Dear Mr Brown,

I have read that Canada lifted the visa requirements from some countries. If everything goes smoothly for those countries, I am wondering if they will eventually lift the visa requirement for Jamaica.

— OG

Dear OG:

I have not read or encountered any information to believe that Canada will lift the visa requirement for Jamaica. However, I have observed that lifting the visa requirement for a country is not always a smooth transition. For example, the federal government of Canada lifted the visa requirement for citizens of Mexico in December, 2016. It was promoted that lifting the visa requirement will deepen ties between Canada and Mexico and will increase the flow of travellers, ideas and business between both countries.

However, the combination of push and pull factors relating to crime and corruption, along with easy travel, have resulted in a significant increase in refugee claims by Mexicans who land in Canada, after Haiti, Nigeria, Turkey, Pakistan, and India.

Approximately 1,500 citizens of Mexico had refugee claims referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board in 2017, as opposed to 250 claims the previous year. It should be noted that only 25 per cent of these Mexican refugee claims were accepted.

Convention refugee

Under Canadian Immigration law, a convention refugee is a person who is outside of his or her country of nationality (or habitual residence) and is unable or unwilling to avail one’s self of the protection of his or her country due to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

The essence of the definition includes:

• The person fears persecution, which is the systematic mistreatment of a person or groups.

• The persecution must be based on the specific reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion (or analogous grounds).

Person in need of protection

The definition of convention refugee is a very specific one that entails persecution on specific grounds. However, should one not be able to meet the definition of convention refugee, but remains in need of protection, one may still be a person in need of protection.

A person in need of protection is a person in Canada whose removal to their country, would subject them personally to:

• Torture;

• A risk to their life; or

• A risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.

Additionally, the risk: Would be faced by the person in every part of that country; is not faced generally by other individuals in or from that country; is not inherent or incidental to lawful sanctions, unless imposed in disregard of accepted international standards; is not caused by the inability of that country to provide adequate health or medical care.

Overall, a claim for refugee status or protected person must be substantiated on its own merits. As such, a potential claimant is advised that a persecuted person sho uld be able to establish his or her case. A failed claim will result in being removed from Canada for which authorisation to return to Canada would be required to return in the future.

sPlease visit JAMAICA2CANADA.COM for additional information on Canadian Permanent Residence programmes, including Express Entry, The Study & Work programme, visas or appeals, etc. Antonn Brown, BA, (Hons), LLB, MSc, RCIC, is an immigration counsel and an accredited Canadian education agent of JAMAICA2CANADA.COM — a Canadian immigration & education firm in Kingston. Send questions/comments to jamaica2canada@gmail.com.