Open Work Permits for Spouses of Canadian citizens or permanent residents

Effective December 22, 2014 and as part of a 1 year trial, Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) will be issuing Open Work Permits to certain spouses or common-law partners who are applying for permanent residence from inside Canada.  Previously, sponsored spouses would have to wait until first stage approval to be issued open work permits. Since first stage approval is taking nearly 16 months, it creates major hardships in that these people cannot work while living in Canada waiting for their applications to be finalized.

Applicants who have already submitted their application for permanent residence under the Spouse/Common-Law class but have not yet applied for an open work permit should do so immediately.

If an applicant has already received an approval in principal, they have the option of applying for a work permit online.

Applicants who have yet to submit their applications for permanent residence should also complete an application for a work permit and submit along with their application for permanent residence.

Source: http://www.theimmigrationteam.com/2014/12/23/open-work-permits-spouses-canadian-citizens-permanent-residents/

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Ensuring Long-Term Prosperity and Economic Growth

Country of birth of "immigrants and non-permanent residents" in Canada in 2001 Census (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of immigration in fueling economic growth and is planning to welcome between 260,000 and 285,000 new permanent residents in 2015, an increase of approximately 19,000 planned admissions over last year.

The economic category will account for the largest segment of the 2015 levels plan, at almost 65 per cent of overall admissions. The remaining 35 per cent will consist of family class immigrants, refugees and others admitted under humanitarian programs.

Higher levels in 2015 are an indication of the Government of Canada’s strategy of supporting economic growth by addressing current and future labour needs by increasing admissions in key economic programs. Canada’s future economic growth will require a steady stream of new immigrants to meet labour market demands.  

The increase in levels will also assist Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s implementation of the new application management system, Express Entry, in January 2015 and positions our immigration system to focus more on economic immigration in the future. This first year of Express Entry will be a transition year for economic immigration: while new applications under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), Federal Skilled Trades Program, Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and a portion of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) will be managed in Express Entry, most admissions in 2015 will be of applicants who applied under the previous system. Increasing admission levels creates the conditions for the success of the new system in 2015 by providing enough space to accommodate pre-Express Entry cases while providing flexibility to admit higher volumes under Express Entry as soon as possible.

Highlights:

• The FSWP admissions will rise slightly in 2015 to up to 51,000. This program will continue to accept the most permanent resident admissions for 2015.
• The CEC has grown rapidly since launching in late 2008, with more admissions expected this year than ever before. To accommodate the rapid growth of this popular program, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will accept up to 23,000 permanent residents through the CEC in 2015. 
• Canada plans to welcome up to 48,000 permanent residents under the PNP in 2015. This represents the highest-ever provincial nominee admissions in history.
• An increase in admissions to the caregiver programs will take place in 2015. The increase of up to 30,000 caregivers will help to accelerate reduction of the existing Live-in Caregiver Program backlog.

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Graph showing rapid growth of the CEC program from 2009 to 2013, broken down by principal applicants and spouses/dependants.

Year	CEC principal applicants	CEC spouses and dependants
2009	1,775	770
2010	2,533	1,384
2011	3,973	2,054
2012	5,943	3,416
2013	15,304	11,460

The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) is targeting the type of economic immigrant Canada wants: people who have demonstrated success in the Canadian labour market and who have the skills to contribute to our country over the long run. The CEC has grown rapidly since launching in late 2008, with more admissions expected this year than ever before. To accommodate the rapid growth of this popular program, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will accept up to 23,000 permanent residents through the CEC in 2015.

Text version

Two maps, one from the year 2000 and the other from 2013, showing the growth and dispersion of economic immigrants thanks to the Provincial Nominee Program. The 2013 map shows greater dispersion of PNP immigrants throughout the country, particularly in the Prairies and Maritime provinces.

Provincial Nominee Program

The Provincial Nominee Program is Canada’s second-largest economic immigration program and has helped to diversify and spread the benefits of immigration across the country. Canada plans to welcome between 46,000 and 48,000 permanent residents under the PNP in 2015. This represents the highest-ever provincial nominee admissions in history.

