This Obama-Era Agency Is Trying to Speed Immigration Under Trump’s Nose

2018/12/11 Leave a comment

Interesting:

The Trump administration deployed military forces to block asylum seekers from crossing the southern U.S. border and is indefinitely detaining more than 14,000 migrant children, so it’s easy to overlook that missing paperwork is quietly threatening the legal status of hundreds of thousands of green card holders. The backlog of legal residents waiting for their renewal forms to be processed topped a record 700,000 at one point last year, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says that 34 of the 42 forms it handles now take longer to process than they did in 2016. To keep people from being accidentally deported while their renewals were pending, the agency started sending them little rectangular stickers with extended expiration dates to affix to their laminated green cards. When it ran out of stickers, it called Matt Cutts.

Cutts runs the U.S. Digital Service, an executive-branch agency created by President Barack Obama to salvage the botched healthcare.gov website and drag the feds into the digital age. He became the USDS’s second administrator on President Trump’s first day, taking over from a former Google colleague. Cutts’s staff of 170, a smattering of them drawn from Silicon Valley’s biggest companies, is credited with saving the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs $100 million by streamlining its cloud computing systems, with editing language on the Veterans Administration’s benefits website to make sure it ranks high in Google searches, and even with building a radio-frequency jammer that disables enemy drones. Now the USDS is undertaking its biggest challenge yet: making immigrants’ lives easier without attracting Trump’s ire.

Cutts walks a fine line, stressing that his team is nonpartisan and focused on the Republican watchword “efficiency.” Asked about the administration’s now-suspended policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the border, Cutts demurs. “That’s more an issue of process and policies than technology,” he says, though he acknowledges that his team reads the news and discusses ways to help people. Some of his staffers are less diplomatic. “I don’t work for Trump,” says Liz Odar, who joined the agency in early 2016 from LivingSocial, the faded Groupon Inc. look-alike. “I work for the government, and I work for the American people.”

On immigration, the agency’s record is mixed. The USDS began working on the green card queue last year, noticing that the USCIS software classified routine issues such as a change of address just as seriously as, say, a green card holder being arrested. The team created a program to sift renewal applicants by risk category, feeding the change-of-address types into a faster lane. The digital service says the software has helped cut the overall USCIS backlog by about two-thirds.

Yet the reality on the ground hasn’t improved for everyone, says Denyse Sabagh, an immigration attorney at law firm Duane Morris LLP. “It seems like the agency is geared now to deny cases across the board,” she says, and it’s no clearer why her clients’ renewal requests are taking so long to process, with some basic cases that would once require a few days taking five months and complex ones taking years.

Things are worse for the 300,000 people still awaiting the asylum they asked for upon entering the U.S. Some have now been in the queue for five years, and it can take three years to even get an interview with a U.S. immigration official. The gridlock encourages people who know they’re unlikely to receive asylum to file claims simply to delay deportation, says USDS Executive Director Stephanie Neill, previously a product director at internet conglomerate IAC/InterActiveCorp. She and other staffers are testing a program that autofills most of the basic details in post-interview reports.

“With asylum, the challenge is that everyone gets an interview,” says Odar. “There’s no one quick fix.” The border blockade preventing more than 6,000 people from entering the U.S. will likely reduce the asylum backlog, but it’s too early to say by how much, according to USDS.

The USDS effort to overhaul citizen naturalization has gone poorly. The process seemed easy enough to improve: USCIS staff were still hand-checking details on each form, because the old program they were using couldn’t be trusted. (A find-and-replace command intended to delete answers that were “not applicable” instead deleted the letters “na” everywhere it found them, so Donna’s application became Don’s, for instance.) The USDS replacement, while less error-prone, was still unreliable and slow to load on its release this summer. “It was so bad the agency said, ‘Stop! Do not put any more applications into this brand-new system until you fix these problems,’ ” says Mark Lerner, who joined the digital service from Google in early 2016. Lerner is among the staffers testing a version to be rolled out in the next few months.

Government service was a tough sell in Silicon Valley even under the tech-friendly Obama administration, which landed many a departing top staffer at big-name companies. Cutts’s USDS has had to work harder to recruit top talent, with the administrator and others repeatedly touring Silicon Valley and a dozen other tech hubs to pitch the gig as a nonpartisan mission of public service.

Whatever his team can do can’t come soon enough, says Arzan Raimalwala, an Indian investment banker who’s lived in the U.S. on work visas for 15 of the past 16 years. Raimalwala’s 2015 green card application remains so deep in the USCIS queue that it won’t be evaluated until at least 2024, he says. He fears that further Trump crackdowns might cut off the supply of work visas, forcing him to sell his house and move his family, including his infant American daughter. “There was always that risk,” he says. “But it’s definitely more so under this administration.”

