Question Period Note: HONG KONG

Several immigration measures were put in place following the imposition of the National Security Law in Hong Kong by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China on June 30, 2020. On March 19, 2024, Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously passed second new national security legislation known as Article 23. Due to increased volumes of applications and limited admissions spaces, stakeholders and parliamentarians have expressed concerns with increased processing times for permanent residence applications for Hong Kong.

• Canada will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Hong Kong.

• The Government of Canada continues to monitor the situation in Hong Kong including the impacts of China’s Article 23 national security legislation.

• In early 2021, IRCC launched the Hong Kong open work permit public policy and a second public policy to create two streams for a new Hong Kong permanent residence pathway.

• In 2024, IRCC launched a new public policy to allow Hong Kong permanent resident applicants to extend their status and obtain a new open work permit while they wait for their application to be processed.

If pressed on Levels
• Immigration is vital to Canada’s economic growth, but record levels of immigration have contributed to pressures on housing, infrastructure and social services systems. That is why for the next few years, our immigration levels plan will focus on well­managed, sustainable growth for the long term.
• Canada continues to support its commitments with a target of 21,200 admissions over three years for humanitarian and compassionate grounds, and public policies established by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (e.g., Sudan, Ukraine, and Hong Kong included).

If pressed on processing
• Under the new Immigration Levels Plan, the target for the Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other category, which includes the Hong Kong public policies, are set at 10,000 admissions in 2025, 6,900 admissions in 2026 and 4,300 in 2027.
• With high volumes of applications and limited levels space, significant increases to the current 12 month processing times are expected.

If pressed: Article 23 national security legislation
• Canada is concerned with the impact the legislation could have on human rights in Hong Kong and will continue to monitor this issue along with our like-minded partners.

If pressed: Human Rights Defenders
• Canada recognizes the crucial role human rights defenders play in the promotion and protection of human rights and freedoms in Hong Kong.
• Human rights defenders and other individuals who are at risk of persecution and have fled to another country may be eligible under Canada’s Refugee Resettlement Program.
• Canada also has a robust asylum system and, like all foreign nationals who are in Canada, individuals from Hong Kong have access to this protection.

If pressed: Police Certificates
• Police certificates are normally required as part of permanent resident applications for any country that the applicant resided in for six months or more to satisfy IRCC that the foreign national is not inadmissible and meets the requirements of the Act.
• Foreign convictions are carefully examined to see whether the act committed would have been an offence under Canadian laws if they had occurred in Canada.
• If the applicant declares that they are unable to obtain a police certificate, officers can use their discretion to determine if the case can be processed without one.

If pressed: Access to pension savings
• Permanent resident cards are intended to facilitate permanent residents’ travel to and from Canada, though some financial institutions may accept individuals’ cards as identification.
• All permanent resident cards are marked with individuals’ country of birth and citizenship, based on the information on the passport provided to IRCC at the time of application. When a British National (Overseas) passport is used, Great Britain is noted on the card accordingly.
• PR card holders are free to request a new PR card based on a new passport information.
• While IRCC has no role in the administration of the Mandatory Provident Fund, or the practices of financial institutions, we continue to monitor the situation.

If pressed: Access to healthcare
• Access to provincial health insurance for people on maintained status in Canada can vary by province or territory. We recommend that applicants contact their provincial or territorial health department or ministry for further details.

• On June 30, 2020, China passed a controversial National Security Law for Hong Kong. The law was drafted without inclusive consultation and through a process that circumvented Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. The National Security Law prohibits and penalizes vaguely defined offences relating to secession, subversion, terrorist activities and collusion with a foreign country.

• Human rights, namely civil and political rights, including freedom of expression and assembly, have significantly and steadily declined in Hong Kong since the imposition of the National Security Law.

• As part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy, the Government of Canada states its support for the people of Hong Kong who are subjected to China’s imposition of the National Security Law.

• On March 19, 2024, Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously passed national security legislation, also known as Article 23, which gives the government new powers to crack down on all forms of dissent on the grounds of alleged treason, espionage, sedition and external interference in Hong Kong’s internal affairs. Article 23 is separate from the National Security Law that was imposed by the Chinese government in 2020. The implementation and impact of this new law remains to be seen.

Canada’s response – New temporary and permanent residence pathways

• In addition to existing work and study options, an initiative launched for Hong Kong youth on February 8, 2021, provides open work permits of up to 3 years to those with post-secondary studies completed in the last 5 years and their eligible accompanying family members.

• On February 8, 2023, IRCC expanded eligibility to Hong Kong residents who have graduated within the past 10 years. The deadline for applications was also extended to February 7, 2025 (originally February 7, 2023).

• As of September 30, 2024, the Department had received 47,575 applications for the open work permit since the beginning of the public policy (February 8, 2021). Out of the over 46,600 open work permit applications processed, over 39,350 were approved (new work permits and extensions).

• In addition, a public policy creating a pathway to permanent residence in two streams was put in place on June 1, 2021, and expires on August 31, 2026.

o The first pathway (Stream A) is for those who have graduated from a post-secondary designated learning institution in Canada in the past 3 years with a degree, diploma, graduate or post-graduate credential. At least 50% of the program of study must have been completed while physically present in Canada (either in person or online). These individuals can apply directly for permanent residence.

o The second pathway (Stream B) targets former Hong Kong residents who have gained a minimum of one year of full-time authorized work experience in Canada (or the equivalent in part-time work experience in Canada) at any skill level in the last three years.

