CIMM - Hong Kong - Nov 25, 2020

Key messages

• Canadians share the serious concerns of the international community over the National Security Law imposed on Hong Kong by the Peoples’ Republic of China, and as we have in the past, Canada stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong.
• Canada has a long and rich history with Hong Kong, with extensive people-to-people ties and Hong Kong hosts one of the largest Canadian communities abroad. As the Prime Minister said, we will continue to support the many connections between Canada and Hong Kong, while also standing up for its people.
• The Department is implementing measures that will allow students and youth in Hong Kong to come to Canada on work and study permits with pathways to stay permanently. These new permanent resident pathways will also benefit Hong Kong residents in Canada under existing work and study permits.
• These measures complement the actions being taken by Canada’s international partners. Attracting talented and skilled Hong Kong youth will help Canada’s workforce stay competitive, dynamic and innovative.

Supplementary messages

Measures for Hong Kong youth and students

• In recognition of the talent and skills that Hong Kong youth can bring to Canada’s labour market and economy, my Department is implementing a new work permit initiative specific to Hong Kong youth which will provide open work permits of up to three years’ duration, with eligibility criteria centered on recent post-secondary education in Canada or abroad.
• Once here to either study or work, two new pathways to permanent residence are being created, which will be available in 2021:
  • The first will target former Hong Kong residents who have gained a minimum of one year of authorized work experience in Canada and meet other criteria such as minimum language and education levels.
  • The second pathway will be for those who have graduated from a post-secondary institution in Canada. These individuals can then apply directly for permanent residence.

Protection measures for Hong Kong residents

• Individuals at risk who have fled Hong Kong and have no other durable solution may be referred to Canada for resettlement by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) or may be privately sponsored. Individuals must be outside their country of origin.
• Foreign nationals, including Hong Kong residents who are in Canada, continue to have access to the asylum system. Individuals who are eligible to make a claim are referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal, which decides whether or not an individual is in need of protection, based on the merits of their case.

Admissibility of Hong Kong residents – criminal offences including subversion

• Arrests or convictions outside of Canada for acts that are not considered to be an offence in Canada, such as participation in a peaceful protest, would generally not make someone inadmissible to Canada for asylum/immigration purposes.
• In addition, a person would not be inadmissible if the decision-maker, such as an immigration officer outside Canada, is not satisfied that the individual has been convicted of an offence that would be equivalent to an offence in Canada.
• Equating foreign offences to Canadian laws requires careful review of the charges and the facts of the case and the law in question, which our immigration officers are well placed to undertake.
• For clarity, if the foreign law is broader (such as the foreign offence for subversion compared to Canadian law) it may capture actions that are not offences in Canada. If the person’s actions do not equate to an offence in Canada, the person would not be inadmissible, regardless of the home country’s judgment.
• Inadmissibility decisions are based on evidence, which may consist of police or intelligence reports, statutory declarations or other documents—such as media articles or publicly-available information.

Criminal offences committed in Canada

• Criminal offences committed on Canadian soil are a matter of law enforcement. Allegations of criminal activity, such as coercion or intimidation should be referred to the RCMP, or local police forces, for investigation.
• If a foreign national is convicted of an indictable offence in Canada, or has been found to have engaged in acts of espionage that are against Canada or that are contrary to Canada’s interests, they will be found to be inadmissible and may be issued a deportation order, have their visa cancelled and be removed.
• The Minister of Public Safety is responsible for inadmissibility on national security grounds, including espionage and for immigration enforcement, including removing foreign nationals.

Facilitative measures based on existing programs and application trends

• In addition to special measures for Hong Kong youth, we are also making a number of enhancements to Canada’s existing programs, and increasing efforts to raise awareness of these options.
• This includes waiving application processing fees for Hong Kong residents in Canada on a temporary basis who apply to extend their stay, and allocating resources to speed up the processing of study, work, and permanent residence applications.
• So far in 2020, application volumes for study permits have nearly doubled compared to 2019, although they are starting from rather low base levels, and IRCC is equipped to manage these increases. Application volumes for other lines of business remain steady or have decreased. While we have seen increases in applications for some of Canada’s immigrations programs, we are not seeing signs of a mass movement of people from Hong Kong planning to come to Canada at this time.
• Hong Kong residents who may be allowed to travel to Canada through existing border-related exemptions include immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, such as spouses, common-law partners, dependent children or parents or step-parents, as well as extended family members such as grandparents. International students who are enrolled in a Designated Learning Institution with approved COVID-19 readiness plans are also now eligible to travel to Canada.

Supporting facts and figures

• Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and British National Overseas passport holders are visa exempt for travel to Canada.
• There are an estimated 300,000 Canadian citizens in Hong Kong and an unknown number of permanent residents.
• Overall, Canada admitted 1,540 new permanent residents from Hong Kong in 2019, of which 56% were sponsored family, 43% as economic immigrants, and 1% under other.
• As of October 31, approximately 5,100 Hong Kong residents have held a study permit valid in 2020, and approximately 3,600 have held a work permit valid in 2020, for a total of 7,840 unique individuals (some may hold multiple types of permits). However, some of these individuals may not be in Canada.
• In 2020, study permit applications fell sharply (-43% in all) for other regions in greater China (Taiwan, Macau, Inner Mongolia), but nearly doubled (+92%) for Hong Kong. 2,419 applications have been received this year, over 3 times what could be expected based on the regional trend.
• In Canada, there was a 130% increase in visitor extension applications in May 2020, a 354% increase in June 2020 and a 214% increase in July 2020 compared with the same periods in 2019.
• From January to October 31, 2020, 30 people with Hong Kong or British National (Overseas) passports claimed asylum in Canada, compared to 29 for all of 2019 and 10 in 2018.