Source: This Obama-Era Agency Is Trying to Speed Immigration Under Trump’s Nose

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Estonia’s Interior Ministry to not support bill allowing dual citizenship

2018/12/11 Leave a comment

Wonder what the potential impact will be on Canadians of Estonian ancestry:

The Estonian Interior Ministry is about to make a proposal to not support the bill that would allow dual citizenship for citizens of Estonia by birth when the government discusses the Reform Party bill on Thursday.

Interior Minister Andres Anvelt will make a proposal to the government to not support the draft legislation, as making amendments to the Citizenship Act require in-depth consideration and an analysis of impacts.

The Interior Ministry observed that the proposal to legalize multiple citizenship for people and groups of people who have obtained Estonian citizenship by birth will lead to unequal treatment. Likewise, the regulation of Estonian citizenship obtained through opting set out in the draft legislation will lead to unequal treatment.

In addition, in the provisions concerning stripping of a person of their citizenship the law should not distinguish between whether a person applied for citizenship under general rules or was granted it for special merit. It is possible also now to strip all persons who have not obtained their Estonian citizenship by birth of their citizenship by a decision of the government on certain grounds, the ministry said.

At the same time, the Interior Ministry finds the proposal to add to the Citizenship Act a provision enabling persons convicted of treason or the commission of a terrorist crime to be stripped of their citizenship to be justified and supports it.

The Estonian government is scheduled on Thursday to discuss a Reform Party bill that would allow dual citizenship to Estonian citizens by birth.

The Reform Party group initiated a similar bill also in spring this year, but saw it rejected by the government. Unlike that bill, the draft to be discussed by the government Thursday envisages also the possibility to strip a person of Estonian citizenship after a guilty verdict handed down on them for treason or a terrorist crime.

Source: Estonia’s Interior Ministry to not support bill allowing dual citizenship

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Norway: Parliament approves dual citizenship

2018/12/07 Leave a comment

Last of the Nordics to do so:

It was a big day for long-term expatriates in Norway and Norwegians who’ve moved abroad. After years of debate, a majority in Parliament finally approved dual citizenship in Norway on Thursday for all those who have strong ties to both their homeland and their country of residence.

 

“I think this is a day of great joy,” said Ove Trellevik, a member of Parliament for the Conservative Party that backed dual citizenship along with every other party in Parliament except the Labour Party and the Center Party.

The Liberal Party was also celebrating the dual citizenship victory, with cake decorated with images of a Norwegian passport.  Some Liberal Party members claimed the approval wouldn’t have come if the Liberals hadn’t joined the government in January. Both the Conservatives and the Progress Party, however, had already signaled their support in 2017 and earlier.

Trellevik noted that the law banning dual citizenship dated from 1888. “It was ripe for a re-evaluation, and had to adapt to the times we’re living in,” Trellevik told news bureau NTB. Donna Fox, who spearheaded a major effort to end the ban on dual citizenship, wrote in a message to newsinenglish.no that “after a long campaign we have all won the best possible outcome for all.”

It will allow immigrants in Norway to keep the citizenship of their birth while also acquiring Norwegian citizenship and finally being able, for example, to vote in national elections. It will also allow Norwegians who have moved abroad and become citizens of their resident country to retain, or re-acquire, their Norwegian passports. They had to give up their Norwegian citizenship if they became citizens of, for example, the US or Australia, just like Americans and Australians would have had to surrender their passports in order to acquire a Norwegian one. Many have refused to do so, living in Norway on the grounds of permanent residence permission and having to renew residence within the EU’s Schengen area every two years.

 

Norway has been been one of the few countries in the world, and the only Nordic country, to have banned dual citizenship until now. While even the anti-immigration Progress Party was won over by those advocating dual citizenship (if only to be able to revoke Norwegian citizenship for those committing crimes and enable deportation to their country of birth) both the Labour and Center parties still objected.

The farmer-friendly Center Party, known for its protectionist policies, argued that it was a question of loyalty: “If Norway is in conflict with another country, will a person with citizenship in both countries think only of Norway’s interests when they vote?” queried Center Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum in a recent commentary in newspaper Dagbladet. Both the Center and Labour parties also argued that dual citizenship will weaken efforts to prevent forced marriages and some immigrants’ practice of sending their children out of the country to discipline them.

Trellevik counters both arguments, claiming that it can be easier to follow up such cases when the children are also Norwegian citizens, while he also thinks dual citizenship can dampen conflicts rather than heighten them.

It will take awhile before the new law takes effect, however. NTB noted that Norway first must revoke the Council of Europe’s convention from May 6, 1963 that states how Norwegian citizens must give up their citizenship if they accept a new one. Then it will take at least one year from the Council of Europe’s receipt of the revocation notice until the law is valid. The Education Ministry is responsible for the process, expected to be completed sometime in 2020 and hopefully well in advance of the next national election in 2021.

