Prashant Ajmera & Associates

Date of publication 30 January 2004

Thousands of Permanent Residents of Canada now cannot travel outside Canada and large number of Canadian Permanent Residents cannot enter in to Canada.

Canadian government faces another Immigration class action

As of December31, 2003, the Permanent Resident (PR) card will be the proof of status document of permanent residents seeking to re-enter Canada on a commercial carrier (airplane, boat, train or bus). The permanent resident (PR) card is a wallet-sized, plastic card that replaces the IMM1000 Record of Landing paper document.

After December31, 2003, permanent residents returning to Canada without a valid PR card will not be permitted to board their carrier. They will have to contact the nearest Canadian visa office to obtain a limited use travel document to re-enter Canada at a cost of $50 for each person.

According to a government publication, this PR card will provide better security in defending the Canadian border. The events of September11, 2001 brought the issues of border security and public safety to the forefront of the Canadian government’s agenda. This made the introduction of a PR card a key government initiative.

Before June 28, 2002, a successful landing application process resulted in the issuance of an IMM1000 Record of Landing document. It was a large, difficult-to-carry piece of paper with no photograph, few security features and little privacy. Technological advancements have made it easy to change, copy or make fraudulent use of many documents, including the IMM 1000.

This new PR card - also known as the Maple Card, is mandatory for all permanent residents of Canada including children. For new immigrants coming to Canada after 28th June 2003, processing is done at the airport on arrival and the PR card is mailed to the new immigrants at the address given at the time of entering Canada.

Also, permanent residents already residing in Canada were required to make an application to the government along with processing fees of $ 50 CD to obtain the Maple card. In the last 18 months more than a million permanent residents applied for a PR card but the government could not process all applications by 30th December 2003. This has created a problem for many residents since now they cannot travel outside Canada without the PR card. As per the government advisory dated 18th December 2003, the number of PR cards issued and pending are -

Total number of PR cards issued to date / 855,000
Total number of PR card applications to be processed (submitted after September30, 2003) / 65,000
Total number of PR cards waiting to be picked up at local CIC offices (as of November30, 2003, including appointments not kept by clients)
- Halifax / 500
- Montreal / 4,400
- Toronto / 21,000
- Vancouver / 9,000

On 5th January 2004, 48 permanent residents traveling to Canada by air were not allowed to board the aircraft. These people are required to apply for a one-time special travel document at the Canadian visa office that will be issued to them provided they meet the new residency requirements.

The new immigration law of 28th June 2002 has stipulated new residency requirements. Every permanent immigrant of Canada will be required to stay in Canada physically for at least two years in a five-year period of time.

For most permanent residents of Canada this will not be a problem, as they would have stayed outside Canada for only a few weeks or months at a time. Permanent residents coming back to Canada after 30th December 2003 need to apply for a one-time travel document as mentioned above which will be processed within one day at most visa offices.

This new residency requirement is applied to all immigrants who are permanent residents of Canada as of 28th June 2002. This creates a problem for immigrants who have lived outside Canada for long periods of time in the past, as they may not meet the new residency requirements since the government has decided to apply these new requirements retroactively.

The residency requirements create a unique problem for permanent residents who were physically outside of Canada for a long period of time in the last 5 years. Under the old regulations, residency requirement was minimum of 6 months in a one-year period of time. Physical presence of the immigrants was not required in Canada as long as they could show that they had maintained ties to Canada and they had every intention of returning back to Canada.

More than one million people immigrated to Canada in the last 10 years and a portion of these immigrants were living outside of Canada for extended periods of time due to their business operations or other personal reasons.

Such applicants were required to apply for the PR card of Canada under the Humanitarian & Compassionate ground within Canada at a Case Processing Center. However, as the government failed to process these applications before 30th December 2003, these applicants will be unable to maintain their permanent resident status and will not be in a position to travel to Canada until their applications are processed. Furthermore, a visa officer in their current country of residence will decide the validity of their permanent resident claim.

Being aggrieved by this non-action on part of the government, about 50 permanent residents of Canada have filed a class action suite in the Federal court of Canada that demands the issuance of a PR card to the plaintiffs and / or damages in the amount of $50,000 to $250,000 CD per applicant. It has been alleged in the said class action suite that the government has intentionally delayed processing of applications to discriminate and deny PR status to immigrants originally belonging to countries whose residents require a visa to enter into Canada.

As time passes by the new immigration regulations of Canada are creating many administrative problems for its government and loss of status for many of its residents.

Prashant Ajmera

185 Braebrook Ave., Pointe Claire QC H9R 1V4 Canada

Tel: (514) 697 1597; Fax: (514) 697 9279 E-mail:

www.canadaimmigrationvisa.com