Golden opportunity’ for immigrant lawyers in Ontario



South Korean-trained lawyer Sangkil Yi, had only been a legal intern at Stikeman Elliott LLP’s Bay Street offices for a few days when a partner told him he was needed in a boardroom on the 54th floor right away.
“One of our lawyers was sitting there, surrounded by five Korean clients, and having difficulty with communication,” recalled Mr. Yi, 40. “So I just sat down and helped them communicate.”
That he was there at all is thanks to the University of Toronto’s Internationally Trained Lawyers Program (ITLP), which started in 2010 with a class of 47 foreign-trained lawyers and the aim of helping them pass the necessary exams to practise law in Ontario. The program also provides three-month internships at law firms and networking help.
The participation of Stikeman Elliott and other big law firms in the program is not just altruistic. In a globalized business world, a stable of lawyers who speak foreign languages, and are familiar with other cultures, can be a key competitive asset on Bay Street.
Born in South Korea, Mr. Yi worked as an in-house lawyer for IBM and an affiliate of Chevron in his home country, while earning a masters of law from Northwestern University in Chicago in 2004. But he decided he wanted the adventure of living full-time in North America, and emigrated with his wife and two children to Toronto in 2010.
Many foreign lawyers arrive in Canada daunted by the up to 12 accreditation exams they must write to qualify to practise here, on top of all the other challenges of setting up a life in a new country. So they seek part-time jobs to make ends meet. Many never manage to get the accreditation they need. That’s where the 10-month ITLP program comes in.
“In our program, we have cab drivers, we have a lot of security people, limo drivers, the Wal-Mart greeters – whatever jobs they can take to settle,” said Gina Alexandris, director of the ITLP. “One of the things that we hear frequently is, ‘I put my dream on hold.’”
While other law schools take in some foreign-trained lawyers, Ms. Alexandris said, the ILTP program is the first such comprehensive program aimed at helping them. The internship component also gives participants valuable access to a network of potential employers, access to what outsiders feel can be a clubby profession.
Ensuring foreign-born professionals can use their skills in Canada has been a challenge for most professions. But with a shortage of articling positions for homegrown lawyers causing what some call an “articling crisis,” it might seem perplexing to some observers that even more lawyers are being funnelled into the system.
Ms. Alexandris disagrees. She points out that her program’s students are already in the country, admitted by an immigration system that valued their education and skills. But once here, many have trouble becoming qualified and dealing with the job market, resulting in a waste of their legal talents.
The program is not cheap, and many students finance it with loans, although some bursaries are also available. It costs $3,500 now, but tuition is rising to $6,500 later this year for an expanded program that will include new courses and bar-exam preparation classes. The program receives financing from the federal and provincial governments.
Chetan Gupta, 31, moved here from India permanently in 2009, along with his parents. He worked as a lawyer in New Delhi, appearing before the country’s Supreme Court. Now, he is an intern at McCarthy Tétrault LLP, and hopes to go on to practise immigration law in Canada.
Before he signed up with ITLP, Mr. Gupta held an administrative position, and did stints flipping burgers, making pizza, and keeping watch over a condo construction site as an overnight security guard. A job related to his legal training seemed out of reach.
“I had applied to so many places with my résumés and all, and I didn’t get a call from a single application,” Mr. Gupta said. “To get an opportunity to intern at McCarthy Tétrault, a firm like this, is a gift.”
The law firms participating in the ITLP program by taking interns clearly believe there is a immigrant talent pool worth tapping into.
“It’s a hidden gem, people like Sangkil who have a wonderful depth of experience, who are overlooked by the traditional process,” said Don Belovich, a partner at Stikeman Elliott who helps with the firm’s participation in the program.
Mr. Yi, who aims to finish his exams later this year, has already had a job interview with a Stikeman client. He calls the ITLP program and his internship a “golden opportunity.”
“Our classmates came from all over the world,” he said. “We came here to thrive, not just to survive. But there are not many opportunities and it is a very lengthy and lonely journey.”





