Immigration Canada

Canada makes visa application process easier for some Caribbean nationals.

English: View of the International Financial Centre near the Port of Port-of-Spain in the Gulf of Paria (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By CMC - Thursday, September 12th, 2013.

OTTAWA, Canada– The Government of Canada has announced the opening of a new visa application centre (VAC) in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, making the process of applying for a visa to enter Canada “easier and more convenient.”

The Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has announced plans to expand its VAC network around the world to provide administrative support to applicants before, during and after their temporary resident application is assessed by a CIC immigration officer.

According to a release ,VAC service agents are available by phone, email or in person to answer questions in local languages and to make sure that applications are complete.

“It is important to note that VACs are not involved in the decision-making process and are not authorized to provide applicants with advice about their visas,” the statement said.

“Applications received through the VAC or online are processed on a priority basis and are typically finalized in half the amount of time of other applications,” it added.

The Government of Canada said it plans to create new jobs and stimulate economic growth by attracting an increasing number of visitors and international students, as well as skilled temporary foreign workers and immigrants that “best respond to current and future labor market needs.

“For this reason, CIC strives to issue visas and permits as quickly as possible to facilitate travel to Canada,” the statement said.

The latest announcement comes as Canada has imposed new travel requirements for nationals from two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries.

In Jamaica, the Canadian High Commission said new regulations, enforced by CIC which took effect last week,would affect nationals from Jamaica and Haiti wanting to visit, work or study in the North American country.

The High Commission said that nationals from these two CARICOM countries will be required to give fingerprints and photographic data when they apply for visas and permits.

Last year, Canada imposed new travel requirements on nationals from St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines on the grounds of unreliable travel documents.

CIS said the changes would allow it and its partners “to ensure that those seeking to visit Canada intend to return to their country of origin, rather than overstaying or committing other immigration violations.”

The new measures were criticized by the governments of the two CARICOM countries, with St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves dispatching a four-page letter to his Canadian counterpart, Stephen Harper.

Cap for the Federal Skilled Worker Program- Update

The Centre Block on Parliament Hill, containing the houses of the Canadian parliament (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As of May 4, 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will only consider federal skilled worker (FSW) applications from people who have:

at least one year of continuous and paid (full-time or an equal amount in part-time) work experience in a single occupation,
within the last 10 years,
at skill type 0, or skill levels A or B of the 2011 edition of the Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC), and who are:

1. in one of the 24 eligible occupations,

and whose application is received under the occupation’s sub-cap and overall FSW cap, or

2. with a valid offer of arranged employment, or

3. who are applying under the PhD stream (see below) until the PhD cap of 1,000 applications is reached.

All applicants must also:

meet the minimum language threshold (and submit approved language test results), and
submit a Canadian educational credential or foreign credential and an assessment of their foreign education from an approved agency, and
meet all requirements of the FSW Program.

Applications per eligible occupation:

The cap year began on May 4, 2013, and will end on April 30, 2014, unless otherwise stated by the Minister.Between May 4, 2013, and April 30, 2014, we will consider no more than 5,000 complete FSW applications for processing. Within the 5,000 cap, we will consider no more than 300 applications per eligible occupation for processing within this same time frame.

Note: Due to the large number of applications we get, we cannot check that each one is complete on the same day it gets to the office. The numbers on this page are updated at least once a week, but are only a guide. There is no guarantee that an application sent in now will fall within the cap by the time it gets to the Centralized Intake Office.

Total received toward the overall cap: 1,392 of 5,000

Eligible occupation (by National Occupational Classification [NOC] code)	Number of complete applications counted towards the 300 sub-cap
0211 Engineering managers	127
1112 Financial and investment analysts	300 (Cap reached)
2113 Geoscientists and oceanographers	8
2131 Civil engineers	78
2132 Mechanical engineers	93
2134 Chemical engineers	38
2143 Mining engineers	1
2145 Petroleum engineers	1
2144 Geological engineers	11
2146 Aerospace engineers	5
2147 Computer engineers (except software engineers/designers)	179
2154 Land surveyors	2
2174 Computer programmers and interactive media developers	300 (Cap reached)
2243 Industrial instrument technicians and mechanics	13
2263 Inspectors in public and environmental health and occupational health and safety	56
3141 Audiologists and speech-language pathologists	2
3142 Physiotherapists	68
3143 Occupational Therapists	11
3211 Medical laboratory technologists	65
3212 Medical laboratory technicians and pathologists' assistants	15
3214 Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists	2
3215 Medical Radiation Technologists	12
3216 Medical Sonographers	6
3217 Cardiology technologists and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists	6

Applications in the PhD stream:

CIC will accept 1,000 applications for processing per year under the PhD stream. To apply under this stream, you must have either

finished at least two years of study in Canada towards a PhD, or
graduated from a Canadian PhD program in the 12 months before we get your application.

Find out more about eligibility for this category.

The new PhD cap year began on May 4, 2013, and will end on April 30, 2014, unless otherwise stated by the Minister.

Footnotes

Footnote 1: The number of complete federal skilled worker applications received as of May 4, 2013 is an estimate.
Footnote 2: Once we reach the cap, we can only accept applications under this occupation from people with a valid job offer in place.