Minister Kenny Announces Plan to set more Realistic Employment Expectations for Immigrants

05-30-12

The common stereotype of overqualified immigrant taxi drivers in North America has been proven to be truer than once thought by a survey conducted by the Government of Canada. The federal immigration survey looked at the tax forms of 50,101 cab drivers and determined that 14% of immigrant drivers hold a bachelor’s degree, 5.4% hold a master’s degree, and 200 cabbies in the Greater Toronto area alone are either physicians or hold a PhD.Other interesting highlights of the yet-to-be-publicly-released “Special Study: Who Drives a Taxi in Canada” found that 50% of cab drivers are immigrants, with business and management serving as their top field of study.Ottawa has taken note of the inefficient and even unethical tendency whereby vast pools of talent are brought into Canada under programs such as the Federal Skilled Worker category only to have their foreign credentials unrecognized. This results in a high opportunity cost for the Canadian economy, and high animosity, disappointment, and regret amongst Canadian immigrants.While some of the blame lies with the notoriously protectionist provincial professional associations, the federal government has made a proposal to help alleviate the problem. Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism announced a proposal late last March which would require applicants to have their credentials assessed and verified by designated organizations before coming to Canada. Kenney maintained that such a proposal would give applicants and skilled workers a better idea of where they would fit in the Canadian economy, and would also screen out immigration Canada applicants who do not possess adequate levels of education.

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Rogers and CIBC first to launch ‘mobile wallets’ in Canada

 

TORONTO • A joint venture between Rogers Communications Inc. and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to turn smartphones into wallets capable of making day-to-day transactions with the swipe of a device represents the tip of the iceberg in a burgeoning mobile payments market, executives from both companies say.
The country’s fifth-largest bank and its biggest wireless carrier said Tuesday each is looking to partner with additional players in the nascent space.
“It will scale from here,” David Williamson, CIBC’s senior vice-president of retail and business banking said in an interview following a press conference at the bank’s Toronto headquarters.

Importantly, the partnership hinges on a new standards framework the Canadian Bankers Association announced Monday that clears many of the security and logistical obstacles that have held back the deployment of a so-called “mobile wallet” for years.

With the concerns resolved, CIBC and Rogers — alongside credit-card issuers Mastercard and Visa Canada — will enable smartphone devices to act as a physical CIBC credit card and pay for groceries, gas, restaurant bills and other small ticket items by the end of the year.
Mr. Williamson said this is the first such deal to develop from the code, which had been in the works for months. While the bank is firmly focused on its partnership with Rogers, Mr. Williamson would not rule out working with competing mobile providers, such as BCE’s Bell Mobility and Telus Corp.
“At this time it would be fair to say we would like to bring this to others,” the executive said.
A spokeswoman for Telus, the country’s third-largest carrier, said talks are taking place between it and financial institutions. “We are currently working with a number of banks to offer this service in the near future,” spokeswoman Elisabeth Naplano said via email.

Requests for comment from Bell was not immediately returned.

The new opportunity for both financial institutions and wireless providers is based on near-field communications (NFC) technology, which sends data such as a person’s card “credentials” over very short distances. In this instance, the data housed on a Rogers phone would be received by a small terminal near a traditional cash register.
Credit card companies, which have been fast to roll out mobile payment solutions of their own using their own cards, are logical partners because of their extensive “tap and go” networks already in place with merchants country wide, as well the loyalty and rewards programs they offer through their bank-sponsored cards, bank executives said.
Rogers will charge a flat-rate “rent” for a customer’s CIBC credentials to be stored on their SIM card, the small, removable chip that acts as a digital repositories for wireless usage, numbers, contact information and other personal data.
Rob Bruce, president of Rogers wireless and wireline operations, said roughly 300,000 customers have phones equipped with NFC technology in the market now, with the goal to have three-quarters of a million devices in use by the end of the year without specifying how many are CIBC credit-card holders and therefore eligible for the solution.
In an interview, the executive said it was “premature” to speculate on what other financial institutions Rogers may partner with, but he said the company is working aggressively to broaden the program. “We’re in very good shape,” he said.
While wireless credit and payment models have been in place for some time in emerging economies that lack large-scale banking infrastructure, there are only two other commercial NFC deployments like the one announced Tuesday in the world, Mr. Bruce said — underscoring the leap in innovation both CIBC and Rogers are taking. The first is from Telefónica SA of Spain while a second venture has been launched by a South Korean carrier.
The sole handset partner supporting the CIBC-Rogers NFC solution to date is BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. Apple Inc.’s iPhone currently has no plans to bring on NFC technology, a blow to consumer adoption perhaps but boon to rival smartphone makers.
Mr. Bruce said a “robust” roadmap is now in development for devices using Google’s Android platform.

