'Ghost agents' slip through immigration loophole

By: Barry O'Regan

Ghost agents, providing pen to paper filling out immigration paperwork on behalf of Canadians seems to be a pretty lucrative business making some Ghost agents thousands and thousands of dollars in Vancouver and the lower mainland.

Whether by word of mouth, attending cultural community events and networking, Ghost agents promise Canadians a speedy process, sometimes promising an "in" with immigration authourities, to bring family members to Canada for a fee.

What is distressing is many Ghost agents are usually from the same culture or country, such as the Far East, thus giving the prey a false sense of security and comaraderie to those seeking immigration advice to those in the community.

Currently Ghost agents, long a thorn in the side of legitimate and registered Immigration Consultants need not be registered in Canada. It is akin to having a friend of a friend do your income taxes, because they are cheap or promise a big tax refund, only to have the Canadian Revenue Agency audit or find glaring errors in your return.

The federal government if they have their way will soon put a stop to unscrupulous Ghost agents who promise the moon and the stars for cash, yet deliver very little. Those who use the services of Ghost agents seem to have little recourse in recouping the thousands of dollars paid by those seeking a solution in bringing over family members.

The CIC website has implicit instructions on how everyone can fill out all the paperwork themselves.

The two mottos to abide by it seems are, "if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is", and "if you want something done right, either do it yourself or hire a legitimate agency."

Expert Consultants Can Help Speed Up Immigration To Canada

By Adriana Noton | May 18th, 2010

If you are planning to immigrate to Canada, it is advisable to make use of immigration services offered by experienced consultants. Even if you are just planning a visit, or want your son or daughter to attend school or university in Canada, there are certain criteria to be met.

Many people are seeking citizenship in Canada. It is the world’s second largest country. For seven rows in succession, the United Nations has deemed it the ‘best country to live in’. With its ample natural resources, Canada is America’s largest trading partner. Magnificent scenery and fresh air make it is an ideal living environment.

It is a cosmopolitan, multicultural country that offers wonderful opportunities for employment and business development. Its excellent health care system is available to all residents. In addition, Canada is considered to be one of the world’s best educated countries. Schools, private and public, enjoy enviable reputations. People from all cultures and backgrounds live together harmoniously and there is no discrimination. Canada has an excellent judicial system and an impressive welfare system.

The country has in fact taken steps to boost immigration. The reason is to make sure that projected plans for economic growth materialize. The government is hoping that, by the end of 2010, as many as 250,000 immigrants will have settled in the country. With this boost of skilled workers, Canada is expected to grow rapidly and recover swiftly from the economic downturn.

The government has given a free hand to provinces, allowing each one to determine the number of new skilled people they require. Quebec is a province that has a very efficient ‘Skilled Worker Program’ in place. The program is designed to facilitate an easy transition for new Canadian residents.

Essentially, this means that Quebec has formed its own unique immigration policy. It has laid down a set of criteria that do not necessarily conform to existing national immigration policies. This means that if you have applied for a work visa, but it has been declined, you are free to apply to Quebec.

There are some national requirements that are standard throughout Canada. You have to be classified as ’skilled labor’. This will enable you to be easily integrated into the job market. You must also be able to understand French, and speak English fluently. If you are in a highly skilled profession, your application is likely to be prioritized.

If you have family with Canadian citizenship, or family who are permanent residents, this will help your cause. In addition, if you are married and your spouse has family ties in the country, this will also helpful. Most important of all, you will need to have a written job offer from a licensed business in Canada.

To seek out a consultant, applicants are advised to go online and search for ‘Canadian immigration consultants’. It will not be difficult to locate one who will assist every step of the way. This person will be well versed with all requirements. By utilizing such a service, the applicant will be saved time and money. The consultant will know how to avoid costly and long delays. The application should also have a better chance of success because all criteria will have been met.

Canada Immigration extends Canada – Ontario Immigration Agreement

Recently, Canada Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Dr Eric Hoskins the Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration signed an extension to the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement (COIA).
“In extending the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement, we signal our commitment to continue to collaborate to attract, retain and integrate immigrants into communities in Ontario while exploring new ways to improve immigrant outcomes,” said Immigration Minister Kenney. “The extension of this agreement prolongs our support for immigrant settlement programs, including language training and programs for newcomer youth.”
“Ontario is pleased to sign this one-year extension as we negotiate a successor agreement, so that newcomers to the province can continue to receive the services they need to settle and succeed,” said Ontario Immigration Minister Hoskins.
In the period 2010-2011 three hundred and twenty million dollars in funding will be provided to Ontario for 2010–2011 on top of the annual settlement funding of $108 million.
The Canadian Government had to the following to say about the extension of the Canada- Ontario Agreement:
…”The Government of Canada will continue to work in partnership with the province of Ontario, settlement service provider organizations, local municipalities and other stakeholders to make a real difference in the lives of Ontario immigrants.”…
It is hoped that the agreement will result in increased immigration so helping Ontario meet its “…overall social, cultural and economic goals…”.

Canada: Must address worker shortfall

Canadian Construction Association head Wayne Morsky says more than 300,000 new construction employees will be needed within the next decade

By Kevin Doyle | Mon May 10, 2010

Regina businessman Wayne Morsky, now serving a one-year term as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Construction Association, is sounding the alarm for the need to address a growing shortfall in construction workers across Canada.

