Who can apply under Ontario’s Express Entry French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream?

To be eligible to apply under Ontario’s Express Entry French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream, you must meet provincial and federal eligibility criteria. You will be assessed against both as part of the nomination process.

To qualify under Ontario’s Express Entry French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream, you must:

• Have a valid profile in the Express Entry pool;
• Qualify for either the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) or the Canadian Experience Class (CEC); AND
• Indicate an interest in immigrating to either Ontario or “All Provinces and Territories” when you create a profile in Express Entry.

Note: You will be asked to select which federal program(s) you would like to be assessed against for your application to the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).

Ontario French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream Criteria

To be eligible to apply, you must meet the following provincial criteria:

• Work Experience:
  • A minimum of either:
    • one year work experience within the past five years according to the criteria under the Federal Skilled Workers Program
    • one year work experience within the past five years according to the criteria under the Canadian Experience Class
• Education: Equivalent of a Canadian Bachelor’s degree or above;
• Language: 
  • A minimum of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB)
    • level 7 in French
    • level 6 in English
• Settlement Funds: A minimum level of savings or income to support you and your family members
• Intent: An intention to reside in Ontario.

How to Apply

Step 1: Create an online Express Entry profile

• You must create a profile in Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's (IRCC) Express Entry system. Once you do, you will receive an Express Entry Profile Number and a Job Seeker Validation Code (also known as Candidate Identifier Code). You will need these to submit your application to Ontario.
• When you create a profile in Express Entry, you must indicate your interest in immigrating to either Ontario or “All Provinces and Territories.”
• You must qualify for one of two IRCC economic immigration programs: the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) or the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

Please see the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream Application Guide for more details, or visit the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) website.

Step 2: OINP identifies candidates in Express Entry pool

• The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) searches the Express Entry pool on a regular basis and identifies potential candidates who meet the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream criteria (see Section 2.0 of the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream Application Guide for more information).
• If OINP identifies you in the Express Entry pool, you will receive a Notification of Interest from Ontario through your IRCC online account. This notification will invite you to apply to OINP for nomination under the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream.

Step 3: Apply to OINP under the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream

• After you receive a PT Notification of Interest from Ontario through your IRCC online account, you have 45 calendar days to apply to OINP under the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream.
• To apply, you must submit your application through our OINP e-Filing Portal and ensure that you include all the required supporting documents.
• All applicants must indicate which federal immigration program they wish to be assessed against: FSWP or CEC.
• The application fee costs $1,500. The fee covers the cost of processing your application and is non-refundable once you submit your application.
• OINP will assess your nomination according to the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream eligibility criteria. Your application will also be assessed to ensure you meet the FSWP or CEC criteria.

Step 4: Accept nomination from Ontario and apply for permanent residence

• If your application is approved by Ontario, you will receive a letter from OINP through your IRCC online account notifying you of your nomination. You have 30 calendar days to accept the nomination from Ontario in the Express Entry system.
• A nomination from Ontario will give you an additional 600 points in the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) and you will receive an invitation to apply for permanent residence from IRCC.
• Once you receive an invitation to apply from IRCC, you have 90 calendar days to submit your application for permanent residence to IRCC.

For more information on IRCC’s application process for permanent residency for provincial nominees through the Express Entry system, please visit the IRCC website.

Source: http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/pnp/OI_PNP_EE_FRENCH_HOW.html

Ontario Continuing to Welcome Newcomers:

Province Attracting Global Talent, Helping Businesses Find Skilled Workers

February 16, 2017 12:15 P.M.

Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration

Ontario is continuing to help businesses attract the talented people they need to compete globally by accepting more skilled newcomers than ever before through its successful Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).

Laura Albanese, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and Deb Matthews, Deputy Premier and Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development, were at the University of Toronto's Centre for International Experience today to make the announcement.

