OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - April 9, 2010) - Canada's visa office in Mexico City has established a special visa application program for Mexican business travellers, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today.
"Canada welcomes travellers from Mexico and has been looking at ways to provide enhanced services to applicants. The Business Express Program is another example of our commitment to making service improvements where we can," said Minister Kenney.
"Canada and Mexico are among each other's largest trading partners," said Peter Van Loan, Minister of International Trade. "This program will help Canadian and Mexican companies do business together and continue to fuel our economic recovery."
The new Business Express Program was created to provide qualified businesses and their employees with a number of service advantages, including less paperwork, priority processing of visa applications, and a dedicated service to respond to the needs of those within the program. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is working closely with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and visa application centres in Mexico on this initiative.
The Business Express Program is modeled on a similar successful program introduced in New Delhi, India, in June 2008.
The program in Mexico is targetted at people employed by companies in Mexico who have a proven need for frequent travel to Canada. Participation in the program is by invitation only. Businesses with key connections to Canada are identified by the visa or trade sections of the Embassy of Canada in Mexico City, or Export Development Canada.
Businesses that have good immigration track records, meaning those with employees who were admissible, who previously travelled to Canada and adhered to Canada's immigration laws, and who have a significant number of business visitors destined to Canada are then invited by the Embassy of Canada to register for the program. Only businesses that are registered can submit visa applications through the facilitated process.
So far, the embassy has invited 113 companies to enrol in the program. Twelve businesses have registered.
Qualified applicants from businesses that are enrolled in the program can apply for their visa at one of the three visa application centres in Mexico, located in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara. Processing by the Canadian visa office will be swift, with a turnaround time of 24 hours.
"Mexico is an important strategic partner. The Government of Canada continues, as a priority, to extend and improve services that will facilitate official, trade and educational travel from Mexico to Canada," said Minister Kenney.
Canada ready to lead the world recovery
Actions have spoken louder than words for the federal government
By Jayson Myers
Source: The National Post
In the run-up to this year’s G20 meetings, which Canada will host, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is warning world leaders that economic recovery is by no means fully assured and is asking each one to continue to take steps to stimulate economic growth. Above all, he is urging governments to work together to avoid protectionism and open markets even further to encourage international trade and investment.
Harper’s advice reflects his government’s priorities, based on the sensible rationale that the private sector economic and job growth needed to sustain economic recovery, depends on access to business and investment opportunities around the world.
From the Canadian point of view, this is self-evident. Exports account for more than half of Canada’s industrial output and imports for 30% of total domestic demand. High value jobs in the country depend on the ability of Canadian businesses to expand and find customers for their more-specialized products, services, and technologies around the world. At the same time, they need to attract investment and draw on the best of goods and services, skills, knowledge and technologies that international markets have to offer.
Actions have spoken louder than words for the federal government. To encourage business investment, it has cut Canada’s federal corporate tax rate. By 2012, the average combined federal and provincial tax rate on business income will fall to 25%. The government has also introduced a two-year depreciation rate for investments in manufacturing equipment and accelerated write-offs for investments in clean energy and information technologies. As a result of federal support, value-added consumption taxes will be in place in all but three smaller Canadian provinces by this summer.
In a bold move, Harper’s government took the initiative to open Canadian markets to international trade and investment. The recent federal budget eliminated tariffs on all imported machinery and equipment and manufacturing inputs. And the government went further in its plan to loosen investment restrictions in Canada’s telecommunications and other regulated services sectors and to improve the tax treatment of foreign venture capital funds invested in Canada.
On the trade front, the Harper government has concluded free trade agreements with Colombia, Peru, Jordan and EFTA, and has launched trade negotiations with the European Union and more than 10 other countries and regional trading blocs. The recent procurement agreement that the Canadian government concluded with the United States will keep provincial and municipal procurement markets in Canada open to U.S. producers in return for exclusions for Canadian manufacturers from Buy American restrictions applied under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It also commits Canada and the United States to enter into negotiations on a more open procurement agreement covering state, provincial and local jurisdictions.
Some economic experts may believe that during this period of fragile markets and dependency on government stimulus, Harper’s call for concerted action to liberalize trade may seem altruistic. In the face of continuing overcapacity and intense international competition in many industrial markets, his commitment to open the Canadian economy even further to international trade and investment may even appear naive.
As host of the G20, Prime Minister Harper surely has an obligation to remind world leaders of their commitment not to erect protectionist barriers, but the reality over the past year has been an increasing array of regulatory and procurement restrictions put in place around the world that favour domestic producers. The result — mounting tensions among governments.
The political stakes in economic recovery are high. As Prime Minister Harper insists, it will take real leadership to overcome the short-term political attractions of protectionism. But, that is what will be required to ensure a sustainable economic recovery.
We know the consequences of a game plan based on restrictive preferences and retaliation. In today’s world of internationally-integrated financial markets, supply chains and business operations, jobs cannot be secured anywhere when economic opportunities are being restricted more and more to domestic markets.
Canada and other economies around the world will suffer if Harper’s advice is ignored. Yet, my bet is that at the end of the day, the economic advantage will go to those countries that follow our lead.
We are the little country that could, and did. It’s time the globe followed our lead as we chart the course to economic renewal and prosperity.
By Jayson Myers
Source: The National Post
In the run-up to this year’s G20 meetings, which Canada will host, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is warning world leaders that economic recovery is by no means fully assured and is asking each one to continue to take steps to stimulate economic growth. Above all, he is urging governments to work together to avoid protectionism and open markets even further to encourage international trade and investment.
Harper’s advice reflects his government’s priorities, based on the sensible rationale that the private sector economic and job growth needed to sustain economic recovery, depends on access to business and investment opportunities around the world.
From the Canadian point of view, this is self-evident. Exports account for more than half of Canada’s industrial output and imports for 30% of total domestic demand. High value jobs in the country depend on the ability of Canadian businesses to expand and find customers for their more-specialized products, services, and technologies around the world. At the same time, they need to attract investment and draw on the best of goods and services, skills, knowledge and technologies that international markets have to offer.
Actions have spoken louder than words for the federal government. To encourage business investment, it has cut Canada’s federal corporate tax rate. By 2012, the average combined federal and provincial tax rate on business income will fall to 25%. The government has also introduced a two-year depreciation rate for investments in manufacturing equipment and accelerated write-offs for investments in clean energy and information technologies. As a result of federal support, value-added consumption taxes will be in place in all but three smaller Canadian provinces by this summer.
In a bold move, Harper’s government took the initiative to open Canadian markets to international trade and investment. The recent federal budget eliminated tariffs on all imported machinery and equipment and manufacturing inputs. And the government went further in its plan to loosen investment restrictions in Canada’s telecommunications and other regulated services sectors and to improve the tax treatment of foreign venture capital funds invested in Canada.
On the trade front, the Harper government has concluded free trade agreements with Colombia, Peru, Jordan and EFTA, and has launched trade negotiations with the European Union and more than 10 other countries and regional trading blocs. The recent procurement agreement that the Canadian government concluded with the United States will keep provincial and municipal procurement markets in Canada open to U.S. producers in return for exclusions for Canadian manufacturers from Buy American restrictions applied under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It also commits Canada and the United States to enter into negotiations on a more open procurement agreement covering state, provincial and local jurisdictions.
