Federal Government to Provide $160,000 for Immigrant Women Organization in Calgary

Posted on March 13, 2013 by CICS Immigration Team

The federal government announced it is giving the Calgary Immigrant Women Association $160,000 to help immigrant women in Calgary find employment in the city

The federal government announced on Monday that it will provide $160,000 in funding to the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association (CIWA) to help it carry out a 24 month project to help low-literacy immigrant women in Calgary.

The CIWA project will engage Calgary’s social service agencies and business community to create solutions for reducing barriers for employment for immigrant women in order to increase their economic security and prosperity.

“Through this project, we are working to ensure that new Canadian women are able to contribute to, and reap the tremendous benefits of, our Canadian economy,” said Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women Rona Ambrose in announcing the funding.

CIWA provides services like literacy education, support for child care and employment counselling to immigrant women in the Calgary area.

New Poll Shows Most Canadians Favour Immigration Limits

Posted on March 11, 2013 by CICS Immigration Team

A new survey shows most Canadians welcome immigration, but want limits on the number of immigrants admitted

A new poll conducted by Forum Research for the National Post finds that 70 percent of Canadians favour having limits on the number of immigrants admitted into the country each year.

Among Canadians born in another country, 58 percent reported being in favour of having immigration limits, compared to 73 percent of Canadians born in Canada. Perhaps surprisingly, the poll shows a small but significant minority of Canadians, 23 percent, support removing all immigration limits and admitting all applicants.

Average views differed slightly between Canadians of different political affiliations. Conservatives were on the average the most in favour of immigration limits and restrictions, with 76 percent disagreeing that immigrants should be able to bring their extended family to Canada, while 61 percent of Liberals and 59 percent of Greens said the same.

The most common anti-immigration view expressed by Canadians in the survey was that only immigrants from countries that share Canadian values should be admitted. 49 percent of respondents agreed with this position, while 43 percent said immigrants from all countries should be accepted.

B.C. Magnate Gets One Step Closer to Kitimat Refinery

Posted on March 8, 2013 by CICS Immigration Team

The proposed Kitimat oil refinery would be one of the largest in the world, and would turn bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands region into refined products like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel (Walter Siegmund)

David Black, a British Columbia-based newspaper publisher and billionaire whose idea to raise financing for a refinery in Kitimat was largely dismissed by the oil industry when first proposed last August, saw those plans take a big step toward reality this week with the announcement that a major investment firm was ready to back the project.

Switzerland-based Oppenheimer Investments Group said this week that it is willing to lend the necessary $25 billion to build the mega refinery, which would convert heavy bitumen to light refined products like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, for export to world markets.

The refinery would reduce the environmental risk of energy products exported from Canada’s Pacific Coast, due to the reduction of bulk of the product, and the fact that refined products are lighter and quicker to dissipate in the event of a spill than the heavy bitumen that would be transported from Alberta.

The refinery would also earn significant revenue by adding value to the raw materials extracted in the Alberta oil sands. Its construction would employ an estimated 6,000 people, and create more than 3,000 permanent jobs once it is up and running.

When Black proposed the project late last year, many pundits and oil industry insiders argued that Canada’s environmental regulations and relative lack of investor interest made the project infeasible, and that it would be easier to build refineries in India or China.

Black says it makes business sense to build the plant in Northern B.C. due to

the low cost of the oil feedstock it receives from the oil sands region of Alberta
the much lower cost of natural gas in the province, which would power the refinery
the scale of the refinery, which would reduce per unit refining costs
the reduced shipping costs of transporting refined products vs shipping raw bitumen, and transporting from the Pacific Coast rather than the U.S. Gulf Coast

It would be the largest single investment in B.C. history, with $16 billion for the refinery, $6 billion for an oil pipeline, $2 billion for a natural gas pipeline to power the refinery, and possibly new tankers for $1 billion.

Canadian Immigration Department Issues over 15,000 Super Visas Since Dec 2011

Posted on March 7, 2013 by CICS Immigration Team

Parents and grandparents of permanent residents and citizens of Canada can visit Canada for up to ten years with a Parent and Grandparent Super Visa (Diego Grez)

The federal government has issued over 15,000 Parent and Grandparent Super Visas since the launch of the program in December 2011.

The visa replaces the prior Parent and Grandparent Family Class sponsorship stream, whereby Canadian permanent residents and citizens could sponsor their parents and grandparents for permanent residence.

Instead, the Super Visa gives holders multiple re-entries into Canada for up to ten years, and allows them to stay in Canada for up to two years on each stay, unlike other visitor visas which only allow a stay of up to six months each time.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) says that Super Visa applicants are required to prove they are financially self-sufficient, have comprehensive medical insurance during their stay in Canada, and have passed the medical check required of applicants for immigration to Canada, that verifies that the applicant has no costly medical conditions.

The acceptance rate for Super Visa applications is 86 percent according to CIC.

China, Philippines and India Top Sources for Immigration to Canada in 2012

Posted on March 5, 2013 by CICS Immigration Team

Vancouver International Airport, pictured above, was the port of entry of many the over 250,000 permanent residents admitted in 2012

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has released immigration figures for 2012, and for the first time since 2009, it shows China regaining its status as the largest source country for immigration to Canada.

From 2010 to 2011, the Philippines was the leading country of origin of immigrants to Canada, but the 32,704 Filipino permanent residents admitted in 2012 were edged out by the 32,990 Chinese immigrants arriving last year.

India remained the third largest source country for immigration to Canada, with 28,889 permanent residents admitted in 2012 – a significant increase from the 24,965 admitted in 2011.

In total, 257,515 permanent residents were admitted in 2012, a level that in the post war era has only been surpassed in 2005 and 2010. The long term trend over the last 18 years shows increasing immigration levels, with Canada admitting an average of 30,250 more permanent residents per year in the 2006 to 2012 period than from 1996 to 2005.

Nearly 10,000 Immigrants admitted through Canadian Experience Class in 2012

Posted on March 4, 2013 by CICS Immigration Team

A total of 9,780 individuals became permanent residents of Canada through the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) in 2012 (Citizenship and Immigration Canada)

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced on Thursday that the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) admitted a record 9,780 immigrants in 2012, a 30 percent increase from the number admitted in 2011.

The increase is part of a long term plan to make the CEC a bigger part of the immigration system, which CIC set upon after concluding that individuals with prior Canadian work experience were more likely to successfully integrate into Canada’s labour market and economy as permanent residents.

The CEC requires a foreign national to have work experience in Canada in a skilled occupation, defined as an occupation in NOC 0, A or B, in order to qualify for permanent residence.

The requirements for qualifying under the CEC were made more permissive in January 2013, when the minimum two year Canadian work experience requirement was reduced to one year.

For applicants in the post-graduate stream of the program, the time frame during which they could obtain their work experience was increased from up to two years prior the date of the application, to three years.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney lauded the increase in the number of people using the CEC in 2012, and said the program benefits the Canadian economy.

“The CEC allows these skilled and educated individuals to bring their skills and talents, contribute to our economy and help renew our workforce so that Canada remains competitive on the world stage,” said Kenney.