Vol. 147, No. 25 — December 4, 2013

Registration

SOR/2013-201 November 14, 2013

IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE PROTECTION ACT

Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations

P.C. 2013-1244 November 13, 2013

His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, pursuant to subsections 5(1) and 14(2) (see footnote a) and section 26 (see footnote b) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (see footnote c), makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE PROTECTION REGULATIONS

AMENDMENT

1. Paragraph 190(1)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (see footnote 1) is replaced by the following:

COMING INTO FORCE

2. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Executive summary

Issue: Citizens of the Czech Republic are currently required to apply for and obtain a temporary resident visa before travelling to Canada. A comprehensive review, carried out in 2011, along with continued monitoring of the conditions and trends in the Czech Republic have indicated that the Czech Republic now meets Canada’s criteria for a temporary resident visa exemption. As a result, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will add the Czech Republic to the list of countries and territories whose citizens are exempt from the requirement to obtain a temporary resident visa before travelling to Canada.

Description: The regulatory amendment will add the Czech Republic to the list of countries and territories whose citizens are exempt from the temporary resident visa requirement for travel to Canada under subsection 190(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR).

Cost-benefit statement: It is estimated that the regulatory amendment will generate an overall monetized net cost due to the resources required for the Government of Canada to transition to the temporary resident visa exemption for the Czech Republic, as well as costs associated with managing the expected increase in asylum claims to Canada. The majority of the costs are borne by the government and include transitional costs (e.g. updating forms), communication costs, and costs associated with an expected increase in asylum claims.

However, the anticipated overall qualitative and monetized benefits of the temporary resident visa exemption outweigh the costs of this amendment. It is anticipated that processing benefits will be generated due to not issuing temporary resident visas to citizens of the Czech Republic at the Canadian mission in the Czech Republic. Removing the temporary resident visa requirement will also contribute to stronger business and personal ties between citizens of Canada and the Czech Republic, and is expected to strengthen Canada’s relationship with the Czech Republic as well as the European Union (EU) more broadly.

“One-for-One” Rule and small business lens: Neither the “One-for-One” Rule nor the small business lens applies to this proposal. Temporary resident visa requirements apply to individuals, so there is no impact on business.

Domestic and international coordination and cooperation: The exemption from the temporary resident visa requirement will strengthen ties to the Czech Republic community in Canada and strengthen Canada’s relations with the Czech Republic.CIC will work closely with other departments and agencies to ensure the balance between facilitating the travel of legitimate visitors, while protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians and the integrity of the immigration system.

Background

Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR), all visitors to Canada require a temporary resident visa, with the exception of citizens of countries and territories who have been granted an exemption. Currently, citizens from 50 countries and territories are temporary resident visa-exempt, while citizens from 148 countries and territories, including the Czech Republic, require a temporary resident visa to travel to Canada.

Canada’s temporary resident visa requirements are determined on a country-by-country basis and based on established visa review criteria and thresholds. In order to gather information and make decisions on visa requirements, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) regularly conducts ongoing monitoring and evaluation of country conditions.

Based on criteria included in the framework for determining visa requirements, Canada removed the temporary resident visa requirement for citizens of the Czech Republic in October 2007. Once a temporary resident visa was no longer required, the number of unfounded asylum claims made by Czech citizens in Canada increased. As a result, Canada re-imposed the temporary resident visa requirement in July 2009. After this imposition, Canada remained actively engaged with the Czech Republic. As part of this ongoing engagement, CIC led an expert visit to the Czech Republic in 2011 to update the evidence base and the assessment of country conditions and migration trends. The results of this review, along with recent changes to Canada’s immigration and refugee system, have led CIC to re-assess the need for a temporary resident visa requirement on the Czech Republic.

Issue

The Czech Republic meets Canada’s requirement for a temporary resident visa exemption and CIC proposes to remove the temporary resident visa requirement for citizens of the Czech Republic.

During previous periods when citizens of the Czech Republic were exempt from the requirement for a temporary resident visa for travel to Canada, the main concern that led to the re-imposition of a temporary resident visa requirement was increased asylum claims. Canada’s asylum system has since undergone significant reforms, which came into force in December 2012. The ability for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to designate countries of origin was included in these reforms. The Designated Country of Origin (DCO) policy allows for faster processing of asylum claims from countries that do not typically produce refugees. Under the new asylum system, the Czech Republic has been designated as a DCO, meaning that, on balance, the country respects human rights, offers state protection and provides mechanisms for redress if these are infringed. Refugee claimants from DCO countries have their claims processed more quickly; shortened timeframes for the processing and return of individuals making unfounded claims are expected to deter abuse of Canada’s refugee system.

