Victor Ing, Author at Immigration Lawyer Vancouver, Canada | Sas & Ing Immigration Law Centre - Page 9 of 10
 

HomeAuthorVictor Ing, Author at Immigration Lawyer Vancouver, Canada | Sas & Ing Immigration Law Centre - Page 9 of 10

The Minister of Immigration recently announced changes to the Express Entry system that will help certain skilled immigrants, especially those that have completed post-secondary studies in Canada, obtain Canadian permanent residence. Starting November 19, 2016, additional points will be granted to candidates who are former international students and who have job offers that are not supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).

The eTA program is an online pre-screening requirement that was initially announced in 2015. This requirement makes it mandatory for travelers who are visa-exempt to Canada to make an online application through Canada’s eTA system before they will be allowed to board a flight bound for Canada. Affected travelers will include those from Australia, Japan, Korea, Spain, France and the UK, among others. Once issued, an eTA will be valid for a period of five years.

Immigration has been a popular subject in the news in the past several weeks since Conservative leadership candidate, Kellie Leitch, suggested that potential immigrants should be screened for “anti-Canadian values”. This suggestion has been heavily criticized and dissected in the media. Some have dismissed the idea as being anti-Canadian in itself, while others have criticized the idea as simply “unworkable”. We can likely all agree that there is such a thing as “Canadian values”, but is the idea of screening for them really unworkable or just unpopular, or both? Here are some considerations from an immigration processing standpoint.

Canada welcomes tens of thousands of workers every year to become permanent residents under it’s Economic immigration program. These programs focus on attracting the best and the brightest from around the world to bring their skills and experience to Canada. Often, many of these workers already have job offers in Canada in managerial, professional or technical positions. However, there is currently no federal pathway to permanent residence for low or semi-skilled workers other than the Caregiver class. Under Canada’s immigration program, low and semi-skilled workers do not qualify to apply for permanent residence under Canada’s Express Entry System, leaving it to Canada’s provinces and territories to attract and retain these overlooked but important workers.

It has been over two years since June 2014 when the federal government permanently shut down the federal immigrant investor pathway to Canadian permanent residence. Under the former program, foreign investors and entrepreneurs could obtain permanent residence in exchange for a one-time lump sum investment to Canada. The program was finally scrapped over widespread criticism that it was not generating long-term benefits for Canadians and because many viewed the program as a way for immigrants to buy their way to Canadian citizenship. Unsurprisingly, the new immigration Minister, the Honourable John McCallum, has already publicly stated that there are no current plans to restart or reinvent the troubled program.

On March 8, 2016, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Honourable John McCallum, announced the overall immigration targets for 2016. Ordinarily, the Minister is required to provide his annual report to Parliament on or before November 1 of each year. Given that last year was an election year that resulted in a change of government, a levels plan was not presented to Parliament for 2015.

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