Whats New in Canada-Update on CA

[Can10]

Canadian immigration's 'Dragons' Den' visa goes live
04 April 2013

Canada's new Start-up Visa Program (SUVP) was launched on April 1st 2013. The new visa allows foreign entrepreneurs to pitch their idea to a panel of Canadian investors. If the investors choose to make 'a significant investment', then the entrepreneur concerned will be granted a permanent resident visa by the Canadian immigration authorities. 2,750 visas will be available in the first year.

Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney says that he hopes that the new visa will boost the number of Canadian business start-ups. When he announced the SUVP in January, Mr Kenney said 'Recruiting dynamic entrepreneurs from around the world will help Canada remain competitive in the global economy.'

Applicants under the SUVP will need to pitch their business plan to a panel of potential investors, as in the globally popular TV show, the Dragons' Den. If they attract a minimum of CAN$25,000 in 'angel funding' from an approved Canadian venture capital or investment firm or a minimum of CAN$75,000 in 'venture funding' then, subject to immigration checks, they will get a permanent resident visa. If their business fails, they will retain their permanent resident status.

Kenney 'I will go to Silicon Valley to fly the flag'

Canada is known to be keen to compete with its southern neighbour, the US, as a destination for internet entrepreneurs. The global centre for IT start-ups is in Silicon Valley in San Francisco, north California but Mr Kenney hopes that this new visa will help it lure entrepreneurs from outside North America to set up in Canada instead. In January, Mr Kenney told reporters, 'When this thing (The SUVP) gets launched, I plan to go down to Silicon Valley with some of the industry associations here and fly the Canadian flag'. Mr Kenney is due to travel to San Francisco in May.

There is already a well-established tech industry in Canada with clusters of IT firms in Toronto, Waterloo, Montreal and Vancouver. Atlee Clark of C100, a Canadian not-for-profit organisation which aims to help IT entrepreneurs told American tech magazine VentureBeat, 'the government is betting that these founders will got to Canada, start a business, hire a whole bunch of people and stay for the long haul'.

Canada may be assisted in this goal by the fact that, in recent years it has become harder to get a US permanent resident visa (or green card) because demand outstrips supply. There are waiting lists of over ten years for some employment based green cards for applicants from India and China. Canada hopes that the SUVP will encourage those migrants to choose Canada instead, not least because there will be an offer of an almost instant permanent resident visa and a fast route to citizenship.

US immigration regime driving entrepreneurs to Canada - Wadhwa

Indian born US author Vivek Wadhwa published a book in 2012 with the title The Immigrant Exodus: Why America is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent. In the book he said that it has become harder for immigrants to get green cards in the US and this has damaged the competitiveness of US business. He warned that more welcoming immigration regimes in other countries such as Canada were driving entrepreneurial emigrants elsewhere.
Mr Wadhwa is one of many high profile US citizens to call on US politicians to reform the US immigration system to make it easier for skilled migrants to get visas. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and many other high profile businessmen have called for more green cards and more H-1B temporary work visas to be granted to talented foreign graduates. There is currently a cap of 65,000 on H-1Bs and the number of employment based green cards is also capped.

Skilled US immigration bills in the pipeline

There are currently several bills before Congress which would see the annual number of green cards granted to skilled foreigners before Congress.
Among them are

- The Immigration Innovation Act which would see up to 300,000 H-1B visas granted annually and would increase the number of green cards granted to
foreign graduates of US universities
- The Startup 3.0 act would grant up to 75,000 green cards to foreign entrepreneurs who can attract $100,000 of start-up capital from US investors and
another 50,000 green cards granted to elite graduates of US universities
- The comprehensive immigration reform planned by a bipartisan group of senators known as The Gang of Eight would also see an increase in the number of
green cards granted to graduates as well as a reduction in waiting times for green cards for applicants who want to work in the US.

President Obama has said that he hopes to see immigration reform passed by the senate by the end of summer 2013.

Source: http://www.workpermit.com/news/2013-04-04/canaadian-immigrations-dragons-den-visa-goes-live

 

[Can10]

Canadian immigration has cut permanent residence backlog by 40% since 2008
02 April 2013

The Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney gave a somewhat self-congratulatory presentation at Mississauga, Ontario on March 26th 2013 in which he laid out the actions that his department had taken since 2008 to reduce the backlog of cases waiting for decisions on Canadian permanent residency applications. Mr Kenney's Conservative Party came to power in Canada in 2008.

Mr Kenney also released a statement through the CIC website in which he said 'Backlogs and delays prevent Canada from attracting the best and brightest from around the world and ensuring that our immigration system is contributing to economic growth and long-term prosperity'.

Mr Kenney said that the pressures on the Canadian immigration system were such that drastic action was required. He said that simply increasing the number of applications being processed through the immigration system by Canada would not have been enough to reduce the backlog. The pressure on the system was such that backlogs would still have continued to grow and new applicants would have had to wait for longer and longer periods of time before having their applications dealt with.

CIC figures show that the total number of cases in the backlog today stands at 616,269, down from about 1,000,000 when Mr Kenney launched his 'action plan for faster immigration'. This includes all immigrants both family class and economic class. Mr Kenney said that this reduction is down to the actions that he and CIC have taken. If no actions had been taken to cut the backlog, and processing of Canadian visa applications had continued as before, the backlog would currently stand at over 1,700,000 and would reach nearly 2,250,000 by 2015.

Controversy over termination of FSWP applications

The steps that Mr Kenney has taken to achieve this reduction have not been uncontroversial. Perhaps the most controversial step he took was in June 2012 when he terminated all applications for permanent resident status made under Canada's main skilled work programme, the Federal Skilled Worker Program that had been made before March 2008.