Posted in: Financial Services News, FP Tech Desk  Tags: CIBC, Mobile, mobile payments, Rogers

Immigrants seeking low-skilled jobs to face mandatory language testing: Jason Kenney

 

Thousands of newcomers destined for low-skilled jobs Canadians don’t want in far-flung parts of the country will now be subject to mandatory language testing, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Wednesday during a stop in Saskatoon.
Starting July 1, Kenney said Provincial Nominee Program applicants in semi and low skilled professions will be tested and will be required to meet a minimum standard when it comes to listening, speaking, reading and writing in Canada’s official languages — English and French.
Additional changes will be made to the program to ensure economic streams are also prioritized.
As a result, immigrants coming to Canada under PNPs will arrive with much better language skills and will be selected for the impact they can have on Canada’s economy,” he said in a news release.
“We have supported enormous growth in the number of provincial nominees in recent years because it makes sense for the provinces and territories to have the flexibility to meet regional needs.”
The new language requirements will impact tradespeople, those in manufacturing, sales and services, as well as certain clerical and assistant categories.
Applicants will be required to provide valid test scores from a designated testing agency.
Temporary foreign workers who arrive before July 1, 2012 and transition to the provincial nominee program within a year have a one-time exemption.
More than 38,000 workers and their families came to Canada last year through the program which gives the provinces and territories a greater say in immigration in a bid to fill gaps in their local labour markets.
It’s also helped spread out the immigrant population as more and more people have been choosing to settle outside traditionally popular provinces like Ontario and British Columbia.
An economic boom in Saskatchewan, for example, has seen the program grow to 5,354 immigrants in 2010 compared to just 173 in 2003.
Kenney hinted in January that the government would bring in language proficiency requirements as a means of cracking down on fraud.
At the time, he suggested a “correlation” existed between high levels of immigration fraud and regions that don’t make language proficiency a top priority.
He said it was a particular problem with immigrant investor programs in Eastern Canada.
In fact, allegations of fraud, mismanagement and a series of lawsuits prompted the government to shut down immigrant investor programs in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
Some provinces were allowing consultants to run fast and loose and attract people who had a lot of money but no language proficiency,” Kenney said at the time.
With a file from The Calgary Herald

Posted in: Canada, News, Politics  Tags: immigration, Jason Kenney

Kenney says Canada not tossing would-be immigrants

The Canadian Press

Date: Friday May. 18, 2012 6:07 PM ET

REGINA — Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says the federal government is not tossing aside anyone who has been trying for years to get into Canada.
Ottawa is legislating away a backlog of 280,000 applications made before 2008, saying it's a necessary part of modernizing the immigration system.
Kenney said it wasn't fair to have people wait years for a decision on their application.
"We have to get to a fast system that connects employers with immigrants by bringing them in in a matter of months. We won't get to that fast system unless and until we deal decisively with the old backlog that we inherited and that's why we're taking this difficult but necessary step," Kenney said in Regina on Friday.
Some would-be immigrants announced this week that they will take the federal government to court over its decision to return their applications.
Toronto lawyer Lorne Waldman said he was immediately flooded with emails by people who were furious about the changes. They'd followed all the steps they were told to take to come to Canada, only to be pushed aside, he said.
Kenney said that's not the case.
The minister said those who are having their applications and related fees returned can reapply under new criteria established for the skilled worker program.
"We're not tossing anyone aside. We're simply making a responsible decision to get to a fast system by reducing this huge backlog and the seven-, eight-year wait times," said Kenney.
"Every one of those folks is more welcome to apply for our new and increasingly flexible immigration programs. If they want to come to Canada and they're qualified, they will, and they'll be able to come in more quickly under the new system that we're developing."
The seven-year backlog represents people who applied to get into Canada before Kenney rejigged the federal skilled worker program to fast-track applications from people the government feels can fill holes in Canada's economy.
Kenney said the government stands behind the legislative action to eliminate the backlog, despite any legal challenge.
"In terms of court challenges, we've always anticipated there'd be some immigration lawyers who try to make a buck by suing the government. That happens to us all the time, but we're very confident of our legal position," he said.
"This legislation has been closely examined by the Department of Justice and we believe it's lawful, it's fair and it will survive any judicial challenge."

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/QPeriod/20120518/kenney-immigrants-120518/#ixzz1vINoRSqh

Immigration applicants angry at new CIC proposal

 

On Friday March 30, 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) proposed new legislation that would reduce the country’s backlog of Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) applications – by eliminating all files submitted before February 27, 2008, when the selection criteria was changed, and which had not been seen by immigration officials before March 29, 2012.

根据新法案，如果一份在2008年以前递交的申请已经走过了第一步程序，那么还是会继续审批下去－－那些被毙掉的申请则不在考虑之列。

Under the proposed legislation, if an applicant submitted their file before 2008 and it moved past the initial stage, it would be processed regardless – meaning the applications being closed weren’t being evaluated anyway.

政府估计这一政策会影响28万人，包括他们的家属。

The government estimated this would affect 280,000 people, including dependants.

公民及移民部长杰森•肯尼在一次接受《多伦多星报》的采访时表示：“我能理解他们的失望感受，他们耐心地按部就班等了那么久，最终等来的只是申请被退回。我对此表示遗憾。”但是“如果我们不坚决地处理旧案的积压，我们的未来会一直受到拖累。”

“I can understand their frustration and I regret the fact that they waited patiently in the queue only to find out that we’re returning their applications,” Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said in an interview with the Toronto Star. But “if we don’t decisively deal with the old backlog, we’ll be carrying it well into the future.”

