According to Immigration Minister Marc Miller, Ottawa is working on creating a path to permanent residency (PR) for thousands of individuals who have been working and living in Canada illegally for many years, starting with construction workers.
There is already an Out-of-Status Construction Workers Pilot Program running in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), but it only has an annual quota of 1,000 permanent residency spots.
Mr. Miller stated that he is getting ready to develop a wide and comprehensive program which would allow many individuals to apply for permanent residency even if they lack the required paperwork.
He said that between 300,000 and 600,000 individuals are thought to be living in the country without proper documentation.
Many people have been employed here for decades and have families, but because they do not have official status, they run the risk of being deported.
Those who legally entered Canada as foreign students or temporary workers and continued to stay after their visas expired would be among those listed.
In the spring, the minister added, he plans to submit a proposal to the cabinet which would allow undocumented foreign nationals to regularize their status. But he did admit that there might be a push back to the policy.
Mr. Miller proposed that anyone who does not have proper documentation, even those who have recently arrived in Canada, would not be entitled to seek permanent status.
To address Canada’s lack of trained workers qualified to build homes, he did, however, say he hopes to launch a scheme soon, which will let construction workers residing in the country without legal status seek residency.
According to Mr. Miller, opening up a way for undocumented construction workers to settle in Canada would be a good way to test the narrative of the larger program, which he intends to submit to the cabinet.
Regarding undocumented workers, he stated that, these are individuals who are already here, already contributing and have children. Numbers do agitate individuals, but the truth is that they already exist.
He claimed that the inability of those who have been here for decades and had children to gain legal status makes absolutely no sense.
In order to maintain the integrity of Canada’s immigration system, Mr. Miller stated that, he wants to make more modifications, such as adjustments to the temporary foreign worker and international student programs.
In recent years, the federal government has increased its immigration goals. It declared last month that it would cap the annual admission of new permanent residents at 500,000 by 2026.
According to recent surveys, it indicates that public support for the number of new entrants is decreasing, and some of those surveys have connected the problem to a lack of reasonably priced housing.
However, Mr. Miller noted that the underlying data indicates that support for immigration is still widespread.
Mr. Miller expressed his want to prevent a recurrence of this in Canada. He mentioned that the headwinds we’re seeing with countries which have a large influx of immigrants—a tendency and an ability to weaponize it, which are present throughout the world.
He went on to say that the federal immigration targets were the subject of robust discussion on both ends of the spectrum, in the cabinet regarding whether to freeze, cut or boost them further.
He also stated that, it was agreed upon to stabilize it and observe how it looks and the pressures which we will face over the next year.
Mr. Miller stated that immigrants are important in fields like construction and healthcare. He increased the amount of money that foreign student must prove that they have in order to be entitled for study permits. The number of individuals coming here should drastically reduce as a result of the reform.
Mr. Miller expressed worry about the exploitation of foreign students by middlemen who charge thousands of dollars to assist them in applying to universities.
Following the discovery that they had entered Canada using fake college acceptance letters given by agents, some students have been threatened with deportation.
According to Mr. Miller, there are many different types of abuse, fraud being only one of them.
It happens in Canada as well as in the nations of origin. Additionally, it’s one that has been ignored for a long time.