Source: Parliament approves dual citizenship

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Pakistani woman says working with refugees for UN entitles her to fast-tracked Canadian citizenship

2018/12/07 Leave a comment

Never liked using this provision for athletes either, but they were wearing the Canadian flag. Hard to justify IMO, and government would have to develop guidelines and principles to define “exceptional circumstances.” But extending her Permanent Resident status may be reasonable given her children are in Canada:

A Pakistani woman wants the federal government to fast-track her citizenship application under an obscure provision of the law that rewards people who provide “services of an exceptional value to Canada.”

In the past, such accommodations have been granted to foreign athletes so they can compete for Canada at the Olympic Games. But in this instance, Bushra Halepota, who has permanent resident status in Canada, says her work with the United Nations to help refugees and efforts to further global peace deserve special consideration.

Halepota’s application was initially rejected by a senior representative of Ahmed Hussen, the federal immigration minister. The representative found that while Halepota’s work was “commendable” and “noble,” awarding her citizenship would invite applications from any person who worked for a humanitarian organization.

But in a decision last week, a Federal Court judge sent the case back for reconsideration after finding that Halepota’s claim was not decided on its merits.

“I strongly believe that Ms. Halepota’s work for the (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) should be considered as exceptional value to Canada because her work is consistent with the Canadian mandate to save lives, reduce suffering and help those affected by conflicts,” her Toronto lawyer, Nilofar Ahmadi, told the National Post in an email.

Vancouver lawyer Richard Kurland, who frequently comments on immigration matters, says cases like this one are “rarer than hens’ teeth” but Halepota may have a legitimate argument.

“There are cases where common sense says Canadian citizenship is clearly deserved,” he said. “At stake could be a spot on the Olympic team, or a lifetime career at UNHCR and the person needs their citizenship badly.”

Halepota, whose children and sisters are Canadian citizens and live in Canada, first applied for citizenship in 2009. But in June 2017, a citizenship judge rejected her application on the grounds she had not spent enough time in Canada.

So she applied for special consideration under section 5(4) of the Citizenship Act, which gives the minister discretion to “grant citizenship to any person to alleviate cases of statelessness or of special and unusual hardship or to reward services of an exceptional value to Canada.”

Officials with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada were unable to provide data on how many people have been granted citizenship under this provision. But media reports over the years indicate these special accommodations have been granted to professional athletes.

In 2013, for instance, citizenship was granted to American ice dancer Piper Gilles in time for her to compete for Canada at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.

And in 2012, citizenship was given to Eugene Zhen Wang, a top-ranked, Chinese-born table tennis player, so he could compete for Canada at the Olympic Summer Games in London.

But the immigration minister’s representative earlier this year said while Halepota’s work with the United Nations provides valuable services to vulnerable people and aligns with Canada’s humanitarian assistance goals, “I am not satisfied that this work constitutes exceptional service to Canada.”

In asking the Federal Court to review that decision, Halepota’s lawyer wrote that if Canada was willing to fast-track citizenship to professional athletes, “surely we can provide citizenship to a UNHCR employee who can assist Canada in furthering its peacekeeping goals.”

Halepota has served with the United Nations since 1994 and has been posted around the world, including New York, Armenia, Pakistan and Iraq. She is currently in Nepal.

At times, “she has placed herself in dangerous environments to further global peace and security,” Ahmadi wrote to the court.

Ahmadi went on to write that if Halepota followed the regular path to citizenship, she would “have to quit the only job where she has a substantial amount of experience in and skills that have developed over the years.”

Halepota already faces a risk of losing her permanent resident status because of her frequent travel obligations, her lawyer added.

Federal lawyers countered by saying that Halepota’s work had “no nexus to Canada.”

But in sending the case back to the government for reconsideration, Judge Sebastien Grammond wrote that there is no requirement in the provision that services be provided to the Canadian government or a Canadian entity — they must simply have “value to Canada.”

“Canada values multilateral action through the United Nations. Hence, services rendered to the United Nations must be considered as having value to Canada,” he wrote.

Source: Pakistani woman says working with refugees for UN entitles her to fast-tracked Canadian citizenship

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MP’s bid to boost French requirements for citizenship could spark House battle

2018/12/06 Leave a comment

Citizenship is solely federal jurisdiction:

Heads up, House staff: It may be time to dust off those ballot boxes.

Another battle over backbench business may be brewing after the Commons procedure committee backed a recommendation to bar Bloc Québécois interim leader Mario Beaulieu’s bid to impose new French-language requirements on Quebec residents applying for Canadian citizenship from going to a full House vote.