公民及移民部的一位发言人Nancy Caron对《大中报》表示，如果这项议案获得正式通过，移民部将向那些受影响的申请者退款。

If the proposed legislation is enacted, CIC will refund affected applicants’ fees, Nancy Caron, a CIC spokesperson, told Chinese News. 

他又说：“在新议案正式生效之前，部里仍旧要求签证办公室继续审批技术移民的申请，”这包括那些在2008年2月27日递交的申请。

“Until these changes come into force, CIC has instructed visa offices to continue with the processing of FSW applications,” including those submitted before February 27, 2008, he said.

这项议案宣布后一个月，世界各地有很多愤怒的申请者同时举行了抗议活动，包括伦敦、昌迪加尔、以及香港。

One month after the legislation was announced, many outraged applicants held simultaneous protests in cities around the world, including London, Chandigarh and Hong Kong.

姜一鸣参与组织了在香港的示威活动。做为一个组织“2008之前积压人士协会”的一员，他与别人合写了一份请愿书，并带领80位申请者在加拿大驻香港领事馆进行了游行。

Yiming Jiang helped organize the Hong Kong demonstration. As part of a group called the Pre-2008 Backloggers Association, he co-wrote a petition and led 80 applicants in a march outside Hong Kong’s Canadian embassy. 

“我们不是移民部的试验老鼠；我们是人，”请愿书中写到。“移民部的政策失误不应该让我们来付出代价，部长想出名想疯了，也不应该由我们来买单。”

“We are not the mice in CIC policy experiments; we are human beings,” the petition read. “We should not be made to pay the price for CIC’s... policy failures and the Minister [sic] insatiable thirst for publicity.” 

示威者把请愿书交给了大使馆的一位移民项目经理。

The protesters gave the petition to an immigration program manager at the embassy.

姜先生在2007年12月递交了他的技术移民申请。他目前的工作是担任化妆品配方师及生产经理，但是“非常乐意在加拿大的众多化妆品公司里找一家效力”，他对《大中报》表示。

Mr. Jiang submitted his FSW application in December 2007. He’s currently working as a cosmetic formulator and production manager, but “would very much like to work in one of the many cosmetic companies of Canada,” he told Chinese News.

但是，依政府在2008年颁布、代号为“C-50法案”的规定，按照“国家职业分类”划分的职业当中有29种，如果你属于其中之一并且证明有经 验，你的申请才会被接受。这些职业包括厨师（国家职业分类号码为6242）、家庭医师（号码为3112）、以及护士（号码为3233）。而姜先生的职业属 于“销售代理”（号码为6221），则不在29种之列。

However, under the government’s so-called “Bill C-50,” enacted in 2008, FSW applications are only accepted from foreigners with proven experience in one of 29 NOCs (National Occupational Classifications), including cooks (NOC number 6242), family physicians (NOC 3112) and nurses (NOC 3233). Mr. Jiang’s NOC, sales representative (6221), is not on that list.

“我们递交申请的时候，移民部曾经承诺过，我们的档案肯定会按照规则进行审批，”他告诉《大中报》。“他们告诉我们说要耐心，排队等候。”

 “CIC has been promising us our files will always be processed according to the rules when we submit our applications,” he told Chinese News. “They told us to be patient and wait in the queue.”

在C-50法案出台之前，申请者的审核标准除了考虑其工作领域，还包括语言技巧，在加拿大的亲戚有多少，以及教育程度。但对他们并没有职业限制。

Before C-50 was introduced, applicants were evaluated based on criteria such as language skills, number of relatives in Canada and education, in addition to their field of work. They were not limited to certain occupations.

姜先生还表示，只有36％的申请者在那些规定的领域里工作。而根据移民部自己在2010年的评估，技术移民在来加拿大三年内有89％能找到工作或者自雇，还有95％以上的受访雇主表示，技术移民能够达到或者超过他们的预期。

Moreover, only 36 percent of applicants worked in their chosen fields, Mr. Jiang said. Yet CIC’s own 2010 evaluation discovered that 89 percent of FSWs were employed or self-employed three years after landing in Canada, and more than 95 percent of employers surveyed indicated that FSWs were meeting or exceeding their expectations. 

“加拿大是一个自由的国度，”姜先生说。“即使在中国我们也可以自由挑选我们喜欢的工作领域。加拿大移民部没有任何权力干预我们的工作选择。”

“Canada is a free country,” Mr. Jiang said. “Even in China we have the freedom to work in whatever fields we like. CIC has no right whatsoever to interfere with our job preferences.”

移民部的Caron女士表示，新法案对于加拿大“与国际上的人才竞争者保持同步”是必要的。

CIC’s Ms. Caron said the new legislation was necessary for Canada “to keep pace with our competitors for global talent.”

“如果加拿大的审核系统跟不上劳动力市场的变化，我们的结果就是奖励那些最耐心的申请者，而不是最优秀的申请者，”她表示。“一个现代化的、有成果的、讲究效率的经济移民体系是不能这么运作的。”

“If Canada’s processing system is slower than the pace of change of the labour market, we end up rewarding the most patient applicants over the best applicants,” she said. “This is not how a modern, effective and efficient economic immigration system should be run.”

