Illegal migration tearing UK apart, Mahmood says

2025/11/18 Leave a comment

Will see what today’s announcement and details reveals:

Illegal migration is “tearing the country apart”, the home secretary has said, as she prepares to unveil major plans to overhaul asylum policy.

New measures set to be announced by Shabana Mahmood on Monday will include people granted asylum needing to wait 20 years before they can apply to settle permanently.

The plans will also see those granted asylum have their refugee status regularly reviewed and those whose home countries are then deemed safe told to return.

Mahmood told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme she saw tackling illegal migration as a “moral mission”.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the Conservatives would deport illegal migrants “within a week”, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called for asylum seekers to have the right to work.

The changes are aimed at making the UK a less attractive destination for illegal migrants, leading to reduced small boat crossings and asylum claims.

Mahmood is also to announce the UK will stop granting visas to people from Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo if their governments do not rapidly improve co-operation on removals.

A Home Office source said the countries were being targeted “for their unacceptably low co-operation and obstructive returns processes”.

As first reported in the Times the threat of the visa ban for certain countries comes after thousands of illegal migrants and criminals from the three nations were said to be in the UK.

Many specific details and practicalities of the sweeping changes to asylum policy are yet to be made clear, and will be set out by Mahmood on Monday…..

Source: Illegal migration tearing UK apart, Mahmood says

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Globe editorial: Canada’s muddled immigration plan won’t bring in the world’s best talent

2025/11/17 Leave a comment

Sometimes being too cute in presenting numbers attracts more attention….

…The federal government’s claim that the plan “stabilizes targets for permanent resident admissions” is misleading. The nominal target for new permanent residents next year is 380,000, slightly lower than this year’s 395,000. 

But if the 148,000 from the one-off initiatives were included over the next two years, as they should be, the number given permanent resident status would jump to 454,000, assuming an even split. The Liberal government is creating superficial distinctions to blur reality, much as they are doing with “capital” and “operating” spending in the budget. The reality is that the government is increasing permanent resident targets for the next two years.

The federal government should focus on bringing the bulk of economic migrants through its national programs. And Ottawa should resist the urge to micromanage the labour market, and instead focus on restoring the skills-driven approach that will identify people most likely to prosper, and to help Canada prosper.

Source: Canada’s muddled immigration plan won’t bring in the world’s best talent

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Canada’s cap on international students helped lower rents. But will it bring colleges and universities down as well?

2025/11/17 Leave a comment

Some good quotes:

..André Côté, interim executive director of the DAIS think tank at Toronto Metropolitan University, told a Parliamentary committee this fall that it’s clear the international student program had grown “a little out of control.”

There had been a huge increase in the number of foreign students, mainly in college programs, who were unlikely to go on to well-paying jobs, Mr. Côté said. And there was never going to be enough spots for all those who wanted to stay in Canada long-term, he added.

“As much as it stinks to close campuses and to lay off staff, I look at all this and say we had a system that grew far too big for its britches,” he said to the committee. “It was a bit of a reckoning that had to happen.” …

Amir Khajepour, a professor of engineering at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, says he typically has 40 to 50 graduate students and postdocs working in his lab. His research has attracted grants and industry partnerships focused on autonomous vehicles, underground mining, robotics and health care. But he’s struggling to fill available positions.

“We are not looking for just anyone. We are looking for the best students from the best universities with the best credentials,” he said.

In the last year he has accepted about 20 to 30 international applicants, but only four have been able to obtain study permits, as processing times have increased, he said, adding his lab is down to about 30 students.

Prof. Khajepour said he doesn’t understand why the government was previously unable to distinguish between top students coming to attend prestigious universities and people whose primary purpose is immigration.

“You are damaging research. In Canada, you are in a good position to attract the best. You are not even using this opportunity,” he said.

Source: Canada’s cap on international students helped lower rents. But will it bring colleges and universities down as well?