Some economic experts may believe that during this period of fragile markets and dependency on government stimulus, Harper’s call for concerted action to liberalize trade may seem altruistic. In the face of continuing overcapacity and intense international competition in many industrial markets, his commitment to open the Canadian economy even further to international trade and investment may even appear naive.
As host of the G20, Prime Minister Harper surely has an obligation to remind world leaders of their commitment not to erect protectionist barriers, but the reality over the past year has been an increasing array of regulatory and procurement restrictions put in place around the world that favour domestic producers. The result — mounting tensions among governments.
The political stakes in economic recovery are high. As Prime Minister Harper insists, it will take real leadership to overcome the short-term political attractions of protectionism. But, that is what will be required to ensure a sustainable economic recovery.
We know the consequences of a game plan based on restrictive preferences and retaliation. In today’s world of internationally-integrated financial markets, supply chains and business operations, jobs cannot be secured anywhere when economic opportunities are being restricted more and more to domestic markets.
Canada and other economies around the world will suffer if Harper’s advice is ignored. Yet, my bet is that at the end of the day, the economic advantage will go to those countries that follow our lead.
We are the little country that could, and did. It’s time the globe followed our lead as we chart the course to economic renewal and prosperity.
The reasons why Countries allow immigrants.
Posted by: Rukhsana Khan
Sometimes it amazes me that people can look past other people’s differences and see the humanity behind them.
I find it fascinating that as societies, communities, we develop a certain collective consciousness, where, even though we might have some conflicts, we’re a cohesive whole.
Along come some outsiders, ‘others’, and at first they’re viewed with mistrust and suspicion. And yet, there always are some people who are willing to buck convention and be nice to the newcomers.
Speaking for Canada, there was a strong reason that Canada opened its doors to immigration in the early 1900’s. A lot of native Canadians don’t know this, but there’s a strong reason why we’re such a multicultural nation.
Canada is a vast land mass, with a huge, very powerful neighbour to the south, Canada was afraid of being overwhelmed. They needed more people! And so they opened the doors to immigration to settle the west. But they didn’t want just anyone. They wanted people who could blend in, assimilate, basically they wanted white people.
Right after the second world war, even though they’d fought with Germans, German nationals were quickly considered non-threatening and allowed into the country. Even before Jewish refugees from Europe were allowed in, the Germans were allowed in.
At one point the prime minister Mackenzie King even announced that they wanted people who would assimilate. They couldn’t allow people from non-white countries in because they ‘couldn’t take the climate’.
But the immigration wave was slowing down. People don’t emigrate from their country unless there are strong reasons. There are three basic reasons: economics, security and opportunity for their children. Now that Europe was stabilized, there was less immigration from the white countries and so Canada had to open the door to other less desirables.
It wasn’t until 1963 that Canada opened the door to non-white immigrants.
There is a reason for this. The only ones who were allowed into the country were skilled labourers, people who’d work hard. Assimilation was assumed. And in return these labourers would contribute taxes to the national coffers.
Then along came Lester B. Pearson with his ideas of human rights. And following him, in the sixties, came a charismatic leader named Pierre Elliot Trudeau, from Quebec.
I remember Trudeau. He was the first prime minister who said that we, as a country, would be multicultural.
People didn’t have to assimilate. We’d recognize all cultures and they’d all be part of Canada. This was in part a gesture to pacify Quebec, a province that clung to their French roots and long refused to assimilate.
I remember listening to speeches by Trudeau on our old black and white T.V. My father found him fascinating.
As immigrants, we could stand a bit taller, not so humble. And in time, we could appreciate the fact that we were Canadian, just like almost every other Canadian whose family had come to this land somewhere in the distant past.
I think a lot of people don’t realize how much immigrants contribute to the prosperity in the West. There are very good reasons why Western countries continue to allow the influx of people from other countries.
It’s a way of maintaining the status quo.
Before, immigrants provided cheap labour for nation building.
Now, immigrants are often highly-skilled people looking for opportunity. (The exception would be refugees from war-torn countries) When immigrants arrive they have to set up homes, they buy stuff, and they often bring in wealth from their homelands. This stimulates the local economy.
And the taxes they pay, help pay for services.
These immigrants actually represent a ‘brain drain’ from their home countries, because the brightest and most educated are often the first to leave for greener Western pastures.
And right now, with the advent of the birth control pill, the local populations of Western countries are not having enough children. Without immigration, the aging population and the social security entitlements that go with them, would have no tax base to support them, so immigration is necessary to keep the tax machine oiled smoothly.
Too often people in the West see this as a one-way relationship. That immigrants should be darn well grateful to be here when it is really a mutually beneficient relationship.
One of the few times that the social situation gets rough is when there is a recession and then local people start grumbling that the immigrants are taking away all the jobs.
What people don’t realize is that immigrants will often work harder and for less money than any of the locals.
There are many a taxi driver that has a Phd., in fact multiple Phd’s. I met one in Vancouver who told me his life story, how he’d hopped around from country to country and finally settled in Vancouver. He liked the climate there, but still wished he could use his education.
I’m not sure why I blogged about this. I guess I just wanted to talk about things that are not often understood over here.
Sometimes it amazes me that people can look past other people’s differences and see the humanity behind them.
I find it fascinating that as societies, communities, we develop a certain collective consciousness, where, even though we might have some conflicts, we’re a cohesive whole.
Along come some outsiders, ‘others’, and at first they’re viewed with mistrust and suspicion. And yet, there always are some people who are willing to buck convention and be nice to the newcomers.
Speaking for Canada, there was a strong reason that Canada opened its doors to immigration in the early 1900’s. A lot of native Canadians don’t know this, but there’s a strong reason why we’re such a multicultural nation.
Canada is a vast land mass, with a huge, very powerful neighbour to the south, Canada was afraid of being overwhelmed. They needed more people! And so they opened the doors to immigration to settle the west. But they didn’t want just anyone. They wanted people who could blend in, assimilate, basically they wanted white people.
Right after the second world war, even though they’d fought with Germans, German nationals were quickly considered non-threatening and allowed into the country. Even before Jewish refugees from Europe were allowed in, the Germans were allowed in.
At one point the prime minister Mackenzie King even announced that they wanted people who would assimilate. They couldn’t allow people from non-white countries in because they ‘couldn’t take the climate’.
But the immigration wave was slowing down. People don’t emigrate from their country unless there are strong reasons. There are three basic reasons: economics, security and opportunity for their children. Now that Europe was stabilized, there was less immigration from the white countries and so Canada had to open the door to other less desirables.
It wasn’t until 1963 that Canada opened the door to non-white immigrants.
There is a reason for this. The only ones who were allowed into the country were skilled labourers, people who’d work hard. Assimilation was assumed. And in return these labourers would contribute taxes to the national coffers.
Then along came Lester B. Pearson with his ideas of human rights. And following him, in the sixties, came a charismatic leader named Pierre Elliot Trudeau, from Quebec.
I remember Trudeau. He was the first prime minister who said that we, as a country, would be multicultural.