清除个案积压可以让移民部把精力集中到审批那些“按照目前的标准、更适合于弥补加拿大目前经济面临的短缺”的申请者。Caron表示。

Eliminating the backlog will allow CIC to focus on processing immigrants “who apply under the current eligibility criteria and are more suited for shortages in the Canadian economy today,” Ms. Caron said.

“受影响的申请者可以按照技术移民目前的审核标准重新申请，”她表示。“如果他们有加拿大现在需要的技能，他们可能会得到非常迅速的审批。”

“Affected applicants can re-apply under the current FSW selection criteria,” she said. “If they possess the skills Canada needs now, they are likely to receive much faster processing.”

自从C-50法案颁布后，联邦政府已经把技术移民的申请个案削减了50％，从2008年的64万人减少到2011年的31.4万人。移民部官员估计如果按目前的速度处理剩下的积压申请，要到2017年才能处理完。

Since Bill C-50’s introduction, the federal government has reduced the FSW backlog by 50 percent, from more 640,000 people in 2008 to around 314,000 by 2011. CIC officials estimate that processing the remaining backlog would take until 2017.

据“2008之前积压人士协会”估计，如果维持2010年的审批力度，到2015年就会把积压个案全部清理完。但是2011年的审批力度下降了一半。

The Pre-2008 Backloggers Association estimates that maintaining 2010 processing levels, which dropped by half in 2011, would allow the government to finish processing the backlog by 2015.

添礼熙，一位多伦多的移民律师，正在准备向新法案提起诉讼。他估计如果新法案获得通过的话，集体诉讼会随之而来。

Tim Leahy, a Toronto-based immigration lawyer, is arranging litigation against the proposal. He expects a class-action lawsuit will be filed if the new legislation goes through.

“据我了解，加拿大政府以前还从来没有干过这么缺德的事情，”他说。

“To my knowledge, the Government of Canada has never tried to legislate such unethical behavior before,” he said.

添礼熙说“移民部暗示他们很得意的‘职业分类表’能够满足加拿大劳工市场的迫切需要，这是在误导公众，”特别是他们知道只有36％的移民会继续从事原理的工作。

Mr. Leahy said that “CIC is misleading the public by implying that their much-vaunted ‘occupation list’ will assure that ‘urgent labour markets’ are met,” especially given the organization’s knowledge that only 36 percent of immigrants pursue their chosen occupation.

“不但如此，那29种职业里面有18种是需要先拿执照才能从业的，所以只要能够看透表面，就不难理解移民部的说服根本不可信。”添礼熙表示。

“Moreover, the fact that 18 of the 29 occupations require licensing before being able to practice their trade or profession makes it obvious to anyone who looks beyond the surface that CIC’s assertion is devoid of credibility,” Mr. Leahy said.

添礼熙本人也是一位移民，来自底特律。来加拿大之前他做过外交官，是一个福利项目的主任，移民后成为一名律师。

An immigrant himself, from Detroit, Mr. Leahy was a diplomat and benefit program director before he moved to Canada and became a lawyer.

“对我来说，做一个成功的移民，要能够随机应变，具有多种多样的经验，”他表示。总的来说，一个移民“如果来加拿大之前就有不止一个职业，那么来后会更容易找到工作。”

 “To me, the successful immigrant is one who can improvise, one who possesses varied experience,” he said. After all, an immigrant “who has had more than one career before immigrating has more chances to find employment in Canada.”

编注：英翻中：红枫编译。Translator (English to Chinese): Hong Feng. 如果你对本文有任何评论，请到096.ca的“特别报道”栏目下、此文的论坛里发表评论。如果你有任何社区、社会和生活问题需要大中报回答或调查，请将你 的评论或问题细节以电话留言（416-504-0761 转215分机），或传真（416-504-4928），或电邮（cng@chinesenewsgroup.com），或电邮给Eric Emin Wood(eric.emin@chinesenewsgroup.com）。你可以匿名为本报提供调查线索，但调查线索应包括当事人的联系电话或地址、 发生问题的时间及地址等信息。

Immigrants are no drain to state economy!

