Appendix B – The Conditions Prescribed for Family Members

The Condition for Accompanying Family Members

• Permanent residents who became permanent residents as accompanying family members of a permanent resident referred to in the provisions specified in subsection 72.1 (1) are subject to the condition that the permanent resident in respect of whom they are accompanying family members would need to meet the conditions specified in subsection 72.1 (1)

• An exception to this requirement follows

The Exception for Accompanying Family Members

• The condition prescribed above does not apply in case the permanent residents who became permanent residents as accompanying family members of a permanent resident as specified by the provisions mentioned in subsection 72.1 (1) if the permanent resident in respect of whom they were accompanying family members is an individual to whom the exception referred to in subsection 72.1 (5) or 72.1 (6) applies

The Condition for Sponsored Persons and their Accompanying Family Members

• Barring the exception that follows, permanent residents who became permanent residents after receiving sponsorship, either during or after the period referred to in subsection 72.1 (1) by a sponsor, who is a permanent resident referred to in that subsection, are subject to the condition that the sponsoring permanent resident would need to meet the conditions specified in subsection 72.1 (1)

The Exception for Sponsored Persons and their Accompanying Family Members

• The condition prescribed above does not apply in case the permanent residents who became permanent residents after receiving the sponsorship of a permanent resident referred to in the provisions mentioned in subsection 72.1 (1) if the sponsoring permanent resident is one in respect of whom an exception referred to in subsection 72.1 (5) or 72.1 (6) applies

The Clarification

• For greater certainty, for the purposes of subsection 27 (2) of the Act, the officers would need to make a determination as to whether the permanent resident has failed to adhere to the condition prescribed in subsection 72.1 (1)

• Officers would typically need to make this determination during or after the two-year period specified in subsection 72.1 (1)

The Application to Renounce Permanent Resident Status – The Separate Application

• Regardless of the provisions specified in subsection 10 (3), each family member would need to make a separate application for each family member who wants to renounce their permanent resident status

The Conditions for the Application

• Officers have the authority to approve a person’s application to renounce their permanent resident status if:

  • The person has provided evidence of their citizenship, nationality or permanent legal resident status in another country and,

  • The application bears the signatures of every person who has custody of the individual or who are empowered to act on behalf of the individual by virtue of a court order or a written agreement or by operation of law, unless a court directs otherwise (this applies in case the individual is under 18 years of age)

The Suspension of the Sponsorship Application

• The authorities would typically suspend any sponsorship applications made by permanent residents who make an application to renounce their permanent resident status

• This suspension remains in force until the authorities make a decision on the application to renounce permanent residence

The Economic Classes – General – The Requirements of a Family Member

• For the authorities to consider an individual as a family member of the applicant, a person would need to be a family member of the applicant both at the time of making the application under Division 6 of Part 5 and at the time of the determination of the application

• This is in accordance with the provisions specified in subsections 25.1 (3), 25.1 (4) and 25.1 (5) of the Act and for the purposes of this Part

Skilled Workers – Interpretation – The Definitions

• The following definitions are applicable to this Division:

  • Canadian Educational Credential: This denotes any diploma, certificate or credential issued on the completion of a Canadian program of study or training at an educational or training institution recognised by the provincial authorities responsible for registering, accrediting, supervising and regulating such institutions i.e. (diplôme canadien)

  • Equivalency Assessment(or attestation d’équivalence): This refers to any determination that a foreign diploma, certificate or credential is equivalent to a Canadian educational credential. In addition, this refers to an assessment of the authenticity of the foreign diploma, certificate or credential. It is worth highlighting that only organisations or institutions designated under the provisions specified in subsection 75 (4) have the authority to make these assessments and determinations.

  • Former Regulations: This has the same meaning as specified in the provisions mentioned in subsection 316 (1) i.e. ancien règlement

  • Full-time Work: This denotes at least 30 hours of work over a period of one week i.e. travail à temps plein

  • Language Skill Area: This refers to speaking, oral comprehension, reading or writing i.e. habileté langagière

  • Restricted Occupation (orprofession d’accès limité): This refers to occupations that the Minister has designated as restricted occupations. The Minister typically takes into account labour market activity on both an area and a national basis. Thereafter, before determining an occupation to be restricted, the Minister will consult with:

    • The Department of Employment and Social Development

    • Provincial governments and,

    • Any other relevant organisations or institutions

    • It is worth highlighting that for the purposes of this Division, work refers to an activity for which a person receives wages or earns a commission – this is regardless of the definition of work as specified in section 2

The General Criteria

• The Minister would be responsible for fixing, by class prescribed by these Regulations or by occupation, the minimum language thresholds on the basis of:

  • The number of applications in all classes under this Part that the officers are processing

  • The number of immigrants the authorities have projected as becoming permanent residents based on the report to Parliament referred to in section 94 of the Act and,

  • The potential for the establishment in Canada of applicants (based on the linguistic profiles of the applicants along with other economic and relevant factors) under the:

    • Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) Class

    • Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and,

    • Federal Skilled Trades (FST) Class

• In addition, the Minister would need to make these minimum language proficiency thresholds available to the public

• This is in accordance with the provisions specified in paragraphs 75 (2) (d), 79 (3) (a), 87.1 (2) (d), 87.1 (2) (e) and 87.2 (3) (a)

The Minimum Language Proficiency Thresholds

• The Minister bears the responsibility for fixing the minimum language proficiency thresholds

• The Minister will establish these thresholds in reference to the benchmarks described in the Canadian Language Benchmarks and the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens

The Designation for Evaluating Language Proficiency

• The Minister has the authority to designate any organisation or institution to be responsible for evaluating language proficiency if the organisation or institution:

  • Possesses the relevant expertise in evaluating language proficiency and,

  • Has provided a correlation of its evaluation results to the benchmarks specified in the Canadian Language Benchmarks and the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens

• These designated organisations or institutions will retain their status for any period that the Minister has specified

The Public Notice

• The Minister would need to make available to the public a list of the designated organisations or institutions

• It is worth highlighting that the term ‘service agreement’ refers to an agreement concluded between the Government of Canada and an organisation or institution for the purpose of having the organisation or institution provide the service of evaluating the language proficiency of foreign nationals

The Revocation of the Designation

• The Minister has the authority to revoke a designation if:

  • The organisation or institution no longer meets the criteria specified above

  • The organisation or institution submitted false, misleading or inaccurate information or has contravened any provision of federal or provincial legislations relevant to the service provided by the organisation or the institution or,

  • The organisation or institution or the Government of Canada has terminated the service agreement

The Conclusive Evidence

• The results of an evaluation that a designated organisation or institution carry out denote conclusive evidence of the language proficiency of an applicant under the:

  • Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) Class

  • Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and,

  • Federal Skilled Trades (FST) Class