Look to Canada for opportunities to study abroad


SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 2012
THE RECORD
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Spending a semester abroad has become very popular in recent years as students and employers recognize the value of international experience in a global economy. But for some students, a semester or year outside the United States just isn't enough. They are finding exciting opportunities just over the border in Canada, which welcomed more than 10,000 U.S. students in 2011.
Students are living in a foreign country and learning about another culture without having to travel very far or become fluent in a foreign language. In Vancouver last summer I met a young man from the U.S. who had just graduated from University of British Columbia. He felt he received an excellent education, and perhaps because his Asian studies major was in a smaller department, he found that classes were reasonably small. He had a study-abroad experience in China and loved living in Vancouver.
He also enjoyed the international student body at UBC. He did say that students who thrive at the school need to be fairly independent, as they will not get the kind of nurturing students often find at schools in the U.S. At UBC and other Canadian universities, students can get to know professors and work on research projects with them, but it may takes a little more effort.
The quality of life is great in Canada, and some of the most prestigious universities are located in exciting cities, including Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. You will also find liberal arts colleges in scenic parts of the country. Canada has more than 90 universities and 150 colleges offering a variety of programs.
Canada has a number of world-ranked universities. While Canadian universities offer bachelor's degrees as well as graduate degrees, the colleges are more like our community colleges, with certificate and diploma programs. There are a number of resources to help you sort through the options, including MacLean's on Campus magazine, which has university rankings as well as student surveys, campus news and articles about student life.
The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada has a website with profiles of each institution, and you can search for schools by program and location. The Canadian Council of Ministers of Education also has a website with information about programs and costs at different schools. Getting a student visa is easy, and international students can work in Canada.
Some of the more familiar schools, such as the University of Toronto, McGill University and the University of British Columbia, attract a good number of international students At McGill, 19 percent of the students are from outside of Canada.
If you earn an undergraduate degree from a Canadian school, you can apply to graduate and professional schools in the United States, and students with a Canadian degree have been accepted at top U.S. law, medical, business and graduate schools.
Not only can students get an excellent education in Canada, but the cost may be significantly lower than what they would pay in the United States. The Canadian government heavily subsidizes higher education, so the cost, even for international students, is quite reasonable.
The admissions process at Canadian universities is different. Students apply to a specific program, so you need to know what you want to study, and you must have the prerequisite coursework to be accepted to that program. While the more selective schools ask for SAT or ACT scores, and possibly SAT Subject Test or AP scores in certain programs, Canadian universities focus more on grades and preparation for the specific program.


They don't care about extracurricular activities, so if you haven't demonstrated extraordinary leadership in high school but want to attend an internationally respected university, a Canadian school could be a great option. As is the case in the U.S., application procedures and deadlines vary, so it is important to check with each school.
American students are not eligible for need-based aid or Canadian federal loans but they can bring U.S. financial aid, including Stafford loans, to Canadian universities. They may also be eligible for academic scholarships at some schools.
Audrey Kahane is an independent college counselor. Email: audrey@audreykahane.com
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Buying your way into Canada may get pricier

By Bill Mann, MarketWatch
VANCOUVER, B.C. (MarketWatch) — As investment clubs go, it’s one of the more unusual ones around — the money you spend to join isn’t really an investment and it’s not really a club. But more and more people are trying to join and it could soon become one of the more expensive memberships to have.
The Canadian government has had an Immigrant Investor Program for years. Not that long ago, when my wife and I checked into it, it would have cost a C$250,000 interest-free investment to get a permanent-residence card from the Canadian government. The government would use your money for five years, then give it back. A pretty good deal. Plus, it would save months of waiting and a lot of the Canadian government paperwork.
But Ottawa has kept raising the bar. It’s now up to an C$800,000 investment and about to get higher — perhaps a LOT higher.
Thanks to the immutable law of artificial scarcity, when Canada announced last year that it would only issue 700 of the Investor Class visas (talk about a small class size) from the thousands it had previously accepted to help manage demand, some deep-pocketed foreigners (most Chinese) chartered jets to Canada to get their applications in first. Good thing: The program was closed to new applicants after 30 minutes.
Some non-investor immigrants currently wait years to get into Canada, but now the wealthy are going to have to pay more for fast-tracking their way in.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says the current C$800,000 cost in the investor program is too low, and he’s going to revamp it, perhaps even rescinding giving the money back to applicants altogether. Ottawa doubled the requirement from C$400,000 to C$800,000 in 2010, which didn’t slow applications much. So it decided to cap openings because of application overload.

