In a surprising Easter Sunday development, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has vowed to come to the aid of RedBlacks quarterback Henry Burris in light of the latest immigration mess.
As spokesperson for CIC, Kevin Menard responded in an official statement: “We will work with the Ottawa RedBlacks and Mr. Burris to ensure he can remain in Canada.”
He continued: “Mr. Burris has shown a great commitment to Canada over many years, and his community work through his foundation is an example for Canadian youth and all Canadians.”
Burris’ CIC Frustration
The statement came after an article published on Friday, in which Burris told the Sun how frustrated he was getting with Citizenship and Immigration Canada while trying to secure either permanent residence, or Canadian citizenship.
According to Burris, the main sticking point is that his position as a CFL quarterback is only considered to be “part-time work”.
However, immigration lawyer and former member of the Immigration and Refugee board of Canada, Julie Taub, seems to think there’s still hope when it comes to Burris’ chances of staying in Canada permanently, due to the fact that CIC have gradually been lowering the number of points needed for Express Entry applicants to receive an invitation to apply for permanent residence.
In January, the bar was set quite high, with 1,200 points required. However, since then, the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score requirement has dropped to an all-time low of just 453 points.
In Taub’s opinion, this most recent drop could help Burris finally achieve the status he’s been aiming for.
She said: “The initial cut-off was very high. If he’s working six months of the year, that’s more than sufficient to get permanent resident status. I don’t think he’d have trouble at this point.”
No Guarantees
Taub also added that the fact Burris has two Canadian-born children should also help towards his case, although “nothing is guaranteed in immigration”.
Burris claims to have spent over $7,000 on an immigration lawyer and has been attempting to achieve permanent resident status for nearly three years.
Taub doesn’t understand why Burris is having such a hard time, as the requirement means he’d only have to work a total of two of five years, or 730 days. This works out at around five months per year, and doesn’t even have to count as two consecutive years.
#HELPHENRY
RedBlacks fans quickly jumped on the bandwagon in support of Burris’ cause, with the Twitter hashtag #HelpHenry, putting further pressure on CIC.
Burris has retweeted several messages of support on his own account as the campaign continues to grow.
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President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