People didn’t have to assimilate. We’d recognize all cultures and they’d all be part of Canada. This was in part a gesture to pacify Quebec, a province that clung to their French roots and long refused to assimilate.
I remember listening to speeches by Trudeau on our old black and white T.V. My father found him fascinating.
As immigrants, we could stand a bit taller, not so humble. And in time, we could appreciate the fact that we were Canadian, just like almost every other Canadian whose family had come to this land somewhere in the distant past.
I think a lot of people don’t realize how much immigrants contribute to the prosperity in the West. There are very good reasons why Western countries continue to allow the influx of people from other countries.
It’s a way of maintaining the status quo.
Before, immigrants provided cheap labour for nation building.
Now, immigrants are often highly-skilled people looking for opportunity. (The exception would be refugees from war-torn countries) When immigrants arrive they have to set up homes, they buy stuff, and they often bring in wealth from their homelands. This stimulates the local economy.
And the taxes they pay, help pay for services.
These immigrants actually represent a ‘brain drain’ from their home countries, because the brightest and most educated are often the first to leave for greener Western pastures.
And right now, with the advent of the birth control pill, the local populations of Western countries are not having enough children. Without immigration, the aging population and the social security entitlements that go with them, would have no tax base to support them, so immigration is necessary to keep the tax machine oiled smoothly.
Too often people in the West see this as a one-way relationship. That immigrants should be darn well grateful to be here when it is really a mutually beneficient relationship.
One of the few times that the social situation gets rough is when there is a recession and then local people start grumbling that the immigrants are taking away all the jobs.
What people don’t realize is that immigrants will often work harder and for less money than any of the locals.
There are many a taxi driver that has a Phd., in fact multiple Phd’s. I met one in Vancouver who told me his life story, how he’d hopped around from country to country and finally settled in Vancouver. He liked the climate there, but still wished he could use his education.
I’m not sure why I blogged about this. I guess I just wanted to talk about things that are not often understood over here.
Will a new bill save the refugee mess?
Nicholas Keung Immigration Reporter
Source: The start
Jaime Carrasco Varela came to Toronto from Nicaragua on a refugee claim in 1991. It took 19 years for the asylum seeker, once allegedly part of a death squad, to exhaust legal avenues for staying in Canada.
While Varela's case is a complex rarity, it illustrates what some say are the real problems plaguing Canada's refugee system: It is too slow for legitimate claimants and doesn't weed out ineligible ones quickly enough.
This week, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney introduced Bill C-11 to overhaul the system. Among its most controversial provisions: borrowing from the British model, it would have bureaucrats pre-screen candidates based on whether their country of origin is deemed to be safe (the "White List") or unsafe.The government plans to expedite the hearing process for applicants from safe, democratic countries deemed to have human rights, since it expects almost all of them would fail.
Those rejected claimants would not have the right to a full appeal before the new appeal division that's to be created. They could still, however, go to the federal court to have negative decisions reviewed over arguments of law (rather than the merits of the case for their refugee status).
That is currently the only appeal process available to failed applicants. The best outcome from a federal court review, however, is a reassessment.
C-11 has had mixed reviews from refugee advocates and lawyers.
Many experts welcome the creation of an appeals process to reassess the merits of a case and with the power to reverse decisions and grant status, but some are strongly opposed to preventing refugee claimants from appealing a negative decision if they're from countries deemed safe. They also detest the idea of allowing civil servants – as opposed to members of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, an independent tribunal – to decide on initial claims.
Canada's refugee system is often seen as too generous and ultimately dysfunctional because close to half of all claims are rejected, withdrawn or abandoned – and thus deemed fraudulent. Kenney has said this about claimants from Mexico and the Czech Republic.
"We will take the political risk," Kenney told the Star Wednesday during a whirlwind day in Toronto packed with 16 meetings and interviews with editorial boards and broadcast outlets.
The proposed changes would speed the process, but some parties ask if they also would compromise the fairness of a system that's won Canada international acclaim.
Under the new legislation, decisions would be made on new claims within 60 days. Currently, the Immigration and Refugee Board takes an average of 19 months to determine claims. Outstanding cases have tripled from fewer than 20,000 in 2006 to 63,000 last year, largely because the Conservative government left board vacancies unfilled for two years.
But critics of the new legislation do not believe the new safe/unsafe country system is an acceptable solution. They fear that politics will affect which nations the government deems to be democratic, and that a legitimate applicant from a supposedly "safe" country might not get a fair hearing.
Critics also argue that Canada needs to deal seriously with the backlog of cases sitting in the system long after a negative decision from the refugee board. They say there haven't been enough resources to process pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) applications, humanitarian/compassionate applications and federal court reviews.
According to Peter Showler, who teaches refugee law at the University of Ottawa, it can take a long time for the Canada Border Services Agency to deport failed claimants after they exhaust their legal options in federal court.
"During that dead space of two to three years, nobody takes responsibility for that file," says Showler, who chaired the refugee board from 1999 to 2002. "The longest period of delays is at the back end of the system. From a refusal decision by the federal court to the actual removal of the person, it can be a matter of years."
When they're interviewed in preparation for deportation, failed claimants can apply for PRRA, which determines whether it's safe for them to return home. That job falls to Citizenship and Immigration Canada. A government report this year found the average time between a removal order and the day the person actually leaves the country has jumped to 611 days. Before 2002, it was 437 days.
Kenney's solution is to not allow failed refugee claimants to apply for pre-removal risk assessment or humanitarian/compassionate relief until a year after their claim is rejected – by which time they may have been deported. The minister also said he would offer a $2,000 removal incentive to failed refugees.
Gulsum Koca's life has been in limbo since August 2002, when she says she fled persecution in Turkey. Koca, 37, is a member of the Alevi Muslim minority. The refugee board rejected her claim in April 2004, and the federal court refused to review her case; the federal court process allows reviews only on errors made in the administration of justice, not the actual evidence for her asylum claim.
More than two years later, Koca was contacted for a pre-removal risk assessment. Last April, immigration officials decided it was safe for her to return to Turkey and rejected her application to stay on humanitarian grounds. Another judicial review followed.
Raoul Boulakia, former president of the Refugee Lawyers' Association of Ontario, said a practice of designating countries such as Turkey to be "safe and democratic" would allow room for diplomatic pressure and political manoeuvring in the system. It could also exclude from consideration people who have a legitimate fear of persecution by states or by a third menacing party, such as drug lords.
The latest figures show that, in Britain, with its safe/unsafe country system, the average refugee processing time was just 127 days. Only 19 per cent of the 19,400 claims were accepted at the initial stage. But 34 per cent of appeals of rejected refugee claims were granted. In Canada, the refugee acceptance rate hovers around 50 per cent.
"The implication is that there is often poor decision-making at the initial stage and that there is a systemic culture of disbelief (of the claimants) by bureaucrats," says Colin Harvey, head of the school of law at Queen's University Belfast. "This does not recommend itself as a model to follow. There is also the risk that decision-making itself can become broadly politicized."
Source: The start
Jaime Carrasco Varela came to Toronto from Nicaragua on a refugee claim in 1991. It took 19 years for the asylum seeker, once allegedly part of a death squad, to exhaust legal avenues for staying in Canada.
