Canada Immigration Without Job Offer under Nova Scotia Nominee Program

Welcome to Bienvenue à Nova Scotia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Canadian province of Nova Scotia has introduced Regional Market Stream under the Nova Scotia Nominee Program for permanent residence without requiring a job offer from an employer in Canada. The program is intended for those foreign skilled professionals who can meet provincial labour market and economic needs and intend to settle in Nova Scotia. The Nominee along with spouse and dependents can be approved by the province to become permanent residents of Canada after approval by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.  It is a two step application process. First the foreign skilled professional applies for Nova Scotia Nominee Program and gets nominated for the program. The applicant then applies to Citizenship and Immigration Canada to get the final approval to immigrate to Canada. The province is now accepting the application under this new immigration stream.

Eligibility Criteria

• You must be between the ages of 21 and 55 years
• You have achieved a minimum language standard on the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5
• You have required amount of funds to settle in Nova Scotia
• You occupation must be among National Occupational Classifications (NOC) A, B or O and must be in good demand
• You must have at least 2 years of continuous full time work experience within the last 5 years in the field related to your intended profession in Nova Scotia
• You must have degree, diploma or certificate from recognized post-secondary educational institution.
• You have intentions to settle in Nova Scotia permanently
• You have completed the Employment and Settlement Plan
• You have passport or travel document of the country where you are residing legally.

Application Process:

Eligible foreign skilled professionals apply for nomination by the Nova Scotia Immigration for the Regional Labour Market Demand Stream. Nova Scotia immigration department will assess the application to check if the applicant fulfills all the requirements or the program and if the applicant will be able establish economically in Nova Scotia. The province will nominate the applicant for permanent residence in the province.

Applicants who are successfully nominated under the Regional Labour Market Demand Stream will then apply to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada for permanent residence. Citizenship and Immigration Canada will assess the application to check if the applicant meets the admissibility requirements such as medical and security. The final decision to approve the application for permanent residence is made by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. If the application is approved, applicant can then come to Canada along with spouse and dependents as permanent resident.

Nexus Canada to discuss if you are eligible to apply under the Nova Scotia Nominee Program under the Regional Labour Market Demand Stream.

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Ontario proposes a Québec style Provincial Nominee Program

Le château Frontenac –Vieux-Québec / Old Quebec, ville de Québec / Quebec city(Québec, Canada) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Written By: Amy Whittam

According to Ontario Immigration Minister Michael Coteau, Ontario wants what Québec has – a special agreement with the Government of Canada on immigration.  Like Québec, Ontario too would like more power to choose its own immigrants and to set its own targets for attracting skilled workers to the province.

This past month the Ontario government introduced legislation proposing an expansion of the Provincial Nominee Program. The program would grow from 1,300 economic immigrants to 5,000 accepted per year. Similar to Québec, under this new legislation Ontario would have the discretion to develop its own specific selection strategy.

Québec currently has its own set criteria for choosing new immigrants who will adapt well to life in Quebec. A skilled worker first applies to the Québec Government for a Certificat de Sélection du Québec (CSQ) and then later can apply to Citizenship and Immigration Canada programs to gain Permanent Residency.

Notwithstanding the very different historical relationship Québec and Ontario have vis-à-vis the Canadian Government, Ontario also has cause to seek a province-specific approach to immigration. Ontario is looking to grow its immigration program beyond the existing 100,000 new residents per year. Ontario also seeks to court a far grater number of skilled professionals in fields like Information Technology, which are in high demand in the province.  Annual caps to the Federal Skilled Worker Program introduced earlier this year by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, may obstruct the Province’s designs on attracting more skilled workers and their families to Ontario.

The Provincial Nominee Program allows employers to fill skilled positions when there is a shortage of qualified candidates to be found within Ontario.  Under the proposed new legislation, new immigrants would apply first to an expanded Ontario Provincial Nominee Program. The role of Citizenship and Immigration Canada would then be to clear these applicants on the basis of security and medical admissibility.

 source: http://www.bellissimolawgroup.com/2014/03/ontario-proposes-a-quebec-style-provincial-nominee-program.html

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Choose the right representative, don’t be a victim of immigration fraud

Immigration Debate at The Weissberg Forum For Discourse (Photo credit: MDGovpics)

Posted by: Claudia Cheung

March is Fraud Prevention Month, and Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander is encouraging newcomers to seek authorized immigration representatives to avoid being a victim of fraud. “Fraud is a very serious issue in our immigration system. Our government is taking action to combat fraud by introducing specific measures in the Strengthening Citizenship Act that will address misrepresentation in the citizenship system.”

Newcomers should be aware that under Canadian law, only authorized immigration representatives are allowed to charge a fee to assist an individual to apply for a Canadian visa. Hiring an unauthorized representative weaken Canada’s immigration system, cost taxpayers money, and can often lead to the refusal of the application. On the other hand, authorized immigration representatives are vastly trained and effectively regulated and will provide newcomers with accurate advice and the best service.

Authorized immigration representatives include:

-       Lawyers and paralegals who are members in good standing of a Canadian provincial or territorial law society;

-       Notaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec; and

-       Immigration consultants who are members in good standing of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council.

