Dual intent is applicable when a foreign national has already applied or may apply for permanent residence in Canada but has also applied to visit Canada temporarily as a student, visitor, or as a worker.
On April 5, IRCC made modifications to its program instructions for the IRCC staff while dealing with cases of dual intent. The revision to dual instructions involves recognizing that having two intents, primarily for temporary residence and ultimately for permanent residence, is appropriate. Having both intentions is essentially complementary, not contradictory.
The rightfulness of dual intent must be utilized while applying subsection 22(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) to the decision-making process. According to Section 22(2), foreigners who intend to attain permanent residency can still be temporary residents if the IRCC officer is convinced that they will depart Canada upon the expiration of their permitted stay.
The modified instructions may comprise a section on Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Programs, reminding IRCC officers that Canada is looking to promote these programs to foreign nationals and that Canadian work experience is essential to a successful settlement.
Facilitative pathways that rely on inviting temporary residents that have vital skills or experience, such as Caregiver Pilot, the Canadian Experience Class, and the Agri-Food Pilot have been dependent upon as routes to permanent residence. Other programs will help bag more points for the applicants who own Canadian work or study experience.
For study permit applications, officers are required to take consider that Canada is actively promoting study-work permanent residence pathways to prospective students and that these students are motivated enough to move to Canada permanently.
How IRCC Officials Evaluate Dual Intent
In order to support a temporary resident application, the official must be sure that the candidate owns a genuine intent to leave Canada at the end of their duration of stay. While evaluating the individual situations, the candidate must be screened properly. The official is permitted to consider the below factors:
- Ways of sustaining oneself
- Commitments and connections to the country of origin
- Reason and circumstances of the visit
- Reliability of the provided documents and information
- History of adherence to the regulations applicable to temporary visitors, students, and workers under IRPA and IRPR, along with information accessible through biographic and biometric information sharing.
The guidelines state that the evaluation of an application where a candidate has dual intent must be the same as the assessment of any other temporary residence application. Each candidate must receive the perks of a procedurally fair and individual evaluation based on the entire context of the application.
The candidate also possesses a right to a fair and unbiased decision-maker. The legal system has directed that the official should avoid the probability or perception of bias. For instance, this would include that a candidate with an open or prospective permanent residence application will aspire to stay in Canada beyond their authorized stay.
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