Objection to Visa Rules for Czech Republic

[Flames9_RN 358]

I wish more did come to canada! They are one group of hard working people, that i respect a lot!!!

[thetreble 19]

Canada is a country of immigrants, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Given the negative population growth we are reliant on people migrating over, as you mentioned Treble.

However, refugees are a whole different animal. The Canadian government and border officials have little to no control over the influx of refugees showing up at our borders. I had a conversation with my aunt who is an IO at the Peace Bridge a couple months back, and she was telling me that they are very careful to steer potential refugees away from even saying the word, because the moment they proclaim the word "refugee" they are entitled to be reviewed and considered entry based on their claim. Refugee claims can take up to two years to process, and are subject to appeals. During this time the potential immigrant is unable to work and thus, receives benefits to live directly from the federal government.

I'm not saying that allowing refugees into the country isn't a valiant cause, but the current system of free flow is costing the government and taxpayers a huge sum of money on an annual basis. This new visa law is a start to curb this huge flow of refugees, but targeting two specific groups seems contradictory to what Canada is all about... If we have identified the refugee system as broken, then we should reconsider our laws and policies that encourage so many people to try to enter Canada this way. Mexican's and Czech's are the only ones utilizing this system... Personally, I see it as discriminatory.

Good post, Huggles. On one had we can't have people living scot-free off of us for years at a time. On the other hand, it is kind of discriminatory by pointing out only two ethnic groups.

PS- I just realized that I think Americans don't say "scot-free"

[bowflex 0]

Canada is a country of immigrants, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Given the negative population growth we are reliant on people migrating over, as you mentioned Treble.

However, refugees are a whole different animal. The Canadian government and border officials have little to no control over the influx of refugees showing up at our borders. I had a conversation with my aunt who is an IO at the Peace Bridge a couple months back, and she was telling me that they are very careful to steer potential refugees away from even saying the word, because the moment they proclaim the word "refugee" they are entitled to be reviewed and considered entry based on their claim. Refugee claims can take up to two years to process, and are subject to appeals. During this time the potential immigrant is unable to work and thus, receives benefits to live directly from the federal government.

I'm not saying that allowing refugees into the country isn't a valiant cause, but the current system of free flow is costing the government and taxpayers a huge sum of money on an annual basis. This new visa law is a start to curb this huge flow of refugees, but targeting two specific groups seems contradictory to what Canada is all about... If we have identified the refugee system as broken, then we should reconsider our laws and policies that encourage so many people to try to enter Canada this way. Mexican's and Czech's are the only ones utilizing this system... Personally, I see it as discriminatory.

I know that Canada also allows those who are on refugee status to go through the "Asylum" claim and when that is done the family can work and support themselves. My wife's familiy did that and they all began working within about a month of arriving in Canada.

This is definitely the area of immigration that I feel both the States and Canada need to address as it's just as important as the spousal and work visas in my opinion, yet somehow the rules and policies have fallen drastically behind.

[thetreble 19]

See the problem I have with that though is why is it the Federal Government's job to get them jobs so that they can support themselves?

Just trying to play Devil's advocate here.

But no one helped me get a job in the US and no one should have! It is probably not cost effective to do this, either. I'm not saying no one should help any one, I'm just saying that you have to take some responsibility for yourself and you either have the education and skills or you don't. If you want to get the education and the skills, you should have to apply like the rest of us. I don't mean to sound like an #######, just my opinion, that's all.

I mean I see the positives. Your wife's family was helping the Canadian economy in a month and that's wonderful. I don't think that would work here in the US.

[bowflex 0]

I mean I see the positives. Your wife's family was helping the Canadian economy in a month and that's wonderful. I don't think that would work here in the US.

Oh actually they didn't get any help from the government, in fact while on Asylum status the only thing they can get from the government is emergency health care. As for finding a job and everything, her parents just applied absolutely everywhere and ended up getting very good jobs as they both are skilled.

I see the part where a country can't allow too many "unskilled" workers or anything enter the country, but I also don't see Canada or the States starting up limits on the numbers of kids that citizens can have. I don't really see a difference between someone immigrating to the country and two people having 10 kids and none of them having any skills either, that's all Lol.

In the end I'll always be thankful to Canada as if my wife's family wasn't able to get in God knows where we'd all be. I just feel so bad for someone who isn't trying to immigrate for marriage but is actually trying to immigrate because of persecution or despair. The road for us that use the spousal/fiance visa is much easier than for those going through the other processes and that in itself is the reason there's so much fraud in our system now too.

[bowflex 0]

Back to the original post though, I definitely think it is a form of discrimination to only change the policy for a few countries. I'd be pretty pissed as well Lol.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

I apologize for the lack of work authorization and the government support comments if they're inaccurate. I took a class on Canadian immigration policies which was focused around refugee claims and asylum policies this last year, and this was a key feature of the class. Our prof always brought up the government funding and financial drain issues, so maybe you should contact her and tell her your story Bowflex, which seems quite contradictory to the premise of the class! There are different classes of refugees, so perhaps this only applies to a specific group of people. I know Canada sponsors a number of refugees each year and does directly assists them, but refugees that are privately sponsored by people within the country or non-profits are subject to a different set of criteria... interesting and complicated subject for sure!

Edited July 14, 2009 by Hugglebuggles

[bowflex 0]

I apologize for the lack of work authorization and the government support comments if they're inaccurate. I took a class on Canadian immigration policies which was focused around refugee claims and asylum policies this last year, and this was a key feature of the class. Our prof always brought up the government funding and financial drain issues, so maybe you should contact her and tell her your story Bowflex, which seems quite contradictory to the premise of the class! There are different classes of refugees, so perhaps this only applies to a specific group of people. I know Canada sponsors a number of refugees each year and does directly assists them, but refugees that are privately sponsored by people within the country or non-profits are subject to a different set of criteria... interesting and complicated subject for sure!

Oh you're not kidding I remember when my wife's family was getting with Freedom House and getting everything together, the amount of legislation that was being sorted through was completely insane. I remember I was getting so interested in the process that I started researching becoming an immigration lawyer, well until I saw I just graduated college and then would have to enter law school for about $30,000 a semester. Once that happened I focused back on my job and enjoyed graduation haha.