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CANADA COMES OUT WITH NEW SKILLED IMMIGRATION RULES
Canada advises that the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) is to reopen on 4th May 2013. If an applicant can meet the requirements of Canada's most important skilled migration programme, this enables applicants to apply for permanent resident category if they have adequate skills under FSWP.
Mr. Jason Kenney, the Canadian minister with responsibility for immigration policy, told media that the FSWP would re-open to applicants on 4th May 2013 using a new points-based selection system. The new selection criteria will also be in place when the system goes live replacing the old.
Mr Kenney closed the FSWP to new applicants who did not already have a Canadian job offer from 1st July 2012. When he announced the closure, Mr Kenney told that his department would draw up a new set of criteria for selection which would ensure that successful applicants under the FSWP would be more likely to succeed when they arrived. Mr Kenney said in June that the changes would allow successful applicants to arrive in Canada.
Mr Kenney told journalists that the new FSWP assessment criteria will include the following:
• A higher minimum threshold of skill in either English or French (Canada's two official languages) than before. Applicants will now have to demonstrate by way of a test that they meet level 7 of the Canadian Language Benchmark.
• A greater number of points will be granted to younger applicants than under the old system.
• A new 'Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) scheme to allow the Canadian government to compare foreign educational qualifications with Canadian ones so that their worth can be better assessed.
• A reform of the 'Arranged Employment' rules so that those with an offer of employment can be hired more quickly.
• Additional points granted to FSWP applicants if their spouse has ability in English or French and if he/she has work experience in Canada.
Mr. Kenney said the new FSWP criteria will ensure Canada is selecting the skilled immigrants our economy needs, who are the most likely to succeed and fully realise their potential in Canada. From May 2013 onwards, in order to demonstrate that the applicant have an adequate standard of English, or French, applicants will have to be assessed by an approved agency.
They will also have to have educational qualifications received from non-Canadian educational establishments assessed by an approved Canadian organisation. This assessment must be performed before the applicant arrives in Canada. This will allow an applicant to assess whether their qualifications are adequate and if necessary to undertake further training, before leaving home, a CIC statement said.
Arranged Employment is a system whereby those with a job offer in Canada before they apply to the FSWP can score an extra 10 points on the FSWP points framework. The Canadian employer must be approved by Service Canada, which is an agency created in the Canadian Department of Human Resources and Skills Development.
At present, once a Canadian employer has obtainable foreign national job, the employer must make an Arranged Employment request to Service Canada. If the request is approved, Service Canada will then send an Arranged Employment Opinion (AEO), to CIC giving details of the job in question, the pay and the employer's history. The AEO will also state that the job is authentic and permanent and will ask CIC to speed up the applicant's request.
CIC has announced that it expects that, when the FSWP reopens to new applicants, it will take about three months for applications to be processed.
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