Canadian Visa Office in Mexico Reduces Services Temporarily

Due to the out break of the Swine Flu in Mexico, the Canadian visa office in Mexico City has reduced services to candidates seeking visas and has halted in-person interviews related to temporary and permanent immigration applications. A drop box is present to allow for submission of documents and applications.

These steps mirror actions by other nations' embassies in the country, such as the USA and UK. A Citizenship and Immigration spokesman sent an e-mail stating, 'Like many other organizations operating in Mexico City, we've taken steps to protect the safety and health of our employees and applicants by cancelling some meetings and appointments.'

There is no present estimate as to when normal service will resume.

CIC: "Need for immigration to Canada remains strong"

Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials were quoted yesterday as saying "Minister Kenney has determined that the need for immigration to Canada remains strong. Immigration numbers for 2009 will therefore remain at 250,000." The department projects long term labour shortages following consultations on Canada's economy, which has led to the decision to maintain current levels. The government does, however, maintain the flexibility to work with these numbers if needed.

Canadian Citizenship Rules Change

Proposed changes to the rules governing Canadian citizenship have changed. These changes make it more difficult to live abroad with no connections to Canada and still retain Canadian citizenship and a passport. The modifications to Canada's Citizenship Act were made last year, and became law as of April 17 2009.

"If both the mom and the dad were born outside of Canada," says Canada's Minister of Immigration, Citizenship and Multiculturalism, "and they go outside of Canada to have kids, (the kids) don't automatically become citizens." This is becoming referred to as the "two generation rule."

As part of the modification to the laws, there will also be good news for thousands of "lost Canadians" who did not receive automatic Canadian citizenship. 'If they left the country without notifying us, for instance, as kids of Canadians born abroad, they didn't automatically become citizens.'

The changes will ensure that an estimated 95 per cent of those people will now receive citizenship. "This will give back citizenship to thousands of Canadians who lost it through no fault of their own," the Minister said. "We'll make exceptional grants of citizenship for those, the balance who fall through the cracks, and are deserving."

Immigration Driving Growth According to Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada has released a new report showing that immigration to Canada is driving growth in Canada's population, especially in the western provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The news release suggests that the population increase of 0.19 percent, the fastest fourth-quarter growth since 1992, can be traced to international immigration. This brings Canada's opulation to 33,504,700, an increase of 63,400 since October 1st of 2008.

Canada's western provinces experienced population growth above the national average, with Alberta demonstrating the largest increase at 0.6 percent. Ontario and New Brunswick, conversely, experienced growth below national levels, at 0.08 and 0.07 percent respectively. The province of Quebec demonstrated the most significant increase in births, with a 3.9 percent rise.

Economists frequently point to population growth as a significant component of the economic growth of Canada. Some economists have suggested that the ideal level of growth is presently one percent of the population annually.

Canadian Immigration Applications in Lebanon

Effective March 31 2009, Canadian immigrant applicants from Lebanon are eligible to process their applications at the visa office in Beirut. This follows last year's change that allowed interviews in Beirut, although applications were still being processed in Syria. Prior to March 31, the Beirut visa office only accepted temporary resident applications such as visitor, study, and work visas.

Dur to recent changes to that system, however, Federal Skilled Worker applicants must submit such applications to the Case Processing Centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Similarly, Canadians sponsoring Family Class members will continue to send their applications to the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. However, they will be able to select the office in Beirut as their primary point of service on the application form from this point forward.