Recognizing the success of the OINP and its importance to Ontario's economy, the federal government has increased the province's 2017 allocation by 500 nominees to a total of 6,000. Through the OINP, Ontario is able to nominate people for permanent resident status. Nominees include skilled workers, international students, experienced entrepreneurs, and key staff of established foreign corporations seeking to expand into Ontario.

Next week, the OINP will open applications for its three highest-volume streams - the International Masters Graduate Stream, the International PhD Graduate Stream, and the Ontario Express Entry Human Capital Priorities Stream. With their advanced language skills and global connections, international students are important to the success of Ontario's economy.

The OINP is also modernizing its application process this year with a new, paperless online system, which will speed up the application process, improve customer service, and help employers find the skilled workers they need sooner.

Attracting and retaining skilled newcomers is part of our plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.

Quick Facts

• Ontario’s federal nomination allocation has increased from 2,500 in 2014 to 6,000 in 2017.
• About 25 per cent of Ontario’s 2016 nominees work in the thriving ICT sector. This is more than double the amount suggested by Ontario business leaders and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (10 per cent)‎.
• In 2015, the Premier convened an Expert Panel on a Highly Skilled Workforce to provide advice on how Ontario’s workforce can prepare for a more technology- and knowledge-based economy.

Who can apply - Atlantic Immigration Pilot

These programs will open in early March 2017.

The Atlantic Immigration Pilot has two programs for skilled workers:

• Atlantic High-Skilled Program
• Atlantic Intermediate-Skilled Program

and one program for international student graduates:

• Atlantic International Graduate Program

The work experience, education, and job offer you need will depend on whether you are applying as a worker or an international student graduate. The other requirements are the same for both.

Work experience

Workers

You must have worked at least one year (1,560 hours total or 30 hours per week) within the last three years. It can be full-time, non-continuous, or part-time, as long as it adds up to 1,560 hours.

The work must be:

• in one occupation (but can be with different employers)
• paid (volunteering or unpaid internships do not count)
• at skill type/level 0, A, B, or C of the National Occupational Classification (NOC)
  What does this mean?

Check the requirements to make sure you select the right job.

The experience can be gained from inside or outside Canada.

International graduates

You do not need any work experience.

Workers apply as either high-skilled workers or intermediate-skilled workers. High-skilled workers need their one year of work experience to be at skill type/level 0, A, or B. Intermediate-skilled workers need their one year of work experience to be at the skill level C. If you are eligible to apply for both, apply as a high-skilled worker.

Education

Workers

You must have:

• a Canadian secondary (high school) or post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree,
  OR
• a foreign degree, diploma, certificate, or trade or apprenticeship education credential. You need an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report to make sure it is valid and equal to a Canadian credential.
  The report must show your education is equal to a completed Canadian secondary (high school) or post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree. Your ECA must be less than five years old when you apply.

International graduates

You must have:

• a minimum 2 year degree, diploma, certificate, or trade or apprenticeship credential from a recognized publicly-funded institution in an Atlantic province
• been a full-time student in Canada for at least two years
• graduated in the last 12 months when you apply
• lived in one of the Atlantic provinces for at least 16 months in the last 2 years before you graduated
• had the visa or permit needed to work, study or train in Canada

Your study or training program cannot be:

• English or French second language courses for more than half of the program, or
• distance learning undertaken for more than half the length of the program.

You can’t apply if you had a scholarship or fellowship requiring you to return to your home country after you graduate.

Note: Starting in early March 2017, Pilot candidates will be able to apply for a temporary work permit if the job needs to be filled urgently. If your future employer would like you to apply for a temporary work permit first, you will need to commit to apply for permanent residence within 90 days of your application being submitted.

More details will be available March 2017.

Job offer

You must have a job offer that is:

• from a designated employer in an Atlantic province (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, or Prince Edward Island)
• non-seasonal
• reviewed by the province (details on the endorsement process will be available in early March 2017)

The National Occupational Classification (NOC) and duration of the job offer depends on your application.