Time for change?

In a recent interview, Kenney said making the money a permanent contribution to Canada rather than just a loan might make more sense. He’s right. One national Canadian publication recently suggested a cool C$5 million might be more like it. After all, right now, C$800,000 will buy an average family home in Vancouver, where many of the immigrants — largely from China — are landing. For many wealthy immigrants, C$1 million (or even C$5 million) is chump change.
Today, C$800,000 for permanent residency isn’t a bad deal to get into a place hundreds of thousands have waited years to enter, says one prominent Canadian columnist. It’s hard to disagree with that. It’s a good place to live with a stable economy and government.
Two of the Canadian provinces that have opted into the federal program are Ontario and British Columbia. Ontario, incredibly, has been sitting on nearly C$1 billion of that immigrant money — despite having over C$15 billion in debt, and has come under fire for it. (Maybe it’s worried about making the interest payments?).
Kenney says the new program and new financial requirements will be in place by the end of the year.
Both Australia and the U.S. have similar programs, with the buy-in at $1 million, another reason many are saying Canada’s C$800K is way too low, too good a deal. Plus, the U.S., program requires actual investment, not just a deposit. The U.K. requires immigrant investors to cough up the equivalent of about C$1.6 million CDN, another reason Kenney says Canada needs to raise its “price point” for permanent-resident visas.
“To be honest,” he said in a recent interview, “it’s not an investor program, it’s a permanent residency for a loan.” He added that what Canada really needs is a real investor program, one that brings in actual capital to help create jobs in Canada.

Chinese favro U.S., Canada

Meanwhile, the China Daily is reporting that a “wealth exodus” is ongoing in that country. It says the top two immigration destinations for Chinese are the U.S (40 % of all immigrants) and Canada (27%). Wealthy Chinese investors are often cited as the cause for Vancouver’s skyrocketing real-estate prices the past 10 years. Reading the home prices listed here in the Vancouver dailies reminds me of how I cringed when I saw the exorbitant home rices listed when I was a renter living in San Francisco. Call it real-estate listings deja vu.
One Beijing-based immigration lawyer told the paper she expects that when Kenney re-opens the program later this year, 2,000 more wealthy Chinese will get permanent residency in Canada.
By the way, of those 700 applications that were accepted before the window closed last year, 697 were from China. So it’s little wonder the Canadian immigration minister is raising the price. Because China’s where the big money is these days.
Kenney says Canada needs to get more bang for its buck on its wealthy-immigrant program, that it’s been “underselling itself.” True enough.
I can’t blame Canada, which has been a magnet for immigrants the past few years — most of them low-income earners — for wanting to squeeze a few more bucks out of those at the high end. After all, they’re not the ones who’ll be waiting on tables or driving trucks in Toronto and Vancouver. A few hundred thou is pocket change for many of them.
To say nothing of what all this new wealth in Canada has done to the price of hockey tickets.
A lofty $125 to see the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets play in Vancouver’s Rogers Arena? Not a good investment. I passed.
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Foreign spouses face tighter rules in Canada

If a foreign spouse's marriage in Canada does not last two years, he or she could be deported, according to a proposed new federal rule.

The Conservatives believe a two-year probationary period for foreign spouses would prevent men and women from getting away with immigration fraud by marrying Canadians just to get into the country.
A Canadian spokesman for Volga Girl, a North American mail-order bride company, cheered the new regulations, saying he knows some people have used the system to side-step the Canadian immigration process.
Tatiana Townsend married an Ottawa man 10 years ago and moved to Canada from Moldova after meeting him online.Tatiana Townsend married an Ottawa man 10 years ago and moved to Canada from Moldova after meeting him online. (CBC)Volga Girl, which promotes web-based international marriages, hopes the new rules will "legitimize" the industry.
"Let the visa go ahead to come to Canada and then, yeah, a two-year probationary period is fine," said Mark Scrivener, whose company describes itself as the "most reliable and effective way to find your Russian wife."
"That would be very workable for me."