Mr Kenney then suspended the FSWP to new applicants and said that he would reform it before reopening the FSWP in May 2013. He said that this would allow a further reduction of the backlog and allow the remodelling of the FSWP to make it more responsive to the needs of Canadian business. He has succeeded in cutting the FSWP backlog by about 500,000. It was 624,516 before July 2012. It now stands at 91,403. As already mentioned the total backlog for all types of Canadian immigration applications is 616,269.

CIC forecasts predict that the backlog will be only 10,221 by 2015 allowing Canada to remodel the FSWP to make it more like the Australian government's 'expression of interest' system and also enabling Canadian immigration to reduce the waiting time for CIC decisions on applications to six months.

Case awaiting judge's decision

However, Mr Kenney's decision has been challenged in the courts by some of those affected on the grounds that it was unconstitutional so it is possible that this is not the last we will hear of the applicants whose applications were terminated. The case is currently awaiting a decision from the judge.

Whichever side wins the case, it is likely that the losing side will appeal. Mr Kenney says that it was not practical to leave the backlog in place. If he had not taken the action he did, he says, the FSWP backlog would have grown to over 1,500,000 by 2015 which would have meant a 15-year waiting list for new applicants.

Mr Kenney said that similarly drastic steps were necessary in the parents and grandparents backlog. By 2011, there was a waiting list of 167,000 people and a processing time of 8 years. If he had he not acted in 2011, Mr Kenney says that by 2015 typical processing time for these applications would be 15 years and there would have been 250,000 in the backlog. His current plan will see the waiting list reduced to about 50,000 by 2015 with a processing time of about two years.

Business visas also a problem

Business class visas were, if anything, even more of a problem. Based on CIC forecasts, if nothing is done, by 2015, the case backlog would have reached about 250,000 and there would have been a waiting time for new applicants of about 20 years. That is why Mr Kenney said he introduce a moratorium on new applications under the Immigrant Investor Program in 2012. CIC figures predict that the waiting list will be reduced to 75,000 by 2015 with a 6 year waiting time for new applicants.

Mr Kenney is also facing legal challenges from some applicants under the immigrant investor program.

Mr Kenney's statement read 'We still have work to do but by taking clear and decisive action to deal with backlogs, we will attain our goal of having a fast and a flexible immigration system. Newcomers will arrive with skills and talents that are in short supply in Canada and contribute to our economy. The immigration system must work for Canada which is why we will continue to reduce backlogs and speed up the system so that people spend less time waiting and more time participating fully in the Canadian economy'.

Source: http://www.workpermit.com/news/2013-04-02/canadian-immigration-has-cut-permanent-residence-backlog-by-40-since-2008

 

[Can10]

The world wants to emigrate says Gallup poll
04 April 2013

A global poll conducted by Gallup suggests that around 640m people around the world, 13% of the world's adult population, want to emigrate. Most, but by no means all of these come from Asia and Africa; most want to move to find new opportunities in Europe or North America.

The poll found that over 150m people worldwide, about 4% of the world's population, would like to move to the United States. A further 45m want to move to the UK and 42m to Canada. Large numbers also want to move to France, Australia and to Saudi Arabia.

Gallup surveyed some 450,000 people between 2009 and 2011 to come up with its findings. The interviewees came from 151 countries which contain 97% of the world's population.

Around one quarter of all those who want to emigrate (23%) want to go to the US. The greatest number of people wants to travel to the US from the following countries:

China 22m
Nigeria 15m
India 10m
Bangladesh 8m
Brazil 7m
The UK came 11th on the list. 3m Britons would emigrate to the US if they could, the poll found.
37% of Liberians would move to the US

Polls conducted in some less populous countries that a substantial proportion of the total population are keen to emigrate to the US. In Liberia, 37% of the population would move to the US permanently if they could and in Sierra Leone 30% would do so.

But, while the US is the most popular destination globally, it is not the most popular destination for the citizens of every country. For example, 10m Indians want to migrate to the US but a massive 37m would prefer to move to the US's northern neighbour Canada. Comparatively few Pakistanis or Iranians want to go to the US because the US is not so popular in those countries. Pakistanis seem to prefer the UK and Saudi Arabia. Iranians would be happy to get as far as Jordan or Lebanon.

The pollsters found that those who want to move are most often seeking new opportunities. Many want to follow in the footsteps of relatives and friends who have already made the move. Others think that their destination Country will offer greater freedom of expression.

Source: http://www.workpermit.com/news/2013-04-04/the-world-wants-to-emigrate-says-gallup-poll

 

[joidiple]

News Release — List of Priority Occupations and Organizations Designated to Conduct Educational Credential Assessments for Federal Skilled Worker Program Released
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Ottawa, April 18, 2013 —The list of 24 occupations that are eligible under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) when it re-opens on May 4, 2013 was released today.

In addition, four organizations have been designated to provide the now-required independent third party assessments of foreign educational credentials for applicants who studied outside of Canada. These assessments, which must be completed before an application is submitted, are aimed at helping newcomers through the FSWP to get off to a better start and into the Canadian labour force more quickly when they arrive.

“The government’s focus remains on jobs, economic growth, and long-term prosperity,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Kenney. “Under the new Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canada will be able to attract the skilled immigrants our economy requires, who are the most likely to succeed and contribute their full skill set to the Canadian economy.”

With the re-opening date approaching, future applicants should be aware of several key elements that will have an effect on the application process:

A new eligible occupations list, with a total of 24 occupations;
An overall cap of 5,000 new applications for all eligible occupations, including a sub-cap of 300 new applications for each eligible occupation;
Four organizations have been designated to conduct educational credential assessments (mandatory for applicants submitting foreign educational credentials); and
Applicants must show proof that they meet the minimum threshold of Canadian Language Benchmark 7 in all four language skill areas: speaking, reading, writing and oral comprehension.
“As a result of the actions taken by the Government to deal with the massive backlogs and unacceptably long wait times, FSW applications will be processed in approximately one year,” said Minister Kenney. “We will not be able to remain competitive and attract the skilled immigrants we need if we allow backlogs and wait times to grow again. That’s why we are capping application intake and focusing on specific occupations that are experiencing labour shortages in Canada. This will also help us transition nicely into the just-in-time immigration system of the future.”