Make the right decision, don’t be a victim of immigration fraud

Source: http://www.bellissimolawgroup.com/2014/03/choose-the-right-representative-dont-be-a-victim-of-immigration-fraud.html

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A Summary of Recent Changes to Canadian Immigration

Happy Canada Day (Photo credit: Anirudh Koul)

Written By Amy Whittam

In recent months Citizenship and Immigration Canada has introduced a number of regulatory changes to theImmigration and Refugee Protection Act.  Many of these changes have already come into effect this year. Below is a summary of how several popular immigration programs have been affected. To learn more, contact us to find out how these changes affect you!

On January 2, 2014 the Parent and Grandparent Programreopened after a 2 year hiatus.  Changes to the program include an annual cap of 5,000 applications which will be considered each year.  On February 3, 2014 the Minister announced that the Parent and Grandparent Program had reached its cap for 2014.  The program will reopen to new applications in January of 2015. An available alternative is the Super Visa.

Changes to the Temporary Resident Visa Program are effective as of February 6, 2014. Visitors who require a visa to enter Canada will now automatically be considered for a multiple-entry visa. This visa allows a temporary resident to leave and re-enter Canada for 6 months at a time over a period of up to 10 years.  The changes apply to any new temporary resident visa application including visitor’s visas, work permits and study permits.

On February 12, 2014, new changes were announced to Study Permits for International Students.  Starting June 1, 2014 visitors to Canada will be able to apply for a study permit from within Canada. Study permits will only be issued to international students enrolled at designated educational institutions.  There will be a grace period of up to 3 years for International students enrolled at non-designated schools to complete their programs.  There is to be increased access to part-time work permits for students pursuing studies in Canada. An international student will be able to remain in Canada for only 90 days after their studies are completed, unless the student has applied for a separate work permit or temporary resident visa.

Changes to the Canadian Experience Class now involve an annual cap of 12,000 applications to be considered from November 9, 2013 to October 31, 2014. Occupation types will also be subject to sub-caps limiting certain skilled occupations to only 200 applications per year. There are 6 occupation types that are no longer eligible to apply to the CEC under the changes.

Changes to the Federal Skilled Worker Program affect applications submitted anytime between May 4, 2013 and April 30, 2014.  To be eligible an applicant must meet the minimum language, education, and financial requirements. There is a cap of 5,000 applications per year. Up to 1,000 applications will be considered in the PhD stream. For the other 24 occupation types there is now a sub-cap of 300 applications each.  Many of these of these categories have already reached their annual quota, and others are filling up quickly!  An applicant with a valid job offer and Labour Market Opinion can be considered outside of this cap system.

Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program is under on-going review with the most recent changes announced on February 11, 2014. There will be an increased focus on Labour Market Opinion that limits the use of Temporary Foreign Workers in “high unemployment regions”. Measures to help identify vulnerable workers have been introduced, as well as measures to better enforce employer compliance to the terms of the program.

The Federal Immigrant Investor Program and the Federal Entrepreneur Program are to be terminated as a part of the Economic Action Plan of 2014. These changes were announced on February 11, 2014. The large backlog of existing applications for these two programs will also be eliminated retroactively.

The possible introduction of an Expression of Interest based system was announced in January 2014. This would work as a second stage in the approval process for the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades, Canadian Experience Class, Business Class, and the Provincial Nominee Program. The first stage is eligibility; the second stage is availability of interested employers. The Expression of Interest system is set to commence in January 2015.

Mario D. Bellissimo has commented extensively on these and other changes in his role as Chair of the National Immigration Section of the Canadian Bar Association. To find out more about these recent changes and how they affect you, contact us today!

Source: http://www.bellissimolawgroup.com/2014/03/a-summary-of-recent-changes-to-canadian-immigration.html

Changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Interior of one of the Eaton's factories, Eaton's department store, Toronto, Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Written By: Diandra Farquharson

On February 11, 2014 the Government announced its changes to the Federal Budget. Among these changes were new limits that will be placed on the TFWP (Temporary Foreign Worker Program). The government plans to limit the use of Temporary Foreign Workers in “high-unemployment regions”.

The government proposed funneling $11 million dollars over two years, and $3.5 million per year ongoing to “strengthen the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) process to ensure Canadians are given the first chance at available jobs.”

Mario D. Bellissimo asked an important question: “how do you define unemployment by category and by region?”  If the Government limits the program’s use in places where there is a high unemployment rate, it could leave businesses in those regions without a practical way to recruit skilled workers in a reasonable time frame.

Canadian businesses often turn to the TFWP to acquire workers with science and technology skills who may not be present in high-employment regions.  Mario D. Bellissimo also stated that “placing limits on the program could have a lot of unintended consequences if the changes are too broadly drawn”.

Although, the budget did not provide comprehensive particulars; it did however promise to amend the program in several other ways including but not limited to:

• Ways to identify vulnerable workers;
• Improving processing times for certain applications;
• Ensuring better employer compliance to government terms for the program; and
• Making changes to the stream of applicants who are exempt from the Employment and Social Development Canada’s Labour Market Opinion process.

The government also plans to impose a $275 user fee per position to ensure full cost of recovery under the LMO process.  They plan to revisit the rules for companies with which Canada has a free-trade agreement.  The North American free trade agreement contains a clause providing for intra-company transfers.  This makes it difficult to make any changes without violating the terms of the agreement.

The changes to the TFWP outside of the LMO process are still being discussed.

To read the full article featuring Mario D. Bellissimo’s comments pleaseclick here.

Source: http://www.bellissimolawgroup.com/2014/02/changes-to-the-temporary-foreign-worker-program-2.html

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