Posts Tagged ‘Citizenship And Immigration’

Fewer Asians immigrating to Canada

May 18th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

Since 2006, Canadian immigration applications from many Asian countries have dropped by more than half. Critics claim that the drop in applications from China, India, the Philippines and Pakistan is because the country’s recent policy changes favour some immigrant countries over others.

Statistics show a significant drop in the annual number of Chinese, Indians, Filipinos and Pakistanis applying for permanent residency between 2006 and 2011. Specifically, applications from China fell 45 percent; India by almost 51 percent; the Philippines by 32 percent; and Pakistan by 65 percent.

While the number of Canadian immigration applications did decrease overall for the top 10 source countries, the declines of the Asian countries were bigger than English or French-speaking countries.

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Canada proposes changes to immigrant entrepreneur visa program

May 11th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced the department would be discussing the possibility of bringing in changes to the immigrant entrepreneur scheme. Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s current immigrant entrepreneur program has been suspended since 1 July 2011.

“Our Government’s top priority remains jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. Canada cannot afford to lose out in the competition for foreign entrepreneurs among immigrant-receiving countries,” said Kenney. “We need to proactively target a new type of immigrant entrepreneur who has the potential to build innovative companies that can compete on a global scale and create jobs for Canadians.”

In the coming months, CIC said they plan to consult with industry associations in the development of a new “startup” visa program for entrepreneurs.

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Canada creates fast track approval process for employers hiring temporary workers

May 6th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

Canada announced this week that if businesses are frustrated by red tape and delays in hiring temporary immigrant workers they may be able to fast track their foreign worker visas.

Canada’s Human Resources and Skills Development Minister, Diane Finley, announced that businesses with a two-year positive history of successfully hiring temporary foreign workers will be allowed to apply for fast-tracked hiring. A positive history means that the company has a consistent history of filing genuine and successful visa applications and have not violated any immigration rules.

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USCIS reports increase in H-1B visa applications compared to last year

April 26th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported a large increase in skilled foreign worker H-1B visa applications during the first week of this year’s application season. USCIS has received 25,600 petitions for H-1B visas since 2 April 2012, nearly twice as many as it received for the entire first month of last year’s application period.
USCIS officially began accepting H-1B applications last week for positions with a start date of 1 October 2012 or later. The visas are popular for those in IT occupations and engineering.

“Given the improved economy…it would not be surprising to see the quota filled very early this year,” said Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, a group that studies the H-1B program.

There are a total of 85,000 new H-1B visas made available each government fiscal year.

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Proposed changes announced for Canadian Federal Skilled Worker program

April 24th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced the department’s plans on 10 April to fill Canada’s growing labour shortages in skilled trade occupations. He explained that the changes were expected to result in an assessment system that will make it easier for badly needed skilled tradespersons to immigrate to Canada.
“Our Government recognizes that our country faces a critical shortage in certain skilled trades,” said Kenney. “That’s why we are taking concrete steps to address this problem at a national level.”

According to the announcement, under the new Federal Skilled Worker visa program, Canadian immigration will create a separate and streamlined program for skilled tradespersons to make it easier for them to immigrate to Canada.

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Canada to make transition to permanent residency faster for immigrants

April 22nd, 2012 Tushar Mathur

Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced this week that in order to more quickly meet Canada’s labour market needs, the immigration department will make changes to allow highly-skilled temporary foreign workers to transition to permanent residence more quickly.

“Thousands of highly-skilled foreign nationals are working successfully in Canada on a temporary basis,” said Kenney. “Expediting their transition to permanent residence would help Canada retain bright and talented people who already have Canadian work experience and the ability to communicate in English or French. In many cases, they already have a job lined up.

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Grant opportunity announced by US Citizenship and Integration Grant Program

April 2nd, 2012 Tushar Mathur

On 20 March 2012, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that $5 million in competitive grant funding would be available to promote immigrant civic integration and prepare permanent residents for citizenship. The grant will go towards funding various citizenship preparation programs in communities across the country.

Since its establishment in 2009, the US Citizenship and Integration Grant Program has issued a total of $18.3 million in grants to immigrant-serving organizations that have provided citizenship preparation services to more than 29,000 US permanent residents.

Eligible organisations have until 7 May 2012 to apply for grant funding.

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Canadian Immigration redesigns website to help employers find skilled workers

March 19th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

Canadian Immigration announced last week that they will provide more help to local employers seeking to recruit immigrant workers from abroad for both permanent and temporary positions.

Canadian employers will now be able to access more information online about Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) programmes as part of a government commitment to make sure the best people are selected for jobs. CIC stated that the website had “been redesigned to include a new section to guide employers to the most suitable program”.

“The economy and job growth remain the number one priority of the Government,” said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

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