While Varela's case is a complex rarity, it illustrates what some say are the real problems plaguing Canada's refugee system: It is too slow for legitimate claimants and doesn't weed out ineligible ones quickly enough.
This week, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney introduced Bill C-11 to overhaul the system. Among its most controversial provisions: borrowing from the British model, it would have bureaucrats pre-screen candidates based on whether their country of origin is deemed to be safe (the "White List") or unsafe.The government plans to expedite the hearing process for applicants from safe, democratic countries deemed to have human rights, since it expects almost all of them would fail.
Those rejected claimants would not have the right to a full appeal before the new appeal division that's to be created. They could still, however, go to the federal court to have negative decisions reviewed over arguments of law (rather than the merits of the case for their refugee status).
That is currently the only appeal process available to failed applicants. The best outcome from a federal court review, however, is a reassessment.
C-11 has had mixed reviews from refugee advocates and lawyers.
Many experts welcome the creation of an appeals process to reassess the merits of a case and with the power to reverse decisions and grant status, but some are strongly opposed to preventing refugee claimants from appealing a negative decision if they're from countries deemed safe. They also detest the idea of allowing civil servants – as opposed to members of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, an independent tribunal – to decide on initial claims.
Canada's refugee system is often seen as too generous and ultimately dysfunctional because close to half of all claims are rejected, withdrawn or abandoned – and thus deemed fraudulent. Kenney has said this about claimants from Mexico and the Czech Republic.
"We will take the political risk," Kenney told the Star Wednesday during a whirlwind day in Toronto packed with 16 meetings and interviews with editorial boards and broadcast outlets.
The proposed changes would speed the process, but some parties ask if they also would compromise the fairness of a system that's won Canada international acclaim.
Under the new legislation, decisions would be made on new claims within 60 days. Currently, the Immigration and Refugee Board takes an average of 19 months to determine claims. Outstanding cases have tripled from fewer than 20,000 in 2006 to 63,000 last year, largely because the Conservative government left board vacancies unfilled for two years.
But critics of the new legislation do not believe the new safe/unsafe country system is an acceptable solution. They fear that politics will affect which nations the government deems to be democratic, and that a legitimate applicant from a supposedly "safe" country might not get a fair hearing.
Critics also argue that Canada needs to deal seriously with the backlog of cases sitting in the system long after a negative decision from the refugee board. They say there haven't been enough resources to process pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) applications, humanitarian/compassionate applications and federal court reviews.
According to Peter Showler, who teaches refugee law at the University of Ottawa, it can take a long time for the Canada Border Services Agency to deport failed claimants after they exhaust their legal options in federal court.
"During that dead space of two to three years, nobody takes responsibility for that file," says Showler, who chaired the refugee board from 1999 to 2002. "The longest period of delays is at the back end of the system. From a refusal decision by the federal court to the actual removal of the person, it can be a matter of years."
When they're interviewed in preparation for deportation, failed claimants can apply for PRRA, which determines whether it's safe for them to return home. That job falls to Citizenship and Immigration Canada. A government report this year found the average time between a removal order and the day the person actually leaves the country has jumped to 611 days. Before 2002, it was 437 days.
Kenney's solution is to not allow failed refugee claimants to apply for pre-removal risk assessment or humanitarian/compassionate relief until a year after their claim is rejected – by which time they may have been deported. The minister also said he would offer a $2,000 removal incentive to failed refugees.
Gulsum Koca's life has been in limbo since August 2002, when she says she fled persecution in Turkey. Koca, 37, is a member of the Alevi Muslim minority. The refugee board rejected her claim in April 2004, and the federal court refused to review her case; the federal court process allows reviews only on errors made in the administration of justice, not the actual evidence for her asylum claim.
More than two years later, Koca was contacted for a pre-removal risk assessment. Last April, immigration officials decided it was safe for her to return to Turkey and rejected her application to stay on humanitarian grounds. Another judicial review followed.
Raoul Boulakia, former president of the Refugee Lawyers' Association of Ontario, said a practice of designating countries such as Turkey to be "safe and democratic" would allow room for diplomatic pressure and political manoeuvring in the system. It could also exclude from consideration people who have a legitimate fear of persecution by states or by a third menacing party, such as drug lords.
The latest figures show that, in Britain, with its safe/unsafe country system, the average refugee processing time was just 127 days. Only 19 per cent of the 19,400 claims were accepted at the initial stage. But 34 per cent of appeals of rejected refugee claims were granted. In Canada, the refugee acceptance rate hovers around 50 per cent.
"The implication is that there is often poor decision-making at the initial stage and that there is a systemic culture of disbelief (of the claimants) by bureaucrats," says Colin Harvey, head of the school of law at Queen's University Belfast. "This does not recommend itself as a model to follow. There is also the risk that decision-making itself can become broadly politicized."
‘O Canada!’
By Ramon J. Farolan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:54:00 04/04/2010
A lot of people would normally associate a “loonie” with some crazed fanatic. But in Canada
, loonie refers to the Canadian dollar, which today is almost at par with the US dollar. The loonie is a copper coin with Queen Elizabeth’s portrait on one side and the depiction of a loon—a water bird found in Northern Canada—on the other. Canada’s two-dollar coin, which has a polar bear on its face instead of a loon, is called a “toonie.” It is similar to our 10-peso coin with a copper center surrounded by a silver border. In terms of paper money, the smallest denomination is a five-dollar bill with a picture of youth playing ice hockey, Canada’s national sport.
Another interesting fact about Canada is that in terms of official independence, it is probably one of the youngest in the community of nations. It was only in 1982, upon the signing of a new Constitution Act by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth that Canada officially became an independent country. The Philippines will be marking its 112th independence anniversary on June 12. “O Canada” was an old French marching song dating back to 1880. It became Canada’s national anthem 100 years later in 1980.
Canada is the largest country in North America with roughly 10 million square kilometers in land and water area, but with a population of merely 34 million. This is one reason Canada is one of the few countries that conduct seminars in various parts of the world in a bid to attract more immigrants. The waiting time for qualified applicants is anywhere from 16 to 87 months. In the case of my daughter, who has a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University, she made it in 18 months, a reflection of an immigration point system geared towards people with high educational and professional qualifications. She now resides in British Columbia, where she teaches Academic English and Business Communication to college students mostly from Asia and the Middle East.
Canada is an example of a federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. The country has 10 provinces each with its own parliament and premier, along with three territories—Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. The national government in Ottawa is headed by Prime Minister (head of government) Stephen Harper of the ruling Conservative Party. The governor general, representing the Head of State Queen Elizabeth, is appointed by the Queen on advice of the prime minister. Michaëlle Jean, an immigrant born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is the current governor general. For Charter change enthusiasts, the Canadian model should be studied closely.
Filipinos in Canada
Statistics Canada or StatCan, the federal agency that comes up with statistics used in the formulation of national policies, reported that there are approximately half a million Filipinos in Canada. Among the more prominent members of the Filipino community is Aprodicio Laquian, former chief of staff of Joseph Estrada and an emeritus professor of human settlement at the University of British Columbia. Laquian recently co-authored a book “Seeking a Better Life Abroad: A Study of Filipinos in Canada 1957-2007.” He believes that a united Filipino community can be a strong political force in Canada. As of today, 15 Filipinos have been elected to public office, including two in the province of British Columbia.