Introduced on Nov. 1, Beaulieu’s bill would require permanent residents living in Quebec to have an “adequate knowledge of French” in order to obtain Canadian citizenship.

Under the current laws, they only need an “adequate knowledge” of one of Canada’s two official language, a standard that applies across the country — prompting concerns that Beaulieu’s proposal could violate the Constitution.

Last month, the all-party subcommittee charged with vetting private members’ bills and motions in advance of their addition to the House priority list recommended that the proposal be designated non-votable — while Beaulieu would remain free to bring it to the floor for debate. But when the two hours automatically allocated for second-reading consideration ran out, it would be dropped from the order paper.

During the subcommittee meeting, Library of Parliament analyst David Groves told MPs it raised “complex constitutional issues” — but could nevertheless be permitted to go forward without being designed as non-votable, since Quebec has “a great deal more control over immigration than other provinces,” and, as a result, “has some unique powers in that regard.”

The three subcommittee members weren’t so sure.

“My wife speaks five languages. French is not one of them,” Liberal MP David de Burgh Graham said. “When she got her Canadian citizenship, we had just moved to Quebec” — where, he noted, he already lived. “She would have had to return to Ontario or stay in Ontario to get her citizenship, and I think that’s against the values of our Constitution, our charter.”

New Democrat MP Rachel Blaney agreed.

“As a person who ran an organization that served newcomers to Canada for many years, I remember helping people in our very anglophone part of the world, in B.C., who spoke only French, and they would still be able to get their citizenship by using the French language,” she observed.

“I am not going to vote in support of moving forward with this, because it simply is not … well, I don’t think it’s constitutional, and it totally undermines the fact that Canada is a multilingual country. That’s something we should all be proud of.”

Eventually, the subcommittee voted unanimously to recommend the bill be designated non-votable — a decision that prompted Beaulieu to exercise his right to appeal, which he did during a special appearance before the full committee last week.

But despite garnering support from the opposition side of the table for his pitch to let his bill proceed to a vote, Liberal MPs used their majority to side with the subcommittee and approve the recommended course of action, although Liberal MP Scott Simms noted that his vote was cast “with reservations.”

Beaulieu does have one remaining avenue of appeal: If he can secure the support of at least five fellow MPs representing at least two recognized parties, he can ask the Speaker to convene a secret ballot vote on the committee ruling.

That’s exactly what New Democrat MP Sheila Malcolmson did last year when the same subcommittee concluded that her proposal to establish a federal strategy on cleaning up shipwrecks and abandoned vessels was simply too similar to a government-backed bill introduced after her proposal was tabled.

The House ultimately rejected her call, which she blamed on the Liberal government for telling its MPs to block her attempt to revive the bill.

Even if Beaulieu succeeds in getting his bill back on the main House docket, he’ll still face an uphill battle in convincing his Commons colleagues to actually vote for his proposed new rules for hopeful citizens. That’s because the opposition members who supported his right to bring it forward at committee made it very clear they’d be unlikely to support it in the House.

Source: MP’s bid to boost French requirements for citizenship could spark House battle

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Citizenship query will not cause U.S. census undercount: official

2018/12/05 Leave a comment

Does not appear he was entirely comfortable in his testimony, but not to the extent he felt compelled to resign as happens with Statistics Canada when the then Chief Statistician, Munir Sheikh, resigned over his views on the change to the less methodologically sound National Household Survey were misrepresented:

The U.S. Census Bureau’s top scientist on Wednesday insisted the bureau can get a full count of American residents during the 2020 census, despite the Trump administration’s addition of a question on citizenship.

The agency’s chief scientist, John Abowd, made the comments in testimony in federal court in New York, where a group of U.S. states, cities and civil rights groups have sued the administration to remove the question, arguing it could dissuade non-citizens from participating in the decennial census.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a Republican, announced the citizenship question in March, saying it was needed to enforce federal laws against voter discrimination.

But plaintiffs say that is a pretext, and they want U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, who is hearing the case, to strike the question. They say Ross’ real motive is to scare immigrants into abstaining from the census, costing their mostly-Democratic communities political representation and federal aid.

Abowd’s testimony spanned two days and grew tense at times.

Closing arguments were tentatively set for Nov. 27.

On Wednesday, plaintiffs accused government lawyers of “ambushing” them with new evidence.

On Tuesday Abowd appeared to fight back tears when a plantiff lawyer said the Trump administration had decided to add the citizenship question well before asking him to study the matter.

Abowd admitted the question could lower the response rate and quality of data in the 2020 census, but said it will not cause an undercount because the bureau will follow up with non-responders. If that process requires more effort than expected, he said, enumerators can simply work harder.

“There is enough capacity in the current cost model” to “adjust their workloads,” Abowd said, citing a $1.7 billion contingency in the census budget.

