Changes Expected to the Federal Skilled Worker Program

Image via Wikipedia(CIC) recently announced they are consulting with relevant stakeholders about changing various aspects of the Federal Skilled Worker Program. CIC is considering changing the number of points awarded in three of the six selection factors. CIC is also proposing changes to educational requirements and stricter rules for assessing the validity of Canadian job offers. According to CIC, these suggested changes are meant to reflect the current needs of the Canadian economy and enable immigrants to better integrate into the Canadian economy.

Points Changes in Selection Factors

Applicants will still be required to attain at least 67 points out of 100, in addition to meeting eligibility requirements, in order to qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker Program. CIC is proposing to change the maximum number of points applicants can receive in the following three selection factors: language, age, and work experience. Currently, applicants can receive a maximum of 24 points for their first and second official Canadian language, a maximum of 10 points for age if an applicant is between the ages of 21 and 49, and a maximum of 21 points for paid skilled work experience within the past 10 years.
i. Language

One proposed change would increase the number of points applicants can receive for a first official Canadian language (English or French) to 20 points, rather than the current 16. CIC is also considering establishing minimum language requirements for certain occupational skill levels. A higher minimum language requirement would be required for applicants with work experience in professional occupations, such as doctors, nurses, and engineers. Applicants with work experience in skilled trades would have a lower minimum language requirement.
ii. Age

CIC is proposing to increase the number of points in the age factor from 10 to a maximum of 12 points. Rather than maximum points being awarded until age 49, the suggested change will only allow applicants to gain maximum age points until the age of 35.
iii. Work Experience

CIC is proposing to lower the maximum points for work experience from 21 to 15 points and increase the years of experience required to obtain maximum points. CIC has noted that foreign work experience is not a strong indicator of success in the Canadian labour market and the additional points would be more beneficial in the language and age factor.
Other proposed changes

In order to make the Federal Skilled Worker Program more accessible to applicants with trade skills, CIC is proposing to reduce the number of years associated with education for those with a trade or non-university certificate. Currently, applicants who have a one year trade diploma must have also completed 13 years of full-time education in order to claim maximum points for that diploma under the education factor. Applicants who have a two year trade diploma must have completed 14 years and those with a three year trade diploma must have completed 15 years of education. If the proposed change is accepted, applicants with trade diplomas would be able to claim maximum points for their education with fewer years of full-time education.
CIC is also considering requiring applicants to prove their credentials are recognized by the appropriate Canadian authorities if their profession is regulated in Canada. For example, engineering is a regulated profession in Canada. Under the proposed change, any applicant who has work experience as an engineer would be required to have their credentials recognized by a Canadian professional licensing body before they submit their application for Canadian permanent residency.
Finally, CIC is proposing to establish clearer regulations for assessing employers and assessing whether a job offer is genuine. The Arranged Employment factor is an important aspect of the Federal Skilled Worker Program and CIC has noted that applicants who have Arranged Employment fare better upon arrival in Canada compared to those who do not have Arranged Employment. There have been numerous cases of fraudulent job offers from employers looking to exploit immigrants for money. With clearer guidelines for assessing job offers and employers, CIC is hoping to deter potential fraud.
Attorney David Cohen warns of a potential challenge with the proposed changes, “CIC will not be giving advanced warning of when these proposed changes will come into effect. If these changes are made to the program, applicants who are over the age of 35 and have lower language proficiency levels could have difficulties qualifying for the Federal Skilled Worker Program. If you qualify now for immigration under the current Federal Skilled Worker Program, you should submit your application as soon as possible as you may not qualify once the changes have been implemented.”
While CIC has not announced when they expect to change the Federal Skilled worker Program, Canadavisa.com and CICNews.com will report on any information as soon as it is revealed.

A new wave of young Irish workers head for Canada

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Tamsin McMahon, National Post · Monday, Feb. 28, 2011

