Showing posts with label Immigration. Show all posts

Canada to Welcome Record Number of Immigrants Under Provincial Nominee Program

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - July 19, 2011) - Provinces and territories are on track this year to welcome a record number of immigrants selected under their own nominee programs.

In a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade, Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, discussed the rapid growth in provincial nominee programs in recent years.

"Our government recognizes the importance of nominee programs in spreading out the benefits of immigration around the country," said Minister Kenney. "That is why we plan to admit about 40,000 immigrants in the provincial nominee category in 2011, five times more than the 8,000 welcomed in 2005. The previous high was 36,428 provincial nominees in 2010."

Traditionally, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver have attracted a disproportionate share of skilled immigrants coming to Canada. However, the top three provinces for provincial nominees are Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Thanks in large part to the provincial/territorial nominee programs, 26% of economic immigrants accepted as permanent residents of Canada are now destined for provinces or territories other than Ontario, British Columbia or Quebec, compared to just 11% in 1997.

"We understand the desire of provinces and territories to identify their own economic immigrants and that is why we have continued to increase our projected admissions for nominees each year," noted Minister Kenney. "At the same time, we are committed to working with our provincial and territorial counterparts to continue to improve the program design, integrity, selection standards and management of the nominee programs."

The provincial nominee program is also a good way to get workers in quickly. Applications are processed within 12 months on average, as are federal skilled worker applications under recent ministerial instructions.

Provincial nominee programs are being discussed as part of this month's cross-Canada consultations on immigration levels and mix. In addition, a comprehensive evaluation of the provincial nominee programs is underway. With the knowledge gained through each of these processes, CIC will be able to work with provincial and territorial partners on a longer-term approach to levels planning.

Ottawa urged to boost immigration, ease labour crunch

BY SHEILA PRATT, POSTMEDIA NEWS JULY 18, 2011

With another boom just around the corner, it's time to shift away from reliance on temporary foreign workers and concentrate on immigration, says Thomas Lukaszuk, Alberta's minister of immigration and employment.

Photograph by: Ted Jacob, Calgary Herald, Calgary Herald

Lukaszuk is ready to push the federal government to allow more immigrants from among the 30,000 temporary workers now in the province, offering them a chance to settle with their families.

Employers facing labour shortages would also be happy because they could keep workers they spent the past few years training, he said.

Lukaszuk's first priority is to make sure Canadians in under-employed groups, such as First Nations and the disabled, are "fully engaged" in the workforce.

"But at the end of the day, even if we naively think we will get 100 per cent employment in those groups, we will still be short of workers," he said.

Last year, Lukaszuk ordered a review of the temporary working program by parliamentary assistant Teresa Woo Paw. Her report, assessing the effectiveness of the program, will be released in a month.

Lukaszuk hopes to garner support on the issue from his provincial counterparts in preparation for a ministers' meeting this fall.

"The federal government took in 280,000 new immigrants this year, the highest number ever, and that's great. But that record intake didn't make a dent in the 360,000 temporary workers in the country."

Since that number has been steady in recent years, it's clear the demand for workers isn't just short-term, he said.

At the height of the boom in 2006, Alberta had more than 60,000 temporary foreign workers - the highest per capita of any province. Many worked on oilsands projects but a lot of them left when the economic downturn hit in December 2008.

Recent federal government legislation has made the temporary foreign worker program less attractive Lukaszuk said.

Under the new rules, temporary foreign workers can spend a maximum of four years in Canada, and then must leave for four years before re-applying for another four-year term. Previously, a permit issued for two years was renewable several times if the employer could prove the worker was needed.

The new four-year rule means well-trained workers will leave Alberta to go to other industrialized countries, not back home to the Philippines or Ukraine, Lukaszuk said.

Feds asking tough questions about the future of immigration

MP Jason Kenney of the Conservative Party fiel...

Image via WikipediaFederal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is asking some pretty tough questions about the future of Canada’s immigration program.

On July 12, he launched a national consultation in Calgary on the levels and mix of immigrants that Canada should be accepting in the coming years. He will travel to meet stakeholders in Vancouver on July 18, in Toronto on July 20, and in Montreal on July 22.

The bbackgrounder issued online by Citizenship and Immigration Canada reveals a department anxious to address big questions but seemingly constrained by the need to obtain public approval.