AMA new study on immigration statistics in Massachusetts shows immigrants will play a critical role in the work force in the coming years and do not burden society, one of its authors said.The study, commissioned by the Immigrant Learning Center in Malden and based mostly on 2009 data, found immigrants had lower incomes but were more likely to be in the workforce than native-born residents.Immigrants also used comparable public services.“If there was any myth that immigrants are somehow costing society, that’s just not true,” said Alan Clayton-Matthews, a Northeastern University economics professor who co-authored the study with UMass-Boston political science professor Paul Watanabe.In Framingham, where 25 percent of the population is foreign-born, immigration attorney Kirk Carter said the study dispels myths about immigrants’ negative effect on the economy.“On an overall basis, immigration is a net positive,” Carter said. “It has been for over 240 years and should continue to be.”Almost 72 percent of immigrants participated in the workforce compared to 67.5 percent of native-born Bay State residents.But immigrants’ average income was $40,855, 11 percent less than that of someone born in the United States, the study found.About half of immigrants are 18 to 44 years old, compared to 36.8 percent of natives.“That’s important because going forward with the baby boomers (retiring), there will be a labor shortage that youthful immigrants could help minimize,” Clayton-Matthews said.Immigrants tend to be highly educated or have not graduated from high school, with few people in between, a trend that needs to change for them to take over for baby boomers, said Marcia Drew Hohn, a director at the learning center.Similarly, immigrants tend to fill highly skilled biotechnology and medical research fields and less skilled service and landscaping jobs, Hohn said.“I think that’s very striking,” she said. “We need to ... help people move beyond lower-skilled levels.”Hohn, who said the study includes legal and illegal immigrants, added that it underscores the need to offer in-state tuition to children of people here illegally.But Steve Kropper, co-chairman of Massachusetts Citizens for Immigration Reform, said the market would find a way to adjust to labor shortages.“The flood of illegal immigration is principally about low-skilled, low-wage workers,” Kropper said. “We have a high unemployment rate of low-skilled, low-educated workers.”Offering in-state tuition only encourages more illegal immigrants to come, he said.Immigrants, who comprise 14.4 percent of the state’s population, pay 14 percent of state income taxes, according to the study.Immigrants use slightly more public school services, but use less nursing and correctional services and about equal unemployment and food stamp benefits, Clayton-Mathews said.The study found that 9.7 percent of the prisoners in Massachusetts are immigrants, while 17.7 percent of people 18 to 64 years old are immigrants.The authors based those statistics on U.S. Census and state Department of Correction data.Framingham Police Chief Steven Carl said ethnicity does not affect whether someone commits a crime. Other circumstances such as drug addiction play a role, Carl said.“No one’s born a criminal,” Carl said.Carter said the prisoner statistic speaks to the “character and quality of people who come to the United States. ... They know that there’s opportunity here they haven’t been raised with.”

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Canada and U.S. to Consult on Facilitating Cross-Border Business

PRESS RELEASEMay 14, 2012, 3:01 p.m. EDT

Canada and U.S. to Consult on Facilitating Cross-Border Business

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, May 14, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Today Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced joint consultations with stakeholders on cross-border business-increasing efforts to facilitate business travel between the United States and Canada.As outlined in the United States-Canada Beyond the Border Action Plan, announced by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper in December 2011, the joint consultations will aim to 1) receive comments on the implementation of commitments included in the Action Plan and 2) identify and assess new ways to facilitate cross-border business travel in the short and medium terms."This Government's top priority remains jobs, growth and long-term prosperity," said the Honourable Vic Toews, Canada's Minister of Public Safety. "These consultations will help improve cross-border trade and bring greater economic benefits to both Canada and the United States.""Billions of dollars worth of goods and hundreds of thousands of people cross our shared border every day. We want to hear directly from businesses on both sides of the border about how cross-border business travel could improve. We especially want to hear fresh ideas," said Minister Kenney."DHS is committed to working with our Canadian partners to facilitate cross-border business, strengthening the economies of both our countries," said Secretary Napolitano. "Through these joint consultations, we will receive direct feedback from businesses on how we can improve travel and trade at the border."Secretary Napolitano today attended the first joint consultation between representatives from several major companies and industry associations in Washington. Minister Kenney will attend the joint consultation in Toronto on May 24. Consultations will be facilitated by the Migration Policy Institute-a non-profit, non-partisan think tank based in Washington, D.C. Stakeholder comments regarding Canadian and U.S. government commitments made in the Action Plan to facilitate the conduct of cross-border business, as well as recommendations for additional improvements, will be accepted online starting today, until June 15, 2012.A report on the outcomes of this process will be distributed to stakeholders and will be available on the DHS and Citizenship and Immigration Canada Web sites once consultations have been completed. Contacts: Ana Curic Minister's Office Citizenship and Immigration Canada 613-954-1064 Media Relations Communications Branch Citizenship and Immigration Canada 613-952-1650 CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca Press Office U.S. Department of Homeland Security 202-282-8010 Media Relations Public Safety Canada 613-991-0657 SOURCE: Government of Canada mailto:CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca Copyright 2012 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved. 

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The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program: Gateway to the West

