Immigration Canada

Immigrants selon le pays de naissance, Québec, 2001-2005 / Immigrants by country of origin, Québec, 2001-2005 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a result of actions taken by the Government of Canada since 2009, the backlog of permanent resident applications has been reduced by nearly 45 percent, paving the way for a faster and more flexible immigration system. The 2015 levels plan is building on the success of the Government of Canada’s efforts to reduce backlogs and improve client service by increasing application numbers in key categories such as the Canadian Experience Class, the Humanitarian and Compassionate categories, as well as categories targeted to caregivers.

Highlights as of December 31, 2013:

The backlog of applications across all immigration streams has been cut by nearly 45 percent from the end of 2009 to the end of 2013.
The Economic Class inventory has been reduced by almost 57 percent, including the Federal Skilled Workers inventory having been reduced by almost 92 percent.
The Parents and Grandparents inventory will have been reduced by over 70 percent by the end of 2015.
The Humanitarian and Compassionate inventory has been reduced by 43 percent.

Over the years, efforts have been made to reduce the number of new applications received. In 2012 and 2013, the Government of Canada temporarily stopped accepting new applications in the Parent and Grandparent category and greatly increased admissions. Legislation to terminate the Federal Skilled Worker category backlog in 2012 removed more than 100,000 old applications. Economic Action Plan 2014 announced the Government of Canada’s intention to cancel the federal Immigrant Investor and Entrepreneur programs, and the 2014 Budget Implementation Act terminated the vast majority of the investor and entrepreneur backlogs.

The Government of Canada’s continued focus on reducing the application backlog helps to better manage the intake of applications to support a smooth transition to the new application management system, Express Entry, on January 1, 2015.

Source: CIC

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

Creating an Express Entry profile will be the first step to immigrate to Canada permanently as a skilled worker through the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), or Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

There are a few things you can do to be ready to complete your Express Entry profile and to give yourself the best-possible chance to be invited to apply for permanent residence:

1) You will need to take a language test. CIC will use your test results to see whether you are eligible to immigrate to Canada under one of the federal programs that are part of Express Entry.

2) If you were educated outside Canada, you may need to have your educational credentials (your foreign degree, diploma or certificate) assessed against Canadian standards.

You may not need an assessment if:

you have at least one year of recent work experience in Canada, or
your work experience is in a skilled trade (skilled manual work).

Note: Even if you don't think you need to have your foreign education assessed to be eligible under Express Entry, you may want to do so to increase your chances of being invited to apply as including all of your eligible education in your profile can get you more points under the Comprehensive Ranking System.

3) You need to know the skill type of the job your work experience is in (as well as the job you plan to have in Canada, if they are different). You will use Canada's job classification system (the National Occupational Classification, or NOC) to find out whether your work experience is valid under one of the three federal programs.

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CIC will issue candidates an Invitation to Apply by regularly drawing only the top ranked candidates from the pool. The first draw will take place at the end of January 2015.

A candidate's rank is determined using the Comprehensive Ranking System, and not based on when their profile was submitted. In other words, the Express Entry system ensures that only the candidates who are most likely to succeed - and not simply the first to submit their application - are able to apply to immigrate to Canada.

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Learn more about the application process on the Express Entry website.

We look forward to providing you with more updates on how Express Entry will work for you.

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Please visit our website and take our online assessment at www.nexuscanadaimmigration.com