The department wants input on three major questions:

How many people should we let in each year as permanent residents?
What should the mix be?
How do we ensure a fair and efficient system?

The department acknowledges that Canada has an “aging population,” that we are experiencing “fertility rates below replacement values,” and that Canada’s labour force is experiencing “slowing” growth. Aging baby boomers are creating a bulge in Canada’s retirement rates, which raises the question of who will be there to pay the taxes to cover the costs of their care.

CIC describes the dilemma this way: “Although increasing levels would be one way to mitigate some of these pressures, it would require broad buy-in from the public and additional funding. Is that likely?”

It is clear from this statement that the department assumes increased levels of immigration will mean the need for extra tax dollars. In 2011-12, more than $250 million will be spent on settling immigrants destined to Quebec and another $600 million plus will be spent on those destined elsewhere in the country. It is clear that if we are to increase levels under a Tory majority government, we must either pick “better” immigrants -- those who need less financial support to get on their feet -- or we..we must simply decide to be more tight-fisted with our tax dollars.

The department admits that its flagship Federal Skilled Worker program faltered in the 1990s and early 2000s when the professionals it selected found “very low incomes” upon arrival in Canada. Even with a significant overhaul of the program, a recent study shows that after a full three years after arrival, 11 per cent of such immigrants remained unemployed.

The current mix of immigrants includes 60 per cent in the Economic Class, 26 per cent in the Family Class, and 14 per cent in the Refugee and Humanitarian Classes. The department is asking if this is the right mix. At present, it is keeping federal entrepreneurs at bay with a temporary moratorium imposed on June 24. It has also imposed a cap of 700 applications in the Federal Investor Program and, to boot, has doubled its investment and net worth requirements. As well, it is discouraging parents and grandparents from applying by making them wait in lines that are five to eight years long

Finally, what to do about the huge backlog of applications waiting to be processed? It continues to climb with a whopping 1,003,012 now in the queue.

I am glad the minister and his officials are asking these questions. It’s good to ask big questions, but you have to give people sufficient time and opportunity to answer them and be brave enough to take the advice, whatever it might be, if it’s in the national interest to do so.
Guidy Mamann, J.D. practices law in Toronto at Mamann Sandaluk LLP and is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as an immigration specialist. For more information, visit www.migrationlaw.com or email metro@migrationlaw.com

Let foreign workers stay, Alberta urges

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Settlement through immigration will help ease labour shortage, minister argues

BY SHEILA PRATT, EDMONTON JOURNAL JULY 17, 2011

Lukaszuk is ready to push the federal government to allow more immigrants from among the 30,000 temporary workers now in the province, offering them a chance to settle with their families.

Employers facing labour shortages would also be happy because they could keep workers they have spent the last few years training, he said. Lukaszuk's first priority is to make sure Canadians in underemployed groups, such as First Nations and the disabled, are "fully engaged" in the workforce. "But at the end of the day, even if we naively think we will get 100-percent employment in those groups, we will still be short of workers," he said.

Last year, Lukaszuk ordered a review of the temporary working program by parliamentary assistant Teresa Woo Paw. Her report assessing the effectiveness of the program will be released in a month. The Calgary MLA spent a year hearing from employers and other interested parties on the issue.

Lukaszuk said he's ready to "raise the volume" on this issue with the federal government.

He hopes to garner support from his provincial counterparts in preparation for a ministers' meeting this fall.

"The federal government took in 280,000 new immigrants this year, the highest number ever, and that's great," he said.

"But that record intake didn't make a dent in the 360,000 temporary workers in the country."

Since that number has been steady in recent years, it's clear the demand for workers isn't just short-term, he said.

At the height of the boom in 2006, Alberta had more than 60,000 temporary foreign workers -the highest per capita of any province. Many worked on oilsands projects, but a lot of them left when the economic downturn hit in December 2008.

Recent federal government legislation has made the temporary foreign worker program less attractive Lukaszuk said.

Under the new rules, temporary foreign workers can spend a maximum of four years in Canada, and then must leave for four years before reapplying for another fouryear term.

Previously, a permit issued for two years was renewable several times if the employer could prove the worker was needed.

The new four-year rule means welltrained workers will leave Alberta to go to other industrialized countries, not back home to the Philippines or Ukraine, Lukaszuk said.

Alberta got a wake-up call a few weeks ago when Australian mining companies came to Edmonton to recruit all kinds of workers, including engineers and skilled tradesmen.