British Columbia (BC), situated in the westernmost part of Canada, is a province renowned for its cosmopolitan population and great natural beauty. Almost half of its 4.5 million residents live in and around the metropolitan areas of Vancouver and the capital city of Victoria. However, the province is also experiencing growth in the countryside as workers flock to fill positions in the booming natural resources industry.
The province’s long history as a center for immigration can be evidenced today in its diverse population. In fact, British Columbia is considered the most demographically diverse province in Canada. There are particularly vibrant immigrant communities hailing from China and other East and South Asian countries, giving the province a unique cultural flavor.
The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) is the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) for this province. Like all PNPs, it encompasses a number of different categories of immigration through which eligible applicants may apply for Canadian Permanent Residency (PR). Qualified applicants may receive a provincial nomination certificate, which takes approximately 16-18 weeks to process. The certificate is then sent with the rest of their application to the Federal government for health and security screening. Using this system, British Columbia is able to select the immigrants that will best contribute to the province.
Categories of BCPNP Immigration
The BCPNP program organizes its immigration streams into two general categories: Strategic Occupations and Business Immigrants. There are several sub-categories of these two groups, each with its own unique qualification requirements.
Strategic Occupations:
The Strategic Occupations group is broken down into five sub-categories. These aim to target skilled and semi-skilled workers who will help to build British Columbia’s economy. Nominees in these categories must either have a job offer of indeterminate length from a BC employer, or have completed a masters or doctorate degree at a BC post-secondary institution in the natural, health, or applied sciences.
Skilled Worker – This stream is designed for applicants who have permanent, full-time job offers from a BC employer in a skilled occupation. The employer must be considered eligible to request provincial nomination, and the job offer must meet federal and provincial labour standards. The employee will also have to prove that they are qualified to fill the position by merit of their education and work experience.
International Graduates – Applicants in this category must submit a BCPNP application within two years of graduating from a recognized post-secondary education institution in Canada. They must have received a permanent, full-time job offer from a BC-based employer. Applicants can be hired as `skilled` or `semi-skilled` labourers, provided that in the case of a semi-skilled job offer the employer can demonstrate a structured plan for the job to progress to a skilled level.
International Post-Graduate Pilot Project – This Pilot Project has been implemented for a 3 year period, and will remain open to receive applications until 28 May 2013. Graduates from an eligible Masters or Doctorate program in British Columbia, with a degree in a targeted field within the natural, applied, or health sciences, may apply through this immigration stream.
An application must be submitted within two years of graduation, and it is expected that if more than 6 months have elapsed since graduation the candidate will have applied for and received a valid temporary work permit. However, a job offer is not required to apply to this stream.
Designated Health Professionals – Three health professions have been targeted by the province for immigration through this stream. They are registered nurses/registered psychiatric nurses, physicians, and midwives. Slightly different application rules apply to each profession, but all must be able to legally practice in British Columbia. All must also have been recruited for work by regional health authorities. Health professionals who do not fall into this stream may be eligible to apply through the Skilled Worker stream.
Entry Level and Semi-Skilled – This stream is for workers currently in Canada who are working in semi-sklled positions (classified as C or D level according to the National Occupation Classification) in the tourism, food processing, or long-haul trucking industries. Nominee applicants must have worked for their nominating employer full-time for at least nine consecutive months before they can apply to the BCPNP. In addition, applicants must have completed a minimum of 12 years of education, and hold valid licensing if applying as a long-haul truck driver. Beginning in 2012, language testing in English will be required of all applicants.
Northeast Pilot Project – In an effort to further develop its Northeastern sector, the BCPNP has created the Northeast Pilot Project. This two-year pilot will be accepting applications until 4 April 2014. For this region only, semi-skilled applicants in any C or D position may be eligible to apply to the BCPNP. Applicants must still fulfill all other requirements. High skilled workers in this region may apply to the regular Skilled Worker stream.
In all cases where a job offer is required, the employer and the employee (the nominee applicant) submit joint applications to the BCPNP. Generally speaking the nominee applicant will have to prove the following:
• That they intend to settle in BC
• That they can become economically established in BC
• That they do not have an active refugee claim
• If inside Canada, they maintain legal immigration status
• If outside Canada, they are residing legally in their current country of residence

Canada - Action plan for faster Immigration!!!

As per an official News Release – Government of Canada is taking drastic steps to create a fast and flexible immigration system that creates jobs and promotes Canada’s long term prosperity, the Government of Canada will eliminate the backlog in the main federal economic immigration program.

“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 system that fast tracks immigration, and gets immigrants 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.

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.”

The above stated action plan though is a bad news for applicants who had applied for Canadian Skilled Worker Immigration before 28^th February 2008; but it is very good news for the new potential applicants. By doing away with the big backlog, CIC will be able to process current new applications in matter of months. So the potential new applicants will be in Canada in matter of a year or so rather than waiting for number of years and that in uncertainty of processing time and decision on applications as was the case with previous applicants.

The Minister of Canadian Immigration has already announced that the Language Standard for professionals is to be elevated, hence, the potential applicants are advised not to wait till the revised required scores levels are published on CIC website, they should practice and try to get all high band scores (at least 7 band on each of the module of IELTS.) This would help them to be ready with all the documents and English Language evidence (IELTS), before 1^st July 2012; the time new Occupations List will be introduced and the authorities will start accepting new applications under new List of Occupations. The Minister has also announced that the new applicants must get their educational credentials assessed and submit assessment reports with their applications. Currently one of the main assessment body recognized for such assessments is WES http://www.wes.org/. The potential applicants are advised to check out the requirements of assessment and keep all possible documents etc..ready, so that they could immediately apply for credential assessments when official instructions, requirements, format etc.. are announced. One may be proactive and get the credential assessed now, but the minor risk is that the Minister may announce some changes to the assessment process and requirements as well at the later stage. The potential applicants must know that for past two years CIC had introduced cap to limit the number of applications which were to be accepted for processing. In all probability, cap with limited quota of new applications will be set this year as well. The potential applicants, ready with all the documents and language results (IELTS or TEF) as per requirement, will have good chance of submitting their case at the earliest and get them accepted for processing. Delay would cause missing opportunity this year and wait for next time and who knows as per next year’s immigration  policy amendments one would qualify for the immigration or not! All is not lost for the pre-C50 bill applicants whose applications may be returned!!! They must submit new applications under new rules (if they qualified), as they can be sure of fast track process of their new cases!

Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2012 – Proposed changes to Canada’s Economic Immigration System

Immigration was featured prominently in the recent federal budget. Economic Action Plan 2012 highlighted a number of proposed changes to Canada’s economic immigration system to make it more proactive, targeted, fast and efficient in a way that will sustain Canada’s economic growth and deliver prosperity for the future. Minister Jason Kenney made several announcements in the days following the budget to expand on his vision for a system that is flexible enough to get Canada the skilled people our economy needs, where and when they are needed. To make progress on this vision, a number of necessary legislative amendements were recently introduced with the Budget Implementation Act.
Economic Action Plan 2012 initiatives include:

• Eliminating the backlog of old applications in the federal skilled worker category. CIC plans to refund fees and close applications from nearly all those applicants who applied before new rules were brought in February 27, 2008. Eliminating the backlog of old applications will allow CIC to focus on applicants with skills and talents that our economy needs today. The goal is to move to a just-in-time system where immigrants with needed skills can be selected from a pre-qualified pool.
• Reforming the federal skilled worker point system used to select immigrants to better reflect the importance of younger immigrants with Canadian work experience and better language skills.
• Creating a new Federal Skilled Trades program, to make it easier for them to immigrate to Canada and fill labour market needs. The goal is to move to a just-in-time system where immigrants with needed skills can be selected from a pre-qualified pool.
• Modifying the Canadian Experience Class to make it easier for highly skilled temporary foreign workers to transition to permanent residence.
• Consulting with industry on a “start-up” visa for innovative entrepreneurs. The aim would be to attract immigrant entrepreneurs and link them with private sector organizations that have experience and expertise working with start-ups.
• Strengthening the overseas verification of education credentials of applicants to the Federal Skilled Workers Program. An independent, third party assessment of their education before they arrive would let applicants know how their education credentials compare to Canadian credentials and how Canadian employers are likely to value their education. It will also help screen out people without proper education levels.
• Consulting on possible reforms to the Immigrant Investor Program with stakeholders and provinces and territories.
• Working with provinces, territories, and employers to create a just-in-time pool of skilled workers who are ready to begin employment in Canada.
• Strengthening the Provincial Nominee Program by establishing minimum language requirements and ensuring an economic focus.

The Canadian Immigration Minister speaks about important reforms to be brought about in Canadian Immigration Policy