• On August 15, 2023, IRCC expanded Stream B of the PR pathway by removing the education requirement. Prior to this date, applicants for Stream B had to demonstrate that they had graduated in or outside Canada in the past five years with a degree, diploma, graduate or post-graduate credential. This change more closely aligns the program with the open work permit for eligible Hong Kong residents and further simplifies their transition from temporary to permanent residence, while streamlining the processing of permanent residence applications. The requirements of Stream A have not changed.

• Under both streams, eligible Hong Kong residents must have valid temporary resident status and be in Canada both when they submit their PR application and when they are granted permanent residence. They must also meet the specified language requirements.

• As of September 30, 2024, nearly 26,300 persons have applied for the Hong Kong PR pathways. Close to 10,500 persons have been approved and fewer than 200 have been refused.

Processing times

• The number of permanent residence applications submitted to IRCC has increased, due in part to more facilitative measures, such as the removal of the education requirement for permanent residence applicants under Stream B, and the extension and expansion of the open work permit public policy in February 2023.

• Processing times for permanent resident applications are calculated using the time 80% of complete applications were finalized by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in the six months prior to the date indicated. As of September 30, 2024, 80% of applications were processed within 12 months. However, as IRCC has received a high volume of applications, a backlog is being created and the processing times for clients for the two pathways to permanent residence will increase, and new clients applying to the category should expect processing times in excess of 4 years.

• For those who submit an open work permit under this public policy, including extensions, the processing time at the end of September was 98 days. Data on IRCC’s website includes all work permit extension applications, not just those from the Hong Kong public policy and are updated weekly. Applications are processed on a first-in first-out basis.

• A new public policy was launched on May 27, 2024, to let Hong Kong PR pathway applicants extend their status and get a new open work permit in Canada while they wait for a decision on their PR applications.

• These new open work permits are available to those who:
o applied for permanent residence under Stream A (in-Canada graduates) or Stream B (Canadian work experience) of the temporary public policy for Hong Kong residents in Canada; and,
o held a work or study permit in the three years before their application for permanent residence was received.

Asylum & Resettlement

• With regard to those fleeing persecution, Canada has a robust asylum system and, like all foreign nationals who are in Canada, Hong Kong residents have access to this protection.

• Individuals who are eligible to make a claim are referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). To provide fair and efficient adjudicative justice, the IRB regularly monitors and updates country conditions in refugee-producing countries or regions. Refugee claims from Hong Kong before the IRB are actively examined and case management strategies applied to ensure the efficient and timely determination of these claims.

• From June 1, 2020 to September 30, 2024, there have been 145 asylum claims made by people from Hong Kong.

• In addition to the in-Canada asylum system, Canada offers protection through the Refugee Resettlement Program to persecuted people outside Canada who have fled their country of origin. Refugees who have fled persecution in Hong Kong and lack options to permanently settle elsewhere can potentially be sponsored by Canadian citizens or permanent residents or be referred by designated referral partners, such as the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Police certificates

• Canadian immigration officers consider applications on a case-by-case basis, carefully considering the unique circumstances presented by each applicant.

• Foreign nationals must disclose all past charges and convictions when applying for temporary or permanent residence to Canada.

• Inadmissibility decisions are grounded in evidence, which may consist of police or intelligence reports, statutory declarations, as well as other relevant documents such as media articles and publicly-available information.

• Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, an individual can be found inadmissible for a number of reasons, including for serious criminality, human or international rights violations; security reasons, including espionage, subversion, terrorism or membership in an organization that had been, or is currently, involved in any of these activities; and being subject to sanctions.

• Immigration officers examine foreign charges and convictions to determine if there is an equivalent offence in Canada for the act committed. If there is no equivalent offence, the individual would not be inadmissible for having committed or being convicted of that offence. For example, as there is no equivalent offence in Canada for peaceful protesting; a charge or conviction for having partaken in such activities would not make an individual inadmissible to Canada.

• More generally, visitors holding Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or British National Overseas passports are visa-exempt and need only an electronic travel authorization (eTA) before travelling to Canada. While police certificates are not required to apply for an eTA, an officer may ask for it in some exceptional cases or at the port of entry when seeking admission to Canada.

Mandatory Provident Fund and access to pension savings

• Some Hong Kong nationals in Canada as permanent residents are encountering issues accessing their pension funds in the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF).
• The MPF is a compulsory retirement saving scheme for people of Hong Kong. Hong Kong nationals can withdraw their entire MPF savings early if they make a statutory declaration that they have left Hong Kong permanently.
• The MPF’s administrator stopped recognizing the British National (Overseas) (BNO) passport as a valid travel document or proof of identify in January 2021. As a result, Hong Kong nationals cannot rely on the BNO passport as evidence to support their application for an early withdrawal.
• IRCC has limited role in this issue. Some Canadian institutions accept permanent resident cards when individuals attempt to access their pension funds, which bear the three letter country code associated with their passport. In situations where the BNO passport was the travel document used to make the the country code for the nationality is based upon the ICAO standard for Machine Readable Documents.

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