How is Canada faring in the current recession?
All reports indicate that Canada is moving from recovery to expansion. The Globe and Mail, a national broadsheet, reports: “the economy is in overdrive, growing faster than anyone expected. Spending, housing starts, and job creation are surging. House building, hiring and even car buying has surpassed the most optimistic expectations. A year ago, General Motors was facing bankruptcy. Lately, the automaker announced plans to hire more workers and boost production because of a growing demand for certain models.”
The National Post, another daily, highlighted a GDP growth of 0.6 percent for the month of January, the strongest gain in more than three years. Manufacturing made gains for the fifth consecutive month.
Two sectors have been driving the turnaround—the labor market and housing. Unlike their US counterparts, Canadian companies have been hiring; unemployment is down to 8.2 percent in February. Roughly 60,000 full-time jobs were created last month alone. While some of the hiring could be attributed to the Vancouver Olympics, economists credit the private sector for playing a significant role in the upturn.
In the case of housing, home sales jumped 44 percent over last year’s numbers with the average price of homes rising to $335,000, up by 18 percent from a year ago.
In British Columbia alone, Premier Gordon Campbell confirmed that the province would be getting a $450-million hotel casino addition to current gambling facilities. The new project is expected to generate 3,200 direct jobs, 1,300 indirect jobs during the construction period, and is expected to be completed by 2013. It is interesting to note that early in his political career, Mr. Campbell opposed the expansion of gaming operations. He now says that “the whole concept of gaming has changed dramatically,” citing entertainment and cultural opportunities.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:54:00 04/04/2010
A lot of people would normally associate a “loonie” with some crazed fanatic. But in Canada
, loonie refers to the Canadian dollar, which today is almost at par with the US dollar. The loonie is a copper coin with Queen Elizabeth’s portrait on one side and the depiction of a loon—a water bird found in Northern Canada—on the other. Canada’s two-dollar coin, which has a polar bear on its face instead of a loon, is called a “toonie.” It is similar to our 10-peso coin with a copper center surrounded by a silver border. In terms of paper money, the smallest denomination is a five-dollar bill with a picture of youth playing ice hockey, Canada’s national sport.
Another interesting fact about Canada is that in terms of official independence, it is probably one of the youngest in the community of nations. It was only in 1982, upon the signing of a new Constitution Act by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth that Canada officially became an independent country. The Philippines will be marking its 112th independence anniversary on June 12. “O Canada” was an old French marching song dating back to 1880. It became Canada’s national anthem 100 years later in 1980.
Canada is the largest country in North America with roughly 10 million square kilometers in land and water area, but with a population of merely 34 million. This is one reason Canada is one of the few countries that conduct seminars in various parts of the world in a bid to attract more immigrants. The waiting time for qualified applicants is anywhere from 16 to 87 months. In the case of my daughter, who has a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University, she made it in 18 months, a reflection of an immigration point system geared towards people with high educational and professional qualifications. She now resides in British Columbia, where she teaches Academic English and Business Communication to college students mostly from Asia and the Middle East.
Canada is an example of a federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. The country has 10 provinces each with its own parliament and premier, along with three territories—Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. The national government in Ottawa is headed by Prime Minister (head of government) Stephen Harper of the ruling Conservative Party. The governor general, representing the Head of State Queen Elizabeth, is appointed by the Queen on advice of the prime minister. Michaëlle Jean, an immigrant born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is the current governor general. For Charter change enthusiasts, the Canadian model should be studied closely.
Filipinos in Canada
Statistics Canada or StatCan, the federal agency that comes up with statistics used in the formulation of national policies, reported that there are approximately half a million Filipinos in Canada. Among the more prominent members of the Filipino community is Aprodicio Laquian, former chief of staff of Joseph Estrada and an emeritus professor of human settlement at the University of British Columbia. Laquian recently co-authored a book “Seeking a Better Life Abroad: A Study of Filipinos in Canada 1957-2007.” He believes that a united Filipino community can be a strong political force in Canada. As of today, 15 Filipinos have been elected to public office, including two in the province of British Columbia.
How is Canada faring in the current recession?
All reports indicate that Canada is moving from recovery to expansion. The Globe and Mail, a national broadsheet, reports: “the economy is in overdrive, growing faster than anyone expected. Spending, housing starts, and job creation are surging. House building, hiring and even car buying has surpassed the most optimistic expectations. A year ago, General Motors was facing bankruptcy. Lately, the automaker announced plans to hire more workers and boost production because of a growing demand for certain models.”
The National Post, another daily, highlighted a GDP growth of 0.6 percent for the month of January, the strongest gain in more than three years. Manufacturing made gains for the fifth consecutive month.
Two sectors have been driving the turnaround—the labor market and housing. Unlike their US counterparts, Canadian companies have been hiring; unemployment is down to 8.2 percent in February. Roughly 60,000 full-time jobs were created last month alone. While some of the hiring could be attributed to the Vancouver Olympics, economists credit the private sector for playing a significant role in the upturn.
In the case of housing, home sales jumped 44 percent over last year’s numbers with the average price of homes rising to $335,000, up by 18 percent from a year ago.
In British Columbia alone, Premier Gordon Campbell confirmed that the province would be getting a $450-million hotel casino addition to current gambling facilities. The new project is expected to generate 3,200 direct jobs, 1,300 indirect jobs during the construction period, and is expected to be completed by 2013. It is interesting to note that early in his political career, Mr. Campbell opposed the expansion of gaming operations. He now says that “the whole concept of gaming has changed dramatically,” citing entertainment and cultural opportunities.
Prove your love
 |
| Marriage Day (Photo credit: Fikra) |
Ryan Rosenberg
I could open this article by quoting from one of the thousands of love songs purporting to ask or answer a question about genuine love. Instead, since this is a column about immigration law, I’ll try to put it in simplified legalese. A person intending to immigrate to Canada as sponsored by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident spouse will not qualify for immigration if the underlying relationship is not genuine and was entered into primarily for the purpose of acquiring status in Canada. Simpler yet, fake marriages don’t cut it and Citizenship and Immigration Canada is on the lookout.
Sponsorship rules
Under Canadian immigration laws, Canadian citizens and permanent residents may sponsor their husband or wife, common-law partner or conjugal partner. A successful and thorough sponsorship application will land your better half in Canada relatively quickly, as compared to other types of immigration applications. At the same time, a flawed, incomplete application can keep genuine spouses apart for an indefinite amount of time.
Aside from the many forms, police record checks and medical testing that an applicant must endure, CIC has made it a priority to keep fake marriages out of Canada. These regulations have been strengthened over the years to combat the high number of fraudulent cases, also known as marriages of convenience. As a consequence of these regulations, many applications based on genuine relationships are refused, forcing the applicant and the sponsor to appeal the decision, adding up to an additional year to the application processing times, plus the stress and cost of an appeal.
