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gantdaily.com reports that Canada will cut its immigrant visa quota by 3,000 while keeping the 2010 permanent resident visa quota at current levels of between 240,000 and 265,000. The lower immigrant visa quota is based on the 18-month processing time for applications of refugee status claimants. The quota, however, may go up again in 2011 and 2012 because vacancies on the Immigration and Refugee Board will soon be filled.

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The Globe & Mail reports that the conservative-led Canadian government is expected to propose reforms to its refugee system in fall 2009. The reforms include adopting an application system that would fast-track asylum claims by individuals from countries generally considered safe. Under the current system, the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) is charged with hearing claims, issuing decisions and handling appeals. The reforms are aimed at expediting the process by allowing immigration officers to hear claims and issue decisions, leaving only appeals to the IRB. Canada has experienced an increase in asylum petitions, and seeks to curb unfounded claims while ensuring due process is afforded to qualified applicants.

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As of July 14, 2009, Czech and Mexican nationals must possess a Temporary Resident Visa to visit Canada.

Over the past four years Canada has seen a large increase in refugee claims filed by nationals of both countries. Since 2005, Mexican nationals have accounted for 25% of all claims filed in Canada. The second largest group is Czech nationals who have filed over 3,000 claims since October 2007, a sharp increase compared to less than 5 in 2006.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has experienced significant cost increases, processing delays, and has instituted the visa restrictions for Mexican and Czech nationals because it believes the volume of claims submitted undermines its ability to help individuals fleeing real persecution.

Now, in order to visit Canada, Mexican and Czech nationals must demonstrate to immigration officials that:

• Their visit to Canada is temporary
• They will not overstay their visa
• They have enough money to cover their stay
• They are in good health
• They do not have a criminal record, and
• They are not a security risk

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The Guardian reported that Great Britain’s Labour Party will seek a revision of the international convention on refugees, on the grounds that it predates mass migration and leads to abuse of the asylum system. Immigration Minsiter Phil Woolas said he wanted to start a debate about the 58-year-old convention which protects individuals' rights to asylum from state persecution. French president Nicholas Sarkozy has made a similar proposal. Woolas said:

The Geneva convention was intended to protect individual people from persecution. A significant number of people who claim asylum are doing so for broadly economic reasons. So I think it is right we look at the framework, as indeed other European countries are doing.

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