Opportunities Ontario: Provincial Nominee Program is an immigration program through which the province of Ontario nominates individuals and their families for permanent resident status based on a pre-approved job offer in the province.

Applications from employers who are seeking positions for foreign workers residing abroad, or foreign workers who are visiting Canada, will receive priority processing if those employers have tried to recruit Canadian citizens or permanent residents located in Ontario for those positions before applying to the program.

Approved employers can recruit foreign workers through the General Category and international students through the International Student Category.

The General Category is for foreign workers in any managerial, professional or skilled trades occupation (NOC O, A, or B).  The International Student Category has three streams:   1) With Job Offer Stream which allows Ontario employers to recruit international students graduating from a publicly funded Canadian college or university in a skilled position; 2) PhD Graduate Stream which allows PhD graduates from Ontario publicly funded universities to apply to live permanently in Ontario; and 3) Pilot Masters Graduate Stream which allows Masters graduates from Ontario publicly funded universities to apply to live permanently in Ontario.

Applications are processed on a first-come, first-served basis. When the program reaches its target, submitted applications will be assessed in the next calendar year.

For more information on this or other Canadian or US immigration matters, please contact the Bomza Law Group – Immigration Lawyers at 1-800-993-9971 or info@bomzalawgroup.com.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has announced that holders of a Certificat de sélection du Québec (CSQ) under the Quebec Skilled Worker class will no longer be required to show evidence of filing of a Permanent Residence application in order to submit an application to renew or extend their work authorization in Canada without a Labour Market Opinion (LMO).  This change is consistent with the current policy guidelines for persons nominated for permanent residence in provinces or territories other than Quebec, who do not require proof that their permanent residence application is in process with CIC in order to qualify for an LMO-exempt work permit renewal or extension.

The requirements for LMO-exempt work permit renewal/extension for CSQ holders in Quebec are as follows:

• The applicant must hold a CSQ issued under the Quebec Skilled Worker class, which includes the Programme régulier des travailleurs qualifiés (PRTQ) and the Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ);
• The applicant must currently reside in Quebec;
• The applicant must fall under one of the following categories:
  • seeking to extend their WP for their current employer;
  • seeking to renew their current work authorization with a new employer in the province of Quebec;
  • is a foreign student who has obtained a post-graduation WP and has a job offer in the province of Quebec; or
  • is a WP holder under the Programme de l’expérience international canadienne (EIC).
• The applicant must submit a copy of his or her CSQ and job offer to work in Quebec.

Work permits issued pursuant to this policy are employer-specific and are to be issued for the duration of the job offer, with a maximum validity of two years.  Spouses or common-law partners who are accompanying the principal applicant and who are currently in Canada are entitled to apply for open work permit for the duration of the work permit of the principal applicant, irrespective of the skill level of the principal applicant’s occupation.

For more information on this or any other Canadian or US immigration matter, please contact the Bomza Law Group at info@bomzalawgroup.com or 1-800-993-9971.

U.S. Customs & Border Protection (“CBP”), the agency responsible for securing the U.S. border and facilitating lawful international trade and travel, issued a Travel Advisory in anticipation of greatly increased travel between Canada and the United States over the Victoria Day weekend (Friday, May 17 to Victoria Day [Monday, May 20]).

Pursuant to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, U.S. and Canadian citizens age 16 and over entering the U.S. by land or sea are reminded that they must have a valid, acceptable travel document, such as a passport, U.S. passport card, trusted traveler card (NEXUS, SENTRI, Global Entry or FAST/EXPRES), U.S. permanent resident card (“green card”) or enhanced driver’s license (denoting both identity and citizenship).  Air travelers must have a passport.

Non-Canadian or U.S. citizens should be in possession of a valid visa to enter the U.S. unless they are a citizen of a Visa Waiver Program country whereby they are waived the visa requirement to visit the U.S. They must however register online with ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) at least 72 hours before their trip.

Travelers are advised to give themselves plenty of time at border crossing as delays are expected given the increased volume.  Information on Border Wait Times for land crossing is available at: http://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/

For more information on U.S. or Canadian immigration, please contact our offices at 1-800-993-9971 or info@bomzalawgroup.com.

The pilot project began on November 24, 2010, and has now been extended another year to May 23, 2014.

The pilot project continues to apply to Canadian Permanent Residents or Citizens who have left Canada and are now returning to Canada to re-establish their residence in Ontario and work in Ontario as a Skilled Worker either as a health professional or an academic for a post-secondary educational institution.

If the Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident has a pending family class sponsorship, CIC has agreed to issue open work permits to that spouse or common law partner and those dependents upon application.  These open work permits should have a validity period of two year.

For the purposes of the pilot, the permit is to allow the participant to work in Ontario only.

For more information on this or other Canadian or US immigration matters, please contact the Bomza Law Group – Immigration Lawyers at 1-800-993-9971 or info@bomzalawgroup.com.

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney and Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley recently announced plans to improve passport services for Canadians by making the application process more convenient and efficient.  As part of this plan, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will take over primary responsibility for Passport Canada from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.  According to Minister Kenney, this is a logical transition, given that CIC is already responsible for processing Canadian Citizenship applications. Passport services will continue to be accessible to Canadians through the existing network of Service Canada Centres, Canada Post intake locations and passport offices throughout Canada, but the change is expected to allow for the eventual expansion of passport services to more Service Canada locations and, ultimately, the creation of an online application system.

For more information on any Canadian or US immigration matter, please contact the Bomza Law Group at info@bomzalawgroup.com or 1-800-993-9971.

On May 10, 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced proposed regulatory changes to the definition of who qualifies as a “Dependent” on a parent’s immigration application. Specifically, effective January 1, 2014, the maximum age of a qualifying “Dependent” will be reduced from 22 years of age to 18 years of age for all immigration programs.

Dependent children represent 30 percent of the overall immigrants admitted annually to Canada, thus the government has decided to address the age of dependents as part of their Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification.  The rational given by the government for the reduction of age of dependents was economically driven.  They cited statistics that demonstrate that older dependent children (those who arrive in Canada between the ages 19 and 21 years old) have lower economic outcomes than those who arrive in Canada at a younger age (between 15 and 18 years old).

Since the introduction of Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) in 2002, the definition of a dependent child has included children over the age of 22 that were financial dependent on their parents and in continuous full-time studies.  This section of the definition will now be removed.

The proposed regulatory changes provide that as of January 1, 2014, a child over the age of 18, regardless of whether they are in full-time education and financially dependent on his/her parents, will no longer be considered a dependent child under any immigration application.  The age of dependants will continue to be locked-in at the time the application is received by CIC. However, those over the age of 18 will now need to apply to visit or immigrate to Canada independently from their parents.

The exception for individuals, regardless of age, who are financially dependent on their parents due to a mental or physical disability, will remain.

For more information on any Canadian or US immigration matter, please contact the Bomza Law Group at info@bomzalawgroup.com or 1-800-993-9971