The following is a brief summary of the Ministerial Instructions as they pertain to Canadian immigration:

Federal Skilled Worker Program

A maximum of 5,000 applications will be considered for processing under the eligible occupation stream. A further 1,000 will be considered for processing under the PhD stream. There is no limit to the amount of applications with offers of arranged employment that will be considered for processing.

These caps are will be instituted for one year. The ‘cap year’ begins on May 4, 2014, and will end on April 30, 2014. Further years will begin on May 1st and end on April 30.

Federal Skilled Trades Class

The Federal Skilled Trades Class opened on January 2, 2013. A maximum of 3,000 applications will considered for processing for this year. Like the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the ‘cap year’ for the Federal Skilled Trades Class begins on May 4th, 2014, and will end on April 30th, 2014.

Federal Investor and Entrepreneur Classes

The Ministerial Instructions have confirmed that the temporary pause placed on application intake for these programs remains in place. The pause, which has been implemented to ‘manage inventory pressures’ will remain until further notice.

NOTE: Applicants to the Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades Classes who do not meet the criteria needed to be reviewed (whether they be caps or eligibility factors) will be informed that their application is not eligible for processing, and their processing fees will be returned.