Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Later in the focus group, attention turned to the tense process of gaining
approval from immigration officers, thereby lifting the dreaded terms and
conditions of the visa.
We started our business in September 2000, a few months after we landed. We
submitted our first report in November 2000; the second report was sent in
June 2001. When they received the second report, they wrote us telling us to
wait 11-15 months for the reply to our application for conditions removal…
November 2001 we sent them our year-end report, and they called us. They
asked us for further information and we did send the information over imme-
diately… The information they required was the capital in and out of the
company. They asked us for the record of cheques for capital we put into the
company. I told them we had not issued a cheque, the money we put in was
straight from our savings account. They were asking for my returned cheques
to prove that the money I put into the company was actually my own money.
They called again yesterday…
The surveillant state, monitoring, expecting, judging, established a stressful
audit culture that entrepreneurs had not confronted before. Performance
standards that exceeded the normal disciplines of the market were unprec-
edented and unwelcome. 22
In addition there were the unpredictable responses of the street-level
bureaucrats whose discretionary powers added an additional layer of uncer-
tainty to entrepreneurs. These decisions broke both ways, as became clear
in sequential accounts from a focus group of business immigrants from
Hong Kong. Maurice received unexpected good news:
[The terms and conditions] were removed in one and a half years.
I was surprised to receive the letter that my conditions were removed. I did
not apply, maybe the accountant did that for me, but I did not know. I received
the letter one day telling me that my conditions were removed. Many people
told me that I was lucky.
In contrast, Claude's CIC letter included an unpleasant sting in the tail:
The immigration officer did come to look at our shop from outside. He did
not come in. There were very few Caucasians shopping in our mall, so I could
tell he was from the government. He also called me, asked for the person
responsible and after exchanging conversation, said he was pleased. But when
the letter arrived, I was not so pleased. He said my gross revenues were too
little… not what they were expecting. Secondly, I had only hired one employee.
Of course, why did I have to hire more than one when there was no business?
He said, 'I am ignoring your file, you could apply for your citizenship, but the
conditions are not removed.'
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