Australian employers are offering immigration status to anyone who takes a job. That's a big advantage over Canada and Alberta, Lukaszuk said.

"When I go to Germany to recruit welders, I can tell them they can only come for four years," he said. The only way to currently offer permanent residency to temporary foreign workers is under the provincial nominee program.

Larry Staples of the Alberta Construction Association said his industry will need more immigrants and temporary foreign workers to meet demand for planned oilsands projects.

At the height of the boom in 2006, the construction industry brought in about 7,000 skilled tradesmen, "but these days, that's down to almost zero," Staples said. People from overseas and Eastern Canada left the province in droves, he said.

"Now we're looking at ramping up again. We need to turn up the burner on immigration for the skills we need and make sure they come to Alberta and don't stay in Toronto or Montreal.

"We need to get more skilled immigration to the province."

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said he was pleased Lukaszuk wants to move away for temporary foreign workers.

But he said it's not clear the federal government will listen.

spratt@edmontonjournal.com

Our country needs more people

Canadian parliament from the Musée Canadienne ...

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The Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies poll found a slim majority of Canadians think that Canada's population (34 million) is just right.

Size does matter! Our population is comparable to California's, yet we have the world's second-largest land mass.

Immigration must be a priority - you can't run a country this size without it. The United States prospered because it opened its gates - now it's 10 times our size.

Canadians love Canada's space, but Canada needs at least 150 million more people - preferably more. Sixty per cent of our population live within a few hundred miles of the U.S. border. A large part of Canada remains unused.

Many think our north can't be populated. It can with investment and new technologies. Switzerland fits inside Algonquin Park! France and England take up Ontario (with room left over Liechtenstein). We're definitely under-populated.

People want Canada's postcard look, but don't want anyone else to live here. If Canada doesn't increase its population the quality of life for will fall exponentially. There's a definite and important correlation between a country's population size and the health of the economy.

Canada needs a 'Statue of Liberty" effect - more assertive and industrious attitudes to attract hard-work-ing immigrants. Canada has been called the largest hotel in the world - that should be changed to one of the largest houses in the world. People should be enticed, so they can work hard, build a good life and adopt enviable Canadian values of dignity, tolerance, and fairness.

Canada is not "just right" with only 34 million people. If this attitude persists, taxes will increase, and some otherwise needless social programs will prosper.

A land mass of almost 10 million square kilometres with only 34 million people will carry that burden.

Bring me your hardworking, your ambitious, your visionaries.

Let the immigration revolution begin.

DOUGLAS CORNISH, Ottawa

Minister Kenney launches national consultations on immigration levels and mix

Calgary is the largest metropolis in the Calga...

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Calgary, July 12, 2011 — Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney has launched a series of cross-country consultations on immigration issues, beginning today in Calgary.

The Minister is meeting with stakeholders and the public to discuss the important issue of immigration levels and mix. Following the Calgary session today, the Minister will meet with stakeholders in Vancouver on July 18, Toronto on July 20 and Montreal on July 22. Online consultations will take place later this summer and will be open to the public.

The purpose of the consultations is to seek feedback on immigration levels, including the appropriate level of immigration for Canada, and the most suitable mix between economic, family class and protected persons. Discussions on system management to provide improved services, such as reasonable processing times, and addressing issues such as fraud, will also be included.

In planning for the total number of people to admit as permanent residents, CIC not only balances immigration objectives but also considers several other factors, including broader government commitments, input from provinces and territories, and current and future economic conditions. The Department must also consider its operational ability to process applications in a timely manner, as well as the capacity of communities to welcome newcomers.

In addition to presenting an opportunity to gather input from stakeholders and the public on key questions facing CIC, the consultations also allow the Department to share with stakeholders and the public some of the considerations and difficult choices involved in managing a global immigration system.

The consultations present an important opportunity to generate greater understanding of the trade-offs involved in setting immigration levels. There are competing visions and diverging goals for the future of the immigration program, and there is no single right answer on what the focus should be. Engaging stakeholders and the broader public in that conversation is a key part of developing a plan that will work for Canada going forward.

Invited stakeholders represent a variety of perspectives, including those of employers, labour, academia, learning institutions, professional organizations, business organizations, regulatory bodies, municipalities, settlement provider organizations and ethnocultural organizations.

A report on the consultations will be available on the CIC website once stakeholder and public consultations have been completed.