Objectives

The Czech Republic meets Canada’s requirements for a temporary resident visa exemption, and therefore removing the temporary resident visa requirement will harmonize the temporary resident visa status of the Czech Republic with other countries with similar risk profiles.

Removing the temporary resident visa requirement will also improve relations with the Czech Republic. Strong relations with the Czech Republic are important in order to facilitate travel flows between the two countries, given that Canada and the Czech Republic have a long-standing relationship, in the form of both family and personal ties as well as political contact on bilateral and multilateral issues.

Description

This regulatory amendment will add Czech Republic to the list of countries included in paragraph 190(1)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations whose citizens are exempt from the requirement to obtain a temporary resident visa.

While the Regulations will exempt citizens from the Czech Republic from the requirement to obtain a temporary resident visa, they will remain subject to all requirements and admissibility criteria for entry to Canada related to their purpose of entry.

Regulatory and non-regulatory options considered

Exemptions to the requirement to obtain a temporary resident visa are included in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR). Therefore, in order to add the Czech Republic to the list of countries exempt from the temporary resident visa requirement, a regulatory change is necessary and is the only option.

Benefits and costs

The cost-benefit analysis assumes a baseline scenario whereby visitors to Canada from the Czech Republic would continue to be subject to a temporary resident visa requirement. The baseline was then compared with the removal of the temporary resident visa requirement on citizens of the Czech Republic. Based on this comparison, it is estimated that the regulatory change will generate an overall monetized net cost due to the resources required for the Government of Canada to transition to the exemption for the temporary resident visa, including updates to bulletins, forms and the Web site as well as communication costs to convey the amendment to the public in Canada and overseas. Furthermore, additional costs are anticipated to manage the expected increase in asylum claimants to Canada. These include the costs to process asylum claims including processing costs for CIC and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at ports of entry and inland as well as estimated costs to provinces and territories related to legal aid, education and social assistance. It is also anticipated that there may be impacts on the business operations of the visa application centre located in the Czech Republic.

While costs will be generated as a result of the temporary resident visa exemption, many benefits will result and will outweigh these costs. It is anticipated that some processing savings will be generated due to not issuing temporary resident visas to citizens of the Czech Republic.

This regulatory amendment will also enhance the cooperation between Canada and the Czech Republic and will facilitate both business and personal contacts between the two countries. It is also anticipated that the removal of the temporary resident visa requirement on the Czech Republic will be looked upon favourably by the European Union (EU), of which the Czech Republic is a Member State. As a result, the removal of this temporary resident visa requirement is also anticipated to benefit Canada’s broader relationship with the EU.

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule does not apply as this regulatory amendment applies to individuals and does not change the administrative cost to business.

Small business lens

The small business lens does not apply as this regulatory amendment applies to individuals and therefore there are no costs to small business.

Consultation

Consultations were conducted, and input was sought from other federal departments and agencies, including Public Safety Canada, the CBSA, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, the Department of Justice, the Privy Council Office, and the Treasury Board Secretariat. These departments and agencies provided information and analysis in support of the review of the temporary resident visa exemption for the Czech Republic.

The CBSA has assessed the operational and financial impacts on its programs associated with the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration’s recommendation to remove the temporary resident visa requirement for citizens of the Czech Republic, and will absorb these impacts.

Rationale

The Regulations will facilitate the travel of legitimate visitors to Canada, while continuing to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians and the integrity of the immigration system.

The exemption from the temporary resident visa requirement will strengthen ties to the Czech Republic community in Canada and strengthen Canada’s foreign relations with the Czech Republic.

CIC will continue to work closely with other departments and agencies, including Public Safety Canada, the CBSA, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Department of Justice to employ the full range of existing measures to mitigate any health, safety or security concerns that may arise as a result of the Czech Republic’s exemption from the temporary resident visa requirement.

It is anticipated that Canada’s reformed asylum system, along with the inclusion of the Czech Republic on the DCO list, will provide Canada with better capacity to process a potential increase in asylum claims once the temporary resident visa exemption is in place.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

This regulatory amendment will come into force upon registration.

As this regulation removes the temporary resident visa requirement, no compliance measures are required. However, the impact of this new measure will be monitored and evaluated with existing databases and according to existing practices. Should this exemption create unforeseen results, a re-imposition of the temporary resident visa requirement could be considered.

Contact

Tina Matos
Director
Document and Visa Policy
Admissibility Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
300 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 1L1
Telephone: 613-954-6243
Email: Tina.Matos@cic.gc.ca