Health bond for immigrants mulled

By: Staff Writer

OTTAWA — Elderly immigrants cost the government approximately $3 billion annually in health care, while those older than 50 who have worked, have never reported earning more than $15,000 a year, figures suggest.

The figures are contained in a memo produced before the government froze the parent and grandparent stream and introduced a 10-year, multiple-entry super-visa that requires visiting relatives to show proof of a year’s worth of health insurance as a stopgap measure while Ottawa deals with a huge backlog in applications.

It suggests the government has concerns about the cost of elderly immigrants.

Released through access to information and prepared for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney in “response to a request for information regarding the cost of health care to senior immigrants and the contribution that parents and grandparents make to household income,” the memo raises questions about whether Canada might be moving toward a two-tier health-care system for newcomers.

It suggests some 2,712 refugees older than 65 cost the government $7.4 million in 2000-2010. Based on data collected between 1980 and 2010, Citizenship and Immigration estimates there were about 275,000 immigrant parents and grandparents over 65 living in Canada in 2010 at a cost of nearly $3 billion a year for health care.

The cost for a newcomer senior who lives to age 85 years was cited at about $160,000.

Saskatchewan announces changes to Canadian Immigrant Nominee Program

18 May 2012

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Earlier this month the Canadian province of Saskatchewan introduced changes to their Immigrant Nominee Program affecting the family category, student category, and the entrepreneur category.

Saskatchewan’s Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration Minister Rob Norris announced that in an attempt to create more fairness in the Canadian immigration application process, family category nominees will now only be able to submit one application per household until the principal applicant and family have settled in the Canadian province.

A crowd protests changes to the province's immigration rules in front of Saskatchewan’s legislature on Tuesday. Photo Credit: Whitney Stinson , Global News

Canadian flag waving crowd protests changes to Saskatchewan immigration rules
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 4:11 PM

A crowd protests changes to the province’s immigration rules in front of Saskatchewan’s legislature on Tuesday.
Photo Credit: Whitney Stinson , Global News

A crowd waved Canadian flags in front of the Saskatchewan legislature to protest changes to the province’s immigration rules.

They say the changes announced earlier this month without notice or a phased-in period are a betrayal.

Under the new rules, someone in Saskatchewan can nominate only one family member at a time instead of nominating multiple relatives.

Family category nominees also require a high-skill job offer.

Pirubhai Garasiya immigrated from India in 1994, then moved from Ontario to Saskatchewan in 2010 because of the immigration program.

Garasiya wants to bring his only son to Canada, but worries that may not happen now because his son doesn’t have a job offer.

Azkar Khan says many members of the Pakistani community in Regina are upset over changes to a Saskatchewan immigration program. (CBC

New immigration rules slammed
CBC News Posted: May 12, 2012 2:52 PM CST Last Updated: May 12, 2012 3:00 PM CST
Azkar Khan says many members of the Pakistani community in Regina are upset over changes to a Saskatchewan immigration program. (CBC)

Anger and frustration were evident at a meeting Friday night in Regina where members of the local Pakistani community voiced their unhappiness with changes to a Saskatchewan immigration program.

The province announced changes to the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program on May 2.

Among other things, the changes put a limit on how many additional family members may apply to immigrate until the original family has settled.

The people at the Regina meeting said the changes came without warning, catching some families who had already been making plans off guard.

Azkar Khan, who recently moved to Regina, said people at the meeting shared concerns that the changes, announced just over a week ago, will create unfairness.

“If I submit my two applications on 30th of April and my friend who is also eligible has those applications ready, but somehow couldn’t make it to the office, now the rules are changes for him,” Khan said.

(…)
“This is about the community and I can see other people are upset,” Khan added. “They’re crying. Because they made this move. It’s not easy to relocate in Canada.”

A rally was being organized for Monday to protest the changes.
With files from CBC’s Dani Mario

Officials estimate a 65-year-old immigrant will run up more than $160,000 in hospital bills by age 85.

Charge senior citizen immigrants health care: Lawyer
By Daniel Proussalidis ,Parliamentary Bureau
First posted: Saturday, May 12, 2012 07:14 PM EDT | Updated: Saturday, May 12, 2012 07:22 PM EDT

OTTAWA – Canadians who sponsor grandma and grandpa – or even just aging parents – as immigrants are leaving taxpayers with some hefty health care bills.

“The total annual health care cost for a (parent or grandparent) immigrant arriving in 2010, over the age of 65, is estimated to be $10,742,” officials told Immigration Minister Jason Kenney in an August 2011 memo obtained by lawyer Richard Kurland through an access to information request.

That figure is just for hospital care, and doesn’t include the cost of visits to a doctor’s office, long-term care, or other social services taxpayers cover through provincial health insurance.

Officials estimate a 65-year-old immigrant will run up more than $160,000 in hospital bills by age 85.

Immigration consultants: An endangered species?
Added by Pradip Rodrigues on May 11, 2012.

I could barely suppress a smirk when I read about the plight of the immigration consultant, who ‘worked’ to get me into Canada. He was lamenting the fate of the 2000 registered immigration consultants in Canada, not to mention the thousands more unregistered consultants. An immigration lawyer I met recently held a similarly bleak outlook for consultants, lawyers specializing in immigration and newcomer settlement agencies, who collectively number in the thousands. The legal scam has finally unraveled and has exposed the cottage industry that has mushroomed around immigration.

Back when this immigration consultant and his staff in Mumbai convinced me and thousands of others to pack up and move, I recall the very compelling reasoning that was put forward.