He said the bureau will also rely on neighbors and existing government records to augment missing data.

Witnesses for the plaintiffs previously testified that such methods will not produce a full count.

An economist and Cornell University professor, Abowd is among the trial’s most compelling witnesses. Appointed to his Census role during the Obama administration, he advised against including the citizenship question earlier this year. But as a witness, he has had to defend it.

“CARRYING OUT OBLIGATIONS”

On Wednesday, when Abowd testified that the bureau was planning a new study on the impact of the citizenship question on the voluntary response rate of the census, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union objected.

“They’re trying to ambush us with new evidence,” attorney Dale Ho said, saying that the information should have been revealed during discovery.

The judge appeared to agree, saying he was “inclined to strike” Abowd’s testimony on the topic.

On Tuesday, Abowd appeared to hold back tears when Ho said Ross had withheld information from Abowd.

Abowd was asked to spend his holidays last December running an analysis on the pros and cons of adding the question. In fact, Ho said, Ross had decided months earlier that he supported its addition.

“From the beginning of the time I started my analysis through today, I’m just carrying out my obligations,” said an emotional Abowd.

Source: Citizenship query will not cause U.S. census undercount: official

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Dubai firm named in St Kitts-Nevis citizenship-by-investment scandal

2018/12/04 Leave a comment

Yet another one:

Copies of letters, emails and other documents in the possession of Caribbean News Now reveal that Savory & Partners, a Dubai-based citizenship by investment (CBI) agent with a claimed 200-year British pedigree, has seemingly been diverting investors from the St Kitts and Nevis government’s Hurricane Relief/Sustainable Growth Funds into a real estate development.

As reported previously, a letter purportedly sent by the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) of St Kitts and Nevis to a local authorised agent has been denied by both the CIU and the local agent, leading (if true) to the inescapable conclusion that it has been forged, probably using a genuine letter as a template.

The letter states that “the application via real estate option” in a development for a specified individual “has been approved in principle for Citizenship by Investment”.

The letter goes on to say that “payment of US$150,000 must be made within six months”. However, the minimum amount required by law under the real estate option is an investment of $200,000, not $150,000 as stated in the letter.

The local citizenship agents concerned told Caribbean News Now that the firm “has never received such a letter from the unit and has never forwarded such a letter to anyone”.

Furthermore, according to Les Khan, CEO of the CIU, the letter does not conform to the Unit’s customary format and content. This prompts the question: who did the forgery; the remaining candidates being either Savory & Partners, the foreign agents for the application in question, or the local developer, or indeed both. Neither has yet responded to requests for comment.

According to the terms set out in the relevant documents signed by the applicant and the developer, the client is told he is purchasing a share in an approved development for an amount equivalent to the then CIP government “donation” option, but agrees immediately to transfer this interest back to the developer.

In other words, the applicant receives nothing of tangible value in return for his purported real estate investment except for St Kitts and Nevis citizenship, as would be the case if the applicant had instead made the optional contribution to the country’s Hurricane Relief Fund or Sustainable Growth Fund. However, under this scheme, others pocket the money instead of the government, without giving anything of concrete value in return.

Agents involved in this deceit can make upwards of US$100,000 per application, compared to the customary government commission of US$15,000, to the detriment of the people of St Kitts and Nevis.

Former St Kitts and Nevis prime minister, Dr Denzil Douglas, first raised the alarmover these questionable activities at a press conference last month.

Other Caribbean islands have been plagued by similar skullduggery. AAA Associates and Bluemina CBI consultants have been similarly promoting these dubious schemes.

With regard to the allegedly forged documents, Khan has stated that the matter is under investigation by the CIU.

However, since Caribbean News Now has also been provided with copies of text messages said to be from Khan to another citizenship firm encouraging the similar diversion of funds from the donation option into real estate projects of questionable feasibility, it would seem to be unrealistic to rely on the CIU to investigate itself. Indee,d Khan’s text messages are explicit, insisting agents follow his recommendation as to choice of developer when engaging in such activity.

Earlier this month Khan told Investment Migration Insider, an industry newsletter, that “Our real estate option is really taking off now […] It’s become a viable option and it’s now almost on par with the Sustainable Growth Fund […]”

In the meantime, Caribbean News Now also has copies of emails and written proposals from Savory & Partners sent within just the past few days to other potential clients offering St Kitts and Nevis citizenship at investment amounts far below what the CIU has confirmed are the legal requirements.

In addition, as reported earlier, a number of advertisements have been appearing on social media in the Middle East offering St Kitts and Nevis citizenship at investment amounts substantially below the legally mandated minimums.

