The Latest News on Canadian Visa Program, US Election and Covid-19
USA; Canada
Canadian visa program may lure tech workers blocked by Trump
The number of successful candidates for the Canada’s Global Skills Strategy (GSS) program has grown five-fold in the first three years
According to lawyers, the expedited visa program, launched in Canada in 2017, has attracted more and more technical specialists, and the latest immigration crackdown by U.S. President Donald Trump will further increase consumption as soon as restrictions on the use of COVID-19 are introduced.
The number of successful candidates for the Canada’s Global Skills Strategy (GSS) program has grown five-fold in the first three years, with more than 23,000 employees approved in five major technical categories.
Between January and March 2020, more than 2,300 applications for the same five core technical posts were approved, in anticipation of the closure of COVID-19, which led to border closures and a sharp decline in immigration. The program boasts a two-week processing time.
Immigration lawyers said they generally support the program, which some call transparent and consistent, and an example of how Canada has been able to take advantage of Trump’s immigration position since he entered the White House in 2017.
“There are employers in the US who have non-US workers who take Canada seriously,” said Kyle Hindman, a partner at McCrea Immigration Law in Vancouver.
Trump issued a presidential statement on Monday that temporarily bans foreign workers from entering the United States on certain visas, which, according to a spokesman for the Trump administration, will create 525,000 jobs for US workers.
US technology companies, including Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc, Facebook Inc, and Netflix Inc, have expanded in Canada in recent years, although most companies have declined to comment on their use of GSS or how the recent Trump announcement will affect their hiring plans.
USA
A matter of life and death’: a top immigrant advocate on the US election
Every time that he’s under attack or he feels he may be blamed for something, we can expect that he’s going to default to attacking immigrants
The head of the key advocacy group expects Trump’s attacks on immigrants to intensify as his struggle intensifies.
When things go wrong for Donald Trump, immigrant advocates such as Marielena Hincapi are gearing up for what could happen next.
Permanent in his chaotic presidency is how immigration is used as a cudgel through rhetoric or politics, when nothing seems to work out.
For example, this week, as the national Covid-19 cases reached a record high, and the president recovered, possibly from his most-attended rally, he visited the border wall, signed it and suspended certain types of work visas.
“Every time that he’s under attack or he feels he’s been cornered or may be blamed for something, we can expect that he’s going to default to attacking immigrants,” said Hincapié, the executive director of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC).
Hincapié continued: “Our expectation is that over the next month, as the election gets closer, if the economy continues to be in this downward spiral, if we have another surge in the public health crisis because of the reopening, etc, that’s what we’ll continue to see.”
In preparation for the near future, Hincapié is also focusing on what could happen in November.
Whoever wins in November is likely to react to the ongoing pandemic, the ongoing economic crisis and the consequences of the uprisings against systemic racism in the country.
Read more on www.theguardian.com
Netherlands; European Union
COVID-19: Dutch State Secretary Extends Reporting Deadlines Under DAC6 Directive
On 26 June 2020, the Dutch State Secretary for Finance announced the extension of the reporting deadline under Directive 2018/822 on mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation in relation to reportable cross-border arrangements (DAC6) from 1 July 2020 to 1 January 2021.
The notification obligation applies to cross-border arrangements retroactively from 25 June 2018 (for further details see Netherlands-1, News 3 June 2020).
For the text of the announcement see here (in Dutch only).
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