Prove it’s genuine
So when you complete an application to sponsor your spouse, make extra effort in gathering and submitting evidence to prove that your relationship is in fact “genuine.” I typically categorize evidence into two groups, “sentimental evidence” and “hard evidence.”
The primary type of sentimental evidence used is photographs. Submit a selection of photographs that capture the essence of your relationship. Photos of spouses together on vacation, with each other’s close family and at major life events (birthdays, holidays, vacations, etc.) are usually well received by the government. Do not make the mistake of only submitting photos from a single day or only photos where you are wearing the same outfit. Your photos should represent different milestones in your relationship and not just the wedding.
Other sentimental evidence to submit includes copies of birthday/holiday cards, email printouts, Facebook printouts, love letters, wedding invitations and reference letters from close friends or family that confirm the nature of your relationship. I had a client once who wanted to submit a racy video that he said confirmed beyond doubt that his relationship was real. I told him he was taking it too far.
More evidence
I classify all legal and third party documents as “hard evidence.” Hard evidence that you should plan to submit include copies of a power of attorney, copies of wills or life insurance policies, naming each spouse as the other’s beneficiary, copies of leases or land title certificates, showing both spouses as tenants or owners and copies of bank statements, showing both spouses as joint account holders.
It is also worthwhile to submit copies of boarding passes, hotel reservations, receipts for gifts and dinner, and passport stamps to prove that visits between spouses actually took place. Phone bills are an excellent way to confirm communication between spouses while separated.
Explain well
My final tip is to be thorough in explaining your evidence. Explain what each piece of evidence is and why you are submitting it. Handing a visa officer a pile of evidence without any explanation makes their job difficult. In submitting your application, your goal should be to make the visa officer’s job as easy as possible to approve your application as quickly as possible.
A thorough and complete application, leaving no questions to be answered, may even get you out of an interview and thereby speeding up your application processing. Visa officers are empowered with the discretion to waive interviews for applications where it is clear that the relationship is genuine. As such, the extra time that you put into gathering and explaining evidence will save you much hardship and hassle down the road.
While we all know that finding and maintaining true love is a lot of work, there is no need for an immigration application to follow suit. As when searching for that special someone, when completing a sponsorship application, be honest, open, convincing and thorough.
Source:http://www.canadianimmigrant.ca/settlingincanada/immigrationlaw/article/6701
Canada seeks foreign workers
By: Patrick Thibodeau On: 10 Jul 2007 For: Computerworld (US online) Creator
For Colin Hansen, minister of economic development in British Columbia, Microsoft's decision last week to open a software development center in Vancouver was proof that Canada's strategy to grow its economy is working.
O Canada, indeed. No H-1B visa cap. An immigration system that favors tech workers. An exchange rate that puts the Canadian dollar almost at parity with its U.S. counterpart. And now an endorsement from Microsoft Corp. as a place to develop software.
For Colin Hansen, minister of economic development in British Columbia, Microsoft's decision last week to open a software development center in Vancouver was proof that Canada's strategy to grow its economy is working. And it's a strategy that is very dependent on foreign workers. Hansen said the economy in British Columbia is growing by as much as 4.5 percent a year, with technology being the fastest-growing sector. The province's total workforce is now at about 2.3 million people, and Hansen predicts that over the next 12 years, there will be approximately 1 million job vacancies in British Columbia -- half the result of retirements, and the other half due to the creation of new jobs.
But over that same 12-year period, the province's secondary schools are expected to graduate a total of about 650,000 students. "On the very face of it, we will be short 350,000 workers, which will have to come through immigration," Hansen said.
The Canadian government has specific programs for quickly bringing high-tech workers with certain skills into the country, a process that can take two to eight weeks, said Evan Green, an immigration attorney and partner at Toronto-based law firm Green and Spiegel.
The government "recognizes that these people don't exist" within Canada, Green said. He added that if an employer is seeking a worker who has a specific set of skills, education and work experience and will be paid a salary on par with what Canadians earn, a foreigner can successfully get a work permit. Unlike the annual cap on the number of H-1B visas issued in the U.S., there is no numerical limit on foreign workers entering Canada, according to Green.
Microsoft, which is been a vocal critic of the H-1B program's restrictions, announced July 5 that it plans to open the development center in Vancouver -- a mere 150 miles from the company's Seattle-area headquarters. The software vendor said it decided to set up the Vancouver facility, which is due to open in the fall, partly to help it "recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S."
It was a stick-in-the-eye announcement to opponents of legislative proposals to increase the H-1B cap, and it came as Congress prepares for the next round of that debate following the recent failure in the Senate of a broad immigration reform bill that would have raised the visa cap.
John O'Grady, an economic and statistical analysis consultant in Toronto, said he thinks Canada is becoming attractive to companies like Microsoft for more reasons than its immigration policies alone. "The pendulum is just beginning to swing in our favor," he said.
One thing that's helping Canada retain jobs and create new ones is the fact that the Canadian dollar now is trading at about 1.03 to the U.S. dollar -- much higher than in years past.
For Colin Hansen, minister of economic development in British Columbia, Microsoft's decision last week to open a software development center in Vancouver was proof that Canada's strategy to grow its economy is working.
O Canada, indeed. No H-1B visa cap. An immigration system that favors tech workers. An exchange rate that puts the Canadian dollar almost at parity with its U.S. counterpart. And now an endorsement from Microsoft Corp. as a place to develop software.
For Colin Hansen, minister of economic development in British Columbia, Microsoft's decision last week to open a software development center in Vancouver was proof that Canada's strategy to grow its economy is working. And it's a strategy that is very dependent on foreign workers. Hansen said the economy in British Columbia is growing by as much as 4.5 percent a year, with technology being the fastest-growing sector. The province's total workforce is now at about 2.3 million people, and Hansen predicts that over the next 12 years, there will be approximately 1 million job vacancies in British Columbia -- half the result of retirements, and the other half due to the creation of new jobs.
But over that same 12-year period, the province's secondary schools are expected to graduate a total of about 650,000 students. "On the very face of it, we will be short 350,000 workers, which will have to come through immigration," Hansen said.
The Canadian government has specific programs for quickly bringing high-tech workers with certain skills into the country, a process that can take two to eight weeks, said Evan Green, an immigration attorney and partner at Toronto-based law firm Green and Spiegel.
The government "recognizes that these people don't exist" within Canada, Green said. He added that if an employer is seeking a worker who has a specific set of skills, education and work experience and will be paid a salary on par with what Canadians earn, a foreigner can successfully get a work permit. Unlike the annual cap on the number of H-1B visas issued in the U.S., there is no numerical limit on foreign workers entering Canada, according to Green.
Microsoft, which is been a vocal critic of the H-1B program's restrictions, announced July 5 that it plans to open the development center in Vancouver -- a mere 150 miles from the company's Seattle-area headquarters. The software vendor said it decided to set up the Vancouver facility, which is due to open in the fall, partly to help it "recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S."
It was a stick-in-the-eye announcement to opponents of legislative proposals to increase the H-1B cap, and it came as Congress prepares for the next round of that debate following the recent failure in the Senate of a broad immigration reform bill that would have raised the visa cap.