More information about the online consultations will be available on the CIC website.

Be emotionally prepared - Newcomers to Canada offer move-in advice: RBC poll

Entrance of Mount Robson Provincial Park, Brit...

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TORONTO, July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - The best advice newcomers to Canada have for anyone looking to follow in their footsteps is to be mentally prepared, including being ready for any sacrifices involved in settling in this country, according to an RBC poll.

More than half (58 per cent) say mental preparation is key, with almost a third (30 per cent) noting that sacrifices or tradeoffs may need to be made and 28 per cent saying being positive and patient will help achieve long-term results.

"Moving to a new country is a life-changing decision and being mentally prepared for the challenges of a different culture can really help ensure a successful move," said Camon Mak, director, Multicultural Markets, RBC. "Many newcomers focus on the physical and financial changes that come with a move, but establishing a support network and connecting with the community can be just as important."

According to the RBC poll, 47 per cent conducted online research to understand more about life in Canada, while more than half (54 per cent) said they prepared themselves for the social aspects of moving to Canada before they came to this country, by:

Informing relatives/friends already in Canada of their intentions to come here so relatives/friends could provide help and advice (33 per cent)
Refreshing their language skills (33 per cent)

"There are a number of ways RBC helps potential immigrants prepare before moving. For example, our Beijing branch offers advice on life in Canada and what to expect on arrival, assists in setting up a bank account and whenever possible, introduces clients to local branch staff," added Mak. "Through our website, anyone around the globe can be connected to someone at RBC who speaks their language, as we now offer banking assistance in over 180 languages."

Established newcomers also noted that success in Canada is not just measured in financial or career terms. Almost half (46 per cent) of newcomers who have already settled in Canada define success based on "mind/spirit", including inner peace and strength, enjoying small daily events of life, and love. In fact, female newcomers were more likely than male newcomers to use mind/spirit measurements (54 per cent compared to 39 per cent), while male newcomers were more likely than female newcomers to define success based on their career (57 per cent compared to 47 per cent).

About the Environics Poll
The findings were conducted by Environics Research Group on behalf of RBC in April 2011. Environics conducted a total of 608 interviews among Chinese and South Asian immigrant residents in British Columbia and Ontario who are first generation and have lived in Canada for 10 years or less. Interviews were conducted online and respondents were recruited from an online consumer research panel. Quotas were applied to represent the different regions and tenure in Canada. Data was weighted according to population data from 2006 Census to represent the population as closely as possible. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100 per cent response rate would have an estimated margin of error of ±4 percentage points 19 times out of 20 of what the results would have been had the entire population of Chinese and South immigrants in Canada been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to, coverage error and measurement error.

About RBC Welcome to Canada Package
For more than seven generations, RBC has been supporting newcomers by providing them with resources and tools that make the transition to a new country seamless. The RBC Welcome to Canada package helps newcomers who have been inCanada for less than three years with key financial decisions and includes advice and discounts on products and services. Details on The RBC Welcome to Canada banking package can be found at www.rbc.com/settlequick. Consumers around the world can access information on moving to Canada, including financial advice checklists and more, at www.rbc.com/canada. From 2005 to 2009, 14 per cent of all immigrants were Chinese (including those from Hong Kong and Taiwan) and 18 per cent were South Asian (from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). These two groups represent one-third of recent (past five years) newcomers and are the largest sources of immigration in this time period.

Videos:

1)     http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/mmnr/smr/Naverdoo.flv
2)     http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/mmnr/smr/Ola.flv
3)     http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/mmnr/smr/Ash.flv
4)     http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/mmnr/smr/Elaine1.flv
5)     http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/mmnr/smr/Joanna.flv

Minister seeks input on immigration issues

Image by mostlyconservative via Flickr

BY CLARA HO, CALGARY HERALD JULY 13, 2011

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney kicked off a series of national consultations in Calgary on Tuesday, asking shareholders to provide input on issues and programs in hopes of better determining appropriate immigration levels for Canada.

"We want people's views on what is the right mix of our various immigration programs, how do we ensure that immigrants succeed economically, because when immigrants get good jobs, Canada succeeds," Kenney said.

About a dozen attendees from immigrant settlement organizations, employers, industry groups and community associations joined the minister in a private meeting to discuss everything from which programs to focus on, how to ensure skilled workers are selected to fill job shortages, and how to reduce backlogs and maintain reasonable processing times.

