Border city immigration lawyer applauds limit to flagpoling, calls for system overhaul

A Windsor, Ont., immigration lawyer says a federal government decision to curtail flagpoling is a step in the right direction, and he's surprised it didn't happen sooner.

Eddie Kadri says the government now needs to address the underlying conditions that have led so many immigrants to drive across the Canada-U.S. border and turn right back around in order to access immediate immigration services at the port of entry.

"We have an immigration system that needs to be completely reimagined, reinvented, and we need to bring down processing times," said Kadri, who has been practicing law for around 20 years. 

"That's the biggest culprit, I think, which is preventing us from making significant changes to our immigration programs is the fact that these processing times have gotten ridiculous."

The federal government announced on Monday that it will no longer permit flagpoling by those seeking work and study permits, though it provides for several exceptions.

Those include international truck drivers who have to leave Canada for work but who maintained their status by applying for renewal prior to leaving.

Flagpoling is a legitimate practice in certain circumstances, Kadri said, notably for American citizens or foreign nationals who work in Canada under international agreements.

But it's been exploited by people who live in Canada and use it to "queue jump" in order to process work or study permit applications immediately instead of waiting months for their applications to be processed through Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). 

Kadri said curtailing flagpolling is "a classic example of treating the symptoms and not the disease itself."

"The processing time for applications has really ballooned out of control," he said. "And the government just refuses to dedicate the resources they need to bring these processing times down."

Nonetheless, he said, that doesn't make flagpolling right in cases where it's been exploited. 

The Canada Border Services Agency is already overtaxed, and flagpoling diverts officers away from more important work, he added.

"My perspective … may not be the same as some of my colleagues' or a lot of my colleagues' but because I work with the CBSA and we process a lot of applications at the [port of entry], I see first-hand how they deal with a lack of resources as an organization," Kadri said.

"And the last thing you want is filling up their day with study permit applications for students that could easily apply inland."