Changes to the immigration system planned for next year!
So far, we know that they will be awarding more points for language skills and age whilst awarding less points for work experience gained outside of Canada.
It appears now that the focus is on post grad international students!
The federal government is planning to further restrict immigration from overseas by favouring temporary migrants who are already studying and working in Canada.
While holding immigration levels steady for 2012, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said in his annual report he plans to rejig the selection criteria for skilled immigrants, giving preference to those who are young, fluent in English/French and have Canadian work and education credentials.
The government will also continue to beef up its border enforcement by implementing the Temporary Resident Biometrics Project. By 2013, selected foreigners will be required to provide biometrics, such as fingerprints, when they apply for visas to study and work to Canada.
“Citizenship and Immigration Canada is committed to move toward more efficient and effective processing, stronger program integrity and improved client service,” Kenney said in his 2011 report, tabled in the House of Commons late Tuesday.
“The ultimate goal is to deliver a more timely, flexible and responsive immigration system with no significant backlogs, and with reasonable service stands and processing times across all business lines.”
What was missing in the report, said critics, is a breakdown of 2012 targets for various immigration streams, such as family reunification, economic class and refugees.
“It’s the first time in anybody’s memory that there’s only the total of immigrants the minister intends to issue visas to. There is no breakdown of these numbers by categories,” said NDP immigration critic Don Davies. “What is the ministry trying to hide from Canadians?”
The release of the report followed an announcement Wednesday that Ottawa plans to create a new “MI4 phD” immigration class, which would allocate up to 1,000 spots as permanent residents under the federal skilled worker program to international PhD students.
To be eligible, the students must have completed at least two years of study toward the attainment of the doctoral degree and remain in good academic standing at a recognized university in Canada.
That the government is refocusing on the Canadian Experience Class — granting permanent status to those in Canada on work or student visas — was evident at the news conference Kenney held to mark the 10,000th permanent resident who came in through this stream since its inception in 2008.
“The CEC and the PhD initiative represent what we hope is the future of immigration to Canada: bright young people who have a Canadian education or work experience that will be recognized by Canadian employers, and who have strong English or French language skills. Such newcomers are set for success,” Kenney said.
Advocates for immigrants and refugees are pleased that so far in 2011, there has not been a marked reduction in family reunification numbers for spouses and children, or parents and grandparents.
“But our focus is going to be on the backlogs — capping of family reunification for parents and grandparents and the conditional sponsorship of spouses,” said Debbie Douglas, executive director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants.
Top 10 immigrant source countries in 2010
Philippines
India
China
United Kingdom
USA
France
Iran
UAE
Morocco