Applications under the new FSWP will be accepted starting May 4, 2013. Until then, however, the FSWP application process does not change – only individuals with qualifying job offers or those applying under the PhD stream are eligible for processing.

All applicants who are considering applying on or after May 4 are invited to consult the Backgrounder. It outlines some of the steps that can be taken now to prepare and includes the eligible occupations list and the organizations designated to conduct educational credential assessments.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2013/2013-04-18.asp?utm_source=media-centre-email&utm_medium=email-eng&utm_campaign=generic

 

[joidiple]

Backgrounder — Information for Applicants to the New Federal Skilled Worker Program
The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) selects immigrants based on their ability to succeed economically in Canada. After meeting eligibility requirements, applicants are assessed against selection criteria, also known as the “points grid.” There are 100 points available to applicants, with points awarded for official language abilities, age, education, work experience, employment already arranged in Canada, and adaptability. The current pass mark is 67.

After a thorough review of relevant research, an extensive program evaluation, stakeholder and public consultations, research and study of best practices in other immigrant-receiving countries, improvements to the FSWP were announced in December 2012. These improvements will come into force on May 4, 2013.

A pause on the intake of most new FSWP applications has been in place since July 1, 2012, except for those with a qualifying job offer and those who applying under the PhD stream. The pause will be lifted and an eligible occupations stream re-established on May 4, 2013.

While Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will not be accepting applications for the 24 eligible occupations until May 4, 2013, there are some new requirements that applicants can start preparing for, such as language tests and foreign educational credential assessments. The complete application process, featuring the new selection criteria, will be available on CIC’s website by May 4, 2013.

All individuals who are considering applying on or after May 4 should be aware that if their application does not meet the new criteria, it will not be processed. A prospective applicant should ensure they meet at least one of the following requirements:

They have at least one year of continuous work experience in one of the 24 eligible occupations;
They have a qualifying offer of arranged employment (*note changes to the arranged employment process were previously published in this web notice); or
They are eligible to apply through the PhD stream.
If prospective applicants are confident that they meet at least one of the above requirements, they must also meet the minimum language threshold and obtain an educational credential assessment (if submitting a foreign educational credential).

Eligible Occupations List

The eligible occupations stream will have an overall cap of 5,000 new applications and sub-caps of 300 applications in each of the 24 occupations on the list.

Eligible occupations (with their corresponding 2011 National Occupation Classification code):

0211 Engineering managers
1112 Financial and investment analysts
2113 Geoscientists and oceanographers
2131 Civil engineers
2132 Mechanical engineers
2134 Chemical engineers
2143 Mining engineers
2144 Geological engineers
2145 Petroleum engineers
2146 Aerospace engineers
2147 Computer engineers (except software engineers/designers)
2154 Land surveyors
2174 Computer programmers and interactive media developers
2243 Industrial instrument technicians and mechanics
2263 Inspectors in public and environmental health and occupational health and safety
3141 Audiologists and speech-language pathologists
3142 Physiotherapists
3143 Occupational Therapists
3211 Medical laboratory technologists
3212 Medical laboratory technicians and pathologists' assistants
3214 Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
3215 Medical radiation technologists
3216 Medical sonographers
3217 Cardiology technicians and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists, n.e.c. (not elsewhere classified)
Minimum Language Threshold

All prospective applicants to the FSWP should first determine whether they meet the new minimum language threshold: Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 or Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) 7 in all four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). To prove language proficiency, a prospective applicant must take a third-party language test from an organization designated by the Minister and submit their test report along with their application to CIC.

Language test results will be accepted by CIC for two years from the date that they were issued by the designated organization.

CIC-designated language testing organizations include: Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP), International English Language Testing System (IELTS), and Test d’évaluation de français (TEF).

Third-party language tests are scored differently by each of the three organizations. Here are the scores on each of the tests that correspond to Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 or Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) 7 or higher:

English

Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP)

An FSWP applicant must score at least 4L on the CELPIP-General test in each of the four skills to meet the minimum language threshold.

A score of 4L on the CELPIP-General test corresponds to CLB 7. A score of 4H corresponds to CLB 8, and a score of 5 or higher corresponds to CLB 9 or higher.

International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

An FSWP applicant must score at least 6.0 on the IELTS General Training test in each of the four skills to meet the minimum language threshold of CLB 7.

French

Test d’évaluation de français (TEF)

An FSWP applicant must score at least 206 in reading, 248 in listening, and 309 in both speaking and writing on the TEF to meet the minimum language threshold of NCLC 7.

Arranged Employment

Previously, employers have applied for an Arranged Employment Opinion (AEO) from Human Resources Skills Development Canada when they wished to hire a foreign national on a permanent, full-time basis and support their employee’s application for permanent residence through the FSWP.

Starting on May 4, 2013, CIC will no longer accept AEOs in support of an FSWP application. Instead, most offers of arranged employment will require a Labour Market Opinion.

Educational Credential Assessment (ECA)

Another important change that takes effect on May 4, 2013, is the introduction of the educational credential assessment (ECA). Prospective applicants may start the process of getting an ECA before May 4 if they are planning to submit a foreign educational credential. However, applicants should keep in mind the other program eligibility requirements listed above, i.e. whether they have a qualifying offer of arranged employment or are applying under the PhD stream or eligible occupations stream; and if they meet the minimum language threshold through a designated third-party test. Applicants who have Canadian educational credentials do not need to get an ECA, unless they are also submitting a foreign educational credential in support of their application.