It seems clear that the specific incident involving Savory and the other similar proposals and/or completed citizenship applications potentially give rise to criminal offences under the laws of St Kitts and Nevis as well as other jurisdiction. This is not the only example of forged letters in the possession of Caribbean News Nowrelating to other developers and agents, not just in Dubai.

There is, however, no word as to whether or not the matter will be referred to local police for investigation.

Further, since the available evidence suggests that the funds in question were or are to be transferred in US dollars through the US banking system, all parties involved should be concerned about their potential exposure to US federal investigation and possible money laundering charges, notwithstanding the claim by Savory on its website that its “British management team maintains a strict code of conduct based on professionalism, transparency and efficiency”.

All parties concerned have been asked for clarification or comment and any responses will be reported accordingly in due course.

Source: Dubai firm named in St Kitts-Nevis citizenship-by-investment scandal

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Ethnic media on birth tourism (2): Spanish, Chinese (4 articles), Korean

2018/12/03 Leave a comment

MIREMS, Multilingual International Research and Ethnic Media Services, kindly shared what they are picking up on birth tourism in the ethnic media:

Federal government wants to better understand ‘birth tourism’ – Spanish

Description: A study shows that in 2016, many more babies were born to non-resident mothers in Canada than what official statistics indicate, which has led the federal government to analyze the phenomenon in order to better understand why women are coming to give birth here and make their babies Canadian citizens. Using data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI ), researcher Andrew Griffith found that in 2016, 3,200 babies were born in Canada whose mothers were not residents of this country. Statistics Canada’s data shows that there were only 313. The CIHI records invoicing and payment information directly from the hospitals and this is how the statistics were obtained. According to the findings, the numbers are not only higher than what was believed, but there is an increasing trend.
WEB – Noticias Montreal (30000 – Daily6) – Montreal, 26/11/2018 – NEWS, 1/2 page web, 1st Top, Spanish

Ottawa is finally paying attention to maternity tourism – Chinese

Description: Ottawa is now studying so-called “birth tourism” in the hope of better understanding how many women travel to Canada to have babies so that the babies can be born as Canadian citizens. New research shows that more babies are born in Canada to foreign residents than Statistics Canada realized. Using numbers from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, which captures billing information directly from hospitals, researcher Andrew Griffith found that over 3,200 babies were born here to women who were not Canadian residents in 2016 — compared with 313 babies recorded by Statistics Canada. The finding suggests not only that the numbers are higher than previously reported but that it is a growing trend, Griffith said.
PRINT – Epoch Times (54000 – Daily5) – Toronto, 26/11/2018 – News, 1/4 page, p. A4, Chinese

The birth rate of anchor babies in Canada is being significantly underestimated – Chinese

Description: RCI Ya Ming – Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen promised to study the issue of birth tourism. Researcher Andrew Griffith used numbers from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, which captures billing information directly from hospitals, and found that more than 3,200 babies were born here to women who aren’t Canadian residents in 2016, compared with only 313 babies recorded by Statistics Canada. Griffithsaid that this finding not only suggests that the numbers are higher than previously reported, but that it’s a growing trend. This trend exists in all Canadian provinces, with the exception of Quebec.
WEB – iask (Daily7) – Markham, 23/11/2018 – NEWS, 1 page web, 1st Top, Chinese

Birth tourism seeking citizenship is hiking up – Korean

Description: A new study shows that the number of births in Canada by nonresidents, known as “birth tourism,” is much higher than previously reported. The level of birth tourism nationally in Canada is at least five times greater than recorded by Statistics Canada while the number of babies in the case has been increased to 3,628 in 2017 from 1,354 in 2010. The majority of birth tourists are from Asia, including China, and prefers B.C. as the destination.
PRINT – Canadian Korean Times Weekly (Weekly) – Toronto, 26/11/2018 – NEWS, 1/4 page, 1st Top, Korean

Two thousand anchor babies are born every year; Metro Vancouver residents want to ban them from getting Canadian citizenship – Chinese

Description: Amy – Birth tourism figures in Canada are around 1,500 to 2,000, five times higher than Statistics Canada had estimated. Richmond resident Kerry Starchuk twice launched petitions to call on Parliament to ban anchor babies from automatically acquiring Canadian citizenship. One of the petitions she launched was supported by Alice Wong. Starchuk emphasized that the purpose of launching the petition was not to target babies born in the country. She is concerned that the large number of anchor babies will become a heavy burden on public spending in future. This August, the federal Conservative Party passed a motion that seeks to amend the law and ban anchor babies from automatically acquiring citizenship.
WEB – Vansky (Daily7) – Vancouver, 22/11/2018 – NEWS, 1 page web, 1st Top, Chinese

