspects of Canada’s immigration program. Of key significance are:
• Loss of appeal rights to the Immigration Appeal Division
• An obligation to attend CSIS interviews
• A new authority for the Minister to deny entry to Canada
• Limitation of humanitarian and compassionate relief
• Greater penalties for misrepresentation
Loss of appeal rights to the Immigration Appeal Division
Previously, persons who have received deportation orders as a result of criminality and who had spent time in jail for less than two years were still able to make appeals to the Immigration Appeal Division. FRFCA now limits that further – any permanent resident who has been convicted of a crime and spent 6 months or more in jail will no longer be eligible to bring an appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division.
Furthermore FRFCA includes a conditional sentence. Conditional sentences are often much longer in length as they allow individuals to avoid jail time and serve their sentence while being at home and working.
In addition, permanent residents who have committed or been convicted of any foreign offence which is punishable by imprisonment of 10 years or more in Canada, will no longer have any access to the Immigration Appeal Division.
These new limitations are retroactive and apply to offences committed prior to the passage of this bill on June 19, 2013.
An obligation to attend CSIS interviews
Bill C-43 provides that foreign nationals applying for status in Canada must now attend a CSIS interview if requested in the course of the application process. Failure to attend a CSIS interview will result in a refusal of the application process. It also broadens the scope of the disclosure, requiring applicants to answer questions about investigations that do not pertain directly to their immigration application.
A new authority for the Minister to deny entry to Canada
FRFCA greatly expands the Minister’s discretion by allowing the Minister to deny entry to foreign nationals on the basis of “public policy considerations.”
Limitation of humanitarian and compassionate relief
FRFCA makes big changes to who can make a humanitarian and compassionate application to obtain permanent residency in Canada. Previously, any individual could ask for consideration of any application on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. The changes in FRFCA limit humanitarian and compassionate applications for persons who are inadmissible on grounds of security, terrorism, or organized criminality, subversion and espionage.
Greater penalties for misrepresentation
The other most significant change with FRFCA is an increased penalty for misrepresentation. Prior to the passing of Bill C-43, persons who had committed misrepresentation, whether directly or indirectly in the immigration process, had their applications refused and were ineligible to submit a further application for a period of 2 years. Now individuals who make a misrepresentation - even those who have made an unintentional misrepresentation - are now inadmissible for a period of 5 years from the time of the decision.
Catherine Sas ([email protected]) is a practicing immigration lawyer based in Vancouver. For more information go to www.canadian-visa-lawyer.com.
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