As a large number of workers approach retirement age, fewer are entering construction and the ancillary specialty trades. Construction Digital often speaks with companies that have implemented innovative in-house solutions such as mentoring programs designed to allow young workers to work with and be trained by one nearing retirement.

However, that won’t address the big picture as Morsky says Canada will need more than 300,000 new construction workers within seven years. He said the active recruitment of young people – particularly young aboriginal people – should be a big part of the solution to finding new workers to fill vacancies and to replace retirees.

"In Saskatchewan, we are looking at a (construction) worker shortfall of more than 6,200 employees," Morsky told the spring meeting of the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association. "We must enhance the industry's efforts in promoting careers in construction to our youth, particularly to Canada's First Nations, where the median age is 27.”

"Aboriginal Canadians have been part of the strong and proud history of this industry and we must find a way to get them re-engaged in construction if we are to meet the future labour challenges," he said.

Immigration of skilled workers could be another part of the solution, Morsky said. However, he said Canada's immigration system "is no longer construction-friendly and does not appear to be headed for significant retooling in the near future."

To Immigrate or Not to Immigrate

By The Cynical Investor
http://www.thecynicalinvestor.net/
Published: April 29th, 2010

This post is part of Guest Posts series where Guest Bloggers write for this blog. Their opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Nexus Canada's Blog.

A disciple asked his Zen master: “Shall I get married or not?” “Whatever you choose you will regret it!” answered the Zen master.

So the answer to our question would be the same.

But I have read something else – that’s the problem of being an avid reader, it’s difficult to come with something original and whatever I think it is original I might have read it somewhere and I forgot that I read it, but I digress so I’ll just start with a new sentence for a better impact.

It is better to regret you have done something than to regret you have not done it. So simple and powerful, it would make a good article for one of the self-development blogs.

As you can already imagine the answer is to immigrate – as you’ve noticed I have not said ‘my answer’, I preferred something impersonal to deflect future ‘accusations’ of ‘you said so’, even if I am not a self-development guru and no-one should base her/his decisions in life on an article even this one :) .

The Canadian immigration points system has the advantage that is fair and whoever fulfills the criteria can immigrate in comparison with the American visa lottery, that is a … lottery. The issue is that people who fulfill the criteria more often than not are well off at home, so they leave what they’ve achieved so far for a dream (I wanted initially to write ‘the unknown’, but ‘dream’ better describes it, not to mention that some emigrants would already have relatives there so they would know what to expect not to mention the Internet with numerous Canadian immigration forums that would paint a picture very close to the reality).

At home the immigrant has as standard of life higher than the average and now they find themselves below the average. If they find a job and they do what they like (or not dislike) everything will be fine. The integration has already started and they are becoming part of the system. But if the job is well below their qualifications and more important expectations, problems will appear and the immigrant will start seriously thinking of going back home. Only the fact that they spent so much money coming here and somehow the shame of ‘not making it’ would make them postpone the return.

Of course if the immigrant was back home a manual worker, taxi driver, janitor, nurse, construction worker, tradesman, etc. it will better for them to come as the wages will be higher but – perhaps wrongly – the points system does not allow this.

I had initially landed to only get the PR card as I could not bring myself to make the big step. 10 years before it would have been a different story but my standard of living was higher and perhaps as important of the country as a whole (nobody wants to live in a country, where most people are getting poorer and poorer, and the country is falling apart, even if one is well off).

And as it happens as I really did not want to immigrate (I was reading too much of the ‘horror’ stories in forums with people who had to accept menial jobs in order to survive) I got a job offer too good to turn it down (quite a hefty lump amount of money as a relocation package, reimbursed air tickets and paid hotel). People were paying to go to Canada, I was paid to come. It was the first time and still the only time I did not spend countless hours trying to find the most affordable air fare to the place I wanted to travel to.

The relocation bonus was in fewer than 3 years lost in very bad stock investments. As they say: easy come, easy gone. I should have bought a car and furniture like others did but no, I thought I was smarter. You know the story that instead of buying an Apple Computer in 1997 one would have invested in stock, one would have had some $300k now. So why buy an ordinary car when I can wait a few more years and buy a Porsche or even longer and go for a Ferrari. However, that’s a different story and I digress too much and it is about time to cut a long post short.

I know people who could not accommodate and went back but also people from Western Europe that came here and I think more people from the developed world immigrate to Canada rather than the other way so perhaps there is something about Canada, perhaps it has something to do with the vast open spaces.

What if the world ends in 2012 according to the Mayan calendar (I can’t believe I am writing this, and it would not really end but go through calamities on a scale never seen before comparable only with the Flood). This might (will) not happen but some paint an apocalyptic future with the world falling apart because of climate change, world financial collapse, great 2nd recession, people rioting for food, wars started for access to resources (read water). If this happens it will be better to be in a country like Canada, as the government could take better care of its citizens than other countries could do and also, one perhaps would be in a better position to help their families back home.

Come for your children and/or experience if not something else and do not forget you can always go back (if you are not from a country like North Korea or Cuba where you would have not come out in the first place).

Again, it is better to regret you have done something than to regret you have not done it.

And more important Follow your Heart !

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