2,000 anchor babies are born in Canada every year – Chinese

Description: Sing Tao – A recent report pointed out that about 1,500 to 2,000 anchor babies are born in Canada (every year). Of the 25 hospitals where most such births occur, six are in Ontario, while two are in B.C. Among them, the Richmond Hospital recorded the largest number of anchor babies. The report made three recommendations, including requiring foreign female visitors to disclose the purpose of their visit to Canada, and considering a baby’s citizenship to be obtained through fraud if the mother came for birth tourism.
WEB – CFC NEWS (Daily4) – Ottawa, 22/11/2018 – NEWS, 1 page web, 1st Top, Chinese

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BC MLA aims to address birth tourism as new data shows high non-resident birth rates

2018/12/01 Leave a comment

Given that most actions to curb the practice require at a minimum provincial cooperation if not collaboration, something to watch:

A new study came out last week suggesting the number of “anchor babies” in Canada, especially in Richmond, is much higher than previously expected, and MLA Jas Johal [Liberal, from Richmond] said he will introduce a petition to the B.C. government to “address the problem.”

An anchor baby is a term used to refer to a child born to a non-citizen mother at the time of the child’s birth in a country that has birthright citizenship.

Policy Options magazine published a new study last Thursday from the Institute for Research on Public Policy, suggesting every year, there are 1,500 to 2,000 “anchor babies” born in Canada.

Among all the hospitals in Canada, Richmond Hospital has the highest volume of babies born to non-resident mothers – 469 last year, taking up Richmond’s number of such births to 21.9 per cent of the total births in the hospital.

“I’m glad this national organization was able to shed light on this issue. It acknowledges for the first time everything everyone suspected and builds on the reporting the Richmond News has done,” said Johal.

“Every level of government has to acknowledge the issue and work together. We can’t just be polite Canadians and not deal with it. It has nothing to do with political correctness, but got everything to do with our healthcare system, for and by Canadians. Period.”

Johal said he is very concerned about the birth tourism industry, which “is not only allowed to exist, but to flourish.” He is working with some local residents to put together a petition, which he will introduce to the province in spring.

“There is a whole industry built on marketing these practices, attracting these individuals, housing these individuals, making sure they get proper medical treatment and care services,” said Johal.

“What are the companies being set up to bring these women here? How much do they charge? What’s the money they make? We need to shine some sunlight into an industry that’s being done in the shadows.

“And there is cost to taxpayers. I know they pay for natural birth and C-section, but the potential capacity could be used for somewhere else in the health care system in Richmond.”

The petition, according to Johal, will ask the provincial government to acknowledge that birth tourism exists and have a public say that the government does not support it.

“It will also ask the government to take concrete measures, to eliminate or very much reduce the practice,” he said.

Johal said as an immigrant moving from India when he was little, this issue upsets him on the personal level.

“I value the Canadian passport more than anything in my life, but this fundamentally debases the value of Canadian citizenship,” said Johal.

Source: MLA aims to address birth tourism as new data shows high non-resident birth rates 

Filed under Birthright Citizenship, Citizenship Tagged with , ,

Douglas Todd: Wooing the ultrarich with ‘Golden Passports’ and flattery

2018/12/01 Leave a comment

Good column on citizenship-by-investment schemes:

I regret to inform readers that few of you are likely to receive an alluring invitation to buy a “Golden Passport.” That is because you are not a “High-Net-Worth-Individual,” also known as an “HNWI.”

Chances are you are just not moneyed enough to be targeted by the glossy magazines, online ads and emails designed to entice a certain class of people to join the elite club of “global talent” eager to purchase their way into a new “opportunity oases,” or, as some of us still like to call them, nations.

No, since you are not worth many millions, if not billions, of dollars, you are not the market for the jargon, euphemisms and flattery that would otherwise urge you to advance the interests of yourself and family by becoming an international “investment expatriate” or “investor immigrant,” while being lauded as “the best and brightest.”

Instead, this exclusive circle of passport and visa purchasers is for the super-rich, especially those who don’t trust their own governments, who seek the “competitive advantage” of multiple passports, who are keen on avoiding taxes and who are looking for a haven for their families. Stable, clean welcoming Canada, and Metro Vancouver, are among the most sought-after destinations of this jet-setting club.

Alas, watchdog agencies are beginning to warn that some of these trans-national migrants also want to hide their ill-gotten gains. They are collecting second, third and more passports, or at least permanent resident cards, from multiple nations as they strive for an immigration status that can provide the real-world equivalent of what the game of Monopoly calls a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.

The number of investor migrants is expanding rapidly. Economist magazine says “thousands of passports are bought and sold every year, almost always by the wealthy. The number of commercially acquired residence permits runs into the hundreds of thousands.” It’s an industry that the public widely suspects of diminishing the rights and privileges of citizenship.

