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New report makes recommendations to improve Canadian immigration and settlement programs

Vanessa — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:20:37 +0000

A detailed report on Canada’s immigration policies, and their impact on the Canadian economic and social landscape, was released on Wednesday by the Maytree Foundation, a Canadian policy research organization.

The report, authored by Naomi Alboim of the Maytree Foundation, details the findings of a year-long study by academics, governments and immigrant settlement workers, and presents 15 recommendations for adjusting Canadian immigration policy to accommodate Canada’s long-term economic needs.

“Canada’s economic immigration program has evolved – and should continue to evolve – in response to changing labour markets, immigration patterns, demographic imperatives and regional issues,” said Alboim.

The study was conducted to review the impact of Canadian Immigration programs on the Canadian economy and to propose improvements to immigration and settlement programs to ensure that Canada remains a leading destination for skilled immigrants.

“Immigration to Canada is fundamental to the nation’s social and economic well-being. Without it the economy will not thrive and the population will not grow,” Alboim said.

The recommendations set out in the report include making adjustments to the Federal Skilled Worker category that will allow more skilled immigrants to permanently settle in Canada, and create a national framework for Provincial Nominee Programs that will complement the Federal Skilled Worker program. Another recommendation is to facilitate links between applicants and Canadian employers.

In addition, the report recommends monitoring both the process of recruiting temporary foreign workers and their working conditions to ensure that their employment in Canada is successful.

As well as recommendations for changes to immigration policies, the report suggests continued focus on settlement and integration will ensure that newcomers can successfully integrate into the labour market. These include expanded information and services overseas, broader access for immigrants to labour market services, expanded eligibility for federally-funded settlement services and increased funding for creative labour market supports such as mentoring and enhanced language training.

“Experience has shown that early investments in training, mentoring and work internships can lead to higher earnings and help immigrants contribute to our society and our economy,” said Alboim.

“These investments are not insignificant. However, they pale in comparison to the contributions that immigrants and subsequent generations will make to Canada,” she said.

The Maytree Foundation is a privately-funded charitable foundation that studies policy issues with respect to immigration, diversity, integration and building civic communities. Naomi Alboim is a Senior Fellow at the Maytree Foundation as well as Adjunct Professor and Co-Chair, Policy Forum at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University.

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Immigration delays don’t merit a warning, says P.E.I. minister

admin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:05:54 +0000

The P.E.I. government doesn’t plan to warn immigrant investors about delays in coming to Canada through the provincial nominee program, because it says the wait will not be long.

In an email to CBC News last week, Citizenship Immigration Canada said an unexpectedly high volume of potential immigrants nominated by P.E.I. would lead to delays, and that it had advised the province it should warn its nominees. Previously, applications were generally approved within a year. Last week, Auditor General Colin Younker wrote in his annual report the wait could be two to four years.

But Innovation Minister Allan Campbell told the legislature Tuesday he doesn’t think it will be that long.

Campbell said he recently met with federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who assured him the immigrants would be processed in a “timely manner.” He said he believes that means the nominees could be waiting between 18 months and two years to become landed immigrants. While that’s longer than usual, Campbell argued that type of wait doesn’t warrant a warning letter from the province.

Kenney said the federal government would be providing a detailed schedule of how long the files will take to process.

CIC was expecting P.E.I. to nominate about 1,000 immigrants in 2008 before the program underwent changes in September. But the province put a rush on finding potential immigrants in advance of those changes, and ended up nominating more than 1,800.

Ontario PNP expands targets and makes it easier for applicants to qualify

admin — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:53:26 +0000

What was originally launched as the Ontario Pilot Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in May 2007 has now been retooled to broaden its qualifying criteria and to accept twice the amount of applicants annually.

The new Opportunities Ontario Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) is made up of two categories: the General Category for Ontario employers and investors who wish to hire skilled foreign workers; and the International Student Category for those seeking to hire international graduates.

Whereas previously, only those Ontario employers who were seeking to hire foreign skilled workers in a list of 20 occupations in the health, education, manufacturing, and construction sectors could qualify, now the General Category is open for all managerial, professional, and skilled occupations (listed as NOC A, B, or 0). Applicants must have at least two years of work experience in any occupation.

To hire international students, positions must be in skilled occupations (NOC A, B, or 0); however, they no longer have to be related to the student’s field of study in Canada. International student applicants are not required to have any previous work experience. Their publicly-funded Canadian university or college can be anywhere in Canada, not only Ontario.

Under the General category, investors in Ontario can recruit key employees to become Permanent Residents in Ontario. Investments must create jobs for Ontarians and be endorsed by an Ontario Government Ministry. Previously, investor applicants were required to invest $10 million or more in the province and create at least 25 permanent full-time jobs. These requirements have been reduced under the new Ontario PNP to a $3 million investment and the creation of at least 5 new permanent full-time jobs.

The Ontario PNP fee structure has also been revised. Foreign Worker Nominee application fees remain at $2,000, unless the employer is outside the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), in which case the fee is $1,500. International Student Nominee applications are now $1,500 and Investor Nominee applications are $3,500.

With the new target, Ontario plans to welcome 1,000 nominees as Permanent Residents in 2009.

Being nominated under the Opportunities Ontario Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) entitles individuals to priority processing for Canadian Permanent Residency.

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