Mar 22, 2012 | Immigrate to Canada, In the News, Legally Speaking, New Laws, Permanent Residency, Skilled Workers
If you submitted your application prior to February 27, 2008 your application may never be processed. Minister Jason Kenney expressed that he is considering wiping out the current immigration backlog by introducing new legislation. This is similar to what New Zealand had done in 2003 to wipe its backlog.
In 2008, Minister Kenney gave priority to those applicants with specific work experience, and those who have job offers in Canada. This did help to reduce the number of overall applications, however it did not help those who applied prior to 2008. Those applications have been put on “hold”, if you will. The Minister said that at 80 per cent of skilled workers are being pulled from the backlog, 20 per cent are newer applications chosen under the new criteria.
As of September 2011, the current backlog includes 472,549 skilled worker applicants, 96,085 business class applicants and their dependants. The current worldwide wait for processing skilled worker applicants is approximately 8 years. Some applications are taking nearly 15 years to process.
Minister Kenney is considering creating legislation that would wipe the current backlog and allow for more timely processing of newer applications from people who can improve Canada’s economy. He proposed a “just-in-time” immigration system, one that would give me businesses a more important role in selecting immigrants. New Zealand created a “pool” from which it selected those applicants who benefited the current economy. Minister Kenney is planning to create a similar “pool” from which individual provinces could sift through applications for their own provincial nominee programs.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been waiting patiently for years for their applications to be processed. In October of 2011, 128 upset skilled workers launched a law suits in the Federal Court pleading the court to order CIC to process the dusty files. Now over 650 applicants from the following visa posts are involved: London, Vienna, Accra, Pretoria, Nairobi, Colombo, Singapore, Damascus, Bogota, Warsaw, New Delhi, Seoul, Port of Spain, Manila, Hong Kong and Beijing.
We’re interested to hear what you have to say about this. Comment below and share!
Dec 4, 2011 | Immigrate to Canada, Immigration, New Laws, Skilled Workers
Next year, Canada will be increasing the Federal Skilled Workers Program. Canada will be admitting up to 10,000 more skilled immigrants than in past years.
The increase in the number of workers will help address the demands of the job market, and help decrease years’ worth of pending applications to the program, the government has said.
The current priority of the government is still the economy. Minister Jason Kenney of the Ministry of Immigration and Multiculturalism says that the government recognizes the value of immigration to the Canadian labor market. Unlike other countries, Canada recognized the importance of the contributions made by skilled immigrants, because they add to Canada’s competitiveness in the international arena.
The government expects levels of immigration to remain fixed between 240,000-265,000, although during the next year, a big chunk of this number would be allowed to enter Canada under the Federal Skilled worker program. Just for this year alone, just fewer than 50,000 immigrants were allowed entry into Canada through this program, and that number is expected to increase to just fewer than 60,000 in 2012.
New studies done by the government show that the Federal Skilled Workers Program is successful, with 89% of immigrants who were allowed entry through this program being employed within 3 years, and 95% of those who hired them being very happy with the services rendered.
Minister Kenney says that the government will keep on exerting effort to improve the immigration system, so that it would be more responsive and adaptable to the needs of the labor market. Recently, the Canadian government has announced many changes to the immigration system. Keep an eye on our blog to learn about these as they happen. Of course, if you are interested in immigrating to Canada through the Skilled Worker Program, please give us a call so we can help you file your application today!
Nov 13, 2011 | Immigrate to Canada, Immigration, New Laws
Recently, the Canadian government announced that it will be soliciting feedback and opinions from the public on its intention to make it mandatory for those who want to migrate to Canada to take and pass a series of French or English language tests. Immigration applicants who are aged between eighteen (18) and fifty-four (54) years old would be required to take these language tests. In addition, the ability to both speak and listen to French or English may be tested. This new change, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, would best gauge the applicants’ mastery of French or English.
The change offers several choices to those who want to migrate to Canada, but would not want to pay for the language tests. If the applicant has finished his/her education where French or English is the main language of education, then they will have the option of not having to pay for the language test.
According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials, possessing the ability to effectively communicate in either or both English or French is a key component to being successful as new Canadian citizens. The government’s intention to make these new language tests mandatory ensures that immigration applicants can speak either French or English at the time of their application for Canadian citizenship, thus making sure that the citizenship program are effective for both the new Canadian citizens, and for the country of Canada.
This new policy raises some questions: How would the public feel towards the new requirement that make it mandatory for immigration applicants to take French/English language tests? What about those who may be unable to read or write in English or French, but have an excellent grasp of spoken English or French? What about those people who can speak excellent French or English, but are incapable of either reading or writing in French or English? If you think this new language testing requirement could affect your citizenship application, contact our firm now to discuss your options!
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