Immigration Canada to Create New ‘Skilled Trades Worker’ Program

Posted on April 17, 2012 by CICS Immigration Team

The federal government will be creating a new Federal Skilled Worker Program specifically for tradespeople later in the year, that is intended to help meet Canada’s shortage of skilled trades labor.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney remarked that “we are facing huge and growing labour shortages in Canada, particularly here in the West and in Alberta” at a construction site in Calgary earlier in the month.

The current Federal Skilled Worker Program scores immigration applicants out of 100 points, with a passing score of 67. The criteria the score is based on are English/French language ability, education, work experience, age, the existence of a Canadian job offer to them, and their adaptability.

The assessment criteria have been unfavorable to skilled tradespeople, who generally score lower on language ability and education than skilled professionals, resulting in skilled tradespeople making up only three percent of those accepted under the current Federal Skilled Workers Program.

The new skilled trades immigration class will put more emphasis on practical training, as opposed to just formal education, and will favor trade workers skilled in construction, mining, transportation, manufacturing and services.

Update on Canadian Government’s slashing of pre-2008 Skilled Worker applications

Posted on April 11, 2012 by CICS Immigration Team

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As posted earlier, the Conservative government proposed to eliminate 280,000 applications filed before February 27th 2008 for the Federal Skilled Worker Program.

Here are some questions that you may have:

Will I be affected by the proposed changes?

Under the proposed changes, CIC would close Federal Skilled Worker applicants’ files if they:

applied before February 27, 2008, and
have not had a decision made by an immigration officer based on selection criteria by March 29, 2012.

It is expect this would affect around 280,000 people including dependents.

Who will not be affected by the proposed changes?

Any application that has received a file number after February 27, 2008 so you will not be affected if your file number was received after this date.

What is being done to respond to this decision by the Canadian government?

Immigration consultants are looking into a joint effort to stop the finalization of the proposal. It is expected that the changes will happen as the Conservative party holds a majority and it will receive enough votes to pass through.

There is a good chance that this issue will drag on and head to the Supreme Court. However, once or if it gets to that, it will not be for another few years as complaints against the government must go through many legal hurdles.

What options do I have if my application is removed from the backlog?

This depends on the individual applicant. Unfortunately, some applicants will not have any options under the new rules and regulations. There are currently over 60 immigration programs under both federal and provincial governments.

Will I receive a refund?

Your government application fees will be refunded. The professional fees will be treated as per the particular agreement each client has with their consulting firm.

Canadian Government to Create International ‘Job Bank’

Posted on April 4, 2012 by CICS Immigration Team

A new international job bank for immigrants to be launched (BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS)

As part of the revamp to Canada’s immigration assessment system, the federal government has announced that it will create a ‘job bank’ in which all immigration skilled worker applicants will be placed, and from which Canadian employers and provinces will be able to recruit.

Those immigration applicants selected by a Canadian employer or province would then have their applications fast-tracked, making application processing times more dependent on the demand from provinces and Canadian employers for applicants’ skills, rather than the current criteria of time spent in the queue.

The job bank idea is modelled after New Zealand’s immigration system, which also pools applicants and allows employers to cherry-pick the most promising ones. The new immigration assessment system is expected to take at least two years to implement.

Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said the Canadian government would also try to reduce the phenomenon of areas of high unemployment recruiting immigrants for labor. He said immigration authorities would require employers to prove they attempted and were unable to recruit Canadians before they are able to offer a job to an immigration applicant and nominate to have their application fast-tracked.

Canadian Government to Legislate Elimination of 280,000 Immigration Applications

Posted on April 3, 2012 by CICS Immigration Team

The Conservative government proposed to eliminate 280,000 applications filed before February 27th 2008 for the Federal Skilled Worker Program in last Thursday’s federal budget.

If this proposal is approved, as it is expected to be, the hundreds of thousands of applicants affected will either have to give up on their hopes of immigrating to Canada or re-apply under new immigration rules.

For the last few years, the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Ministry has been searching for a way to solve the massive backlog in the Federal Skilled Worker Program. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has previously suggested that Canada adopt New Zealand’s approach and legislate an end to the backlog. With Thursday’s announcment, that option has officially been selected.

The wipe-out will cost the Canadian government $130 million in the refunding of application fees paid by those who applied under the Federal Skilled Worker Program before the February 27th 2008 cut-off date and whose files are being closed.

Mr. Kenney says the new immigration system that will replace the current one after the backlog has been eliminated will create a pool of immigration applicants and allow provinces to nominate those who they believe are most promising to have their application fast-tracked.

The Canadian government believes this will create an immigration system that is more responsive to the needs of Canadian employers and select applicants that have skills more greatly demanded by the Canadian economy.