British Columbia Lays Groundwork to Attract Immigrants

Dramatic reverse of UK’ outlook, British Columbia sorts ways to boost the influx of skilled immigrants.

Premier Christy Clark has called for the setting up of a task force to study how skilled immigrants and investors can be attracted to the province of British Columbia, Canada.

This is a province and a country that was built on immigration and that hasn't changed, Clark said.

A nine member group shall be constituted to analyse all of the province’s programs related to immigrants and suggest any possible improvement or enhancements in order to simplify the procedure of immigration for skilled workers from around the world.

The Task Force
It is expected that eminent community and business leaders shall be roped in to form the task force. The Provincial Nominee Program, Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class, and the Federal Immigrant Investor Program are the various schemes to be scanned by the group that has proposed to submit a report by the end of March next year. John Yap, elected head of the task force has voiced a resolve to make the immigration procedure to British Columbia a smooth ride for skilled workers and interested investors. The team is likely to meet employers, industry associations, community members and other groups of importance to get a rounded picture and then work upon it in an appropriate fashion.

Premier Speaks

"We've laid out an ambitious plan to create jobs in the B.C. Jobs Plan and we will need skilled immigrants to help fill more than one million job openings expected over the next decade," Clark said. "We don't know yet, how we're going to fill those jobs."

Much like what the province of Manitoba has been asking for, even BC has asked for a removal of the cap on immigration influx. It is interesting to note that the provincial nominee program was launched to help integrate skilled and educated professional immigrants into the Canadian population. It is important to do away with the upper limit on immigration of skilled workers under PNP as it does little to further the cause.

A Welcome Christmas Gift for the Immigrants: 
Potential immigrants are excited because Canada has for long established and done justice to its claims of being one of the most immigrant friendly nations in the world. There is little left to be desired in the country’s programs for immigrants save for some small knots which the task force shall smooth out.

Irish continue to flock to US immigration figures show

By 

HILDA HIGGINS,

 

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Over 14,000 Irish people emigrated to the U.S. during 2010, an increase of seven percent on the previous year, reports the Irish Independent.

Almost 70,000 Irish workers left Irish shores during 2010, the majority moving to Britian, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S. and Germany. This represented an almost 50 percent surge, up from the 46,0000 who emigrated in 2009.

The U.S. attracted 14,288 workers from Ireland, with the majority being on temporary work permits. New York, California and Massachusetts continue to be the most popular destination for Irish emigrants.
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Some 1,500 Irish citizens became permanent U.S. residents in 2010, a fifth of whom were new arrivals to the country.

The figures were released by the Irish Independent as part of their investigation into the continuing wave of emigrants leaving Irish shores.

Over 16,000 people made the move to Britain in search of work in the UK 2010/11 tax year. Figures from the UK Department of Work and Pensions show that over 300 Irish people per week applied for national insurance numbers to allow them to work, during 2011. The vast majority of applicants were aged 18 to 34.

The department reported the increase was because: "the Irish economy has recently experienced one of the sharpest recessions in the eurozone".

Australia witnessed a 15 percent surge in arrival of Irish emigrants, with 27, 995 arriving during their 2010/11 tax year, the majority of whom were on work visas.

Over 3,000 Irish citizens applied for permanent residency in Oz during 2011, with almost 50 percent being new arrivals.

New Zealand attracted 4,586 Irish emigrants during the 2010/11 tax year, three times more than a decade ago. Between July and December of 2011, 2,100 were granted work visas.

In Canada, almost 4,000 Irish emigrants acquired work permits in the first six months of 2011, according to their latest Citizenship and Immigration statistics.

During 2010, 4,461 Irish people emigrated to Canada, an increase of 34 percent on 2009.

In Germany, unpublished government statistics show that 1,426 Irish people emigrated there in 2010, a 16 percent increase on the previous year.