December 15, 2011

Informational Exchanges Between CIC & OBA #2

Here are some more of the latest informational exchanges between the Ontario Bar Association Executive and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (Ontario Region):

Q1. What is the policy at the St. Clair office with respect to emergency restorations of status requested for applicants who have LMOs and want to apply at the US border for their work permit but they need to have status prior to leaving in order for the POE to have jurisdiction?

Work permit restorations are only processed urgently if the situation meets the criteria outlined in the Emergency Processing Guidelines. Please see Attachment C: Outline of Extenuating Circumstances included with the minutes from the December 2009 Meeting.

Q2. It is possible to discuss the use of the local offices (such as St. Clair) to handle expedited processing of work permits and study permits. Given the extremely long processing times at the CPC, the restrictive view taken by the CICs as to what constitutes as an urgency is becoming problematic. Is it possible to relax the criteria or have a broader scope of criteria for consideration?

Local offices are adhering to national policy and the criteria set out in OB 195a.The OBA is welcome to put forth examples of specific cases where this is problematic and the Ontario Region will raise this at the national level.

Q3. Are there any updates on instructions CIC is giving CBSA re: work permit compliance and genuineness of job offers?

CIC has not provided any new instruction to the CBSA concerning compliance and genuineness assessment since the implementation of the April 1, 2011 TFW Regs.