Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m A P R I L 2 0 1 7 39 thing because that's going to cost us hundreds of millions of dollars," he says. The method for selection of par- ent/grandparent applications has been changed to a lottery, which ran for the month of January. Zemp says he has mixed feelings because, under the previ- ous system, his clients were always able to beat the cap. "We'd hire a courier and have him sit there at four in the morning and wait until the door opened so we could get our people in," Zemp says. "If you knew the rules and how to play the game, you could get your people processed. If you were the average Canadian who thought I'll just send it in by courier and it'll arrive that day and everything will be fine, not so much." Despite it being a more fair process, there are reservations. "Through the Canadian Bar Asso- ciation immigration law section, I saw people commenting they don't think this lottery system is going to work as anticipated," Rix says. "Just because you get selected doesn't mean you're going to provide a complete application that can be accepted or that the sponsor quali- fies. Does that number go back into the lottery? I don't think it's been made clear — maybe the government doesn't even know yet because it's too new." Bellissimo says he appreciates some- thing had to be done because of the demand, but his concern is transparency. How are people selected? Is it completely random? Is there further vetting? It has to be equitable, he says. He would also like to see it run year-round. The Liberal's platform also proposed doubling the budget for family class immigration to reduce processing time to less than a year. "It's going to be very interesting to see if they have the resources and the automation can actually match what they're promising because processing times just became unconscionable — you cannot keep families apart that long," Bellissimo says. A highly anticipated change for fam- ily class immigration is increasing the age of dependence to 22 from 18. Zemp calls the current limit "heart-rending," saying if you have a child that's 20 or 21 in university, to come to Canada, "you just have to wave goodbye and wish them luck." Despite announcing the change, it's not going to take effect immediately, something Zemp calls "utterly bizarre. "If that's a policy you want to change, what is it about it that requires you to wait a year-and-a-half or so before you implement it?" In November 2016, changes to the Express Entry Program were also made. The changes reduced the points awarded for holding an LMIA with an offer of employment and allocated additional points for graduates of some post- secondary programs in Canada. The definition of offer of employment was also broadened. Bellissimo says the program was designed as "an onshore landing pro- gram" aimed at giving students and workers already adjusted to and doing well in Canada the chance to become permanent residents. But now, there isn't such a "total reliance" on a work per- mit or schooling — a person wanting to immigrate can get points for hav- ing brothers or sisters already here, for example. "I think they're going to continue to find ways to make getting work permits and LMIAs for these foreign nation- als easier," Bellissimo predicts. "They're really trying to make it more equitable, but it's moving targets and a delicate tap- estry. It's difficult to weave it all together." Rix says her issue with the new sys- tem is that it can give people false hope if they are accepted into the pool but don't have enough points to get an offer to apply, while Zemp says it "reduces the variety of people you can bring in." Zemp is waiting for promised chang- es to the LMIA process, hoping they'll make it "a little more responsive to busi- ness reality." The challenge in Alberta particular- ly, he says, is that in good times they're waiting six to eight months to get one approved, a "significant blow to busi- ness," and even with a bad economy, it's still taking four to five months. "Then we've got to apply, in many cases, for Visas, and that can take two or three or more months. I don't know IT'S GOING TO BE VERY INTERESTING TO SEE IF THEY HAVE THE RESOURCES AND THE AUTOMATION CAN ACTUALLY MATCH WHAT THEY'RE PROMISING BECAUSE PROCESSING TIMES JUST BECAME UNCONSCIONABLE MARIO BELLISSIMO, Bellissimo Law Group 2017 Compensation Survey SALARIES CHANGE, PARTNERSHIPS EVOLVE, LAW DEPARTMENTS GROW. Complete the survey at canadianlawyermag.com/surveys today. Survey closes May 1. Results in July issue! Untitled-1 1 2017-03-23 2:07 PM

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