John O'Grady, an economic and statistical analysis consultant in Toronto, said he thinks Canada is becoming attractive to companies like Microsoft for more reasons than its immigration policies alone. "The pendulum is just beginning to swing in our favor," he said.
One thing that's helping Canada retain jobs and create new ones is the fact that the Canadian dollar now is trading at about 1.03 to the U.S. dollar -- much higher than in years past.
The Canadian Federal Immigrant Investor Program
All countries these days will be looking to their respective governments to inject money into crucial business sectors. Canada is no different in attempting to stimulate its economy via government spending; naturally the government will be looking for low-cost capital to fund things like infrastructure projects. This is where Canadian immigration can provide a source of investment capital. Individuals and managerial or entrepreneurial experience can qualify for a Canadian Permanent Resident Visa by investing with the Canadian government at zero interest for five years, under what is called the “Federal Immigrant Investor Program” (FIIP). It is one of three different categories of Canadian Business Class Immigration. They are Investor, Entrepreneur and Self-Employed Persons. Immigrants with a high net worth (in excess of 800,000 CAD) can expedite entry into Canada by investing 400,000 at zero interest with the Federal Immigrant Investment Program (FIIP) in return for a Permanent Resident Visa. The FIIP was developed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to promote economic development by allowing well qualified business people to fast track their applications, reducing the processing time to around 16 – 18 months. Canada gets to use the Immigrant Investor’s money for five years with no interest. There is no risk to the immigrant investors; after five years they receive the full investment back. Less than 1% of potential immigrants to Canada apply for this program, possibly because they have to be invited to participate. They have to qualify so those who have revealed their net worth in the required amounts would be approached. There are normally about 7,000 Immigrant Investor applicants in queue in the FIIP awaiting assessment at any one time, all of whom are ready and eager to make their required 0,000 investment. They are simply waiting for their immigration processing to be completed. This translates to 2.8 billion in available capital that can be put to use in the funding of infrastructure projects.
Besides speeding up immigrant visa applications, there are other benefits to entering under the FIIP. Unlike the entrepreneur program where your business is monitored and reviewed by the Federal government, you are free to settle anywhere in Canada, take any job, go to school, or just enjoy life if your money supply allows it. None of the investor categories have language, education or business experience requirements. The Immigrant Investor and immediate family members gain Canadian Permanent Residency and in return Canada develops access to an inexpensive pool of capital to help fund its stimulus spending.
Canada has the world’s soundest banking system according to a survey by the respected World Economic Forum. Thanks to an economic system with institutions that most American politicians might brand as “socialist”, Canada will do much better than other Western nations to restore economic order. In fact many economists predict that Canada will be the first advanced country to come out of this worldwide economic crisis. Canada has a diversified economy with a low debt burden, flexible labor markets and proper fiscal management going back for more many years. Canadian banks have not needed the government bailouts that have become a necessity in the US and many European countries.
As far as immigration is concerned, Canada is a favored destination and consistently ranks as one of the top countries in the world for overall quality of life. And despite, or perhaps because of, the current global economic environment, many successful entrepreneurs and managers around the world are considering Canada as their destination of choice to begin a new life for themselves and their families.
Source: http://staringfrog.com/jobs/2010/04/the-canadian-federal-immigrant-investor-program/
Besides speeding up immigrant visa applications, there are other benefits to entering under the FIIP. Unlike the entrepreneur program where your business is monitored and reviewed by the Federal government, you are free to settle anywhere in Canada, take any job, go to school, or just enjoy life if your money supply allows it. None of the investor categories have language, education or business experience requirements. The Immigrant Investor and immediate family members gain Canadian Permanent Residency and in return Canada develops access to an inexpensive pool of capital to help fund its stimulus spending.
Canada has the world’s soundest banking system according to a survey by the respected World Economic Forum. Thanks to an economic system with institutions that most American politicians might brand as “socialist”, Canada will do much better than other Western nations to restore economic order. In fact many economists predict that Canada will be the first advanced country to come out of this worldwide economic crisis. Canada has a diversified economy with a low debt burden, flexible labor markets and proper fiscal management going back for more many years. Canadian banks have not needed the government bailouts that have become a necessity in the US and many European countries.
As far as immigration is concerned, Canada is a favored destination and consistently ranks as one of the top countries in the world for overall quality of life. And despite, or perhaps because of, the current global economic environment, many successful entrepreneurs and managers around the world are considering Canada as their destination of choice to begin a new life for themselves and their families.
Source: http://staringfrog.com/jobs/2010/04/the-canadian-federal-immigrant-investor-program/
Canada's most wanted: Semi-skilled workers
David Fuller discovers it is not only skilled workers that Canada is so desperate for
A recent article in Canada's Financial Post newspaper stated that the "shortage of skilled labour in Canada is reaching the point of a national crisis."
According to the newspaper, Canada's construction sector will need approximately 260,000 new workers over the next eight years, while it is estimated the mining industry will need around 10,000 people per year for the next ten years in order to stave off shortages.
It is not uncommon to read statistics such as this in the Canadian media, nor has it been for a good few years now. Indeed, it is because of the persisting skills shortages that Canada's immigration programme is currently so geared towards attracting skilled workers.
What doesn't tend to be so widely reported, though, is that industries deemed to be 'semi' or 'low' skilled such as trucking, food services, and tourism, are also in desperate need of workers.
As those of you familiar with the workings of Canada's federal Skilled Worker system will already be aware, in order to be eligible for emigration to Canada you need to have had work experience in occupations classed as Skill Level A (professional occupations) or B (occupations and skilled trades), or Skill Type 0 (managerial occupations) on the National Occupations Classifications list to be eligible for a visa.
This means people who only have experience in the aforementioned 'lesser' skilled occupations do not stand a chance of being awarded a federal skilled visa.
However, there are still opportunities available for workers deemed to be semi-skilled.
A number of Canada's provincial governments are realising that semi-skilled industry shortages could be as costly to their economies as those in skilled sectors, and have either introduced a semi-skilled stream (Alberta and BC) or a scheme designed to specifically target particular semi-skilled workers (for example, truck drivers in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick) through their Provincial Nominee Programmes (PNPs).
"Demand for semi-skilled workers certainly appears to be increasing," confirms Craig MacBride, the Public Affairs Officer at the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development for British Columbia. "In 2006, BC employed 953,000 lesser-skilled workers, accounting for 45.5 per cent of the total workforce in the province, while in 2001, there were roughly only 806,000 lesser-skilled workers employed in BC – or 42.8 per cent of BC's total labour force. Therefore, during the period of the last two censuses, the number of lesser-skilled workers increased by 147,000 people," he adds.
What's more it is unlikely that there will be a decrease in the number of semi-skilled shortages in the foreseeable future.
"According to the 'Canadian Occupational Projection System – BC Unique Scenario', of the 1.1 million new job openings projected until 2015, 74 per cent will require a university degree or some form of post-secondary education," continues MacBride. "Twelve per cent of the new job openings will require some high school experience and 14 per cent will require high school
graduation. In absolute terms, there will still be close to 300,000 'low- and semi-skilled' jobs becoming available in BC during this period."
