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| | C&C寰球致移民部长公开信引起关注
| 2002-01-17 17:12:39 来源 : 加拿大C&C寰球资讯 |
Immigration Canada's $100M 'money grab'
Retroactive changes, non-refundable fees add up to 'robbery' of poor, MP says
Jack Aubry
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, January 15, 2002
The federal government stands to pocket more than $100 million in non-refundable application fees from disqualified foreign applicants -- including poor families from developing countries -- because of new tougher retroactive immigration rules.
Dwight McWethy, an immigration consultant in China, says hundreds of his Chinese clients on the waiting list to emigrate to Canada as skilled workers no longer qualify under the new point system, but they will be unable to reclaim their application fees -- which represent, for most, more than one month's salary.
"It looks like a money grab," said Mr. McWethy from Beijing.
"This is not small change for my clients. I don't know how the government, other than to eliminate the huge backlog, can justify doing this."
He said there already have been discussions about a class-action suit by Chinese applicants, but collecting names is proving difficult because of reluctance in the country on taking on government officials, even if they are foreign.
The Immigration Department released its detailed package of proposed regulations in late December to flesh out the new immigration bill passed in November. Some Liberal backbenchers, especially those from big cities, are promising to fight the retroactive clause in the law that will disqualify applicants who have been on waiting lists for up to four or five years.
Mr. McWethy said more than 80 per cent of his clients on the waiting list for skilled workers no longer qualify because of the new point system.
Adults pay $500 each in a non-refundable processing fee and $100 for each dependent child. Mr. McWethy said most applications cost at least $1,000, and the government estimates there are about 170,000 applications on its waiting list for independent immigrants.
René Mercier, a spokesman for the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, confirmed that the application fee is non-refundable. He said the number of applicants who will be disqualified by the new point system is not yet known, but added that some who did not qualify before will now qualify under the new rules.
He said no estimates are available for the number affected one way or the other.
Liberal MPs have been caught off-guard by the new, tougher rules. Applicants on Canada's waiting list will be required to meet the new proposed pass mark of 75 points, a higher, tougher total than the previous old pass mark of 70 points. Points are given for age, education, experience, language and adaptability and includes a new five points for a letter of employment.
Scarborough Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis said the Canadian government will be "hoodwinking" the applicants out of their application fee with the new retroactive law while quashing their dreams of immigrating to Canada.
Canadian Alliance MP Deepak Obhrai said the non-refundable fee is "daylight robbery."
"You raise the bar and pocket the money. It is unfair and will damage Canada's reputation on the international stage," said Mr. Obhrai.
Mr. McWethy said word has spread quickly of the new rules in China, mostly through the Internet, and some of his clients have cancelled scheduled English classes in response.
"The Chinese are distressed by this. It is difficult for us to explain that these are proposed regulations and there is opportunity to change them," said Mr. McWethy.
In a letter to Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan, Mr. McWethy and Frank Meng, the chief representative at C & C Transnational Inc., told the minister that the retroactivity of the rules "will only damage Canadian national interests in the long run."
"It is certainly not the fault of the applicant that he has had to wait so long, that fault lies clearly at the feet of the Canadian government, yet it is he who is paying the price without any option for recourse," wrote the immigration consultants.
"Application fees charged represent a significant sacrifice to people in the Third World. It is simply crude to take fees from the pocket of a poor man with no intention of ever living up to his expectations."
Derek Hodgson, Ms. Caplan's press secretary, said the House of Commons committee will examine the proposed regulations in February and stressed that the retroactive clause is "not carved in stone." |
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