The Canadian government has been incredibly busy this year making major changes to it’s immigration system.   With the pause of the Skilled Worker program, sponsorship of parents and grandparents, and the hold on investors and business class immigration, it has been an incredibly active year for minister Jason Kenney.

Recognizing that immigrants are an integral part of the Canadian economy, and growing labour shortages in the country overall, Minister Jason Kenney has made plans to improve the system as a whole.

As the Skilled Worker program is one of the most important in bringing in skilled immigrants, we are hearing that the government has a proposal to re-instate the Skilled Worker program, but this time without a list of priority occupations.  In 2008, Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) implemented a requirement that one must have work experience in a priority occupation to qualify for the program.  In 2009, CIC limited the number of Skilled Worker applications to a maximum of 20,000 per year and the following year reduced it once more to 10,000.

We are now hearing from the Federal government that the Skilled Worker program will be redesigned to better accept the applicants that Canada wants.  There will be changes to the points system and when it comes to the occupation list, there will be none!  Those who would like to submit applications under this category will need to meet the minimum points based on 5 categories and their work experience will need to be of a management or skilled position (NOC O, A or B).

We do understand that the sponsorship program for parents and grandparents may reopen in 2014, but until then the Super Visa is the way to go. If you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and want to sponsor your parents or grandparents to Canada you will have to apply for a Super Visa.  The Super Visa is a multiple entry visa that will allow your parents and/or grandparents to live (but not work) in Canada for a period of up to 2 years at a time.

Investors, entrepreneurs and business class applicants will have to wait for further information on these programs as there has been no update at this time.

If you are interested in immigrating to Canada we strongly suggest that you contact our office to speak with our immigration counsel for the most accurate and up to date information.  You may complete our free online assessment form to determine whether you are or will be eligible to immigrate.  Feel free to call and speak to us directly at 1-416-665-3939 or toll-free within North America at 1-888-808-7338.

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