Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Minister Diane Finley has begun her cross-Canada tour through which CIC will develop the framework for the newamendments to Canadian immigration legislation. By way of meetings and video conferences, provincial and territorial governments, as well asrepresentatives from business, labour, and academic and non-government organizations will be consulted.

The goal is to identify critical occupationalshortages, the role of immigration in responding to them, and how to deal with any barriers to foreign credential accreditation for these occupations.

Consultations have already taken place in the Atlantic Provinces and are set to continue throughout July. A national roundtable will take place on August15th.

“I believe this inclusive approach will help identify the categories of workers who get priority, and will allow us to prepare instructions that reflectthe knowledge and expertise of the provinces, territories and stakeholders,” stated Minister Finley.

The changes to Canadian immigration legislation, which were approved in June, allows the immigration minister to issue instructions on which categories ofapplications are to be prioritized, which should be held for future consideration, and which ones should be returned outright.

CIC is committed to their goal of admitting between 240,000 and 265,000 new Permanent Residents in 2008; they continue to process applications that werereceived before February 27, 2008. Applications received on or after this date will be subject to the new regulations once the priorities are determined.

The legislative amendments do not affect Provincial Nomination applicants or Quebec Skilled Worker applicants, which are being processed as usual. Also,Federal Skilled Worker applicants who have a job secured in Canada will have their applicationsprocessed as usual.