The ECA process will help determine if the foreign educational credential is authentic and equivalent to a completed credential in Canada. For prospective applicants, the ECA can provide a realistic understanding of how their foreign educational credentials are likely to be recognized in Canada.

As of April 17, 2013, four organizations have been designated by the Minister to provide ECA reports for purposes of immigrating to Canada under the FSWP. Additional organizations may be designated by CIC in the future. The designated organizations are:

Comparative Education Service;
International Credential Assessment Service of Canada;
World Education Services; and,
Medical Council of Canada.
The Medical Council of Canada has been designated only for those principal applicants who intend to apply with specialist physician (2011 National Occupation Classification [NOC] code 3111) or general practitioner/family physician (2011 NOC code 3112) as their primary occupation in their FSWP application. Neither NOC code 3111 nor 3112 is on the eligible occupations list that takes effect on May 4, so this will only affect those applying under the PhD stream or with a qualifying job offer based on those NOC codes.

Applicants should contact the designated organizations directly for further information on their documentation requirements, processing times and fees.

CIC will only accept ECA reports issued after the date the organization was designated by CIC to provide ECA reports for immigration purposes (i.e. April 17, 2013). An ECA report will be valid for immigration purposes for 5 years from the date that it was issued by the designated organization.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/2013/2013-04-18.asp

 

[Can10]

One billion people crossed international borders in 2012
16 April 2013

In 2012, one billion people made an international trip, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. David Scowsill of the WTTC said 'this is an astounding milestone. There is an inexorable growth in the number of people who want to travel around the world'.

Most of these journeys will be for the purpose of leisure and tourism. France and the USA are the most popular tourist destinations though there is also strong growth in tourism around the world. Though the overall numbers are still low, there has been considerable growth in the tourism industry in countries such as Guatemala, Ivory Coast and The Dominican Republic.

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, the top five travel destinations are

1. Paris
2. London
3. New York
4. Anatalya, Turkey
5. Singapore

210,000,000 migrants globally

It is also clear that the numbers of migrants globally have increased enormously in recent years. The World Economic Forum and the United Nations believe that 3% of the world's population; around 210,000,000 people, are migrants.

But many more would like to leave their homeland for a new life. A recent Gallup poll found that 13% of the world's adult population – around 640,000,000 people would like to emigrate. 150,000,000 would like to go to the US alone. There is no one reason why people want to emigrate. The Gallup poll suggested that a great many wanted to emigrate to countries in North America and Europe in order to find economic opportunity.

Often, it would seem that poor conditions at home give people an incentive to emigrate while existing relationships between countries may help potential émigrés to decide where they want to go. This point is illustrated by the case of Liberia.

Liberia has a population of about 4,100,000. It is a desperately poor country with the third lowest per capita income in the world. It has also been riven by civil war since 1989. It is placed 174th out of 186 countries on the Human Development Index, which measures the quality of life around the world. It is therefore not surprising that many Liberians want to emigrate. But, there is a particular reason why 37% of Liberia's population, some 1,500,000 people want to emigrate to the USA. This can be explained by the strong links between the two countries. Liberia was settled by large numbers of freed slaves from the US from 1820 onwards and has been the recipient of a great deal of US aid since the Second World War.

Source: http://www.workpermit.com/news/2013-04-16/one-billion-people-crossed-international-borders-in-2012

 

[Can10]

Canadian immigration announces eligible occupations for new skilled worker program
20 April 2013

The Canadian government's main skilled immigration programme, the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), will re-open on May 4th 2013. It was closed down temporarily by Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney in June 2012. At the time, Mr Kenney said he would reform the system and re-open it in January 2013. He later announced that this date would be delayed until May 2013.

Successful applicants under the FSWP will receive a Canadian permanent resident visa. When the FSWP reopens in May, one way of qualifying will be to have at least one year's work experience (full time, paid) in the past decade in a profession listed on the new Canadian Eligible Professions List. There will be a maximum of 300 visas granted to professionals in each category on the list with a maximum of 5,000 eligible professions list visas in total. The full list was revealed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) on April 18th 2013.

The Eligible Professions List

0211 Engineering managers
1112 Financial and investment analysts
2113 Geoscientists and oceanographers
2131 Civil engineers
2132 Mechanical engineers
2134 Chemical engineers
2143 Mining engineers
2144 Geological engineers
2145 Petroleum engineers
2146 Aerospace engineers
2147 Computer engineers (except software engineers/designers)
2154 Land surveyors
2174 Computer programmers and interactive media developers
2243 Industrial instrument technicians and mechanics
2263 Inspectors in public & environmental health & occupational health & safety
3141 Audiologists and speech-language pathologists Physiotherapists
3143 Occupational Therapists
3211 Medical laboratory technologists
3212 Medical laboratory technicians and pathologists' assistants
3214 Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists & cardiopulmonary technologists
3215 Medical radiation technologists
3216 Medical sonographers
3217 Cardiology technicians and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists, not elsewhere classified

Source: http://www.workpermit.com/news/2013-04-20/canadian-immigration-announces-eligible-occupations-for-new-skilled-worker-program

 

[Can10]

Canada's Federal Court dismisses immigration case of would-be immigrants
23 April 2013

A Canadian judge has ruled that the country's immigration minister, Jason Kenney, did not break the law when he terminated applications for permanent residence visas from some 280,000 applicants in July 2012. On Thursday 18th April 2013, Justice Donald Rennie said that he understood that those affected would see Mr Kenney's act as 'unfair, arbitrary and unnecessary' but said that it was not illegal and so he had no powers to overturn it.

In 2012, The Canadian government passed the Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act which allowed the government to terminate applications for permanent residence visas made under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), Canada's main immigration programme for skilled workers. In June 2012, Mr Kenney announced that he would terminate all applications made to the FSWP before 28th February 2008.