Job offers for high-skilled workers must:

• be skill type/level 0, A, or B
• last at least one year

Job offers for intermediate-skilled workers must:

• be skill type/level 0, A, B, or C
• be indeterminate (permanent)

Job offers for international graduates must:

• be skill type/level 0, A, B, or C
• last at least one year

Your job offer does not need to be in the same occupation as your past work experience. However, you need to meet employment requirements for the job you are offered. The requirements are listed in the NOC.

The employer does not need a Labour Market Impact Assessment. Contact the provinces to learn which employers are hiring with this program:

• New Brunswick
• Newfoundland and Labrador
• Nova Scotia
• Prince Edward Island

Language

You must:

• have at least a level four (4) in the Canadian Language Benchmarks in English or the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens in French, and
• take an approved language test that shows you meet the level for speaking, listening, reading and writing.

Your results must be less than two years old when you apply.

Proof of funds

You will need to show that you have enough money to support yourself and your family after you immigrate. The amount you need depends on the size of your family and includes family members you support that are not immigrating with you.

You do not need to show proof if you are already living and working in Canada with a valid work permit.

Settlement plan

To help you settle in Canada, you must have a needs assessment before you immigrate. After the assessment, you will get a plan. The plan will tell you:

• about the community where you will live, and
• where you can get help for you and your family.

Learn how to get a needs assessment.

Endorsement certificate

Details on the endorsement process will be available in early March 2017.

Canadian dual citizens can travel freely to the U.S. despite Trump travel ban

Canadian citizens can travel freely to the United States despite U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping immigration order that bans visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries, the Prime Minister's Office says.

Saturday's news came hours after the U.S. State Department told CBC News the 90-day travel ban covers all people who have a nationality or dual nationality with Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen — which would include tens of thousands of Canadians.

• 
  
• "We have been assured that Canadian citizens travelling on Canadian passport will be dealt with ‎in the usual process," Kate Purchase, spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's Office, said in a statement.

View image on Twitter

The NDP has written to the Speaker of the House of Commons requesting an emergency debate on the immigration ban, a day before Parliament is set to re-open after a six-week break.

NDP Immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the ban will have "disastrous implications" for thousands of travellers, family members, students, business people and asylum-seekers.

"A ban against individuals based upon race, religion, or country of birth, implemented by our closest neighbour, cannot be tolerated," Kwan said in the letter. "Canadians cherish their role as global citizens and defenders of human rights and as their elected representatives it is our duty to respond to these extraordinary events."

• 
  

Trump's executive order on Friday curbs travel to the U.S. for people coming from the seven Muslim-majority countries. In an email to CBC News earlier on Saturday, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said: "Beginning January 27, 2017, travellers who have nationality or dual nationality of one of these countries will not be permitted for 90 days to enter the United States or be issued an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa."

"Those nationals or dual nationals holding valid immigrant or nonimmigrant visas will not be permitted to enter the United States during this period."

It's not clear at this point whether the ban affects dual nationals who have citizenship with one of the banned countries and another country outside of Canada. 

At the Los Angeles International Airport, people protest U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping executive order barring refugees and travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries. Canada says its citizens will not be affected. (Patrick T. Fallon/Reuters)

'We're not terrorists'

Before the PMO issued the statement of assurance to Canadian dual citizens, Leena Yousefi, a family and immigration lawyer in Vancouver, told CBC News she is "deeply saddened and offended" by Trump's order.

Yousefi, 34, said her family immigrated to Canada in 1996 and she's only returned to Iran once to visit family and hasn't bothered to update her Iranian passport. 

• 
  

She said she often travels to the U.S. and was hoping to start a new law firm there because she often works with Americans looking to immigrate to Canada.

"We're just completely shocked," she said. "We have family in the United States. We've never had a problem with American people."

"I think all the Iranian-Canadian professionals ... need to speak up," she said. "We're not terrorists, at all."

Families separated

Plenty of people in Canada are still affected by the executive order. 