On a chilly night last month, nearly 300 Irish men and women gathered at a downtown Toronto pub. The catch: they weren't there for a night of drinking, but for a sold-out seminar on how to navigate Canada's immigration system and find a job.
And they aren't the only ones. Ireland's Economic and Social Research Institute estimates that nearly 1,000 people are leaving the Republic each week. Most are young and educated and desperate to escape the country's economic woes, creating the largest exodus since the 1980s. And as they look abroad for new opportunities, the Irish are increasingly choosing Canada.
Traditionally, Irish economic migrants have flocked to the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. But Canada has seen a recent explosion in the number of Irish youth arriving, lured by its reputation of having weathered the global economic turmoil better than most countries.
"Worldwide, [Canada] is looking like the superstar of how to manage your economy," said Eamonn O'Loghlin, executive director of the Ireland Canada Chamber of Commerce. "So you have all these young, educated, highly skilled people in Ireland who are suddenly in a situation where there are very few jobs. They're looking around and they see how Canada has come through the recession and they see more opportunity here."
The number of temporary workers coming to Canada from Ireland has doubled since 2004. The upward trend began before the global recession. With demand for jobs abroad increasing, the Irish government pressured Canada to increase the number of working holiday visas given to their young people. These visas allow citizens of Ireland (and certain other countries) between the ages of 18 and 35 to work in Canada for up to two years. Canada plans to issue 5,000 of the visas to Irish citizens this year. That is double the number offered in 2009, and all will probably be taken, said Ray Bassett, Ireland's Ambassador to Canada. Last year, Canada planned to offer 4,000 working holiday visas but granted 4,229 due to demand.
"Canada's stock around the world has grown very, very considerably in the recent economic crisis and there has definitely been a big surge in immigration," Mr. Bassett said. "We'd prefer if our people didn't have to move, but they do at the moment because there isn't enough jobs and we're going through an economic downtown. The worst thing in the world would be if we didn't face up to that fact."
In the past, most working holiday visas went to students taking time off to go abroad, allowing them to work at bars and ski hills to pay for their vacations. These days, the visas are increasingly being sought by skilled workers struggling to find work in Ireland's mori-bund construction industry, along with university graduates looking for a quick way into Canada in the hope of finding full-time employment with a company that will eventually sponsor them.
" The numbers have changed, and probably the complexity of the migrants have changed," Mr. Bassett said. "There's probably a broader sweep of the socioeconomic group than I would say there was in the past."
Even people who immigrated to Ireland during the boom are leaving the country and using their Irish work experience to get entry into Canada, said Chris Willis, a Montreal based immigration consultant whose practice specializes in migration from Britain and Ireland.
He has noticed a sharp increase in business. "I had over 300 people show up to a seminar in Cork and over 200 in Galway, and there's a trade show in Dublin which had about 4,000 people come through the doors in two days," Mr. Willis said. "So those are pretty significant numbers."
In Ireland, the exodus is seen as a mixed blessing. It helps keep the country's unemployment rate, predicted to remain around 13% for the next two years, from skyrocketing. But it also means huge numbers of skilled workers are leaving in search of jobs.
"There's a fairly steady stream of inquiries from people who might be asking for help or information if they're thinking of going to work in Canada," said Sean Heading, of Ireland's Technical Engineering and Electrical Union, which held a seminar in November for unemployed skilled workers looking to work abroad. The sessions included representatives from Alberta's construction unions.
Mr. Heading worries about the dim economic opportunities in Ireland for his two teenaged sons. "I would not like to think that the only prospect they will have is emigration," he said. "We don't want to be exporting all our young people. It's not a nice prospect for mothers and fathers to be facing."
Increasing emigration put renewed pressure on the Irish government to allow expatriates to vote in Friday's general election. (Non-residents were not allowed to cast ballots.) The restriction was put in place to keep Ireland's huge diaspora from dominating the vote: The estimated three million Irish passport-holders living abroad would roughly equal the number of domestic voters.
"I have a network of friends around the world ... because everyone has left," said Brian Reynolds, a 29-year-old who moved from Ireland to Toronto 18 months ago and started ballotbox.ie, a website that allowed members of the Irish diaspora to cast a mock vote. "There's a lot of talk about the situation back home and the government and who's to blame and how it's going to recover. That kind of discussion wasn't ever there among my friends before now."
Mr. Reynolds said most workers have left so they would not be a drain on the unemployment system, and are using their earnings in Canada and elsewhere to pay down their debts in Ireland. Many are looking to move home when the economy recovers. He argues they should have had a say in the country's most-watched national election in years -in which longtime ruling party Fianna Fáil was booted out of office.
"If we could sort out the economy soon, and make it so jobs are increasing rather than decreasing, then I think we can get all the people back very quickly," he said. "I do have a lot of friends [who are] taking a few years out, letting Ireland get back on its feet, and they'll be back there to set up family and have kids."
Mr. Reynolds' own future is "up in the air." His girlfriend is sponsoring him as a permanent resident in Canada.
However, he said, "I'd say my future lies back in Ireland."