Some people had been waiting for their applications to be processed for up to eight years. They were understandably aggrieved to have their applications terminated. But Mr Kenney said that the termination of the cases was necessary to get rid of an unwieldy backlog of cases which was preventing the system from working properly. Some 280,000 people were affected.

Applicants argued that Kenney's decision was unlawful

Last autumn, a group of 1,400 of the applicants who had had their applications terminated launched a legal challenge to Mr Kenney's decision in the Canadian Federal Court. They argued that Mr Kenney's decision had been unlawful because the Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act was discriminatory and breached Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The case came to court in January 2013. The judge delivered his verdict on 18th April.

In his summing up, Justice Rennie said 'the applicants have waited in the queue for many years only to find the entrance door closed. They see the termination of their hope for a new life in Canada to be an unfair, arbitrary and unnecessary measure'. However, he said that the Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act was 'valid legislation, compliant with the rule of law, the Bill of Rights and the Charter' and he said that the applications had been 'terminated by operation of law' and that, therefore, the court could not overrule the Act or Mr Kenney's decision.

Lawyers for the applicants are considering whether to appeal the judge's decision. They have until 2nd May to do so.

The FSWP is Canada's foremost immigration programme for skilled workers. Around 55-60,000 people annually gain Canadian permanent resident status via the FSWP. By 2012, there was a backlog of 624,516 applications waiting to be processed. Some people had been waiting for eight years. The FSWP waiting list has now been reduced to under 100,000 and Mr Kenney has said he expects there to be no backlog by the end of 2014.

Source: http://www.workpermit.com/news/2013-04-23/canadas-federal-court-dismisses-immigration-case-of-would-be-immigrants

 

[joidiple]

News Release — Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification on track to cut backlog in half
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New Parent and Grandparent program re-opens January 2, 2014

Mississauga, May 10, 2013 — Citizenship and Immigration Canada will re-open the Parent and Grandparent (PGP) program for new applications on January 2, 2014, by which time the backlog and wait times in the program are expected to have been cut in half.

“The Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification is on track to meet the goals of cutting in half the backlog and wait times in the Parent and Grandparent program,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. “It is very important that we continue to make progress and not return to the old broken system with wait times as long as a decade—that would be unfair to families.”

Phase II of the Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification will provide even faster processing times, reduce the backlog further, prevent future backlogs, ensure that families have the financial means to support those they sponsor, and protect the interests of taxpayers.

First – In 2012 and 2013, Canada will admit 50,000 parents and grandparents as permanent residents. This represents the highest level of parents and grandparents admitted in 20 years. In 2014, Canada will maintain high levels of admissions for parents and grandparents.

Second – The Super Visa will become permanent and will continue to provide flexibility for families who access the 10-year multiple-entry visa, allowing visa holders to remain in Canada up to two years at a time. Over 15,000 Super Visas have been issued since the program’s launch in December 2011 with approval rates averaging 86 percent.

Third – New qualifying criteria for permanent residency sponsorship of parents and grandparents will increase the financial responsibility of sponsors to ensure they have the means to support those they sponsor, while limiting the program’s cost to taxpayers and Canada’s strained health and social programs.

Fourth – 5,000 new sponsorship applications will be accepted in the program in 2014. By accepting 5,000 applications in 2014 while maintaining high levels, the government will be able to further reduce the remaining backlog so that families can be reunited more quickly.

“These new criteria ensure sponsored family members are well supported by their sponsors throughout their time in Canada,” said Minister Kenney. “The redesigned Parent and Grandparent program reunites families faster while respecting Canadian taxpayers and the limited resources for health and social programs.”

Canada has one of the most generous family reunification programs in the world. The United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand do not allow grandparents to be sponsored at all or only in very limited circumstances, and they have very restrictive criteria for the sponsorship of parents.

The amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations that are being proposed will be pre-published in the Canada Gazette (Part I) and the public will be able to comment for a 30-day period.


http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2013/2013-05-10.asp?utm_source=media-centre-email&utm_medium=email-eng&utm_campaign=generic

 

[Can10]

Canadian-immigration-to re-evaluate intra company transfer program
07 May 2013

Jason Kenney, the Canadian immigration minister has said that his department, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), will investigate allegations of abuse of the Canadian Intra Company Transfer Program (ICTP) which have been made by insiders in the Canadian IT industry.

The ICTP allows international employers to transfer staff from their offices elsewhere to work in their Canadian operation. Unlike most employers who want to bring in temporary workers from other countries, these international employers are not required to obtain a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) to prove that employing the foreign national would have a neutral or positive effect on the Canadian jobs market. Workers will need to apply for a Canadian work permit and a Canadian entry visa.

In order to qualify, the employee must provide details of their qualifications along with their work permit application to show that they have the appropriate level of knowledge. If successful, they must then apply for a Canadian entry visa before travelling to Canada.

Outsourcers accused of displacing Canadian staff

Industry insiders have alleged that international outsourcing firms, many of which are from India, have been using Canadian intra company transfer visas to make huge profits but are providing poor service to their clients. The savings that they make come from laying off better paid Canadian staff and then bringing in poorly paid Indian substitutes.
The ICTP allows international companies to move employees to Canada providing they fall within one of three categories:

- Executive: for senior managers
- Managerial: for middle managers and
- Specialized Knowledge: for workers who have, through their work, 'gained a specialized or advanced level of knowledge in the organization. This knowledge,
while not necessarily proprietary, should be very uncommon in the general labour market.'

Once workers are inside Canada, they can renew their work permits up to a maximum of five years.

Specialized knowledge visa 'being abused'

While there are no statistics available as to how many workers are now working in Canada under any of these headings, it is alleged that it is the specialized knowledge category that has been abused.
Industry insiders allege that international outsourcing companies such as Cognizant, Tata Consulting, iGate and Mahindra Satyam are abusing this visa to bring in employees who have no 'specialized knowledge'. They say that the CVs of employees have been doctored to overstate the level of their qualifications so that they could qualify for work permits.