Mehran Shirazi, a PhD engineering student at Simon Fraser University and a permanent resident in Canada, said he doesn't know when he will be able to see his brother in New York City, who is awaiting a green card for the U.S. Both were born in Iran.

• 
  
• "We'd hoped to see each other but it's not going to work because he cannot come here because then he cannot come back to the U.S. and I cannot visit him," Shirazi said.

Shirazi's parents haven't seen his brother in six years and had planned to visit to New York this spring.

"Now they cannot do that. They don't know when, if at all, they can see him again," he said.

2011 National Household Survey

According to the 2011 National Household Survey from Statistics Canada, the latest survey available, there were over 35,000 Canadians in 2011 who shared citizenship with the countries banned.

• 1,655 with Somalia.
• 5,590 with Iraq.
• 21,610 with Iran.
• 1,505 with Sudan. 
• 210 with Yemen. 
• 4,080 with Syria. 
• 535 with Libya.

The survey also showed there were 74,550 people in Canada from those countries who do not have citizenship in Canada:

• 5,115 from Somalia.
• 19,030 from Iraq.
• 36,950 from Iran.
• 4,005 from Sudan.
• 830 from Yemen.
• 5,375 from Syria. 
• 3,245 from Libya.

The survey was compiled before Canada's commitment to resettle tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in 2015.

A federal judge in New York on Saturday night barred U.S. from deporting travellers with valid visas covered by Trump order, which the American Civil Liberties Union says will affect 100 to 200 people detained at airports. It's unclear how many are Canadian.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadian-affected-trump-travel-ban-refugees-immigrants-1.3957059

Canadian dual citizens exempted from Trump’s travel ban

Source: 

 DANIEL DALEWashington Bureau
EMILY MATHIEUInvestigative News reporter

Sat., Jan. 28, 2017

Canadian citizens will be allowed to enter the United States even if they also hold citizenship in countries targeted by President Donald Trump’s travel ban, a top Trump adviser told the Canadian government late Saturday.

The word from National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, relayed to the media by Canada’s Washington embassy, ended a day of confusion and turmoil over a vaguely worded Trump policy that had appeared to ensnare tens of thousands of Canadian citizens and abandon 150 years of border tradition.

“The prime minister instructed our National Security Adviser, Daniel Jean, who was in touch over the course of the day with NSA Flynn to seek further clarification,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office told reporters.

“Flynn confirmed that holders of Canadian passports, including dual citizens, will not be affected by the ban. We have been assured that Canadian citizens travelling on Canadian passports will be dealt with ‎in the usual process.”

The Friday order had left Trudeau scrambling not only to develop an appropriate response but to figure out what exactly was happening. And it left Canadian communities confused, alarmed and furious, reassessing both their travel plans and their sense of their place on the continent.

“Our community is very devastated,” said Osman Ali, director of the Somali Canadian Association of Etobicoke, before Flynn’s clarification.

The policy had seemed to prevent travel by dual-citizen Canadian students and businesspeople living in the U.S., effectively prohibiting them from leaving the country, and dual-citizen Canadians living in Canada who wanted to visit the U.S. The president of the Canadian Science Policy Conference booked his regular flight to a major American science conference in February. Mehrdad Hariri thought he needed to call Air Canada and cancel, and he was stunned.

“Absolutely shocking,” sad Hariri, a dual Canadian and Iranian citizen. “Absolutely shocking. It’s so disappointing.”

Trump’s 90-day ban, which he framed as an anti-terror measure, is not aimed specifically at Canadians. It is designed to forbid entry by residents of Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Libya.

But to the astonishment of U.S. allies, the Department of Homeland Security announced early Saturday it did not exempt people who are citizens of those countries and also citizens of countries like Canada, France and Australia, which have never been targeted by broad restrictions of this kind. Nor, they said, did it make exceptions for people who hold “green cards,” permanent residents who are rigorously vetted.

It was not the “total and complete” Muslim ban Trump promised during a campaign in which he practiced open Islamophobia. But it appeared far more sweeping and punitive than lawmakers, diplomats and lawyers had expected when the details were leaked earlier in the week.