Related articles

• A new wave of young Irish workers head for Canada (nationalpost.com)
• With unemployment soaring and an economy on its knees (thepressnet.com)
• Irish emigration worse than 1980s (guardian.co.uk)
• Ireland has Flashbacks as Thousands Emigrate for Better Life (online.wsj.com)
• Irish Remedy for Hard Times: Leaving (online.wsj.com)

Canada third in global study on welcoming immigrants

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By Carmen Chai, Postmedia News
International researchers have applauded Canada's efforts at helping newcomers integrate in a report that ranks this country third in the world in how it reaches out to its immigrant population.
Canada placed two notches higher compared to last year — just behind Sweden and Portugal — in the annual Migration Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) released Monday by the British Council and the Migration Policy Group, organizations that track immigration policy in dozens of countries.
Overall, Canada received 72 points out of a possible 100, while Sweden, sitting at No. 1 on the list, received 83.
Canada moved up on the list because of the federal government's recent focus on recognizing the education and credentials of immigrants, results showed.
The MIPEX findings, which compare 31 North American and European countries, are meant to help governments examine their current policies, said Jan Niessen, director of the Migration Policy Group. He noted that the study doesn't completely convey an immigrant's experience in each country, though.
Officials should examine the findings carefully as the demand for skilled immigrants increases, according to Howard Duncan, executive head of Metropolis, a Canadian organization that studies immigration.
"One thing we're seeing, not just in North America and Europe, is a growing competition for immigrants who have a high level of education and high level of skill. . . . The competition for migrants is going to be, in part, won or lost in terms of integration policies," he said.
For the study, about 100 researchers from around the world looked at 150 factors, broken into seven categories, such as access to education and the labour market, chances of reuniting with family, the possibility of permanent residency and political rights.
Canada's large backlog of immigration applications awaiting processing was a source a concern. The report said Canada's wait list is a "major weakness."
While Canada tied with the United States for promoting anti-discrimination and equal opportunities, the report showed that Canada limits newcomers' voting rights and input in public discussion, Niessen said.
Canada received a "slightly unfavourable" 38 points in the political participation category because it has not extended the right to vote to those in line for citizenship, while 18 European Union countries already do.
Recent national surveys on the issue show that Canadians are divided on whether potential citizens should be allowed to vote, said Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies.
Jedwab said the findings should be interpreted with "caution."
"We need to look at the overall rankings and where we stand and not determine or be satisfied with being third best on the list," he said.
"We do know on the ground from various research that immigrants do face challenges when it comes to labour-market integration and the labour-market situation," he said.
But Canada also ranked high in the labour-mobility stream compared to Europe and the U.S.
"Migrant workers and their families have some of the best labour market opportunities in Canada . . . foreign residents and nationals have the same right to work in any sector, start a business and use public job services. All have the same working conditions and access to social security," the report said.
Canada was in second place after Sweden in the education category, which showed that Canada addressed the specific needs of immigrant children with its English-as-a-second-language programs.
Jedwab said Canadian cities should step in to fill in gaps in the integration experience for newcomers. For example, cities known to have high rates of immigration should consider creating services that will help new residents prepare for citizenship tests, he said.
Earlier this month, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Canada admitted a record number of immigrants in 2009 when more than 280,000 people moved to the country.
It was the largest number of newcomers to Canada in 57 years, he said.
cchai@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/Carmen_Chai
Top 10 countries, and their scores, in a global study of immigrant experience:
1. Sweden — 83
2. Portugal — 79
3. Canada — 72
4. Finland — 69
5. Netherlands — 68
6. Belgium — 67
7. Norway — 66
8. Spain — 63
9. U.S. — 62
10. Italy — 60
Worst 10 countries, and their scores:
1. Czech Republic — 46
1. Estonia — 46
2. Hungary — 45
2. Romania — 45
3. Switzerland — 43
4. Austria — 42
4. Poland — 42
5. Bulgaria — 41
6. Lithuania — 40
7. Malta — 37
8. Slovakia — 36
9. Cyprus — 35
10. Latvia — 31

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• Canada third in global study on welcoming immigrants (canada.com)
• Canada ranks third in immigration integration: study (nationalpost.com)
• Canada near top in integrating immigrants, survey says (theglobeandmail.com)
• Canada ranked 3rd in integrating newcomers (thestar.com)