AN IMMIGRATION SYSTEM FOR THE 21st CENTURY
OTTAWA, April 18, 2005 — The
Honourable Joe Volpe, Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration, today announced a series of measures aimed
at improving service delivery and the efficiency of
Canada’s immigration and citizenship programs.
“Canada’s immigration system is a model for the world
and today’s measures allow us to maintain and enhance
our position. We will do this by reducing application
processing times for permanent residents who want to
become Canadian citizens and sponsored parents and
grandparents who want to be reunited with their family
in Canada. International competition for talented
international students is fierce and today’s
announcement moves Canada even further ahead,” said
Minister Volpe.
Today’s measures include an investment of $69 million
over two years to restore, by 2007–2008, processing
times to an average of 12 months for a grant of
citizenship and four months for a proof of citizenship.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is also
exempting citizenship applicants from undergoing
language ability and knowledge-of-Canada tests at 55
rather than 60 years of age, while in no way reducing
the rigorous security screening requirements that all
applicants for Canadian citizenship must go through
before becoming citizens of Canada.
The measures to speed up the processing of
sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents
coming to Canada as family class immigrants include
tripling the number of parents and grandparents who can
immigrate to Canada from 6,000 to 18,000 a year in 2005
and in 2006. Also, the issuance of multiple-entry
visitor visas will be facilitated so that parents and
grandparents can visit their families in Canada while
their applications are in process. The Government of
Canada will invest $36 million a year for two years to
cover the costs of processing and integrating parents
and grandparents.
CIC is expanding two pilot initiatives for
international students to enhance the competitiveness of
Canada’s education industry. The first will allow
international students across Canada to work off-campus
while completing their studies and the second will allow
them to work for a second year after graduation. This
second initiative will apply outside of Montreal,
Toronto and Vancouver to help spread the benefits of
immigration to more regions in Canada. The Government of
Canada is investing $10 million a year for five years to
support this strategy.
The measures announced today demonstrate action on
commitments laid out by by Minister Volpe in his January
2005 six-point plan for addressing critical issues in
the citizenship and immigration programs.
For more information on today’s announcements, please
visit CIC’s Web site at www.cic.gc.ca.
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For more information (media only):
Stephen Heckbert
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister
(613) 954-1064
Maria Iadinardi
Media Relations
Communications Branch
(613) 952-0740
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