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Palestinians living in Gaza lose lawsuits that would force Canada to process crisis travel visas

2025/11/15 2 Comments

Of note (inability to leave Gaza for biometrics):

Palestinians in Gaza who applied to join relatives in Canada two years ago under Ottawa’s crisis immigration policy but haven’t received travel visas lost their lawsuits trying to force officials to act despite security problems in the war-torn region.

Four similar court actions asked the Federal Court to order officials with Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to process their temporary resident visa applications.

Justice Henry S. Brown said the stories of applicants in Gaza were “heartbreaking” but he could not issue the orders they sought.

The court cases stem from Ottawa’s announcement of a “temporary public policy to facilitate temporary resident visas for certain extended family affected by the crisis in Gaza,” which took effect on Jan. 9, 2024.

It was supposed to provide quick refuge for Palestinians with relatives who are either Canadian citizens or permanent residents and willing to be an “anchor relative” in Canada.

The Gaza policy was capped at 5,000 visas. Court heard that almost two years later there are about 4,200 unprocessed applicants.

The policy was similar in purpose to emergency policies for Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion, Afghans fleeing the Taliban’s return to power, and those in danger zones after an earthquake in Türkiye and Syria. The policies remove some criteria normally needed to enter Canada to speed things up in a crisis.

…He agreed with the applicants that the government has a legal duty to process visa applications made under the policy. He also agreed with the government that officers did not have a duty to process applications within a particular timeframe.

“I am satisfied the Applicant has a legitimate expectation to his application being dealt with in a timely manner. However, this expectation only arises when the Applicant meets all the conditions of the Policy and provides biometric information (which he is unable to do),” Brown wrote.

Brown found that Canada’s policy did not allow visa officers to override other regulations on immigration, and those regulations require a biometric check. The government argued that Ottawa has a duty to maintain the integrity of Canada’s immigration system and Brown agreed.

“The root cause of the Applicant’s failure to provide his biometric data is of course the changed operational context, namely the closure of the Rafah crossing which made obtaining and submitting biometrics impossible.”

He said because of that, the applicants did not meet the threshold for a court order forcing the government to act because that required all elements of a process to be complete before unreasonable delay can be determined.

All cases were denied.

Source: Palestinians living in Gaza lose lawsuits that would force Canada to process crisis travel visas

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François Legault gonfle les chiffres sur les faux demandeurs d’asile

2025/11/15 Leave a comment

Quelle surprise:

Pour justifier ses politiques, le premier ministre François Legault a répété jeudi que la moitié des demandeurs d’asile réclamaient le statut de réfugié sous de faux motifs, alors que des données officielles récentes démontrent plutôt que de 22 % à 39 % des dossiers sont rejetés pour cette raison.

« On sait de façon historique que la moitié ne sont pas de vrais demandeurs d’asile », a dit M. Legault lors de la période de questions à l’Assemblée nationale.

Le premier ministre répondait alors à une question de la co-porte-parole de Québec solidaire, Ruba Ghazal, sur le manque de ressources pour les itinérants. « Il y a plusieurs causes à la crise de l’itinérance qu’on vit actuellement », a-t-il répondu avant d’évoquer les problèmes de santé mentale, la crise du logement et l’afflux de demandeurs d’asile.

« On en a fait beaucoup, mais la demande explose », a-t-il dit, avant d’affirmer que « la moitié des demandeurs d’asile ne sont pas de vrais demandeurs d’asile ».

Plus prudent, son ministre de l’Immigration, Jean-François Roberge, avait soutenu en matinée que « de 40 % à 50 % […] ne sont pas de réels demandeurs d’asile »….

Source: François Legault gonfle les chiffres sur les faux demandeurs d’asile

To justify his policies, Prime Minister François Legault repeated on Thursday that half of asylum seekers were claiming refugee status on false grounds, while recent official data show rather that 22% to 39% of applications are rejected for this reason.

“We know historically that half are not real asylum seekers,” said Mr. Legault during the question period in the National Assembly.