Kenney will hold similar sessions with stakeholder groups in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal later this month, as well as online consultations later this summer, which will be open to the public.

The input will then be fed into the federal government's multi-year immigration levels plan, which determines how many people should be admitted to Canada and into which programs.

For the past several years Canada has admitted between 240,000 to 265,000 permanent residents. Last year the government exceeded the planned maximum, admitting 281,000 permanent residents.

"There's always a maximum to the number of immigrants we bring. We're maintaining very high levels, but we want to make sure that immigration is actually working for newcomers and newcomers are working in Canada," he said, adding that increasing the maximum number was a possibility. "We don't want to be bringing people here to face unemployment or underem-ployment, we want them to fill the job shortages that exist, particularly in this region."

Recently, Premier Ed Stelmach and other western premiers blamed the federal government for hurting western economic growth by setting a cap on the number of immigrants admitted through the Provincial Nominee Program, which allows provincial governments to choose immigrants based on their economic needs.

But Kenney said the government has been very generous in letting the program grow nationally almost tenfold, from 5,000 admissions six years ago to 45,000 this year, and actually reduced federal immigration programs to give more spots to provinces.

In turn, Alberta saw its immigration grow from 18,000 immigrants five years ago to more than 32,000 this year, Kenney said.

Deciding which programs to emphasize is a difficult process, as any increases in one program come at the cost of another, he said.

cho@calgaryherald.com

Immigrants Outnumber Temporary Foreign Workers by 22 to 1. So What’s the Big Problem?

The May 14th Globe and Mail article on the release of 2009 immigration statistics led with the headline, “Leap in temporary foreign workers will hurt Canada long-term, critics say,” and went on to opine that this “marked a major shift in policy for a country that historically was built through permanent immigration.”

The article continued in an alarmist tone suggesting that Canada’s immigration policy was becoming similar to “European guest-worker programs, which spawned years of social unrest in countries such as Germany.” This betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of Canadian immigration policy and German immigration policy.

Here’s the truth for Canada. On December 1, 2009, there were 282,771 temporary foreign workers in Canada. In 2009, Canada admitted 252,124 permanent residents (immigrants). (CIC, Facts and Figures 2009). Sounds like we have more temporary workers than permanent residents? This is what those who oppose temporary foreign workers claim.

But wait! They are comparing apples and oranges. They are comparing the total number of temporary foreign workers in Canada with the annual intake of permanent immigrants. If we compare total immigrants to total temporary foreign workers in Canada, we have a dramatically different picture. The 2006 Census of Canada reported that there were a total of 6,186,950 immigrants in Canada. (Statistics Canada, Immigrant population by place of birth, by province and territory - 2006 Census).

Therefore, the fact is that immigrants in Canada outnumber temporary foreign workers by 22 to 1! And this figure doesn’t include the roughly 860,000 permanent immigrants Canada has welcomed in the three and a half years since census day in 2006. (CIC, Facts and Figures 2009 )

The truth of the matter is that Canada remains a country dedicated to permanent immigration. In fact recent changes to the immigration legislation creating the Canadian Experience Class, have now made it possible for most temporary foreign workers, who have a permanent job offer in Canada, to apply for immigrant status without leaving Canada, which had not been the case before. It is unfortunate that the legislation excludes temporary foreign workers in lower-skilled occupations but in 2008, they numbered 96,673 or about only 38.5% of the total. (CIC Facts and Figures 2008 Digital Library (available only on CD on request from CIC.)

Now what about Germany? Does the presence of less than 100,000 persons who are not eligible for permanent residence put Canada on a par with Germany? Not by a long shot. In the first place, until 2005, Germany had no legislation allowing permanent residents. Gastarbeiter (guest workers) were admitted on the basis of bilateral agreements with Italy in 1955, then with Spain (1960), Greece (1960), Turkey (1961), Portugal (1964), and Yugoslavia (1968). By 2003, there were over seven million foreigners in Germany. There were 1.9 million Turkish citizens alone, of which 654,000 had been born in Germany but were not eligible for citizenship. It was only in 2000 that Germany’s citizenship legislation allowed any of the guest workers’ children born in Germany to claim German citizenship. (Migration Policy Institute, Germany: Immigration in Transition)

When 8.5% of your population is excluded from qualifying as an immigrant and, in time, obtaining the benefits of citizenship, social unrest is surely likely. When less than one third of one percent are ineligible to apply for immigrant status, it is a different situation entirely.