“There has never been a measure like this before,” said Lorne Waldman, a top Canadian immigration lawyer in Toronto, before the clarification. “One can only assume that they didn’t fully think through all of the consequences of what they were doing in terms of the havoc it’s going to cause.”

“It certainly appears to be unprecedented, and it has certainly been both developed and promulgated in an ignorant and chaotic fashion,” said Robert Remes, a veteran immigration lawyer in Washington, before the clarification.

Some of Trump’s most prominent backers had long suggested that the Muslim ban was mere campaign rhetoric, not to be taken literally. Some Canadian Muslims had assumed the same, then woke up Saturday to learn they had been separated from their families.

“On our end, we were saying, ‘That is ridiculous, that is not going to happen, don’t worry.’ But here we are, and it is happening now,” said Mahmoud Allouch, 26, a University of Toronto engineering graduate from Syria who works for a Toronto non-profit. Allouch, who is applying for permanent residency here, does not have a Canadian passport. Under the ban, he can no longer visit his sister in Washington, who has a green card, but not an American passport.

“There is uncertainty, there is apprehension, there is a lot of ambiguity. So we are playing it safe,” Allouch said. “It is really just weird to see it happen in 2017, after the world was moving towards less borders, less walls, but now we are starting the alienation.”

Iranian Canadian Congress president Bijan Ahmadi said Trump had chosen religious and national discrimination over “any credible security assessment of each case of someone who wants to enter the United States.”

“We believe that our government and all our politicians, all our MPs from different political parties, should be united on this matter, and should condemn this discriminatory policy that the Trump administration has signed and has implemented,” Ahmadi said.

Ali said Trump had targeted the “poor of the poorest, the weak of the weakest.”

Canadian refugee advocates called on Trudeau to consider changes to a 2004 pact, the Safe Third Country Agreement, which prohibits most people who have been in the U.S. from claiming refugee status at the Canadian border. With Trump’s 120-day suspension of all refugee intake, they said, the U.S. no longer qualifies as a safe haven.

Notice to Express Entry candidates

The Express Entry system has been updated.

We have made a number of improvements that may affect you:

• The points you can get for a job offer has changed.
  • you can earn a total of 50 points if you have a valid job offer in a NOC 0, A or B occupation
  • you can earn a total of 200 points if you have a valid job offer in a NOC 00 occupation.
• A job offer now only need to be for a minimum of one year from the time you become a permanent resident. 
• You can now earn CRS points for study in Canada above high school.
  • you can earn 15 points for a one- or two-year diploma or certificate
  • you can earn 30 points for a degree, diploma or certificate of three years or longer, or for a Master’s, professional or doctoral degree of at least one academic year.
• You now have more time to complete an application for permanent residence if you get an invitation to apply.
  • Applicants will now have 90 days to apply for permanent residence, instead of 60 days.
• An LMIA will no longer be needed for certain qualifying job offers to receive CRS points as well as points for arranged employment under the Federal Skilled Worker Class. Many people in Canada on an LMIA exempt work permit will be able to carry that LMIA exemption under Express Entry, including those:
  • here under the North America Free Trade Agreement
  • here under a federal-provincial agreement
  • here under Mobilité Francophone or
  • are an intra-company transferee
  as long as they meet certain criteria, such as at least one year of work experience from the same employer who is providing their job offer.
  Find out more about jobs that are exempt from needing an LMIA.

What do I need to do?

Not everyone will be affected by the changes to the Express Entry system. If you think you are not affected, there is nothing you need to do.

If you think the changes affect you, you should:

1. Log into your online account and update your Express Entry profile by answering the new questions we added to the system.
2. After you update your profile, the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) will update your score.

Invitations to apply

Invitation rounds will begin again in the coming weeks. This will give those affected by the changes time to update their Express Entry profile.

All CRS scores will be updated before the next invitation round.