.......We have to deal decisively with these problems of huge backlogs and endless wait times, which is why in our budget last month we announced that we will be returning some three-quarters of the applications that have been waiting in our main federal immigration system. It’s a difficult decision. I regret it for those who have been waiting patiently in line. I regret that mistakes that were made in the past have made this necessary. But if we don’t take decisive action now, we will never have a fast immigration system that can actually respond to labour markets and bring in people to meet jobs that are available. We must act decisively. And, as a result of this, within about 18 months, we will have a real‑time immigration system at the federal level that brings people who are qualified into Canada within months of their application rather than years. And that will massively improve our ability to connect immigrants with the jobs that are available.
We have studied changes that have been made in various other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, where they have created a system to pre‑assess the education and skills of people who want to work in regulated fields and regulated professions.
As I am sure you are very much aware, one of the most difficult problems for immigrants is getting their diplomas and skills recognized. At a domestic level in Canada, we are working with Quebec and other provinces in the context of the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Recognition of Foreign Qualifications. We have invested $50 million in this program through the Economic Action Plan to bring all professional associations—doctors, lawyers, etc.—onboard in pan-Canadian discussions to arrive at an accelerated and simplified system for assessing and recognizing foreign qualifications.
So that’s important work we’re doing and we will then take that at the federal level to invite people applying for immigration to Canada to go the national bodies representing the licensing groups and apply for a pre-assessment. We want to know whether they have at least an even chance of getting their licence to practise in Canada before bringing them here.
There are two problems with foreign credentials. One is, truthfully, some of the licensing bodies have engaged in a certain amount of gate-keeping and protectionism. But another problem, to be honest, is one we’ve created because we’ve invited to the country people who are on paper engineers and doctors but who aren’t really at the Canadian standard. We owe them truth in advertising.
We have a responsibility to be clear because if we attract an engineer who is in fact a technician according to Canadian standards, why are we bringing this person to Canada when we won’t be able to benefit from their skills? Why bring to Canada doctors from abroad who will become taxi drivers or convenience store workers?
That doesn’t do them any favours. It’s a huge waste of their potential. It creates enormous human costs and social costs and it represents a huge cost in terms of lost opportunity for the Canadian economy. And that’s why we’ll be doing a pre-assessment of credentials and education.
As you are aware, in the federal system, we give the same points to an applicant with a degree from Harvard that we give to applicants with a degree from the lowest-ranked university in the United States.
We don’t do any qualitative assessment of education, just a kind of look at the quality of education. In the future we’ll be assessing whether people’s education is actually relevant to the Canadian labour market.
And we intend to create a system of highly‑skilled applicants, which we will share with employers so that we can connect employers who are looking for skilled people with the immigration applicants. This is the same system that New Zealand and Australia have adopted.
So in this new system, employers will be able go in and do a query of those who are pre-qualified, and invite them into Canada with arranged jobs. In our studies, we have seen that immigrants who arrive in Canada with prearranged employment earn an average of close to $80,000 in their third year in Canada. This is twice as much as immigrants who arrive without prearranged employment. Therefore, we need to follow what the data says.
And the data tells us that people who have prearranged jobs do about twice as well as those that don’t.
So those are some of the reforms we are implementing to better align our immigration system with our economic needs. And, I should say, we have already carried out some significant reforms—for example, we have created the Canadian Experience Class and we want to help foreign students remain in Canada and become Canadians.
We have created a new program that allows foreign students to remain in Canada as permanent residents following their studies. We now issue two‑year post‑graduation work permits to help students as they start their experience in Canada. Also, we allow temporary foreign workers who qualify and who have worked in Canada for a year to remain in Canada.
These individuals, the highly-skilled students and temporary workers, have already been integrated. They have perfected their language skills. They have experience in our labour market and they have degrees that will be recognized by Canadian employers. This means that their success is almost certain. We need to retain them and, because of the changes we are implementing, we will be able to do so.
I should also mention the reforms we want to make to our immigrant entrepreneur and investor programs because I know that this affects a number of you here today.
I believe that Canada has been underselling itself when it comes to immigrant investors. We have a lower price point, but we give immediate permanent residency to those who just loan our governments $800,000 for five years, which is guaranteed and which they get back. That does not, in my mind, represent the creation of wealth or jobs. It is not a durable or ongoing commitment to the Canadian economy and they don’t even take a risk. Moreover, there is a huge surplus of applicants for these programs. There are literally millions of millionaires with a huge net worth who are interested in coming to Canada.
So in my view, we should modify these programs to extract greater economic benefit for Canada, to find some way to ensure a meaningful, ongoing, wealth-creating, job-creating investment from investor immigrants. We are underpricing ourselves. And, you know, we should realize that we are the gold standard in international migration. Permanent residency in Canada is as good as it gets.
I was at an event in Toronto announcing some of our new entrepreneurial programs the other day with Kevin O’Leary from The Dragon’s Den TV show. And he said, when he goes around the world talking to investors, Canada has become the global rock star for investment. According to Forbes Magazine, this is now the best country in the world in which to start a new business. According to the World Bank, Canada is the third best place in the world in which to invest.
There is, as I say, no shortage of people who want to bring their capital here. And, if we’re going to give them the privilege of permanent residency in Canada, we should require a meaningful and ongoing contribution to the Canadian economy.
This is the reason why we have announced consultations on reforms to the immigrant investor program. Quebec has a similar program and we want to work closely with Quebec in this respect. We also want to coordinate potential changes with Quebec as much as possible.
Lastly, we are reforming our entrepreneur immigrant program. Currently, we are attracting people who have to provide a loan of $300,000 and who are required to create employment within two years. They come, they purchase a small convenience store, and they sell it in two years. That is not creating employment. That is not the true spirit that we are looking for among foreign entrepreneurs. So we are going to reform these programs.
For example, creating a new start-up visa program will allow innovators, such as young people from overseas who are very talented, who have a business plan and who are supported by investors in Canada, to come here and create their businesses in Canada. So we’re thinking of this kind of a start-up visa idea. The same idea is now before the U.S. Congress. We want to beat the U.S. to the punch in attracting these people.
Let me say that – I’ll wrap up in a moment to take your questions –we also understand the central importance of language proficiency in our approach to immigration and integration.
As you are aware, the data indicates that language proficiency is the most important factor in ensuring that immigrants are successful. I am very much aware that this is a loaded issue here in Quebec. At the federal level, we are going to increase the language proficiency obligations for immigrant professionals. We are going to create a new skilled trades program, which will include a set minimum standard for these individuals.
Under the citizenship programs, language proficiency is a legal obligation. In order to become a Canadian citizen, immigrants need to show that they are proficient in English or French. However, I have met too many Canadian citizens who have been living here for many years who cannot express themselves in English or French. This is not acceptable because it limits their social mobility and impacts their lives in Canada.
So I’m announcing today that we will be requiring applicants for citizenship to obtain evidence of having reached our minimum level of language proficiency through a designated third party organization to ensure that all of those who join us as full members of our Canadian family in the future are able fully to participate in our society.
I would like to thank you for your patience. You can see that I have addressed only some of the changes that we are currently pursuing. I could also discuss our efforts to strengthen the integrity of the system but, at the end of the day, what is important is that we want to continue with our tradition of being a country that is open to the world.
We want to continue our humanitarian traditions towards refugees in need of our protection. But we also want to attract people from all over the world to help us build a prosperous and generous society, where they can maximize their potential. We have a moral obligation to do so for newcomers. We have an obligation to do so for Canadians. And we have a reform plan to do so for the future of Canada.
Thank you very much.