More Countries Listed As ‘Safe’ Designated Countries of Origin

Posted on June 3, 2013 by CICS Immigration Team

The addition of Chile to the Canadian government’s list of designated countries of origin was announced during a meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Chilean president Sebastian Pinera (Government of Canada)

As part of the effort to combat bogus asylum claims, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced on Thursday that two more countries have been designated as ‘safe’ countries from which asylum claims will be given an expedited treatment.

CIC created the list of designated countries of origin (DCOs) in December 2012 to stem the tide of welfare seekers from European countries, primarily Hungarian Roma, that were taking advantage of Canada’s generous asylum claims process to live on the country’s social services for years until finally being deported.

In its report on the phenomenon, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) found that claimants would delay their deportation through a lengthy process of appeals, before finally abandoning their claim or having it rejected for lack of evidence.

The list originally contained 27 countries, that included most EU member states. Eight more countries were added in February, and with the addition of Chile and South Korea on Thursday, the total number of countries has come to 37.

Countries are considered DCOs if they are democracies with strong legal protections of human rights, and if at least 60 percent of asylum claimants from the country had withdrawn/abandoned their claim, or at least 75 percent of claims by claimants from the country were either withdrawn or abandoned by the claimant or rejected by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB).

Chile’s induction into the DCO list coincided with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s meeting with Chilean president Sebastian Pinera, and the signing of a Canada-Chile trade agreement.

Eight More Countries Considered “Safe” By Canada’s Refugee System

Posted on February 14, 2013 by CICS Immigration Team

A refugee camp in Africa. The Canadian government resettles over 10 percent of the refugees settled annually worldwide (Citizenship and Immigration Canada)

As part of an effort to reduce the number of bogus asylum claims made in Canada, the federal government has added eight countries to its list of designated countries of origin, which are those it considers as having strong protection of human rights, and from which genuine refugees are unlikely to originate.

Asylum claimants from the now 35 designated countries of origin will still be able to file a claim with the Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), but they will receive a hearing within an expedited 30-45 day period, instead of the 60 days that individuals from non-designated countries will wait.

Individuals from designated countries of origin will also not have the recently created, quasi-judicial, Refugee Appeals Division (RAD) available to them, although they will still be able to appeal their decision in federal court.

The removal of access to the RAD from those originating from safe countries is intended to alleviate a major problem of those whose claims are rejected delaying their removal from the country through appeals, allowing them to stay in Canada for years, and collect thousands of dollars in social assistance, until they have finally exhausted the appeals process.

The eight countries categorized as designated countries of origin are:

Mexico
Israel (excluding Gaza and the West Bank)
Japan
Norway
Iceland
New Zealand
Australia
Switzerland

The introduction of expedited processing of asylum claims from designated countries puts Canada in the company of a number of other countries who withhold full access to their refugee system from claimants originating from countries deemed ‘safe’, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium and Finland.

Canadian Immigration Department Creates New Rules To Fight Refugee Fraud

Posted on December 21, 2012 by CICS Immigration Team

The Immigration and Refugee Board office in Vancouver. New rules in place since December 15th expedite the processing of asylum claims from Designated Countries of Origin (DCOs) and withdraw their access to the Refugee Appeals Division (RAD) (GOOGLE MAPS)

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) last week released a list of 27 countries whose nationals will have their asylum claims expedited.

The new rules were created to fight a growing problem of bogus asylum claims by nationals of European member-state countries, particularly Hungary.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has reported thousands of Hungarian Roma arriving in Canada in recent years and in most cases going on welfare for months/years until their refugee hearing.

In almost all cases, the bogus claimants withdrew their refugee claim before the hearing or had it heard and rejected by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) due to lack of evidence of persecution in their country of origin.

Starting December 15th, the following countries have been classified as designated countries of origin (DCOs) and subject to the new expedited processing rules for asylum claimants they produce:

Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States of America

The list includes 25 of 27 European member states, as well as the United States and Croatia.

CIC says more countries will be added over the next few months, which could see Romania, another major source of bogus claimants, put on the list.

The new asylum processing procedures will also see claimants from non-DCO countries have their case heard within 60 days, which is significantly faster than the average 600 days that asylum claimants currently wait.

While claimants from DCO countries will be able to appeal negative IRB decisions at federal court, they will not have access to the newly created Refugee Appeal Division of the IRB, and will not have their removal orders stayed while making an appeal to federal courts, thus closing one of the main means by which bogus claimants extend their stay in Canada.

The criteria used to determine which countries will be designated as ‘safe’ and have the processing of asylum claimants originating from them expedited is at least 60 percent of claimants from the country withdrawing/abandoning their claim, or at least 75 percent of claims by claimants from the country being either withdrawn or abandoned by the claimant, or rejected by the IRB.

For countries from which less than 30 claimants originate each year, a different criterion of existence of an independent judiciary, democratic rights, and the existence of civil society organizations will be used.