The Prime Minister was then answering a question from Québec solidaire’s co-spokeswoman, Ruba Ghazal, on the lack of resources for itinerants. “There are several causes for the homelessness crisis we are currently experiencing,” he replied before mentioning mental health problems, the housing crisis and the influx of asylum seekers.

“We have done a lot, but demand is exploding,” he said, before saying that “half of asylum seekers are not real asylum seekers.”

More cautious, his Minister of Immigration, Jean-François Roberge, had maintained in the morning that “40% to 50% […] are not real asylum seekers”….

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StatsCan Study: The contribution of foreign-born mothers to Canadian births from 1997 to 2024

2025/11/14 Leave a comment

Of interest:

Since 2009, Canada has been experiencing a decline in fertility, which accelerated in 2017. In addition, the country saw unprecedented annual population growth from 2022 to 2024 on account of strong international migration. In this context, the study “The contribution of foreign-born mothers to Canadian births from 1997 to 2024” sheds new light on the contribution of foreign-born women (i.e., those born outside Canada) to births in Canada over the period from 1997 to 2024 using vital statistics data on births.

In 2024, more than two in five newborns (42.3%) had a foreign-born mother, a proportion that nearly doubled in just over 25 years. Also, nearly three in five babies (57.0%) born to mothers over the age of 40 years had a foreign-born mother in 2024. In contrast, among babies born to mothers aged 19 years and younger, just over 1 in 10 (12.8%) had a foreign-born mother.

Among all births in Canada, the proportion attributable to mothers born in India increased nearly fivefold from 1997 to 2024, rising from 2.1% to 10.3%. As a result, India was the leading country of origin for new foreign-born mothers in 2024, followed by the Philippines (3.1% of all births) and China (2.0% of all births).

In 2024, Ontario and British Columbia (48.7% each) had the highest proportion of births to foreign-born mothers, while the lowest proportion was observed in the Atlantic provinces (23.6%).

From 1997 to 2024, the largest increases in the number of births to foreign-born mothers were observed in Saskatchewan (+437%), the Atlantic provinces (+298%), Alberta (+264%) and Manitoba (+206%).

According to the 2021 Census of Population, the adjusted proportion of foreign-born women among women of childbearing age was estimated at 32.3%. This is slightly lower than the proportion of births to foreign-born mothers that year (33.0%), a trend that has been observed in the last five censuses of population. This suggests that foreign-born women are overrepresented among mothers who give birth in Canada compared with their proportion of the Canadian population.

From 2022 to 2024, 96% to 98% of Canada’s annual population growth was due to international migration (new immigrants and non-permanent residents), while the remainder was due to natural increase (births minus deaths). However, without the contribution of foreign-born individuals to births and deaths, the natural increase in Canada would have been negative since 2022.

Source: Study: The contribution of foreign-born mothers to Canadian births from 1997 to 2024

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Canada should pull out of refugee pact with U.S. over Trump policies, says former Liberal foreign minister [Axworthy]

2025/11/14 Leave a comment

Not surprising that Axworthy would make that call. Substantively correct, of course, on his assessment of USA Trump administration policies. But impact would be huge and already dwarf the immigration and asylum systems, already subject to backlogs and considerable strain:

Former Liberal foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy says Canada should pull out of a long-standing refugee pact with the United States that leads to most asylum seekers arriving at the Canadian border being turned back. 

Mr. Axworthy, who is standing down as chair of the World Refugee & Migration Council on Thursday, said in an interview that President Donald Trump’s erosion of the rights of migrants in the U.S. means the country should no longer be considered a safe country for Canada to return asylum seekers to.

The Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S. took effect in 2004 and was later expanded to include not just official ports of entry but the entire land border. Under its terms, asylum seekers must claim refugee protection in the first of the two countries they arrive in. 

Most asylum seekers will be sent back if they arrive at the Canadian border after having first gone to the U.S., although there are exceptions, including forpeople facing the death penalty. 