Regulations could prolong abusive marriage

The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration enforced one new regulation March 2 that says a foreign spouse who ditches her new husband must wait five years after entering Canada before sponsoring a new partner.
The two-year probation is not yet in effect. It is open to public input until the beginning of April, and the ministry said it expects to have the regulation in place at the end of the summer.
One advocacy group in Ottawa said the new rules could put women in danger, especially if their Canadian husbands abuse them.
Stephanie Lomatski says stricter rules for foreign brides could lead to more violence against women.Stephanie Lomatski says stricter rules for foreign brides could lead to more violence against women. (CBC)"There is a power imbalance inherent in this policy in regards to women, and if women are in abusive relationships we know that abuse is already silenced within our society," said Stephanie Lomatski, executive director of the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women.
Lomatski said she believes women could become trapped in abusive marriages because they would fear deportation.
"This could be an additional barrier to women coming forward if she does come into this country and is in an abusive relationship," she added.
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How New Canadian Immigration Rules Affect Educational Agents and Institutions


Over the past few months, many changes have been made to how various groups can conduct business with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). This Interpretation Bulletin has been created to explain clearly what these new rules mean to Educational Agents and Institutions.

Immigration Advisory:
How does Bill C-35 affect Educational Agents and Institutions:
Bill C-35 made it an offence for anyone other than an Authorized Representative to offer immigration services for a fee or other consideration, at any stage of an application or proceeding. Authorized Representatives include: members in good standing of ICCRC (known as Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants – RCICs), lawyers in good standing with a provincial or territorial law society and notaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec.

 For a list of RCICs, please visit this link - http://www.iccrc-crcic.ca/public/membershiplistFull.cfm.

What are the penalties?
Bill C-35 doubled the penalties from $50,000 to $100,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 2 years for conviction by indictment. Bill C-35 doubled the penalties from $10,000 to $20,000 and/or imprisonment for up to six months on summary conviction.

What Educational Agents and Institutions may do without being an Authorized Representative:
Provide translation services; provide courier services; provide medical services; make travel arrangements; advise an international student on how to select courses or register.

What Educational Agents and Institutions may not do unless they are an Authorized Representative:
Explain/provide immigration advice; complete immigration forms (including study permits); communicate with CIC/CBSA on a client’s behalf or represent clients in an immigration application or proceeding.

How does ICCRC handle complaints?
ICCRC takes all complaints seriously. If we receive a complaint that an Educational Agent or Institution is contravening these rules, ICCRC will collect further evidence, build a case, and submit it to the CBSA or the RCMP.

For more information, please review:
Bill C-35 - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/2011/2011-06-28a.asp
IP9 – Use of Representatives - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/ip/ip09-eng.pdf
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How New Canadian Immigration Rules Affect Human Resource Professionals


Over the past few months, many changes have been made to how various groups can conduct business with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). This Interpretation Bulletin has been created to explain clearly what these new rules mean to Human Resource (HR) Professionals.

Immigration Advisory:
How does Bill C-35 affect HR Professionals:
Bill C-35 made it an offence for anyone other than an Authorized Representative to offer immigration services for a fee or other consideration, at any stage of an application or proceeding. Authorized Representatives include: members in good standing of ICCRC (known as Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants – RCICs), lawyers in good standing with a provincial or territorial law society and notaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec.

 For a list of RCICs, please visit this link - http://www.iccrc-crcic.ca/public/membershiplistFull.cfm.

What are the penalties?
Bill C-35 doubled the penalties from $50,000 to $100,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 2 years for conviction by indictment. Bill C-35 doubled the penalty from $10,000 to $20,000 and/or imprisonment for up to six months on summary conviction.

What HR Professionals and their staff may do without being an Authorized Representative:
Conduct job interviews; make offers of employment; review job applications; provide translation services; provide courier services; provide information on medical services; make travel arrangements.

