OK, kiddo! Here are all the fantastically amazing posts tagged with Immigration
Immigration Rules Tightened For Gay Couples
Gay Canadians who were married to foreign partners in embassies will only be able to sponsor their spouse for Canadian citizenship if the host country recognizes same-sex marriage, according to recent changes in immigration policy.
Immigration officials said there was a high demand for same-sex sponsorships in 2010, which required a tightening of the policy to close a “possible loophole.”
This change is a little odd. For one, marriage isn’t a requirement for a Canadian to sponsor their partner for citizenship. According to Canada’s immigration guide, common-law partners, even gay ones, are fully recognized. All that’s required is to be in a codependent relationship for a year, and whether or not a spouse’s country of residence has equal marriage rights doesn’t change that.
Moreover, what “loophole” exists here that doesn’t for straight couples? Marriages of convenience are undoubtedly a problem, but this policy change just thwarts gay short-term marriages of convenience while leaving the door to straight ones wide open—and surely the latter is the bigger problem here. I mean, sure, we gays are fond of mail order catalogues, but the return policies are far too limited to find fiancés that way.
Update, January 13th: According to some sharp investigation by Xtra, the CIC’s embassy marriage rules are not recent at all, having been in place for ages. There’s no explanation as to why the Toronto SUN reported the change as recent, nor as to why they attributed the change as a means to close a “loophole.” Nevertheless, I still think the specific mention of same-sex marriage legality in the CIC’s rules is bizarre. Inconsistent, too, considering that straight marriages are legal everywhere. After all, if the benefit of sponsoring a married spouse over a common-law partner is to take advantage of a shorter codependency period, then straight couples can use (or abuse) this advantage more readily than gay ones.
- Canada toughens gay marriage immigration checks [Toronto SUN]
- Sponsoring your family: Who can apply [CIC]
Canada To Deport Another Gay Refugee Claimant
A 29-year-old gay man is going to be deported from Canada to Iran, where he could face death by stoning for charges of sodomy. The young man, identified only as Yaser, had his deportation ordered after the Immigration Refugee Board determined that he could not be gay because he could not identify the rainbow flag and didn’t attend a Pride parade.
While I certainly don’t have enough information to personally conclude if Yaser is gay or not, I can say for certain that the IRB’s methods are presumptuous and seriously flawed. Either that, or I guess I wasn’t gay all those years that I didn’t attend Pride.
Canada’s record of accommodating gay refugees is atrocious, and is getting worse with each case. The board often declines refugees for failing to prove they are gay—a trait they had gone to great extends to hide in their home country. The inability to deal with gay refugee cases sensitively isn’t just Canada’s problem, either. Kiana Firouz, a 27-year-old lesbian is also fighting a deportation order from the United Kingdom to Iran, where she faces death by hanging for being gay.
Canada’s New Immigrants Guide Leaves Out Gays
The Government of Canada has released a new guide directed toward new immigrants to help them adjust to Canadian culture. Not a bad idea, actually!
Still, while the guide has entire sections devoted to gender equality and diversity, the GLBT community was somehow left out of both. In fact, the only mention of gays anywhere occurs in a section about sports, arts, and culture; tucked away in the sidebar is a photo of Mark Tewksbury, accompanied by the caption: “Mark Tewksbury, Olympic gold medalist and prominent activist for gay and lesbian Canadians.”
Surprising, given Canada’s advancements in equal rights and the exhaustive coverage of gender and diversity issues, you think there’d at least be a mention of same-sex marriage or other details of interest to gay immigrants.
Then again, Canada has an abysmal record of accommodating GLBT refugees, many of whom simply want asylum from unjust laws in their home countries. If the government doesn’t feel the responsibility to welcome those who need to immigrate the most, then why have the courtesy to acknowledge those who are coming under standard immigration circumstances?
Anti-Gay IRB Appointee Won’t Help Matters
Well, Canada’s already abysmal record in dealing with gay refugee claimants probably isn’t going to get better.
Doug Cryer, the former director of public policy for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, has been appointed to Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board by the Conservative government. Cryer, who says that all gay people are inherently sinful, will now decide if gay refugees will be allowed to stay in Canada to avoid persecution of homosexuality in their home countries.
Canada is habitually unaccommodating of gay refugees, often requiring exhaustive proof of homosexuality from claimants who have had to spend their whole lives hiding it from oppressive governments. Many countries criminalize gay people, with sentences ranging from fines, to incarceration, to death. While keeping an eye out for anyone who would falsely claim to be gay is important, many of Canada’s past deportation decisions have been catastrophes.
With Cryer’s appointment, legitimate concerns of anti-gay bias are overshadowing the even bigger issue: Cryer has absolutely no experience with refugee matters. Luckily, I know of an excellent accelerated training strategy: Deportation to the Kingdom of Gaybonia.
- Critics: Fire anti-gay appointee [Edmonton SUN]
- Toss Tory from IRB, MPs urge [The Sault Star]
Canada Ignores Other Countries’ Same-Sex Unions
Here’s a neat little tidbit from Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration policy with regards to same-sex spousal partnership:
If you were married outside Canada, you cannot apply to sponsor your same-sex partner as a spouse. However, if you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, you may qualify to sponsor your partner as a common-law or a conjugal partner.
How delightfully inconsistent! Though, in fairness, I don’t think this is necessarily a knock against gays. It’s really just a knock against Belgians, Netherlanders, South Africans, and Spaniards. Suckers!
The Fake Gay Influx
Canadian Embassies are on the look-out for straight guys in sheep’s fabulous, designer clothing, as young men in India have been pretending to be gay in order to immigrate to Canada. The crazy scheme uses India’s discriminatory ban on homosexuality as a basis for visa applications. Since Canada is one of the few countries that treats same-sex couples equally for immigration purposes, it’s an easy target.
While this pink-is-the-new-scheme appears to be relatively harmless at first glance, some of India’s gay activists are worried. “This may force the embassy to put a blanket ban on immigration on such grounds, which will affect genuine persons,” said one Indian gay rights lawyer, adding that “international sympathy for the same-sex marriage movement may get diluted.”
So, basically, Indian guys: If you’re actually gay, be sure to turn up that “flame” of yours; the Canadian embassy is starting to get suspicious of your hetero counterparts, and you don’t want to be mistaken for straight now, do you?
- The “Pink Trail” to Canada [Asian Pacific Post]