So, by all means, let’s debate the merits of temporary foreign workers as a means to meet Canada’s labour market needs, but let’s get our facts straight first. Canada is not abandoning its traditional policy of welcoming permanent immigrants in large numbers; nor is Canada creating a mammoth guest worker ghetto. Having said that, let’s focus on an effective program that both meets Canada’s needs and respects the human dignity of all temporary foreign workers in Canada.

Robert Vineberg is a Senior Fellow with the Canada West Foundation. He was, formerly, the Director General, Prairies and Northern Territories Region, Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Quebec Immigrant Investor warming after the New Deal

Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre and Immigra...

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Immigration Canada news, federal investment project will be 201,171 migrants from the date of implementation of the New Deal, from 1 to clear the next 630 days will only receive 700 applications. Canadian Immigration Minister Jason · Kenney said that despite the immigration department to improve the investment threshold of immigrants, but still received an excessive amount of applications; to limit the application of the new measures will reduce the backlog process, while ensuring that the amount of the trial department of the trial. For this phenomenon, the general manager Liu Jianjie Shenzhen and made the following analysis:

Has been documented for the applicant is a good news

Taking into account the Canadian Immigration processing of approximately 3000 to 4000 investment immigration applications (some of this capacity has been maintained), the “brakes” for the client application has been submitted is actually a good thing to avoid more crowded, which makes the documented relative to the processing cycle is no longer the customer is more extended.

For the preparation of immigration applicants should be objective and rational

1. The launch of the Canadian Federal Department of Immigration limit 700 applicants for the world, if the Chinese market can be assigned to 400 places, while China’s hundreds of legal immigration agency, shows that “these 700 places into the queue “with considerable difficulty, only the level of policy research and strong professional experience in handling cases have greater ability to help companies more successful delivery of the applicants case. In other words, each of which will test the strength of a company’s overall immigration, work efficiency, the case of sectoral coordination and delivery speed.

2. The applicant in this process should be sufficient to maintain an objective and rational. Applicants should make every effort to prepare the relevant information with immigration company, pre-prepared as possible to save time.

3. Federal and Quebec Immigrant Investor immigrant investment conditions in the application of great similarity, coupled with the end of Quebec to improve the application from the standards, the volume of applications received far less than the amount of the federal application, so if the applicant’s their conditions in line with Canada Quebec Immigrant Investor, you should focus on preparing the application documents submitted to consider Quebec Immigrant Investor program, instead of blindly to competition for limited federal quota. Based on past experience and current situation to determine the federal Reform immigration policy to 71 days after the Quebec Department of Immigration may be adjusted in the near future, so the Quebec investments that meet the conditions of immigration applications to customers, it is recommended to be fully use the current opportunity to plan ahead. (Li)

Source: Finance Online

Canada offers hope for undocumented workers in USA.

by Ivy Guevara, ABS-CBN News North America

Posted at 07/04/2011 3:03 PM | Updated as of 07/04/2011 3:03 PM

LOS ANGELES, California – Filipino nurses in the United States are now having trouble getting jobs and attaining legal status. But Canada is offering new hope for undocumented workers in the US.
One registered nurse in the US has lived in the country for almost 10 years. He has kept his status legal through a working visa and has earned a nursing degree.
But he was denied a permanent residency and is now worrying about his undocumented status.
“There’s this anxiety looming above me, that if I get caught, there’s a possibility of me going back home and losing everything I’ve worked for,” he said.
He lost his high-paying hospital job since losing his legal status last year. But he is still able to work for a company where his skills weigh more than anything else.
But his top priority is still to get his legal status back and once again work as a nurse.
He has other options – get married or apply for permanent residency in Canada.
Canadian immigration law says that undocumented status in the US will not affect one’s immigration in Canada. An applicant also does not need a relative or an employer in Canada to qualify as an immigrant.
But giving up on an American dream is not easy.
“I do hope that somewhere along the way, they would come up with a system that will grant legal status to this people. I think I worked hard enough to deserve my right to be here,” he added.
More hope for the undocumented immigrants will now come in the form of the recently introduced Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2011.

For more information visit www,nexuscanadaimmigration.com

Timmins opens new Immigration multicultural centre

Algonquin Boulevard (Highway 101) in Timmins, ...