There is also gnawing worry the governments busy selling passports and visas — typically in exchange for an “investment” in government bonds, businesses or real estate in the value of anywhere from $200,000 to $2.5 million — are playing into the hands of international crooks, terrorists, money launderers and oligarchs.

The European Union has gained nearly 100,000 rich new residents and 6,000 new citizens in the last decade through poorly managed, semi-secret passport-sale schemes, says Transparency International and Global Witness. The watchdog organizations have concerns about Spain and Britain, but they’re especially alarmed by the European Union’s smallest countries, Cyprus and Malta — because anyone who buys a passport from one of these yacht-filled nations gains access to all 26 countries of the EU.

Canada designed one of the first investor-immigrant schemes in the late 1980s, which soon became known for luring hundreds of thousands of affluent Hong Kong residents to the country. And, along with the United States, Canada remains among the most popular destinations for ultrarich trans-nationals hunting for extra visas and passports.

Thousands of lawyers and immigration specialists now strive to ingratiate themselves with these upper-crust clients. The most influential firm promoting the value of trans-nationalism is Henley and Partners, founded by Swiss lawyer Christian Kalin, which has offices in 20 nations and claims to have created “the concept of residence and citizenship planning.”

Kalin is editor in chief of The Global Residence and Citizenship Review, a glossy magazine that sings the praises of the “aspiring migrants” who take advantage of extra passports and the mobility they provide. One glowing ad in his magazine pumps the value of paying to “secure your family’s future with European citizenship.” It features a posh father knotting the private-school-like tie of his son. Arguably the world’s second biggest firm centred on securing a safe haven for investor migrants is Arton Capital, which has its headquarters in Canada.

Vancouver-based Johann van Rooyen, who runs the Citizenship by Investment Research Consultancy, says the global rich are buying “powerful passports” because they want to have the potential to escape political problems, preserve their wealth, reduce their taxes and travel more freely to more countries.

“While political instability and violence forces most investor-class emigrants to physically move to their host countries, for many others a second passport is seen as an insurance policy against future risks. They prefer to stay in their home countries, but like to have an alternative in case things go wrong,” says van Rooyen, citing how high-net-worth migrants are worried about rising political danger, crime, pollution and authoritarianism in places such as the Middle East, Russia, China and South Africa.

“Many Hong Kong residents who left before the China takeover in 1997 returned within a few years, after they obtained a second passport (mainly from Canada),” says van Rooyen, explaining how a lot of migrants don’t actually move to the country they bought their way into. “And thousands of Lebanese Canadians returned to Lebanon after obtaining Canadian citizenship.” More than 250,000 people now living in Hong Kong, and at least 50,000 in Lebanon, have a Canadian-passport lifeline.

The federal Conservatives finally stopped Canada’s immigrant-investor program in 2014, after determining most of the affluent who took advantage of it didn’t intend to live in Canada and those who did paid few taxes while receiving free health care and subsidized higher education.

But Quebec’s buy-a-passport scheme continues to this day.

The Quebec Immigrant Investor Program — which attracts nine out of 10 of its millionaire applicants from Asia — does not actually lure many foreign rich to the French-speaking province. Instead, the vast majority of the roughly 5,000 migrants a year who exploit Quebec’s plan move to Metro Vancouver and Toronto, where their foreign-sourced dollars pump up the cities’ already high-priced real estate.

Radio Canada journalists this fall reported that fraud, forgery and money laundering are rife in the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program. And this appears to be the norm with many Golden passport schemes. More media outlets are beginning to detail the corruption in such programs, which often make it possible for high-net-worth individuals to evade taxes and in many cases the law-enforcement officials trying to track dirty fortunes.

Trans-national scoundrels, for instance, can dodge tax reporting rules in their home country by taking citizenship or residency in a second country and opening a bank account in a third, claiming tax residency in the second. The list of scams goes on. One Chinese investor caught up in a rare crackdown on immigration fraud in Vancouver was found with seven different passports.

The passport-for-sale industry needs to be more diligent in corralling abuse and pitfalls, say watchdogs. And so do receiving and sending countries. The Economist recently speculated about a possibly bad fate, for instance, befalling some of the tens of thousands of newly wealthy Chinese nationals, who have become the world’s leaders at snapping up Golden passports and visas

“Only about half the countries in the world allow their citizens to hold dual nationality. China is not one; and it has strict exchange-control rules,” warns the Economist. “It seems unlikely that all Chinese investment migrants have alerted the authorities to their plans, or gained permission to take their money out.”

Many politicians in the West have gone wild for passport-buying schemes, most of which are new. But law enforcement officials, the public and even the investor immigrants themselves are only learning now about the real price that may have to be paid for such dubious schemes.

Source: Douglas Todd: Wooing the ultrarich with ‘Golden Passports’ and flattery

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