A spokesman for Tata Consulting said that the claims of abuse of the system, in particular that employees misled Canadian immigration as to the level of their qualifications, were 'false and without any merit in fact'.

National scandal caused by job losses at Royal Bank of Canada

Nonetheless, there have been complaints about abuse of the system for some time, according to whistle blowers who have spoken to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but these have been ignored by CIC. Now, a scandal caused by the operations of the Indian outsourcer iGate at the Canadian national bank, The Royal Bank of Canada, seems to have persuaded Mr Kenney to act.
In early April, it emerged that 45 IT staff at RBC had been made redundant and replaced by staff brought from India by iGate, an Indian company. The RBC staff said that the Indian staff had no special skills or training and, in fact, had to be trained by the Canadian staff they replaced.

The initial focus of the Canadian media storm over this news was the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, which allows foreign workers to work in Canada. On Monday 29th April 2013, Mr Kenney and the Human Resources Minister Diane Finley announced reforms of the TFWP that would require temporary foreign workers to be paid the same as Canadian workers.

However, the chief executive of RBC told CBC that only one in 14 of the foreign workers brought in by iGate were working in Canada with TFWP work permits. It seems likely, therefore, that the rest came in under the ICTP.

ICTP system is under investigation

Mr Kenney told the CBC investigative program Go Public that the system was under investigation. He said 'we want to make sure that people are not using that [the ICTP] as a kind of back door to undercut the Canadian labour market or displace Canadian workers'.
Mr Kenney made it clear that he was not seeking to end the ICTP. He said 'It would be hugely damaging to our economy if we suddenly erected huge barriers to the movement of skilled labour within certain companies'.

Industry insiders have told Go Public that outsourcing firms

- Won Canadian contracts with unrealistic promises of massive savings and occasionally with bribes
- Persuaded employees to exaggerate their qualifications on their CVs (résumés) so that they would appear to have 'specialized knowledge'
- May have broken immigration rules by placing ICTP workers in Canadian firms
- Employed workers with bogus qualifications which are bought from bogus Indian colleges

CIC has doubts about Indian qualifications

CBC programme Go Public revealed Canadian government documents which show that the Canadian government has been aware of this last problem for some time. An internal CIC report said that in 2012-13 'verification of Indian education, employment, and financial documentation is labour intensive and often without conclusive outcomes'.

The Canadian opposition immigration spokeswoman Jinny Sims said 'This whole file needs to be fixed immediately'.

Source: http://www.workpermit.com/news/2013-05-07/canada-to-re-evaluate-intra-company-transfer-program

 

[Can10]

Canada reforms temporary immigration visa regime
03 May 2013

Canadian government ministers have announced a U-turn in their policy on temporary foreign workers. The announcement comes after two high profile cases which seemed to show abuse of the system have caused negative headlines for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Temporary foreign workers who work in Canada under the Canadian Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) must now be paid at the same rate as Canadian workers, there will be greater enforcement of the requirement that temporary foreign workers should not displace Canadians and English and French will be the only languages which can be specified as a requirement for employment. The changes will take place with immediate effect.

Last year, Canada introduced several changes to the TFWP aimed at stimulating the economy. It allowed employers to pay foreign temporary workers 15% less than the median pay in any sector and also speeded up the system for gaining work permits. The Accelerated Labour Market Opinion (ALMO) allowed employers to get work permits for foreign staff in about ten days. Both these measures have been reversed because of cases which seem to show that they are encouraging employers to employ foreign workers instead of Canadians.

Temporary workers must be paid 'the prevailing wage'

On 29th April 2013, Jason Kenney, the Canadian Minister for Immigration and Multiculturalism, and Diane Finley, the Human Resources Minister, gave a joint press conference in Ottawa to announce the changes which are as follows.

- All temporary foreign workers must now be paid 'the prevailing wage' for the job that they are doing.
- The Accelerated Labour Market Opinion (ALMO) process will be suspended.
- The government will have greater powers to suspend and revoke work permits where the system has been abused
- Employers will need to show that they are not replacing Canadian workers with foreign workers.
- Employers which rely heavily on foreign workers will need to show how they intend to employ more Canadians in future
- The government will raise the fees for applications to employ foreign workers.
- Employers will no longer be able to specify that employees must speak language other than English and French (Canada's national languages) in order to
take a job.

The ministers were responding to two recent, high profile cases which, unions allege, show that the TFWP is being abused by employers.

In November 2012, unions launched a court case against HD Mining, a mining company which imported 200 Chinese miners into a mine in British Columbia. The unions said that there were plenty of available Canadian miners to do the job and the Chinese miners were being paid CAN$10 an hour less than the market rate. The company said that this was because the mine was using the 'long wall' mining technique which was not used in Canada so there were no suitably qualified miners available locally. HD Mining is 55% owned by a Chinese company.

Unions allege abuse of the system

Unions alleged that the Chinese miners were also being forced to make illegal payments to that company in order to work in Canada. The unions said that it was an abuse of the system to bring in workers and pay them less than the market rate when there were plenty of unemployed Canadian miners living locally. They said that the employer was only employing Chinese speaking miners, further disadvantaging Canadian workers.
The second case was even more damaging to the reputation of the TFWP because it involved the flagship Canadian bank, The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). It also involved allegations that existing staff were being made redundant and replaced by foreign temporary workers.