What HR Professionals may not do unless they are an Authorized Representative:
Explain/provide immigration advice; complete immigration forms; communicate with CIC/Canada Border Services Agency on a client’s behalf; represent clients in an immigration application or proceeding.
NOTE: HR professionals may still complete Labour Market Opinion applications to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

How does ICCRC handle complaints?
ICCRC takes all complaints seriously. If we receive a complaint that an HR Professional is contravening these rules, ICCRC will collect further evidence, build a case, and submit it to the CBSA or the RCMP.

For more information, please review:
Bill C-35 - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/2011/2011-06-28a.asp
IP9 – Use of Representatives - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/ma

How New Canadian Immigration Rules Affect Recruiters


Over the past few months, many changes have been made to how various groups can conduct business with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). This Interpretation Bulletin has been created to explain clearly what these new rules mean to Recruiters.

Immigration Advisory:
How does Bill C-35 affect Recruiters:
Bill C-35 made it an offence for anyone other than an Authorized Representative to offer immigration services for a fee or other consideration, at any stage of an application or proceeding. Authorized Representatives include: members in good standing of ICCRC (known as Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants – RCICs), lawyers in good standing with a provincial or territorial law society and notaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec.

 For a list of RCICs, please visit this link - http://www.iccrc-crcic.ca/public/membershiplistFull.cfm.

What are the penalties?
Bill C-35 doubled the penalties from $50,000 to $100,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 2 years for conviction by indictment. Bill C-35 doubled the penalties from $10,000 to $20,000 and/or imprisonment for up to six months on summary conviction.

What Recruiters may do without being an Authorized Representative:
Conduct job interviews; make offers of employment; review job applications; provide translation services; provide courier services; provide medical services; make travel arrangements.

What Recruiters may not do unless they are an Authorized Representative:
Explain/provide immigration advice; complete immigration forms; communicate with CIC/CBSA on a client’s behalf; represent clients in an immigration application or proceeding, or represent Employers in an Arranged Employment Opinion or Labour Market Opinion application.

How does ICCRC handle complaints?
ICCRC takes all complaints seriously. If we receive a complaint that a Recruiter is contravening these rules, ICCRC will collect further evidence, build a case, and submit it to the CBSA or the RCMP.

For more information, please review:
Bill C-35 - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/2011/2011-06-28a.asp
IP9 – Use of Representatives - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resour

How New Canadian Immigration Rules Affect Travel Agents


Over the past few months, many changes have been made to how various groups can conduct business with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).
This Interpretation Bulletin has been created to explain clearly what these new rules mean to Travel Agents.
Immigration Advisory:
How does Bill C-35 affect Travel Agents:
Bill C-35 made it an offence for anyone other than an Authorized Representative to offer immigration services for a fee or other consideration, at any stage of an application or proceeding. Authorized Representatives include: members in good standing of ICCRC (known as Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants – RCICs), lawyers in good standing with a provincial or territorial law society and notaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec.

For a list of RCICs, please visit this link - http://www.iccrc-crcic.ca/public/membershiplistFull.cfm.

What are the penalties?
Bill C-35 doubled the penalties from $50,000 to $100,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 2 years for conviction by indictment. Bill C-35 doubled the penalties from $10,000 to $20,000 and/or imprisonment for up to six months on summary conviction.

What Travel Agents may do without being an Authorized Representative:
Make travel arrangements; provide translation services; provide courier services; provide medical services.

What Travel Agents may not do unless they are an Authorized Representative:
Explain/provide immigration advice; complete immigration forms; communicate with CIC/CBSA on a client’s behalf; advertise that they can provide immigration advice for compensation; represent clients in an immigration application or proceeding.

How does ICCRC handle complaints?
ICCRC takes all complaints seriously. If we receive a complaint that a Travel Agent is contravening these rules, ICCRC will collect further evidence, build a case, and submit it to the CBSA or the RCMP.

