“Thousands of highly-skilled foreign nationals are working successfully in Canada on a temporary basis,” said Minister Kenney. “Expediting their transition to permanent residence would help Canada retain bright and talented people who already have Canadian work experience and the ability to communicate in English or French. In many cases, they already have a job lined up. Such newcomers are set for success.”

To make Canada’s immigration system more flexible and even more responsive to our labour market needs, Citizenship and Immigration Canada intends to reduce the work experience requirement for eligible temporary foreign workers applying to stay permanently. One major benefit of the change would be to make it easier for skilled tradespersons working in Canada to transition to permanent residence as their work is often project-based and can be seasonal.

Currently, to be eligible to apply, applicants under the temporary foreign worker stream of the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) must have acquired 24 months of full-time work experience within the last 36 months. Under the proposed regulatory changes, the requirement would be reduced to 12 months of experience.

The announcement is the latest in a series Minister Kenney has made about transforming Canada’s economic immigration program into a fast and flexible system focused on jobs, growth, and prosperity.

Launched in 2008, the CEC offers a pathway to permanent residence – and eventually Canadian citizenship – for international students and temporary foreign workers with highly-skilled Canadian work experience. The CEC aims to support the economic success of immigrants by selecting those who are most likely to succeed in Canada’s labour market.

In 2011, a record number of people were admitted to Canada under the CEC. According to preliminary admissions data, 6,022 immigrants were welcomed under the CEC last year, a significant increase in admissions of more than 50 % from 2010. In 2012, 7,000 permanent residents are expected to be admitted through the CEC – more than ever before.

“The CEC is a key part of our plan for the future of immigration in Canada, and so it is gratifying to see the dramatic growth in the program since its inception,” said Minister Kenney.

Source:CIC

““The Federal Skilled Worker Program backlog is a major roadblock to Canada’s ability to respond to rapidly changing labour market needs,”” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. ““Having to process applications that are as many as eight years out of date reduces our ability to focus on new applicants with skills and talents that our economy needs today.””

As announced in Economic Action Plan 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is planning to refund fees and return stale applications from nearly all those applicants who applied under the dated criteria in existence before February 27, 2008.

CIC is transforming its suite of economic immigration programs to create a just-in-time system that recruits people with the right skills to meet Canada’s labour market needs, fast tracks their immigration, and gets them working in a period of months, not years. Eliminating the longstanding backlog of FSW applications will allow the Department to focus resources on facilitating the arrival of skilled immigrants who apply under the current eligibility criteria.

Under proposed legislation, CIC will close the files of FSW applicants who applied before February 27, 2008, and for whom an immigration officer has not made a decision based on selection criteria by March 29, 2012. This is expected to affect around 280,000 applicants, including their dependants. CIC will begin the process of returning the full amount of fees paid to the Department by these affected FSW applicants. For those who have passed the selection criteria stage – approximately 20,000 people – CIC will continue processing their applications until they are approved for entry into Canada or not.

Over the last decade, the number of FSW applications received has greatly exceeded the space available within the Immigration Levels Plan each year, resulting in long processing times and an increasing inventory. Under the 2008 Action Plan for Faster Immigration,CIC began to limit intake to priority occupations. The Department added caps to the number of new applications in 2010. As a result of these efforts, CIC has reduced the pre-2008 backlog by more than 50 percent, and the overall FSW inventory by over 25 percent. However, without further action, some FSW applicants might have to wait until 2017 for a decision.

““It’s unreasonable to keep applicants waiting for another five years,”” said Minister Kenney. ““It’s also a far cry from the nimble and responsive immigration system Canada needs to remain a destination of choice.””

This decision is taken pending adoption by the National Assembly of Québec of a bill that would contain a provision, retroactive to 20 March 2012, authorizing the Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities to make such determination.

Immigration subclass Maximum number of applications between March 21, 2012, 19:00, Québec time, and March 31, 2013, 19:00, Québec time (to know the present situation, consult the Applications received page)

Bussinesspeople Investors 2 700
Entrepreneurs and self-employed workers 215
Skilled workers (see below to find out to which group of skilled workers you belong)
Group 1 No limit
Group 2 14 300
Group 3 0

Group 1: No limit to the number of applications

You belong to Group 1 if one of the following situations applies to you:

You or your accompanying spouse hold a diploma awarded by a teaching institution in an area of training allowing you to get 12 or 16 points under the area of training criterion of the selection grid for skilled workers. The number of years of study required to obtain your diploma must be at least equal to the number of years required to obtain that diploma in Québec. This diploma was obtained less than five years before the date of your application. Failing that, you must have practised, on a full-time basis and for at least one year out of the five years preceding the date of your application, a profession or trade in an area related to that diploma.

