Canadian immigration launches Transit Without Visa Program

By Mark Johnstone.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) have announced that they are to roll out the Transit Without Visa (TWOV) Program nationwide.

The TWOV programme allows citizens of particular counties, who have valid US visas, to also move to Canada without having a Canadian visa.
The programme applies to people from Indonesia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand and China, although China is included on a trial basis for a year from 30 July 2009. Anyone from China hoping to transit Canada via the China Transit Trial scheme must have left for Canada from Shanghai, Taipei, Manila, Hong Kong, Guangzhou or Beijing.
People are only able to transit Canada under the scheme if they have a valid US visa, are booked onto an onward flight leaving Canada immediately and have passports proving citizenship of one of the participating countries. They must also have arrived in Canada on either China Airlines, Cathay Pacific or Philippine Airlines. Travellers transiting under the scheme are prevented from applying for temporary residency in Canada.
Although the scheme is being rolled out, Vancouver airport is currently the only one eligible to accept TWOV flights and passengers.
 Source: Global Visas

Faster route to Canadian immigration offered by Quebec by Mark Johnstone

The province of Quebec has launched its own version of the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) route for people hoping to move to Canada permanently. The accelerated programme is for use by skilled permanent residency applicants who are working in Canada or have been studying in Canada for some time.

The new scheme, called the Quebec Experience Class (PEQ), was announced by Quebec Immigration Minister, Yolande James. She says that attracting skilled foreigners who have come to work in Canada and foreign students who are studying in Canada to settle in Quebec is essential for the region’s economic future.

Under the scheme, foreign students can apply for a Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ) if they have completed a level B1 French course at a educational institution in Quebec, have studied in Quebec for two years and have completed a diploma or a degree at a recognised educational institution in the province.

People working in Quebec on temporary work permits will be able to gain a CSQ if they are employed legally in Quebec at the time of applying, have worked for 12 months in Quebec in a managerial, skilled or professional capacity and have completed a B1 level French course or can pass a French proficiency test.

Applying for permanent residency under the PEQ is simpler and quicker than doing so under the Canadian Experience Class, which was introduced earlier this year. The PEQ is to be launched before October 2009.

Source: Globalvisas.com

Canada rejects refugees, lifts bans

By Chantal Flores.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has announced that refugees from five countries with high levels of conflict will be refused a Canadian visa if they have already entered the United States before attempting to enter Canada.

The five countries include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Afghanistan and Iraq. Immigration Minister Jason Kenny says that refugees will be refused entry to the country because they should seek protection in the country they arrive in first.

Approximately 5,000 people will be affected by this every year according to government estimates.

A lifting of the deportation ban for refugees from Burundi, Liberia and Rwanda was also announced and is effective immediately.

Since 1994 a ban has been in place on deporting refugees from these counties, but an internal review reported “improved conditions” in all three countries. Amnesty International, however, is still reporting abuses that are happening in Burundi and Liberia.

Up to 2,100 refugees that already moved to Canada could be affected by this sudden change.
This follows the new visa requirements imposed on Mexican and Czech citizens, which sparked outrage that originated from a visa battle. Reaction from the new affected countries is still unreported.

Source: canadianimmigrant.ca

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4umISJ9CjeE

Canada: Best advanced economy in the World.

The Canadian banking system, considered the world's healthiest according to The World Economic Forum, was recently announced to have come out of the economic recession. Canada hasn't had a single bailout, bank failure or need for government to interfere with its financial system.

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While US banks are leveraged at an average of 26 to 1, Canadian banks only borrow 18 to 1. Unlike much of the rest of the world, Canada has stuck to the tried-and-true rules of banking, borrowing, and risk. It has remained conservative and sensible, and hasn't been tricked into thinking it could beat the markets.

Furthermore, housing is remarkably robust in Canada and instead of having a budget deficit the Canadian economy has run a surplus for the past dozen years and now has cash that can pull it out of any economic drags it may be facing.

Thanks to immigration, Canada is drawing skilled and educated manpower, mainly from Asia. Microsoft even set up a Vancouver research centre specifically to attract "highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S."

Furthermore, while the Canadian healthcare system comprises only 9.7 percent of the GDP it still outperforms the US system by all measures. As a result, the life expectancy in Canada is 81 compared to the 78 years in the US.

For years car manufacturers have been moving jobs to Canada to avoid the high healthcare costs in the US. Now Ontario is the largest carmaker in North America, even out-producing Michigan.

Source: Migrationexpert.com

Canada’s best and worst run cities

This survey, the first of its kind in Canada, provides citizens in 31 cities across the country with comparative data on how well—or poorly—their city is run, measured by the cost and quality of the public services it delivers. (Why 31? We took the 30 largest cities in Canada, added whatever provincial capitals were not on the list, then subtracted a few cities from the Greater Toronto Area for better regional balance. Somehow that left 31.)

Though the overall results—Burnaby, Saskatoon and Surrey, B.C. lead the pack; Charlottetown, Kingston, Ont., and Fredericton trail—will be of particular interest, they are less important than the process this is intended to kick off. We aim not merely to start some good barroom arguments, but to help voters to hold their representatives to better account, and indeed to help city governments themselves. For without some sort of yardstick to measure their performance, either against other cities or against their own past record, how can they hope to know whether they are succeeding?

To compile the survey, Maclean’s commissioned the Halifax-based Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, expanding on the institute’s earlier work measuring the performance of municipalities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Unlike other studies, this does not try to measure quality of life, or which city is the “best place to live.” Rather, it focuses on the contribution of local governments to this end.

This survey looks at a city’s efficiency—the cost of producing results—and the effectiveness of its services, including how well each city does when it comes to things like maintaining roads and parks, picking up garbage and putting out fires.