For more information, please review:
Bill C-35 - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/2011/2011-06-28a.asp
IP9 – Use of Representatives - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/ip/ip09-eng.pdf

Canadian Employer bridges licensing gap for health professionals


In regulated professions, the lack of a Canadian license can prevent skilled immigrants from being hired into the jobs for which they are trained. It can even be hard for employers to navigate the system.
Saskatoon Health Region, one of the 2012 Best Employers for New Canadians, has decided that the hard work is worth it. The health region hires internationally educated health professionals (IEHPs) into non-regulated jobs. They then work with them one-on-one to obtain Canadian licensure so the IEHPs can work in their trained professions.
In the video below, Allison Laughren, Workforce Planning Consultant and Provincial Lead for the “Pathways: IEHP Support, Bridging and Integration” program, talks about how she helps IEHPs become licensed in Canada. She:
  • Identifies the gaps between foreign credentials and Canadian requirements
  • Offers tuition support
  • Actively helps them navigate the licensing system
To learn more about how winners of the 2012 Best Employers for New Canadians are recruiting and integrating skilled immigrants, sign up for our free webinar on March 21.

Canadian immigration feeling the luck o’ the Irish


OTTAWA Pubs bursting at the seams are a reminder of the old saying that on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone’s a little bit Irish.
But statistics show that immigration to Canada has become a lot more Irish.
By the end of 2011, there were more than 5,200 temporary foreign workers from Ireland in Canada, up almost 1,000 from the year before.
While the number pales besides statistics on workers from countries such as the Philippines or Mexico, Canada has become a premier destination for Irish workers fleeing a soured economy in their home country and an employment rate hovering around 15 per cent.
“The word over in Ireland for the last two to three years is that Canada is the place to go,” said Eamonn O’Loghlin, who came to Canada from Ireland 36 years ago and is now involved in a number of Irish-Canadian organizations.
“They can hit the ground running here, they are all very well educated, there’s no language barrier, no real cultural issues and they have a very dynamic and caring Irish diaspora here already so there’s someone here on the ground.”
The high numbers of Irish going to Canada have even caused some hand-wringing in the United Sates, long an Irishman’s favourite second home.
“Today, however, our country is being deprived of the talent of the best and brightest of Ireland’s young,” said column in Thursday’s New York Daily News, which blamed America’s immigration policy for the decrease.
“Now, many are immigrating to Australia, Canada and England. And as some two centuries of previous Irish immigration have amply shown, our loss of this wealth of talent is the gain of our economic rivals.”
Efforts like those by Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall to actively recruit Irish immigrants have helped send a signal, said Cathy Murphy, the executive director of the Irish Canadian Immigration Centre, which has its formal opening in Toronto on Saturday.
Wall travelled to Ireland last month with a group of business leaders to attend job fairs in a bid to fill vacancies.
Construction associations from B.C. and Alberta also conducted their own fact-finding missions this year to source out labour.
“Canadians are opening their arms to new immigrants and I do think that’s why we’re seeing more to come here right now,” Murphy said.
Irish immigration to Canada dates back to the 16th century. By the 2006 census, more than 4.3 million Canadians listed their ethnic origin as Irish.
It’s the strong diaspora that’s helping out today’s newcomers, said Murphy.
“Although they left under difficult circumstances, certainly, they wouldn’t have left under circumstances that are as dire as what’s happening in Ireland now,” she said.
“I think the older generation feels quite a lot of empathy that the younger generation has to leave Ireland because of jobs, there isn’t a choice. They are not coming for adventure, they are coming out of necessity.”
Even the Irish government itself is working to make sure that its emigrants are well supported in Canada.
In 2011, the government in Dublin spent close to $14.8 million on grants to support Irish people around the world, with about $190,000 of that going to Canada, including to the new immigration centre.
On Saturday, Ireland’s deputy prime minister will be among those in attendance at the centre’s opening.
He’s one of 16 government ministers dispatched around the world from Dublin this St. Patrick’s Day.
The charm offensive seeks to both woo investment but also send a signal to the almost 100,000 Irish who left home in the last two years that their government does hope to see them return.
But Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is hoping more of them actually stay.
“We’d like to give them a more realistic choice of staying here as permanent residents,” he said.
“We’re happy to be in competition with Ireland for the talents of their young people.”
The government is looking at changing the working holiday visa program commonly used by the Irish to allow them to apply for permanent residency sooner.
Only 665 became permanent residents last year.
“If they’re doing well in labour market, if an employer likes them and wants to keep them and they meet our other criteria like speaking English, why would we want to send them back?” Kenney said.
The Canadian Press

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