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The federal ''[http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-2.5/index.html Immigration and Refugee Protection Act]'' controls immigration to Canada.
The federal Immigration and Refugee Protection Act controls immigration to Canada.
People who want to immigrate to Canada can apply under two main classes:
There is also a refugee class, explained later in this script. Under it, a newcomer can immigrate as a permanent resident of Canada.
As of November 5, 2011, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration stopped accepting applications of sponsored parents and grandparents. Instead, these family members could apply for a long-term [http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/supervisa.asp Super Visa] to visit family in Canada for up to 2 years at a time. The Minister re-opened the parent and grandparent category for 5000 applications in 2014, but he has not said if he will re-open the category again for 2015. The Super Visa is still an option for parents and grandparents.
Canada has had a long tradition of helping people in need. Until recently, it has accepted between 20,000 and 30,000 people a year as refugees. They are people unable or unwilling to return to their own country for fear of being persecuted because of their race, religion, political opinion, nationality or membership in a particular social group, or people who might face risk to their lives, cruel and unusual treatment, punishment, or torture if they went home. In the last year, the Canadian government has restricted access to the refugee process by designating some countries as “safe” and requiring special procedures for refugee claimants from these countries.
Some financial and other help is available to immigrants through various programs and services, including counseling and cultural orientation, loans to help with transportation to Canada, language training, and job-related services.
The Legal Services Society (LSS) may provide a lawyer for free if you:
Most people are eligible for a pre-removal risk assessment by Citizenship and Immigration Canada before they are removed from the country. If you have already made a refugee claim that was rejected, the decision on risk will be based only on new evidence.
The Federal Court of Canada can review most decisions of immigration officials and tribunals. But it does so only in very limited cases. You would need legal help in this area.
Immigration officials can make exceptions to the usual immigration rules if following those rules would cause undeserved or exceptional hardship.
[updated July 2015]
The above was last reviewed for accuracy by Jack Montpellier.
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