Unions allege that RBC subcontracted certain functions to Indian outsourcing firm iGate. iGate then applied to the Canadian government for permission to bring in temporary workers. This was granted and once the temporary workers arrived, existing Canadian staff were instructed to train them and were then made redundant. The iGate staff were paid less than their Canadian counterparts.

iGate: 'Authorizations are properly issued under existing law '

When the news of this arrangement broke in early April, iGate spokesman Prabhanjan Deshpande said that the company was doing nothing wrong; 'For any engagement requiring foreign workers, appropriate immigration applications are filed by iGate and all work authorizations are properly issued under existing law and policy'.
However, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Go Public investigative TV programme claims that iGate has yet to respond to allegations that it did not inform the Canadian government that its workers would take the jobs of Canadian staff when applying for Canadian work permits.

At the time, a Canadian government spokesman said 'We recently learned of allegations that RBC could be replacing Canadian workers by contracting with iGate, which is filling some of the roles with temporary foreign workers. If true, this situation is unacceptable'.

Even before these latest cases, unions in Canada were complaining that Canadian employers were replacing indigenous workers with cheaper temporary foreign workers on work permits. They say that foreign workers are not being used as a last resort, as the law requires, but were, instead, being used as an alternative to Canadians and to drive down wages.

Number of temporary foreign workers has more than doubled since 2002

The unions point to the fact that the number of temporary foreign workers with short term work permits (usually lasting either one or two years) has risen from about 185,000 in 2002 to around 447,000 in 2011. Meanwhile, the Canadian unemployment rate has remained higher than 7%.
But Sharaf Sultan, a lawyer at Canadian law firm Heenan Blaikie says that the TFWP contains many protections for Canadian workers and 'thoughtfully assesses the potential impact of the entry of a foreigner in the Canadian labour market. Contrary to the accusations of several commentators, the TFWP is already geared, first and foremost, at protecting local labour markets'. He adds 'Canada faces serious labour shortages across various regions and sectors of the economy'.

In order to employ a foreign worker under the TFWP, a Canadian employer (or international employer like iGate) must receive a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), the Canadian government's department for employment.

Accelerated LMO procedure reduced protection

An LMO is a certificate which assesses the likely impact of employing a foreign worker on the Canadian economy. In order to be allowed to employ a foreign worker, employers must show that this will have a neutral or a positive effect on the Canadian jobs market. This is done by showing that the job has been adequately advertised to Canadian workers. However, after the government had introduced the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion (ALMO), it became easier for employers to get approval without showing that they had advertised. The unions say that this resulted in reduced protection for Canadian workers.
The joint announcement by Mr Kenney and Ms Finley will, seemingly, make it harder to get LMOs for foreign workers. Ms Finley told the press conference 'The purpose of the TFW program is to help fill genuine and acute labour needs and we have been reviewing the program to ensure that goal is met and Canadian workers are never displaced.'

Even so, the overall trend towards the employment of more workers on temporary work visas, both in Canada and globally, looks set to continue.

Source: http://www.workpermit.com/news/2013-05-03/canada-reforms-temporary-immigration-visa-regime

 

[Can10]

Canada expels Palestinian for 1968 attack on Israeli airline
Mohammad deported to Lebanon where he had gained residency through marriage
May 14, 2013

Ottawa: A Palestinian man who lived in Canada for the past 26 years has been deported to Lebanon over a 1968 attack on an Israeli airliner, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced on Monday.

Eisa Mohammad immigrated to Canada using a false alias in 1987, after being convicted by a Greek court of storming a civilian airliner and killing a passenger and later being released from jail in a hostage exchange.

Over the weekend, after a decades-long legal battle confirming his inadmissibility due to his deceit and ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Canada sent him back to Lebanon, where he had last gained residency through marriage, Kenney said.

“He lied about his identity, he lied about not having a criminal past, he lied about not having ties to terrorist organisations. [One year after his arrival], Canada discovered his real identity and began a process that lasted the next 25 years, trying to remove Eisa Mohammad,” he said.

The minister blamed delays in deporting Mohammad on “a system that was so bogged down in redundant process and endless appeals that it seemed to some like we would never be able to enforce the integrity of Canada’s immigration system and deport this terrorist killer.”

Canada’s immigration laws have recently been updated to try to avoid similar drawn out legal battles, he added.
Born in 1943, Mohammad joined the PFLP at the age of 25 and was sent to Greece with an accomplice to hijack an Israeli airliner making a stopover in Athens during a Tel Aviv to New York flight on December 26, 1968.

He was arrested and sentenced in 1970 for throwing grenades and firing at civilians in the attack, killing one, to 17 years in prison but later the same year he was released as a result of a hostage negotiation when fellow PFLP members stormed another plane demanding his release.

Following his release, he lived in Cyprus, in Lebanon and in Spain before his arrival in Canada.

Source: http://gulfnews.com/news/region/palestinian-territories/canada-expels-palestinian-for-1968-attack-on-israeli-airline-1.1183095

 

[Can10]

Over one fifth of Canadians are immigrants
20 May 2013

Over 20% of Canadians were born in other countries and have become Canadians by naturalisation, a national survey shows. This makes Canada the country with the highest proportion of immigrant citizens on earth. The National Household Survey was completed in 2011 by around 74% of the Canadian population. About 6.3m people out of Canada's population of about 33,000,000 were born citizens of other countries.

The survey also shows that mass immigration has changed the ethnic makeup of Canada hugely in the last two decades. Whereas, in the 1960s, most immigration to Canada came from Europe, now, 82.4% of immigrants are non-European. Immigrants are reported to have arrived in Canada from 200 countries. 6.3m Canadians, 19% of the population, now say that they come from 'a visible ethnic minority'. The three largest ethnic minority groups are south Asians, Chinese and black.

The survey found that 1.2m migrants settled in Canada between 2006 and 2011 and that over half of these, (56.9%) came from Asia, including the Middle East. During the 1970s, only 8.5% of Canadian immigrants came from Asia. Between 2006 and 2011, 13.1% of immigrants or 152,300 people came from the Philippines alone. 10.5% (122,100) came from China and 10.4% (121,400) came from India.

