Update: Haiti immigration figures (as of December 31, 2010)

December 31, 2010 — As of December 31, CIC has approved permanent resident applications for more than 3,600 Haitians and granted permission for the entry for over 3,000 on a temporary basis, using either temporary resident visas (almost 2,500 issued) or temporary resident permits (more than 600 issued). Of these, some have since become permanent residents.

Overall, CIC has reunited over 2,500 families since the earthquake. That is more than three times the number in 2009.

Adoptions

After the Haiti special measures were announced, CIC and its partners developed and implemented an evacuation plan for Haitian children who were at an advanced stage in the process of being adopted by Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

“Operation Stork” resulted in the successful union of 203 Haitian children with their families in Canada from the time the earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince on January 12 to March 4, when the last of the flights carrying the children arrived. In just six weeks, the Government of Canada and the provinces and territories processed as many cases from Haiti as are normally done in about two years.

As of December 31, CIC has completed the processing for 152 of the children by issuing a permanent resident visa or granting them citizenship. CIC continues to work with the parents of the remaining children in an effort to regularize their status in Canada.

Quebec Special Measures (QSM)

The Province of Quebec introduced new regulatory measures to facilitate sponsorship of people who were seriously and personally affected by the earthquake in Haiti. CIC is working closely with Quebec on this program. The ‘Parrainage Humanitaire’ program allows Quebec residents to sponsor applications for a permanent resident visa for siblings and non-dependent children over the age of 22 and their accompanying family members.

Of the total number of permanent resident visas approved (over 3,600), more than 600 were approved through QSM. As of December 31, CIC has received over 1,700 QSM applications for Haitians. Of these, more than 900 are pending final decision, meaning the application has been reviewed by an officer and we are waiting for the applicant to submit all required documentation before issuing a visa.

To date, CIC has not refused any QSM applications.

CIC can only process the QSM applications that are received by the Department.

Processing Commitments

CIC met its commitment to make a decision, by June 30, on all family class applications received before April 1 (including pre-earthquake applications). CIC also met its commitment to process Haiti Special Measure (HSM) cases received after April 1 within 12 weeks of the month they were received. The special measures ended on August 31. Haitian applications continue to be processed as quickly as possible. As of December 31, cases were being processed on average within four months.

CIC is processing Haitian applications accordingly:

First priority group:

• processing applications received under the Quebec Special Measures Parrainage Humanitaire category;
• processing all new applications under the family class; and
• finalizing the adoption cases under Operation Stork.

Second priority group:

• Applications for dependents of protected persons;
• Selected categories of non-immigrant applicants;
• Humanitarian and Compassionate applicants.