The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act’s (IRPA) regulations and laws are enforced by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
The Minister of Public Safety, who is also in charge of the Canada Border Services Agency, and the Minister of Immigration in Canada share oversight of IRPA. Accordingly, there is a lot of overlap between the two departments and they both work on the immigration process.
The Act addresses nearly every facet of Canada’s immigration system, such as program criteria, application procedures, and ensuring that immigration laws are designed with the country’s economy, family unity, and national security in mind.
Immigration applications are processed or completed in conjunction with other departments. For instance, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) greatly benefits from the involvement of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).
The function of IRCC in immigration
The primary government agency in charge of reviewing an immigration application is the IRCC.
It guarantees that applications are filled out accurately and truthfully and that candidates are eligible for the programs they have selected.
Immigration enforcement, including determining an applicant’s eligibility at the port of entry, is within the purview of the CBSA. Working together with IRCC, CBSA must do this.
Stated differently, the CBSA determines whether to grant entry to a migrant into Canada even if the IRCC decides to accept their application.
In other words, CBSA determines if an immigrant poses a security danger to Canada. They conduct background checks, which involve a lookup of criminal histories. Should it be discovered that the applicant has already committed an offense, they may be considered inadmissible and the newcomer will not be permitted to enter Canada. This might be related to a DUI charge or a significant criminal offense.
When required, the agency also grants security clearances. Processing delays may occur because the IRCC has no control over how long it takes for the CBSA to assess an application for a security clearance.
Employment and Social Development Canada
For the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) are issued by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).
Employers in Canada may occasionally want to engage Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) due to a shortage of workers in the country who possess the requisite skills for a position.
In order to accomplish this, businesses must submit an LMIA to ESDC, which determines whether employing TFWs for the role would benefit Canada’s economy, harm it, or remain neutral. The company is permitted to hire TFWs if ESDC determines that the impact would be either neutral or positive.
From here, the TFW has to get a copy of the LMIA from the employer to send to the IRCC together with their application for a work visa. Depending on the stream, an LMIA’s processing time might range from 9 to 57 days. The IRCC service standard for a work permit application is in addition to this.
What effect do these connections have on IRCC?
In a recent study, former Deputy Immigration Minister Neil Yeates said that there is an excessive amount of complexity in the connection between the IRCC and other government agencies.
“Previous Deputy Ministers have noted that, since the establishment of CBSA, it appears that the existing division of duties and accountabilities is not ideal.” The report mentioned. “This runs the risk of decreasing the effectiveness of both organizations and creates needless friction in the relationship between the IRCC and CBSA.”
He suggested that in order to aid in “rationalizing and streamlining roles and accountabilities,” a review of the division of duties between the IRCC and CBSA under the IRPA be conducted.
In order to better serve customers, the IRCC has established a strategy to simplify its operations since the report was filed. Notably, the IRCC intends to revise and examine IRPA in order to take into account the present immigration demand. This might imply a change in each department’s IRPA-mandated duties.
