HomeAuthorCatherine Sas, K.C., Author at Immigration Lawyer Vancouver, Canada | Sas & Ing Immigration Law Centre - Page 5 of 17

Canada’s National Occupational Classification (NOC) coding system was first published in the 1990s to classify all the occupations in the Canadian labour market and has been used for decades to evaluate prospective immigrant’s work experience. It has been updated every few years such as the minor changes introduced with NOC 2016, but the newest update that the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is rolling out on November 16, 2022 is something to be on the lookout for.

It comes as no surprise to most Canadians that we are facing an extreme shortage of doctors across Canada.  Many people have been lacking a family doctor for years.  With a view to alleviating this problem, this past Friday, September 23, 2022, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Honourable Sean Fraser, announced significant changes to the way that doctors are assessed for permanent residence to Canada under the Express Entry selection program. 

As the pandemic slowly winds down and life aims to resume to normalcy, there are lingering reminders of its ongoing effect and one of the most noticeable recent consequences are the world-wide delays of passport renewals. There are news reports from around the globe lamenting the delays in passport issuance not only from Canada but from many leading economic nations including the US, UK, France, Germany and Australia. While the lack of a passport clearly limits the ability to travel internationally, it also has considerable significance in the Canadian immigration realm.

As immigration lawyers we are consulted by a wide range of individuals with a great variety of immigration goals. Interestingly a lot of the questions and concerns that our clients have are the same. If you are considering coming to Canada, it is useful to turn to the basic primary school lesson about the 5W’s - who, what, where, when and why - to ask yourself the essential questions about this process and to prepare yourself as much as possible for the immigration experience.

Caveat Emptor is a long-standing economic maxim meaning “Buyer Beware!’ It is all too applicable in the Canadian immigration process and applicants to Canada need to be fully aware of the risks they face in the midst of pervasive immigration fraud. March is Canada’s Fraud Prevention Month where efforts are made to both raise awareness of and curtail the incidence of fraud and abuse in Canada’s immigration program.

Few would realize or recall that Canada was a world leader in introducing business immigration programs - which would soon be followed by most of the leading world economies - the majority of which still maintain such programs today. In 1986, Canada introduced the Investor (IIP) and Entrepreneur (EP) immigration programs.