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Immigration News

News

New Caps Affecting FSWP, FSTP, and CEC Skill Workers Applicants

New caps for Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades Programs, and Canadian Experience Class

On April 26, 2014, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will issue a new set of Ministerial Instructions to immigration officers regarding the processing of applications to the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

Effective May 1, 2014, the following measures will be in place:

Federal Skilled Worker Program:

Federal Skilled Workers are chosen as permanent residents based on their ability to prosper in Canada. They are assessed according to a selection grid made up of six factors, including language, education, work experience, etc.

  • Overall cap of 25,000 applications in eligible occupations stream
  • Cap of 500 applications for PhD eligibility stream
  • No limit on applicants who have a valid job offer from a Canadian employer
  • Sub-caps of 1,000 applications for each of the 50 eligible occupations below (their 2011 Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC) code is included in brackets):
  1. Senior managers – financial, communications and other business services (0013)
  2. Senior managers – trade, broadcasting and other services, n.e.c. (0015)
  3. Financial managers (0111)
  4. Human resources managers (0112)
  5. Purchasing managers (0113)
  6. Insurance, real estate and financial brokerage managers (0121)
  7. Managers in health care (0311)
  8. Construction managers (0711)
  9. Home building and renovation managers (0712)
  10. Managers in natural resources production and fishing (0811)
  11. Manufacturing managers (0911)
  12. Financial auditors and accountants (1111)
  13. Financial and investment analysts (1112)
  14. Securities agents, investment dealers and brokers (1113)
  15. Other financial officers (1114)
  16. Professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relations (1123)
  17. Supervisors, finance and insurance office workers (1212)
  18. Property administrators (1224)
  19. Geoscientists and oceanographers (2113)
  20. Civil engineers (2131)
  21. Mechanical engineers (2132)
  22. Electrical and electronics engineers (2133)
  23. Petroleum engineers (2145)
  24. Information systems analysts and consultants (2171)
  25. Database analysts and data administrators (2172)
  26. Software engineers and designers (2173)
  27. Computer programmers and interactive media developers (2174)
  28. Mechanical engineering technologists and technicians (2232)
  29. Construction estimators (2234)
  30. Electrical and electronics engineering technologists and technicians (2241)
  31. Industrial instrument technicians and mechanics (2243)
  32. Inspectors in public and environmental health and occupational health and safety (2263)
  33. Computer network technicians (2281)
  34. Nursing co-ordinators and supervisors (3011)
  35. Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses (3012)
  36. Specialist physicians (3111)
  37. General practitioners and family physicians (3112)
  38. Dietitians and nutritionists (3132)
  39. Audiologists and speech-language pathologists (3141)
  40. Physiotherapists (3142)
  41. Occupational therapists (3143)
  42. Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists (3214)
  43. Medical radiation technologists (3215)
  44. Medical sonographers (3216)
  45. Licensed practical nurses (3233)
  46. Paramedical occupations (3234)
  47. University professors and lecturers (4011)
  48. Psychologists (4151)
  49. Early childhood educators and assistants (4214)
  50. Translators, terminologists and interpreters (5125)

Federal Skilled Trades Program:

This program is for people who want to become permanent residents based on being qualified in a skilled trade.

  • Overall cap of 5,000 applications
  • All 90 skilled trades from the following NOC Skill Level B groups are eligible (with sub-caps of 100 applications each):
    • Major Group 72: Industrial, electrical and construction trades;
    • Major Group 73: Maintenance and equipment operation trades;
    • Major Group 82: Supervisors and technical occupations in national resources, agriculture and related production;
    • Major Group 92: Processing, manufacturing and utilities supervisors and central control operators;
    • Minor Group 632: chefs and cooks;
    • Minor Group 633: butchers and bakers.

Canadian Experience Class:

This program is for people who already have skilled work experience in Canada and want to immigrate permanently.

  • Overall cap of 8,000 applications
  • Sub-caps of 200 applications each for any NOC B occupation
  • Six ineligible occupations: administrative officers (NOC code 1221), administrative assistants (1241), accounting technicians/bookkeepers (1311), cooks (6322), food service supervisors (6311), and retail sales supervisors (6211).

The new Ministerial Instructions will also re-confirm the existing pause of applications to the federal Immigrant Investor and Entrepreneur Programs.

News, Study in Canada

Changes to the Canadian International Student Program

In-Canada Study Permit

As of June 1, 2014, certain foreign nationals who are in Canada on a Visitor Visa may apply for a study permit from within Canada to attend a designated institution. These include:

  • Minor children studying at the primary or secondary level;
  • Exchange or visiting students; or
  • Short-term students who have completed a course or program of study that is a condition for acceptance at a designated institution.

This change would further facilitate the transition from visitor to study permit holder for minor students once they reach the age of majority, as well as for those students who wish to transition from a short-term preparatory program to a longer-term college or university program.