Upon announcing its 'Entry-Level and Semi-Skilled' PNP earlier this year, the BC government stated that current industry growth patterns reveal that the province's tourism/hospitality sector would require an additional 84,000 workers over the next ten years – or, to put it another way, one new job every hour over the coming decade. Little surprise, then, that this sector is particularly catered for through the scheme (see box, left).
In order to qualify for nomination, applicants must have been employed in an eligible occupation by a sponsoring company on a temporary work permit for at least nine months prior to the date of application to the PNP and must be legally employed by the sponsoring company at the time of application.
Source: http://www.emigrate2.co.uk/Jobs_and_Money_detail-139.htm
A recent article in Canada's Financial Post newspaper stated that the "shortage of skilled labour in Canada is reaching the point of a national crisis."
According to the newspaper, Canada's construction sector will need approximately 260,000 new workers over the next eight years, while it is estimated the mining industry will need around 10,000 people per year for the next ten years in order to stave off shortages.
It is not uncommon to read statistics such as this in the Canadian media, nor has it been for a good few years now. Indeed, it is because of the persisting skills shortages that Canada's immigration programme is currently so geared towards attracting skilled workers.
What doesn't tend to be so widely reported, though, is that industries deemed to be 'semi' or 'low' skilled such as trucking, food services, and tourism, are also in desperate need of workers.
As those of you familiar with the workings of Canada's federal Skilled Worker system will already be aware, in order to be eligible for emigration to Canada you need to have had work experience in occupations classed as Skill Level A (professional occupations) or B (occupations and skilled trades), or Skill Type 0 (managerial occupations) on the National Occupations Classifications list to be eligible for a visa.
This means people who only have experience in the aforementioned 'lesser' skilled occupations do not stand a chance of being awarded a federal skilled visa.
However, there are still opportunities available for workers deemed to be semi-skilled.
A number of Canada's provincial governments are realising that semi-skilled industry shortages could be as costly to their economies as those in skilled sectors, and have either introduced a semi-skilled stream (Alberta and BC) or a scheme designed to specifically target particular semi-skilled workers (for example, truck drivers in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick) through their Provincial Nominee Programmes (PNPs).
"Demand for semi-skilled workers certainly appears to be increasing," confirms Craig MacBride, the Public Affairs Officer at the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development for British Columbia. "In 2006, BC employed 953,000 lesser-skilled workers, accounting for 45.5 per cent of the total workforce in the province, while in 2001, there were roughly only 806,000 lesser-skilled workers employed in BC – or 42.8 per cent of BC's total labour force. Therefore, during the period of the last two censuses, the number of lesser-skilled workers increased by 147,000 people," he adds.
What's more it is unlikely that there will be a decrease in the number of semi-skilled shortages in the foreseeable future.
"According to the 'Canadian Occupational Projection System – BC Unique Scenario', of the 1.1 million new job openings projected until 2015, 74 per cent will require a university degree or some form of post-secondary education," continues MacBride. "Twelve per cent of the new job openings will require some high school experience and 14 per cent will require high school
graduation. In absolute terms, there will still be close to 300,000 'low- and semi-skilled' jobs becoming available in BC during this period."
Upon announcing its 'Entry-Level and Semi-Skilled' PNP earlier this year, the BC government stated that current industry growth patterns reveal that the province's tourism/hospitality sector would require an additional 84,000 workers over the next ten years – or, to put it another way, one new job every hour over the coming decade. Little surprise, then, that this sector is particularly catered for through the scheme (see box, left).
In order to qualify for nomination, applicants must have been employed in an eligible occupation by a sponsoring company on a temporary work permit for at least nine months prior to the date of application to the PNP and must be legally employed by the sponsoring company at the time of application.
Source: http://www.emigrate2.co.uk/Jobs_and_Money_detail-139.htm
Canada/Mexico labour mobility pilot project now accepting applications
(Sep. 25/08) Mexico, Canada and four participating provinces including Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec are developing a pilot project for the recruitment of Temporary Foreign Workers from Mexico to Canada within two industry sectors: construction and tourism/hospitality.
The pilot is expected to be launched late fall with the first workers arriving early in the new year. The unique feature of this particular pilot project is that Mexico’s national employment service will play a role in identifying the eligible candidates for employers, who would then make the final decision regarding potential workers.
In the first year, the objective is for 2,000 workers to be identified through this initiative and split evenly among the four provinces. Each province can expect to receive approximately 500 workers divided between the two sectors. Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba have confirmed the following occupations for Mexico’s recruitment: within the hotel and lodging industry: front desk clerks and housekeeping attendants; within the food and restaurant industry: cooks, kitchen helpers, food counter attendants and food and beverage servers (Manitoba only).
The pilot project will allow for workers to receive up to a two-year work permit, consistent with the Labour Market Opinion. Employers will still be required to seek a positive Labour Market Opinion from HRSDC/Service Canada, and workers will still need to apply to CIC for a work permit. Employers in Alberta and British Columbia will be asked to absorb the costs of English testing, medical assessments and work permits in exchange for their participation in the pilot.
Alberta and Manitoba officials would like to limit participation to a few employers with foreign worker recruitment experience who are willing to apply for groups of employees in the designated occupations in order to help ensure the pilot is successful.
Provincial Tourism Sector Council organizations – go2 in British Columbia and MTEC in Manitoba – have agreed to coordinate the pilot project on behalf of the Tourism and Hospitality industries in British Columbia and Manitoba. They are currently developing application processes for employers.
Alberta government officials want to move quickly and are hoping to meet with CRFA and small group of interested employers in the coming weeks to discuss next steps in the process. Manitoba officials will be setting up a similar meeting shortly.
The pilot is expected to be launched late fall with the first workers arriving early in the new year. The unique feature of this particular pilot project is that Mexico’s national employment service will play a role in identifying the eligible candidates for employers, who would then make the final decision regarding potential workers.
In the first year, the objective is for 2,000 workers to be identified through this initiative and split evenly among the four provinces. Each province can expect to receive approximately 500 workers divided between the two sectors. Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba have confirmed the following occupations for Mexico’s recruitment: within the hotel and lodging industry: front desk clerks and housekeeping attendants; within the food and restaurant industry: cooks, kitchen helpers, food counter attendants and food and beverage servers (Manitoba only).
The pilot project will allow for workers to receive up to a two-year work permit, consistent with the Labour Market Opinion. Employers will still be required to seek a positive Labour Market Opinion from HRSDC/Service Canada, and workers will still need to apply to CIC for a work permit. Employers in Alberta and British Columbia will be asked to absorb the costs of English testing, medical assessments and work permits in exchange for their participation in the pilot.
Alberta and Manitoba officials would like to limit participation to a few employers with foreign worker recruitment experience who are willing to apply for groups of employees in the designated occupations in order to help ensure the pilot is successful.
Provincial Tourism Sector Council organizations – go2 in British Columbia and MTEC in Manitoba – have agreed to coordinate the pilot project on behalf of the Tourism and Hospitality industries in British Columbia and Manitoba. They are currently developing application processes for employers.
Alberta government officials want to move quickly and are hoping to meet with CRFA and small group of interested employers in the coming weeks to discuss next steps in the process. Manitoba officials will be setting up a similar meeting shortly.
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