Canadian Experience Class applications to be filed with the Central Intake Office

February 24 2012

On December 30 2011 Citizenship and Immigration Canada published Operational Bulletin 368. According to the bulletin, all Canadian Experience Class applications must now be submitted to the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney, Nova Scotia. This change became effective on January 1 2012.

On receipt, the CIO will assess each experience class application for completeness. An application must include all of the forms and documents listed in the generic document checklist for experience class applicants in order to be considered complete by the CIO.

If the application is incomplete, the CIO will return the entire application package (including fee payment) to the applicant. For complete applications, the CIO will enter the application information into the Global Case Management System and recover the processing fee. The CIO will then send complete applications to the appropriate visa office for processing; these offices will process the applications according to existing procedures and processing priorities.

Until January 31 2012, all visa offices continued to accept experience class applications filed directly with them; the applications were then forwarded to the CIO. However, as of January 31 2012, all experience class applications filed with visa offices are now returned to the applicant with instructions directing them to submit the application to the CIO.

For further information on this topic please contact Henry J Chang at Blaney McMurtry LLP by telephone (+1 416 593 1221), fax (+1 416 593 5437) or email (hchang@blaney.com).

Canadian government to help immigrant workers

The government in Canada is looking to make it easier for both firms and staff members to better utilise the skills that have been developed by someone who has come to the country from overseas.

According to the government, at the moment, there are too many people coming into Canada with skills they have learned overseas who are being forced to work in jobs which are below the level they have trained for, and are, as such, not making use of what they have learned.

When moving to Canada from overseas, people have to take licensing exams, and partake in projects which upgrade their skills and training. It is these which stop many from moving into better paid and more highly skilled employment, with the costs often far too prohibitive.

However, under new plans, the government plans to offer people trying to move to Canada a degree of financial assistance to deal with these costs.

"Today's announcement is part of the government's commitment to making it easier for immigrants to join the Canadian labour market," said Jason Kenney, minister of citizenship for Canada.

"Internationally trained workers, including skilled immigrants and Canadians with international training or education, make an important contribution to Canada's job market and the economy," he added.

This is the latest in a line of projects being set up around Canada to help people get back into employment and help boost the economy through providing the right people for the right jobs, with a project having been launched earlier this month which will help Canadian youngsters gain experience through offering them employment opportunities with firms over their summer breaks.

The latest project regarding international workers could be hugely beneficial to Canadian companies. If more people are freed up to work in highly skilled jobs, then companies will be able to take their pick from the most appropriate workers for the positions they have to offer, making sure that they are maximising the performance of their company.

Posted by Fiona Summers