The occupations under this group will be:

Diploma in Nursing
Bachelor in Nursing
Diploma in Machining Techniques
Bachelors and Diploma in Avionics and Aircraft Maintenance
Bachelors in Chemistry
Diploma in Pharmacy Technology
Diploma in Civil Engg.
Diploma in Business Management
Diploma in Radition and Oncology Technology
Diploma in Retail Butchery
Diploma in Food Processing and Quality Technology
And Few More….
Group 2: a maximum of 14,300 applications from March 21, 2012 to March 31, 2013

You belong to Group 2 if one of the following situations applies to you:

You or your accompanying spouse hold a diploma, awarded by an teaching institution in an area of training allowing you to get 6 points under the area of training criterion of the selection grid for skilled workers. The number of years of study required to obtain your diploma must be at least equal to the number of years required to obtain that diploma in Québec. This diploma was obtained less than five years before the date of your application. Failing that, you must have practised, on a full-time basis and for at least one year out of the five years preceding the date of your application, a profession or trade in an area related to that diploma.

The occupations under this group will be:

Bachelors in Accounting and Commerce
Bachelors in Microbiology
Restaurant Managers
And Few more……

Group 3
You belong to Group 3 if none of the situations described for Group 1 or 2 apply to you.

No applications will be accepted under this group.

““I’m pleased that the Parent and Grandparent Super Visa is working as intended and giving large numbers of eligible parents and grandparents an opportunity to spend extended periods of time with their families in Canada,”” said Minister Kenney.

The process for getting a Parent and Grandparent Super Visa is simple and straightforward. Applicants for the Super Visa must submit proof that the host child or grandchild meets a minimum income, demonstrate that they have purchased comprehensive Canadian medical insurance and undergo the Immigration Medical Examination. Almost 99 percent of Super Visa applicants who met these requirements also went on to meet all other standard admissibility criteria which are required for all visa applicants.

As of February 26, 80 percent of the finalized Super Visa applications were processed to a final decision within 41 calendar days, well below the target of eight weeks. As application volumes ramp up, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will continue to aim for a Super Visa processing time of eight weeks or less.

Source:CIC

Canada welcomed 248,660 permanent residents in 2011, well within the Government’s planning range of 240,000 to 265,000 new permanent residents for the year and consistent with the average of about a quarter of a million immigrants admitted to Canada annually since 2006 – the highest sustained level of immigration in Canadian history.

“Canada’s per-capita immigration rate remains one of the highest in the world,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. “Immigration has always been a sustaining feature of Canada’s history and continues to play an important role in building our country.”

In 2011, Canada welcomed 156,077 economic immigrants and 56,419 family class immigrants.

Source:CIC

““Immigration is playing an increasingly important role in our economy and we need a system that does a better job of attracting the people who have the skills that are in demand and getting them here quickly,”” said Minister Kenney. ““We have made some great strides towards an immigration system that is fast and flexible, but know that there is more work to do.””

In his speech, the Minister highlighted recent changes to the Federal Skilled Worker Program, where current applicants must have experience in one of 29 occupations in demand, or have a job offer in Canada.

He also noted the growing success of the Canadian Experience Class, which allows certain foreign students and temporary foreign workers to translate their Canadian work and education experience into permanent residence. And he lauded the growth of provincial and territorial nominee programs, noting the role they have played in spreading the benefits of immigration across the country and addressing long-term regional labour needs.

While recognizing these improvements, the Minister indicated that more challenges lie ahead in seeing his vision realized. He noted, for instance, that the current points system used to assess federal skilled worker applicants needs to be more flexible and intelligent. It should place greater emphasis on the importance of language, he said, while recognizing that the language ability needed to successfully integrate in Canada is different for a doctor as opposed to a welder. It should also place greater emphasis on younger workers with high quality credentials that can be recognized quickly.

The Minister pledged to do a better job of attracting entrepreneurs and investors to Canada, noting that we lag behind the U.S., where half of the top 50 venture-capital backed companies are founded by immigrants.

While noting progress to date, he also promised to do more to reduce the legacy of backlogs, where there are wait times of seven years or longer in some categories.

““It makes no sense to tell people ‘apply now, but put your life on hold for a few years before we’ll even let you know if you qualify,’”” said the Minister. ““I will continue to make changes to create a faster, more flexible immigration system. Canadians need and deserve a system that boldly puts Canada’s best interests first.””

“Source:CIC”

http://www.universalimmigration.com/diy-main.php

Immigration to Canada has seen a tremendous upsurge in recent years, and with good reason. Unarguably, Canada is one of the fastest growing economies of the world and this fact is reflected in the position that it holds in the exalted economic Group of Eight and in the highly successful fiscal alliance that it has with the United States of America. Being permanent Canadian residents ensures that you will be beneficiaries to all that this high standing economy entails.

Canada presents a multitude of settlement options and warmly welcomes anybody who desires to make it their home. It is our wish to be part of that desire and hope that so many thousands of people harbor in their hearts. We help them realize their dream of a Canadian life by providing each individual immigrant applicant with a solution, which is customized to suit their needs. Our services extend to personnel resource managers of Canadian employers looking to hire foreign nationals, as well.

Immigration contributes to Canada’s unhindered industrial development and unites people of all cultures and traditions as one under the Government policy. Invested in every Canadian province is the power to apply their own Provincial Immigrations Programs (PNP).

Canada is a refreshingly unsoiled country which promises excellent education and health care options and intelligible and lucid retirement schemes. It’s flourishing monetary status, and endless supply of unsullied water and air, all account for a perfectly ideal and protected living environment.

Did you know – According to the United Nations Human Development Index, Canada has the highest quality of life in the world.

We are here to make Canada your home….Canada needs you………