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By Len Gillis / lgillis@timminstimes.com

Updated 17 hours ago

There is a new welcome mat out in Timmins for immigrants who are seeking jobs and a new life in Canada.

The new Timmins and District Multicultural Centre was officially opened this week with an office and a resource person, Andrée Fortin, located in the Timmins Economic Development Corporation building at 12 Elm Street North.

The purpose of the office is to recognize the growing numbers of immigrants to Northern Ontario, to attract more of them to Timmins and to do whatever it takes to help new people and their families adjust to life here.

Christy Marinig, the CEO of the TEDC, welcomed guests to the office Tuesday saying the new centre comes about after roughly five years of effort on the immigration file.

"This is a very important day for the Timmins Economic Development Corporation and the city of Timmins," she said.

"It has been about five years that Cathy Ellis and Brenda Camirand really took the immigration initiative and started to develop it because we recognized there was a need for employers to bring new skill-sets into the community and that required newcomers," said Marinig.

"And there's also a lot of people interested in Northern Ontario, moving to Northern Ontario. Certainly not the numbers we're seeing in Toronto, but we are seeing people moving here and they do need the support services to be able to stay here, find employment and raise their families and enjoy everything that Northern Ontario and Timmins has to offer," said Marinig.

She added that she is pleased the new centre in Timmins has developed a partnership with the North Bay and District Multicultural Centre which has already been in operation for several years.

"Their leadership and expertise came in very handy and we saw it as a win-win situation to partner with them, because we believe it is important to work together," she added.

The North Bay office is headed up by executive director Don Currie who explained that his office will help the Timmins office through its growth period of providing immigrant settlement services.

"We opened in January 2008. So we've got about three and a half year's experience that Timmins doesn't have in this," said Currie, adding that immigration is now a pan-Northern effort.

"Actually all the five major cities in Northern Ontario are working together on attracting immigrants and Timmins has actually taken the lead on the marketing front. There is now actually a marketing campaign going on for immigrants to come to Northern Ontario," said Currie.

Currie explained that new immigrants will require help on a variety of concerns that many of us take for granted and that's why it's important to have a local office.

"It can be help finding a school for your kids. They won't know there are four different school boards in Timmins. They may need English or French language training. They may need help understanding the banking system, or how to get a Health Card, all the obvious things that we take for granted. So if you come to a new country, you don't know that," said Currie.

"Another big part of it is matching them with somebody who have lived here for awhile. So somebody with similar interests, similar age hopefully, can show them the best places to shop, where to find a provincial park and that kind of stuff," he said.

Currie said there will soon be a public effort to attract volunteers. There are already a few who have come forward in Timmins. He said North Bay has nearly 40 such volunteers.

Timmins mayor Tom Laughren said he was pleased to see the new centre opening.

"This is a very, very important endeavour for our community," said Laughren adding that many employers in Timmins face challenges of finding skilled workers, especially at a time when so many in the "baby boomer" generation are retiring.

Laughren added that Timmins has a history of acceptance of immigrants going back 100 years when the community was founded and then again in the post WW2 years.

Immigration Canada

Canada to Welcome Record Number of Immigrants Under Provincial Nominee Program

Ottawa urged to boost immigration, ease labour crunch

With another boom just around the corner, it's time to shift away from reliance on temporary foreign workers and concentrate on immigration, says Thomas Lukaszuk, Alberta's minister of immigration and employment.

Photograph by: Ted Jacob, Calgary Herald, Calgary Herald

Feds asking tough questions about the future of immigration

Let foreign workers stay, Alberta urges

Settlement through immigration will help ease labour shortage, minister argues

Our country needs more people

Minister Kenney launches national consultations on immigration levels and mix

Be emotionally prepared - Newcomers to Canada offer move-in advice: RBC poll

Minister seeks input on immigration issues

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By Len Gillis / lgillis@timminstimes.com

Updated 17 hours ago

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With another boom just around the corner, it's time to shift away from reliance on temporary foreign workers and concentrate on immigration, says Thomas Lukaszuk, Alberta's minister of immigration and employment.

Photograph by: Ted Jacob, Calgary Herald, Calgary Herald

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Settlement through immigration will help ease labour shortage, minister argues

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By Len Gillis / lgillis@timminstimes.com

Updated 17 hours ago

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