What are the key changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) being proposed?
Currently the law says (at section 11) that an officer “shall” issue a visa if the applicant meets the requirements of the Act. This is changed in the bill to say an officer “may” issue a visa if the applicant meets the requirements of the Act. b) Currently the law says (at section 25) that the Minister “shall” examine an application for humanitarian and compassionate consideration (H&C). This is changed in the bill to “may” examine the application if the applicant is outside Canada. c) The bill gives the power to the Minister to issue instructions for the processing of applications from economic immigrants and H&C applicants outside Canada. The instructions could establish categories of applications to be processed, determine the order in which the applications should be processed, fix a limit on the number to be processed, and provide rules for repeat applications. d) The bill empowers the government to retain, return or otherwise dispose of applications that, following the instructi
