About the Author: STANJ travels, Skilled worker immigration to Canada – immigration to Canada – the future landscape The Canadian government welcomes almost a quarter of a million new immigrants to Canada each year. Their numbers include economic immigrants such as skilled workers, investors and entrepreneurs as well as immigrants who come to join family members, and those who come to Canada on humanitarian grounds. Economic class immigrants constitute the largest group of immigrants admitted each year. These economic immigrants are expected to settle successfully and make a real contribution to Canada’s social and economic development. The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) is one of the most popular economic immigration programs. Through this program, hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals have moved to Canada to contribute to the Canadian workforce. The FSWP assesses applicants to determine how likely they are to succeed economically in Canada. Each applicant is assessed on a points grid based on 6 factors, namely, age, education, English and/or French language proficiency, previous skilled work experience, whether they have arranged employment in Canada as well as other adaptability factors. Applicants receive points for each of the 6 factors and are required to obtain at least 67 out of 100 available points in order to qualify for a Canadian immigration (permanent resident) visa. The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) has been continually revised over the past few years with a view to ensure that it is faster and more flexible and that it meets Canadian government objectives and labour market requirements. The current regime came into effect on May 4, 2013. There are plans to change the regime again and to introduce a system that has worked in other immigrant receiving countries such as Australia and New Zealand. This new regime will be effective by January 2015 and will see the introduction of a 2 step Expression of Interest (EOI) application system. For Step 1, skilled workers who are interested in immigrating will submit an ‘Expression of Interest’. They will likely be required to provide information about their family composition, their education, their language proficiency and their skills and work experience. Citizenship & Immigration Canada will place these “expressions of interest” in a pool. For Step 2, Citizenship & Immigration Canada will review these. Expressions of Interest and will invite selected candidates to apply for permanent residence. The selection criteria is yet to be announced. However, going by the example of New Zealand, selection from the pool is based on a points system. Points are available for skilled employment in New Zealand, work experience, educational qualifications, age and close family in New Zealand. Bonus points are available for employment in identified areas of future growth and/ or absolute skill shortage as well as on other adaptability factors. In Canada, it is anticipated that the selection criteria will also be on a points system established by the Minister of Citizenship & Immigration. The development of the Expression of Interest system is seen as a positive development by industry stakeholders. It is believed that it will result in speedy visa processing for people who have skills that are in demand in industries experiencing growth and that it will minimize the mismatch between the skills migrants bring and the skills Canada needs. Contact us for more information and advice.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 07:57:53 +0000
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