Background

National Security Law and Canada’s response

• On June 30, 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed the controversial “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative region”, generally referred to as the National Security Law. It was immediately promulgated by Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam and came into effect one hour before the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to the People’s Republic of China. The law was not made public until implemented and was drafted without inclusive consultation and through a process that circumvented Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. The law criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces. The law also granted jurisdiction over some cases to mainland authorities, meaning some cases may be tried and sentences served in the mainland.
• According to reporting, since the law was passed, authorities have conducted several waves of arrests of opposition activists, human rights defenders and members of the media.
• In response to the implementation of the National Security Law, Canada has taken a number of actions, including suspending our extradition treaty with Hong Kong, limiting the export of sensitive goods, and updating travel advice for Hong Kong to warn Canadians of the new risk of arbitrary detention and possible removal to mainland China.

Facilitative measures based on existing programs

• The Department is implementing a number of measures to promote and facilitate our existing programs for Hong Kong residents. These include:
  • Hong Kong residents who are foreign nationals already in Canada on a temporary basis are able to extend their stay in Canada. In addition, IRCC will waive the cost of processing fees for Hong Kong residents related to renewing their status in Canada.
  • Increasing promotion efforts to attract Hong Kong youth to study in Canada and for other programs, including International Experience Canada.
  • Allocating resources to ensure timely processing of Hong Kong work and study permit applications, as well as to speed up processing of permanent residence applications.
  • Increasing promotion of super visas, which are multi-entry visas for parents and grandparents of Canadians or permanent residents that allow for multiple entries to Canada of up to two years at a time for a period of up to 10 years.
  • Increasing outreach and promotion efforts to qualifying permanent residents regarding pre-arrival and in-country settlement information and services to increase awareness of these supports.

Response from international partners

• The Government is seeking to align with and complement the responses of our likeminded partners. Shortly following the announcement of the imposition the National Security Law, both the United Kingdom and Australia announced immigration measures for Hong Kong residents.
• In recognition of the history between Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, the British government is creating a new Hong Kong British National (Overseas), or BN(O), visa with a pathway to permanent residency, which will come into force in January 2021.
• Australia has lengthened stays for Hong Kong students, graduates and workers within their immigration program so that eligible Hong Kong residents can stay longer and qualify more easily for permanent residency.
• While the United States has denounced China’s actions, they also have announced migration-related responses, including ending Hong Kong’s treatment under the Immigration and Nationality Act as a separate state from China. The current administration has also included a “carve-out” of refugee resettlement spaces specifically allocated for Hong Kong in 2021 target levels.

People flows

• Immigration from Hong Kong to Canada has been increasing gradually over the last few years. However, it has not yet approached one-tenth of the levels seen prior to the handover of the territory from the UK to China (about 24,000 arrivals per year).
• Following the implementation and imposition of the National Security Law, it is impossible to predict accurately how many Hong Kong residents will actually immigrate to Canada or other countries, utilize existing additional citizenships or passports to leave Hong Kong, or simply opt to stay.

Criminal inadmissibility outside Canada

• Foreign nationals are inadmissible to Canada if they were convicted outside Canada for an offence that, if committed in Canada, would be an indicatable offence under Canadian law. Foreign nationals are also inadmissible if they have been convicted for two offences from separate occurrences, outside Canada that would be an offence in Canada if committed here.
• In addition, Canada is also assessing whether there is evidence that a foreign national has committed an offence outside of Canada, even without conviction, that is an offence in the place where it was committed and that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an indictable offence under Canadian law.
• A person may also be ineligible to claim asylum in Canada due to serious criminality outside Canada. This means that a person is ineligible to make a claim if convicted of an offence that, if committed in Canada is punishable by imprisonment of at least 10 years.
• Where there are some similarities between the foreign law and Canadian law, a person would only be inadmissible if their particular actions were considered offences in Canada. For example, the subversion offence under the Hong Kong National Security Law is broader than similar laws in Canada. Acts that are considered to be subversion in Hong Kong but do not equate to the level of being an offence if committed in Canada under an Act of Parliament would not affect an immigration application.
• However, a person who used force to achieve a government change outside Canada might be inadmissible as such an act is an offence both in Canada (under sedition section 59 of the Criminal Code) and under the Hong Kong National Security Law (under subversion article 22).

(If pressed for more detail on whether a person in Hong Kong might be inadmissible on security grounds, including engaging in or instigating the subversion by force of any government, or engaging in espionage against Canada – refer to the Minister of Public Safety, who is responsible for section 34 of IRPA, which governs this provision.)

Criminal inadmissibility in Canada

• Foreign nationals who allegedly commit offences in Canada are afforded due process under the Canadian justice and immigration systems.
• The RCMP, or local police forces, are responsible for investigating allegations of criminal activity in Canada.
• The Canada Border Services Agency responsible for immigration enforcement, including the consequences of conviction of an offence in Canada.