More migrants from Philippines than from Europe in 2006-2011

13.7% of the migrants arriving between 2006 and 2011 came from the entirety of Europe, only just more than the number coming from the Philippines. In the 1970s, 75% of immigrants were Europeans. 12.1% of immigrants over the five year period between 2006 and 2011 came from Africa.
Respondents were asked to record their ethnicity and these responses showed that Canada is extremely ethnically diverse. 200 different ethnicities were given by respondents. The survey suggests that there are over 1m Canadians belonging to 13 different ethnic groups. These are:

First nations (Aboriginal Canadians such as Inuit and native Americans)
Canadian
English
Scottish
Irish
French
German
Italian
Chinese
Ukrainian
East Indian
Dutch
Polish

Immigrants now settling all over Canada

The survey also showed that fewer new immigrants move to Toronto, the capital and to the province of Ontario than had been the case, although it is still home to 3.6m immigrants, over half of the total. Between 2006 and 2011, 43% of new citizens settled in Ontario and most of these settled in Toronto, Ontario's biggest city. Nearly 50% of Toronto's population was born abroad but the survey shows that new Canadians are also choosing to settle in Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and elsewhere.

The National Household Survey was first held in 2011 as a controversial replacement for a census which had been held at regular intervals in Canada since 1825. The Conservative government scrapped the census, which every Canadian household was required to complete by law, with the voluntary Household Survey.

Unlike the census, the National Household Survey was sent to only 4.5m households across Canada. Of the 4.5m questionnaires distributed, 74% (about 3,330,000) were completed. Although this makes the figures less reliable than census data, the survey nonetheless provides a very detailed picture of the nation's makeup.

Source: http://www.workpermit.com/news/2013-05-20/over-one-fifth-of-canadians-are-immigrants

 

[ASK]

Canada picked among best places to live - OECD ranks Canada highly across a number of categories

28th May 2013

Canada is among the best places in the world to live, according to a new quality of life measure from a leading international organization that compared rich industrialized nations.

The "Better Life Index" from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development launched Tuesday finds Canada among the leaders in most of the 24 indicators measured, everything from hard data dealing with jobs and income, to perceptions of something the OECD calls "life satisfaction."

Canada places 3rd - The Paris-based organization does not give an overall ranking, but if all the indicators are added up and given equal weighting, Canada would come in third behind Australia and Sweden.

Ironically, Australians don't see themselves so blessed. On the life satisfaction measure, Australians gave themselves a 7.2 out of 10, while Canadians were at 7.4. Residents of Switzerland topped the indicator with a 7.8.

"Canada performs exceptionally well in measures of well-being, as shown by the fact that it ranks among the top countries in a large number of topics in the Better Life Index," the organization says in its profile of the country.

"In general, Canadians are more satisfied with their lives than the OECD average, with 82 per cent of people saying they have more positive experiences in an average day than negative ones."

Canada's high ranking comes about because it scores inside the Top 10 in most of the major ones and above average overall among the 36 advanced countries studied.

Canada did rank first in a couple of minor sub-indicators. For example, with 2.6 rooms per person, Canadians are on average the best housed by that measure, and they are also among the safest, reporting the fewest assaults.

Two thirds trust their government - Perhaps surprising, Canadians also appear to trust their governments more than many others. According to the OECD, 67 per cent say they trust their political institutions, well above the 36-country average of 56 per cent.

However, when it comes to voting, Canadians fell well below the OECD average of 72 per cent with a record of only 61 per cent.

On more mainstream criteria, Canada ranked in the Top 10 in terms of household disposable income, wealth, educational attainment, self-reported health — although the 81-year life expectancy is middle of the pack.

Canadians also did well in terms of work-life balance, working an average of 1,702 hours a year, less than the OECD average of 1,776.

Overall, the OECD comparison is more flattering to Canadians than the recent Human Development Index from the United Nations, which had Canada slipping to number 11 in 2012.

Income disparity a problem - The OECD measure appears more broad-based, with 11 major categories of well-being measured, as opposed the UN's three — health, education and living standard.

Both, however, include subjective elements that have given rise to skepticism about their usefulness for public policy. While many of the OECD indicators are based on hard data, such as incomes, employment rates and life expectancy, it also includes self-reporting evaluations of such subjective criteria as life satisfaction, state of personal health and water quality.

While mostly positive, the OECD analysis of Canada is not all glowing. It points out that despite a high income level, Canada also has a high level of income disparity.

As well, Canada gets a below average score on job security, with 11 per cent of employees working on a "contract" of six months or less, slightly higher than the OECD average of 10 per cent.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/05/28/business-canada-oecd.html?cmp=rss&utm_source=feedly

 

[Can10]

Canada welcomes UAE move to scrap visa fees
By Shane McGinley 30 May 2013

Canada has welcomed official confirmation the UAE is to waive visa fee requirements imposed on Canadian travellers from June 1, ending a row between the two countries that started in 2010 over aviation rights.

“Sincere thanks to my counterpart His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the UAE, for delivering on his commitment to restore the previous visa regime for Canadians,” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement.

“It is great news for the tens of thousands of Canadians who travel to the UAE each year for work or for vacation. It will help increase economic opportunity and long-term prosperity in both countries. It is also an important signal to the world that bilateral relations between our two countries are strong and getting stronger. We are on an upward trajectory. And that’s truly exciting.”

The move was first announced in a joint statement during Baird’s visit to the UAE in April. The waiver will come into effect from June 1.

The confirmation follows two years after the UAE increased the cost of a one-month visit visa for Canadian citizens to $250 a month after Canada’s transport agency refused to give Gulf carriers Etihad and Emirates new landing rights.

Source: http://arabiantravelnews.net/airlines/2013/may/30/332808/#.UadvZNJkPbU