Mr. Axworthy said Canada no longer has shared values with the U.S. under Mr.Trump. He said that “evidence is produced daily on every American newscast” that it is no longer a safe country for asylum seekers to return to.

“I mean, massive deportations without any due process. Clearly, major restrictions on who can come, a system in which there is virtually no appeal. The whole process of law has been shelved, if not totally put in the dumpster,” he said. …

Source: Canada should pull out of refugee pact with U.S. over Trump policies, says former Liberal foreign minister

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Keller: Mark Carney is already struggling with Justin Trudeau’s immigration legacy

2025/11/12 Leave a comment

Captures the challenge and the resulting disruption well:

…The challenge is that for three years the Trudeau government opened the door to what was effectively an unlimited number of notionally temporary immigrants. They came “temporarily” with the aim of staying permanently. (And who can blame them?) They paid tuition to a fly-by-night college and accepted minimum wage jobs in the hope of parlaying that into citizenship.

In the year 2000, there were 67,000 people holding a temporary work permit. By the end of 2024, there were 1,499,000. 

In 2000, there were 123,000 student visa holders. By the end of 2023, there were more than one million.

Between 2011 and 2015, the number of refugee claims made in Canada averaged about 17,000 a year. Last year, there were 190,000. This year, claims are on pace to hit 110,000.

In 2015, there were 10,000 people in Canada who had applied for refugee status and were awaiting a decision. The figure is now 296,000….

Source: Mark Carney is already struggling with Justin Trudeau’s immigration legacy

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China rolls out its version of the H-1B visa to attract foreign tech workers

2025/11/11 Leave a comment

Reminder of increased competition for talent:

Vaishnavi Srinivasagopalan, a skilled Indian IT professional who has worked in both India and the U.S., has been looking for work in China. Beijing’s new K-visa program targeting science and technology workers could turn that dream into a reality. 

The K-visa rolled out by Beijing last month is part of China’s widening effort to catch up with the U.S. in the race for global talent and cutting edge technology. It coincides with uncertainties over the U.S.’s H-1B program under tightened immigrations policies implemented by President Donald Trump.

“(The) K-visa for China (is) an equivalent to the H-1B for the U.S.,” said Srinivasagopalan, who is intrigued by China’s working environment and culture after her father worked at a Chinese university a few years back. “It is a good option for people like me to work abroad.”

The K-visa supplements China’s existing visa schemes including the R-visa for foreign professionals, but with loosened requirements, such as not requiring an applicant to have a job offer before applying.

Stricter U.S. policies toward foreign students and scholars under Trump, including the raising of fees for the H-1B visa for foreign skilled workers to $100,000 for new applicants, are leading some non-American professionals and students to consider going elsewhere.

“Students studying in the U.S. hoped for an (H-1B) visa, but currently this is an issue,” said Bikash Kali Das, an Indian masters student of international relations at Sichuan University in China. 

China wants more foreign tech professionals

China is striking while the iron is hot.

The ruling Communist Party has made global leadership in advanced technologies a top priority, paying massive government subsidies to support research and development of areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors and robotics. 

“Beijing perceives the tightening of immigration policies in the U.S. as an opportunity to position itself globally as welcoming foreign talent and investment more broadly,” said Barbara Kelemen, associate director and head of Asia at security intelligence firm Dragonfly….

Source: China rolls out its version of the H-1B visa to attract foreign tech workers

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Moffatt | Mark Carney’s promise on housing was to build build build. What happened?

2025/11/11 Leave a comment

It is both supply and demand that need to be matched which was not the case under the Trudeau government, save for the correction that started under Minister Miller:

…The message in the Budget could not be any clearer: the government is increasingly relying on reduced population growth, rather than building more, to address Canada’s housing shortage. This comes at a high cost, as newcomers to Canada do much to add to the social, economic, and cultural fabric of our country, and the changes in immigration rhetoric risk painting newcomers as the cause of housing shortages, when often they are its biggest victims.

Source: Opinion | Mark Carney’s promise on housing was to build build build. What happened?

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