 Access to Work During Studies

Study permit holders have the privilege of working either on or off-campus during their studies, including as part of co-op or internship programs, without having to obtain a Labour Market Opinion. Eligibility for these various work programs previously varied on a program by program basis. New regulations streamline eligibility by allowing work access for full-time students undertaking an academic, vocational or professional training program at a designated institution. The effects of these amendments will be to:

  1.  extend, for the first time, off-campus work to students attending private career colleges;
  2. exclude, for the first time, those students undertaking English or French as a second language (ESL/ FSL) programs or general interest or preparatory courses from the authorization to work under the co-op work permit program. Students undertaking ESL/ FSL programs or general interest or preparatory courses are therefore not eligible to work during their studies without a positive Labour Market Opinion (LMO).

Study permit holders that are full time, and enrolled in an academic, vocational or professional training program leading to a degree, diploma or certificate at a designated institution may work 20 hours per week during their studies and full time during scheduled academic breaks and are no longer required to apply for an Off-Campus Work Permit.

Transitional or “Grandfathering” Provisions

Current Students

As of June 1, 2014, students who already hold a study permit and are studying at a non-designated institution will be permitted to complete the program of study in which they were enrolled for the duration of that permit. These students may also renew their study permit for the remainder of the duration of their program or until the date that is three years after June 1, 2014.
Students who already hold a co-op work permit and are studying at a non-designated institution or enrolled in a program that does not qualify as an academic, vocational or professional training program will be permitted to continue to work in order to complete their program. These students may also renew their co-op work permit for the purpose of completing their program or until the date that is three years after June 1, 2014.

Students whose institution loses its designation status after the issuance of their study permits will be permitted to continue their studies there, if they wish to do so, until the end of the validity period of their study permit.

Prospective Students

Foreign nationals whose application for a study permit is received prior to June 1, 2014, are not subject to the new condition to be enrolled at a designated institution. These foreign nationals may renew their study permit to complete their program, for a duration that does not exceed three years after June 1, 2014. The application for such a study permit and its renewal would be assessed under the criteria that were in effect prior to June 1, 2014.
Additionally, those foreign nationals whose application for a co-op work permit was received prior to June 1, 2014, will not be subject to the requirement to be enrolled in an academic, vocational or professional training program offered by a designated learning institution in order to receive such a work permit.
Students are expected to be actively pursuing their studies regardless of whether or not their study permit was issued before or after June 1, 2014, and enforcement action for failure to do so is available to officers.

News

Canada funds plan to employ skilled immigrants

Ottawa will partner with the country’s manufacturing sector to reach out to skilled newcomers who have been trained elsewhere, Employment Minister Jason Kenney said Saturday.

Connecting with “underemployed” immigrants who have been internationally trained and having foreign credentials as engineers, technologists and technicians is one of four joint initiatives Canada and the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters have launched in a bid to address the country’s skilled-labour shortage, said Kenney, who formerly served as the minister of immigration.

“The single biggest frustration I had … was seeing brilliant people who left behind a high standard of living in their countries of origin, coming to Canada with their education and experience, only to find themselves unemployed or underemployed and too often stuck at the bottom of the labour market … because their degrees, their education, or their experience (was) not being recognized,” said Kenney at the Seimens plant north of Toronto.

The other initiatives include just over $4 million in funding to the CME to develop “occupational standards” to guide colleges and other educators in curriculum development reflective of the sector’s needs, as well as $1 million for the creation of regional committees that will give employers and educators a place to discuss labour shortage issues.

A “skills lab” forum will also be developed to provide employers, policy makers and academics with a place “to discuss solutions to the skills (shortage) challenge in the manufacturing sector,” Kenney said.

Around half of Canada’s manufacturers face labour shortages, CME president and CEO Jason Myers said.

“The skills challenge for manufacturers is acute,” Myers said. “Over 50% of companies across this country say they can’t find the people with the skills that they require to grow their businesses … This challenge is too big for the governments to handle on their own. It’s too big for businesses to handle on their own. It requires partnership.”

Saturday’s announcement comes around a month after Kenney visited Germany to take notes on its stringent apprenticeship programs for that country’s young people. However, critics said the German approach is too strict, pushing kids and youth into certain technical professions rather than allowing them to pave their own professional paths.

News

Nova Scotia offers program for Skilled Workers

In recent weeks, the small Canadian province of Nova Scotia has been under the spotlight for many prospective immigrants. This is due largely to the creation of a new stream of immigration called the Regional Labour Market Demand Stream (RLMD), which is administered as part of the Nova Scotia Nominee Program. Unlike most Canadian immigration programs, the RLMD stream does not require a job offer in order to apply.

The new stream offers the chance for prospective immigrants to settle in one of Canada’s most culturally dynamic provinces. Individuals wishing to obtain Canadian Permanent Residency through the RLMD stream or any of Canada’s immigration programs may wish to consider Nova Scotia, and to learn more about what the province has to offer.

Please Contact Us for more information on this program.