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Hong Kongers seeking work in Canada could face hurdles as permit program set to expire

Click to play video: 'Advocate urges Canada to extend and expand its special immigration program for Hong Kong residents'
Advocate urges Canada to extend and expand its special immigration program for Hong Kong residents
WATCH: Extending Canada’s open work permit program for Hong Kong residents would let a lot more young people come to Canada, said Katherine Leung, Canadian policy adviser for U.K.-based NGO Hong Kong Watch – Jan 19, 2023

For Hong Kong resident Anthony Yip, his road to applying for permanent residency in Canada has been bumpy.

Yip said he applied for a temporary three-year open work permit as soon as he heard about the option in February 2021. But with the program set to expire on Feb. 7 this year, some are now calling on the federal government to extend it so a new crop of recent graduates can qualify.

The program grants certain exemptions for Hong Kong residents who graduated from a post-secondary institution in the past five years and want to come work in Canada in the wake of a controversial crackdown on dissent put in place by China.

But shortly after his work permit was approved and Yip landed in Canada, the federal government announced two new pathways to permanent residency for Hong Kongers in June 2021.

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The two pathways are commonly known as stream A and stream B and allow Hong Kong residents to apply for permanent residence.

With stream A, applicants must have graduated from a Canadian post-secondary institution within the last three years. For  stream B, they must have worked in this country for at least a year and have graduated within the last five from either a Canadian post-secondary institution, or a foreign equivalent.

Those who applied for an open work permit are directed to go through stream B, but the requirement for applicants to have graduated within the last five years means by the time someone on the open work permit applies for that permanent residency option, they may have aged out of that criteria.

That’s what Yip says happened to him as a 2016 graduate.

“I found out later that the five-year graduation limit for the work permit and permanent residence is not the same, they don’t belong in the same timeline,” said Yip.

He said he is now working on getting a diploma in Canada so he can apply under stream A instead.

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But one advocate says they worry the open work permit expiration will mean others who still want to come to Canada or who phase immigration snarls won’t be able to.

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Click to play video: 'Cherie Wong describes threats she’s faced while advocating for Hong Kong, intimidation from Chinese government'
Cherie Wong describes threats she’s faced while advocating for Hong Kong, intimidation from Chinese government

Human rights advocates and Hong Kongers living in Canada are now asking the federal government to expand and extend Canada’s special permanent residence pathways for Hong Kong residents.

This not only includes getting rid of the five-year graduation limit for workers, but also extending the deadline for Ottawa’s special open work permit program — which will expire on Feb. 7 — so more Hong Kong residents can come to Canada.

Katherine Leung, Canadian policy adviser for U.K.-based NGO Hong Kong Watch, told Global News that the five-year graduation limit “is a very technical bug in the policy.”

“Let’s say someone graduated between 2016 to 2017, they get the open work permit, come to Canada, work for a year, and if we add in the amount of time it takes to get settled to find work and complete paperwork, it’s going to exceed the five-year limit for stream B,” said Leung.

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How did the Hong Kong program start?

In the summer of 2019, protests erupted in Hong Kong over a now-axed bill that extradited suspects to China, which undermines Hong Kong’s judicial independence. What followed was the introduction of what Beijing calls a national security law in June 2020 that led to the arrest of political dissidents, lawyers and journalists.

The national security law in Hong Kong, which is still in effect today, has very broad definitions that criminalize “secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.”

As Beijing tightened its grip over Hong Kong, Ottawa announced its commitment to set up an immigration program for Hong Kongers to settle in Canada in November 2020.

Click to play video: 'Hong Kong pro-democracy activists found guilty of “unlawful assembly”'
Hong Kong pro-democracy activists found guilty of “unlawful assembly”

However, Leung said the five-year graduation limit also has excluded younger Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters who haven’t yet graduated but want to come to Canada.

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“A solution to that would be the extension for the deadline for the open work permit application past February of this year, which would include a lot more young people as those people will grow up and graduate,” said Leung.

Yip said a lot of young protesters also don’t have the financial stability or family support to come to Canada.

“They don’t really have any options,” said Yip. “They have sacrificed so much for Hong Kong, so I am wondering if it is possible for Canada to come up with other immigration programs to help them.”

When asked about the possibility of extending and expanding the special immigration pathway for Hong Kong residents, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said the government remains “concerned” about the situation.

The department said Hong Kong residents no longer able to apply through the expiring program may be able to apply through different avenue, including under one of the economic immigration programs or by applying to reunite with a family member through family sponsorship.

“Human rights advocates in Hong Kong may qualify for the new open work permit launched in February 2021,” the department said, but did not answer whether the open work permit program will be extended.

“IRCC continues engage with stakeholders on this issue and monitor the situation actively,” the department said. “We cannot speculate on future policy decisions.”

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