Canada Immigration News

Most European Union citizens who wish to visit Canada do not require visas. However, there are some exceptions.

Nationals of six Member States that joined to form the EU-25 in 2004 still require visas, and persons from the two newest States that joined to form the EU-27 on 01 January this year require visas.

The last vestige of discrimination against gay couples has been removed from Ottawa law and a person applying for immigration can now sponsor a same-sex spouse. The controversial policy was in place since 2004, after legalized gay marriage laws started to gain a foothold in Canadian provinces.

A man who formerly worked for the KGB is to be deported from Canada for his past espionage activities. He has been living in Vancouver for the last ten years.

Mikhail Alexander Lennikov, 46, was a Communist youth league leader who spied on Soviet university students and Japanese business men on behalf of the KGB, according to the Federal Court of Canada, which recently upheld the decision to deport him and his family by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). He was employed by the KGB from 1981 to 1988.

Earlier this month we reported on an obscure Canadian immigration law called the Citizenship Act of 1977. A provision of that legislation can strip citizenship status from persons born outside Canada whose parents were also born outside of Canada, even if the parents and the children are Canadian citizens. The little-known detail is that such a second-generation Canadian must re-register as a citizen before their 28th birthday.

Ontario, Canada is set to launch a new initiative designed to attract immigrants with the skill sets needed in the local labor market.

The Provincial Nominee Program will allow up to 500 nominated newcomers a year to be fast-tracked to Ontario within three to six months, circumventing federal guidelines.

On Friday last week, the Canadian government unveiled a CND$432 million (USD$362 million) program to increase border control and security along the border with the United States. This was immediately after plans by the U.S. were revealed to have unmanned spy planes patrolling the border and only about one week before passports become mandatory for U.S. residents to cross the border by plane.