OTTAWA, December 3, 2003 -- The Honourable Denis Coderre, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, today announced the coming into force of important amendments to the transitional regulations pertaining to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). The amendments, originally proposed on September 18, 2003, take into account comments received from various groups and the Federal Court. The proposed regulations were prepublished in the Canada Gazette on October 11, 2003.The amendments will allow federal economic class applicants who filed their application for permanent residence before January 1, 2002, to be assessed against the selection criteria of the former regulations or those of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, whichever are more favourable. In cases where the results are not positive, the application will automatically be reassessed under the selection criteria of the other regulations."Canada is committed to the continual improvement of our immigration program," said the Minister. "These changes reflect the core principles on which it is based: fairness, openness and flexibility."The federal economic classes affected are skilled workers, investors, entrepreneurs and self-employed people. The applications are divided into four groups: withdrawn applications, refused applications, pending or in-progress applications and applications referred back by the court.The new provisions do not apply to people who submitted their applications on or after January 1, 2002. By that date, the new selection criteria, which were made public on December 17, 2001, and that could be used to assess their applications had already been prepublished. Neither do the new regulations apply to provincial nominees or applicants for permanent residence in the province of Quebec under provisions of the Canada-Quebec Accord. The Accord gives Quebec sole responsibility for the selection of immigrants destined for the province.-30-For more information (media only):Sarah BainPress SecretaryOffice of the Minister(613) 954-1064Maria IadinardiMedia RelationsCommunications Branch(613) 952-0740BACKGROUNDERNEW TRANSITIONAL REGULATIONSFOR SKILLED WORKER ANDBUSINESS IMMIGRANT APPLICANTS When the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) came into effect on June 28, 2002, the regulations included measures to ease the transition from the regulations in effect under the Immigration Act of 1976 to those under IRPA. Effective December 1, 2003, these transitional measures have been amended to respond to the needs of many who applied to come to Canada under the regulations of the former Immigration Act.These changes allow for all applicants under the skilled worker and business immigrant classes (i.e., skilled workers, self-employed people, investors and entrepreneurs) who applied before January 1, 2002, to be assessed under the selection criteria of the former regulations.Under a new dual assessment, applicants can be assessed against the selection criteria of the former Immigration Act or those of IRPA, whichever are more favourable. In cases where the results are not positive, the application will automatically be reassessed under the selection criteria of the other regulations.The following groups who had applied prior to January 1, 2002, will automatically receive a dual assessment:Applications still pending or in progress on December 1, 2003, when the new regulations came into force.Applications referred back by the Federal Court of Canada or the Supreme Court of Canada following a decision under the former act.The following groups who had applied prior to January 1, 2002, must reapply by January 1, 2005, to receive the benefit of a dual assessment:Applications withdrawn between January 1, 2002, and November 30, 2003.Applications refused after March 31, 2003, and before June 20, 2003, under the transitional requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations that were in effect during this period.There will be no charge for a dual assessment except in cases where a refund of the application fee has been provided, or where new dependants are to be added to an application.Applicants are not required to submit additional information for assessment under the former act, but will typically have to submit additional information (such as proof of language ability) to benefit from an assessment under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. Applicants who have previously received a request for further documents and who have not yet provided them should do so as soon as possible.The new regulations do not apply to applicants who are provincial nominees, or to applicants for permanent residence in the province of Quebec under provisions of the Canada-Quebec Accord. The Accord gives Quebec sole responsibility for the selection of immigrants destined for the province.Citizenship and Immigration Canada is committed to processing applications as quickly as possible and will work actively to process applications that have already been received while respecting the immigration levels plan presented to Parliament.
