Canada Immigration Visa

1. On June 28, 2012, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney, announced the latest step in re-designing Canada’s economic immigration system.

According to the news release, effective July 1st, 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will place a temporary pause on new applications to the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP).

“We have been making lots of changes to our economic immigration system,” said Minister Kenney. “We will take the next six months to do a lot of the heavy lifting to get us closer to a fast and flexible immigration system.”

The pause will allow CIC to make important changes to its economic immigration programs before accepting more applications. This is an important step in moving towards a faster, more flexible immigration system, while immigration levels are at a historic high.

Application intake is expected to resume in January 2013, when the proposed FSWP regulatory changes – which will be published in the Canada Gazette in the coming months – are expected to come into force.

The temporary pause on FSWP applications does not apply to candidates with offers of arranged employment or those applying under the PhD eligibility stream.

Exemptiont:

The temporary pause on Federal Skilled Worker applications does not apply to those individuals applying under the Federal Skilled Worker program with an Arranged job offer (AEO) pursuant to subsection 82(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.

Mandatory language test:

Mandatory language tests are required for all skilled worker applications. Effective December 23, 2010, the language test results are now valid for two years. Citizenship and Immigration Canada now only accepts designated third-party language tests as proof of language ability – no exceptions.

2. If your application is eligible for processing, you must also meet the following minimum requirements to qualify as a skilled worker:

you have at least one year of continuous full-time paid work experience or the equivalent in part-time continuous employment, AND
your work experience must be Skill Type 0 (managerial occupations) or Skill Level A (professional occupations) or B (technical occupations and skilled trades) on the Canadian National Occupational Classification list, AND
you must have had this experience within the last 10 years.

3. If you meet these minimum requirements, your application will then be processed according to the six selection factors in the skilled worker points grid. The six selection factors are:

your education-Maximum Points 25
your abilities in English and/or French, Canada’s two official languages-Maximum points 24
your work experience-Maximum points 21
your age-Maximum points 10
whether you have arranged employment in Canada-Maximum points 10
your adaptability-Maximum points 10.

Additional Information

There are also many other ways to immigrate to Canada. People who are not successful through the Federal Skilled Worker Program may qualify under another category.

Arranged Employment: If you have an offer of permanent employment from a Canadian employer, you would still be eligible to apply for Canada immigration even during the period of temprary pause  but your occupation must be listed as Skill Type 0 (managerial occupations) or Skill Level A (professional occupations) or B (technical occupations and skilled trades) on the Canadian National Occupational Classification list.

Arranged Employment can improve your chances of having your federal skilled worker application approved because you receive 10 points for the Arranged Employment and 5 more points in the Adaptability Factor because of having an Arranged Employment. Moreover, your application is put on fast track and your immigration application process can be completed within 6 to 12 months.

Depending on your circumstances, you are considered to have a valid arranged employment if you have a job offer in Canada, or if you are currently working in Canada on a valid work permit.

Job offer in Canada:

you are outside Canada and do not intend to work in Canada before being issued a permanent resident visa and
you do not presently hold a work permit for Canada and
your prospective employer in Canada has made an offer to hire you for full time work on an indeterminate basis after you obtain a permanent resident visa and enter Canada and
your prospective employer in Canada has obtained a positive Arranged Employment Opinion (AEO) from the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)

Presently working in Canada on a valid work permit (HRDC approved)

you are working in Canada on a temporary work permit obtained pursuant to a job offer that was approved by HRDC through a positive Labour Market Opinion (LMO) and
the work permit is valid for at least 12 months from the date you submit your application for permanent residence and

the employer has made an offer to continue employing you indefinitely after your permanent residence visa is issued

Presently working in Canada on a valid work permit (exempt from HRDC approval)

you are working in Canada on a temporary work permit that is exempt from HRDC approval according to international agreements (e.g., NAFTA) or Significant Benefit (e.g., intra-company transferee) and

the work permit is valid for at least 12 months from the date you submit your application for permanent residence  and
the employer has made an offer to continue employing you indefinitely after your permanent residence visa is issued