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.

Europe’s Economic Problems Causing Rise in European Immigration to Canada

Posted on March 29, 2012 by CICS Immigration Team

The increase in the unemployment rate in many European countries due to the economic problems those countries have been facing after decades of very high social welfare spending levels, and most recently, the financial crisis of 2008, has led to a significant increase in the number of Europeans applying to immigrate to Canada, as described in a new report by Brian Stewart of the CBC:

More than 40,000 Irish workers poured into Canada in 2010-11 after economic calamity took down the so-called Celtic Tiger. In Toronto alone, a special Irish-Canadian immigration centre is being launched to help the more than 10,000 who arrived on working visas. If the past is any judge, this kind of out-migration from Ireland may be just a modest beginning.

This month thousands of carpenters, electricians, machine operators and the like lined up for hours to attend the Working Abroad Expo in the city of Cork. There they listened to pitches from Canadian and Australian companies who are in strong competition to recruit trades people for mining, construction and health-care.

But even the 300,000 unemployed in Ireland today is but the grim tip of the iceberg when it comes to Europe’s economy.

The latest estimates are of 24 million unemployed men and women in the European Union, with jobless numbers running at 23 per cent in Spain (a devastating 49 per cent among young people) and roughly 20 per cent in Greece.

European immigrants more easily assimilate into Canada than immigrants from Asia and Africa due to cultural affinity to the majority, better English and French language skills, and skills more relevant to an advanced economy, so the expected shift in immigration patterns is likely to be welcomed by Canadian immigration officials.

Changes made to Canada’s immigration assessment system in the last few years have given immigration applicants from English and French speaking countries an advantage in immigrating to Canada due to a greater emphasis placed on language skills in how points are awarded in the assessment process, so this group of applicants is expected to be more successful than the average in getting accepted.

Canada’s Best Places to Live – 2012

Posted on March 21, 2012 by CICS Immigration Team

190 Canadian cities and towns have been ranked by Moneysense magazine and you may find some of the cities you’d have expected in the top 10, lower in the rankings.

Canada’s capital, Ottawa, has been ranked the number one place in Canada for the third year in a row, due to the combination of having affordable home prices relative to other major Canadian cities, a low crime-rate and, thanks to a large number of federal government jobs, a high average income.

Burlington, Ontario, a city in the Greater Toronto Area with a population of 175,000, took the number two spot in the ranking due to its high average income, extremely low crime rate and excellent weather, while Victoria, BC, was pushed down from last year’s second place showing to 35th place.

Canada’s most populated cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver have been ranked 47th, 149th and 56th respectively. This is a bit surprising since Vancouver, for example, was ranked tied for 4th as the world’s best city to live by Mercer.

The methodology by Moneysense has received much attention with both praise and criticism. It works by ranking the cities by 22 categories, for example culture, weather, unemployment, childcare spaces, and crime. However, some of these categories, sub-categories and the scoring system have been criticized.

All in all, we’d recommend that you take a look at the rankings list and see where cities stand in each category.