Sponsor: Grande Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce
Flexible Solutions to Address the Gap in Immigration Biometric Services
Issue
Strong rural economies mean a stronger Canada. Immigration plays a crucial role in growing Canada’s economy and is especially vital for rural communities to grow populations and fill labour shortages. Yet current policy regarding immigration biometric services, a requirement of the immigration process, places undue hardship on applicants in some rural or northern areas in Canada, requiring them to travel long distances and bear the associated travel costs to access this service. Such policy is neither aligned with the federal government’s commitment to address systemic inequities in core institutions and policy development [i] nor its concerted efforts to remove barriers to newcomer attraction and retention in rural Canada.
Background
Many applicants for immigration to Canada, or for a work permit, study permit or visitor status (including extensions), are required by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to provide biometrics. Data collected includes electronic fingerprints, digital photograph and biographical data (note: this is not a criminal record check). As of June 14, 2023, updated IRCC policy now requires that anyone applying for permanent residence (PR) must submit biometrics, regardless of if they have previously submitted them (during the pandemic, PR applicants did not have resubmit biometrics if they had submitted biometrics with a temporary resident application within the past decade).
As per IRCC policy, applicants who are applying from within Canada must attend their pre-booked appointment in-person at a designated Service Canada location. The issue is that not all Service Canada offices are authorized to offer immigration biometrics to in-Canada applicants, and those offices not providing this service are predominantly in rural and/or northern Canada. Further compounding the issue is that current IRCC policy does not allow biometric services for in-Canada immigration applicants to be provided outside of Service Canada.[ii]
As a result, some applicants are required to travel, in some cases great distances over multiple days, to access immigration biometric services. They (or an employer willing to absorb the cost) must expend additional funds for travel costs such as hotels, food, gas and time off work. Limited access to public transportation in many rural communities restricts travel options.
Existing literature cites a number of barriers experienced by newcomers in rural areas, including difficulty accessing settlement services due to lack of services, as well as lack of transportation.[iii] These barriers contribute to the economic and social marginalization of newcomers. They also create challenges for the many rural communities and businesses relying on immigration for unmet labour needs, population growth and long-term resilience.
According to the 2022 IRCC annual report, immigration accounts for as much as 90% of labour force growth in Canada and approximately 75% of population growth.[iv] As the large majority of immigrants to Canada settle in urban areas, the Government of Canada is offering several economic initiatives to attract talent to small and medium sized communities and rural areas to help local businesses fill labour shortages. However, Action Canada research found that while these programs have shown success in attracting growing numbers of immigrants, newcomer retention in these communities remains a challenge due to the unique barriers to immigration settlement in rural communities.[v]
The following are two examples of regions in Canada without biometric services for immigration. As key contributors to their provincial and national economies, both regions are actively targeting global markets to grow their workforce:
1) The Grande Prairie region, including the City of Grande Prairie (pop. 70,000), with its abundance of natural resources and growing economy, is actively recruiting an international workforce to fill labour shortages. The City’s Service Canada, however, does not offer immigration biometric services; applicants must make an approximately 1000 km, two-day round trip to Service Canada in Edmonton to access this service, which currently costs $85 per individual. 2) In northern British Columbia, the busiest area of the province due to major construction projects, a global workforce is critical to help fill acute labour shortages. Yet in the City of Fort St. John, for example, to give immigration biometrics, applicants must make a nearly 900 km round trip to Service Canada in Prince George.
The Ministry (IRCC) states “factors involved in selecting biometric service sites include the physical capacity of a given Service Canada location to take on a new service line; the volume of IRCC clients in a geographic area; driving distances between Service Canada locations offering biometric enrolment; and, distances that IRCC clients need to travel to get to the Service Canada location offering biometric enrolments closest to them.” Further, with respect to one of the above examples, the Ministry states that the Edmonton [Service Canada] office was chosen to serve the Grande Prairie region to “minimize the distance to the nearest location for clients.” The excessive travel requirements for the growing number of clients requiring this service do not align with the rationale provided by IRCC regarding how they chose their immigration biometric sites.
Realizing new opportunities in the private sector
As the Government of Canada seeks “to further adapt and develop more agile and effective ways to service Canadians,”[vi] Canada’s private sector offers an opportunity to help fill this gap in biometric services without creating an extra burden for taxpayers. Within the private sector, companies that are accredited through the RCMP's Canadian Criminal Real Time identification Services (CCRTIS) are providing biometric services for civil purposes. (Note: There are no private fingerprinting companies accredited by the RCMP outside of Canada.)
The CCRTIS Program assesses the security and administrative operations of companies that intend to take fingerprints for non criminal purposes. Upon completion of the accreditation process, companies are certified to operate as an affiliate of The Canadian Corps of Commissionaires and authorized to submit electronic fingerprint transactions (non criminal purposes) to CCRTIS via The Canadian Corps of Commissionaires' server. The accreditation process is robust and periodic audits are in place to ensure the integrity of the Program. A company’s accreditation, however, does not authorize it to provide immigration biometrics.
Flexible, innovative, affordable and inclusive solutions
The June 2019 House of Commons report on improving settlement services across Canada, by the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, highlights the need to remove barriers to settlement services and programs in rural communities across Canada. [vii] The report cites the requirement for flexible and innovative solutions to help attract and retain immigrants in rural communities.
Amending and adapting immigration biometrics policy with consideration to the unique immigration challenges facing rural and more remote communities and to the opportunity that currently exists within the private sector to address service gaps, promotes more equitable and accessible services for all, regardless of location. As Canada’s population ages and birthrates decline, innovative, inclusive and affordable policy solutions supporting the long term integration and retention needs of immigrants in rural and northern communities are critical to helping businesses meet labour needs and ensuring a more productive and resilient economy for Canada.
Recommendation:
That the Government of Canada:
Amend Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) policy to expand the list of eligible providers of immigration biometric services for applicants within Canada, taking into consideration those organizations outside the public sector that are fully accredited organizations through the RCMP's Canadian Criminal Real Time identification Services (CCRTIS), to fill this gap in service across Canada.
[i] https://pm.gc.ca/en/mandate-letters/2021/12/16/minister-immigration-refugees-and-citizenship-mandate-letter
[ii] A few exemptions apply. https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/where-to-give-biometrics.asp
[iii] https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/421/CIMM/Reports/RP10577155/cimmrp26/cimmrp26-e.pdf
[iv] https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-report-parliament-immigration-2022.html#highlights
[v] https://actioncanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Settling-Unsettled-ENG-FINAL-WEB.pdf
Email, June 15, 2023 from S. Charbonneau, IRCC Ministerial Enquiries Division to A. Reimer
[vi] https://pm.gc.ca/en/mandate-letters/2021/12/16/minister-veterans-affairs-and-associate-minister-national-defence?fbclid=IwAR2I1LOAXtRCqOGxOOenZZ9olJJghFVrFC3E5gAUTq1pYKzNhSxDYA55j3Y
[vii] https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/421/CIMM/Reports/RP10577155/cimmrp26/cimmrp26-e.pdf