Source: CIC

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Reducing Backlogs and Improving Processing Times

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

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Express Entry: what can I do to prepare for the launch on Jan. 1?

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.

****IMPORTANT****

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.

********

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

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Study permits and New credential introduced for international student advisors.

English: International Students (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

CIC is also making greater use of its Multiple Entry Visa (MEV) option this year for those applying for visitor visas for Canada – that is, for visits of up to six months at a time. MEVs are valid for a 10-year period and, as of February 2014, they are now the default visa type issued to successful visitor visa applicants.

Next stage of reform implementation

In June this year, Canada began to implement a series of wide-ranging reforms for its International Student Program (ISP). Major policy changes introduced at the time included:

• Only students enrolled at designated institutions in Canada are now able to apply for a study permit (that is, an international student visa).
• International students with a Canadian study permit (and “pursuing academic, vocational or professional training of six months or more that leads to a degree, diploma or certificate at a designated institution”) are now automatically authorised to work off-campus for up to 20 hours per week during the academic session and full-time during scheduled breaks, all without the need to apply for a separate work permit.

CIC reports that, as of November 2014, 881 institutions have been designated by their respective provinces and territories as eligible to receive international students. A complete list of designated learning institutions is available on the CIC website, and is updated regularly.

The next major stage of reform implementation will be the introduction of a new “compliance reporting portal” website for designated institutions. The portal will launch in spring 2015, following a pilot currently underway with an initial group of 40 institutions. All designated institutions will be required to use the portal to file reports at six-month intervals on the academic and enrolment status of their international students.

Introducing the Regulated International Student Immigration Advisor

The introduction of Canada’s Bill C-35 legislation famously excluded both international education agents, as well as international student advisors employed by Canadian institutions, from advising students on immigration matters – unless, that is, they completed training and certification as a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC).

In other words, the new legislation prevented international student advisors (ISAs) based at Canadian institutions from providing the immigration advice that they had always done in the course of their day-to-day work with students. Canadian institutions objected vigorously on this point to CIC, and also to the expense associated with qualifying ISA staff as RCICs under the requirements of the new legislation.

The end result of these discussions, as described in ICCRC by-law amendments, was as follows, “[ICCRC] tried to persuade CIC that all ISAs should simply become RCICs. Some did and many others are in the process of doing so, however, many did not. CIC made it clear that ISAs must be able to continue to offer the immigration advice to international students and their dependents that they did before the passage of Bill C-35, without becoming RCICs. We therefore needed to find a way to regulate ISAs without requiring them to become RCICs. CIC also made it clear that they expected us to find a workable solution quickly.”

This imperative from CIC led the ICCRC to approve the introduction of a new credential – the Regulated International Student Immigration Advisor (RISIA) – at its AGM in Toronto yesterday. Under the revised by-laws adopted by ICCRC, experienced ISAs will be eligible to write a challenge exam in order to secure the RISIA credential. Newer staff will be required to take a training programme before taking the exam and, while there will be a cost associated with such training, the clear expectation is that the costs for institutions will be notably less than would be the case for RCIC training.

ICCRC adds, “As with RCICs, ISAs wanting to become RISIAs will be required to pass an exam – and if they are new ISAs they must also complete an education programme before writing that exam. They will need to show good conduct and character before being registered as RISIAs. Once registered, they will need to complete professional development hours, fulfill annual reporting obligations, have [liability] insurance, and otherwise meet professional standards similar to those that we require of RCICs now.”

ICCRC has indicated that the RISIA programme could launch as early as February 2015, and further details regarding training options and costs will be forthcoming. For additional background on the new RISIA designation, please see a set of Frequently Asked Questions prepared by ICCRC.

Source: http://monitor.icef.com/2014/12/canadian-immigration-reforms-continue-new-credential-introduced-international-student-advisors/

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