Big Changes to 3 Permanent Residency Streams in Canada
Jul 26th, 2011
If you’re hoping to make Canada your new home, you need to know about significant changes to three immigration policies in Canada. On July 1, 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) introduced changes to the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Immigrant Investor Program, and the Entrepreneur Program.
Federal Skilled Worker Program
Under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, individuals can immigrate to Canada if they obtain a certain number of points using a points grid. This program is limited to people with eligible offers of arranged employment in Canada. There is one exception: people with a year of full time experience during the ten years prior to the application being submitted in one of the following occupations may apply:
- 0631 Restaurant and Food Service Managers
- 0811 Primary Production Managers (Except Agriculture)
- 1122 Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management
- 1233 Insurance Adjusters and Claims Examiners
- 2121 Biologists and Related Scientists
- 2151 Architects
- 3111 Specialist Physicians
- 3112 General Practitioners and Family Physicians
- 3113 Dentists
- 3131 Pharmacists
- 3142 Physiotherapists
- 3152 Registered Nurses
- 3215 Medical Radiation Technologists
- 3222 Dental Hygienists & Dental Therapists
- 3233 Licensed Practical Nurses
- 4151 Psychologists
- 4152 Social Workers
- 6241 Chefs
- 6242 Cooks
- 7215 Contractors and Supervisors, Carpentry Trades
- 7216 Contractors and Supervisors, Mechanic Trades
- 7241 Electricians (Except Industrial & Power System)
- 7242 Industrial Electricians
- 7251 Plumbers
- 7265 Welders & Related Machine Operators
- 7312 Heavy-Duty Equipment Mechanics
- 7371 Crane Operators
- 7372 Drillers & Blasters — Surface Mining, Quarrying & Construction
- 8222 Supervisors, Oil and Gas Drilling and Service
Effective July 1, 2011, only 10,000 people may apply to immigrate under the Federal Skilled Worker Program without an eligible offer of arranged employment. Within the 10,000 cap, a maximum of 500 new applications per occupation will be considered for processing each year.
So, if you’re hoping to become a resident of Canada, it’s important that you educate yourself about the process and contact a local immigration lawyer to assist you.
Immigrant Investor Program
Citizenship and Immigration Canada has introduced intake caps on the number of new Immigrant Investor Program applications that it accepts every year. Under the Immigrant Investor Program, an individual and his/her family could immigrate to Canada if he/she could demonstrate a legally obtained net worth of $1.6-million, and was willing to make an $800,000 five-year interest free loan to the Government of Canada.
Effective July 1, 2011, a maximum of 700 new federal Immigrant Investor applications were to be considered for processing each year. Assuming that success rates remain constant, this means that around just over 600 applications will be accepted each year.
It’s interesting to note that due to these new laws, the cap for 2011 was reached incredibly quickly! The 700-application cap was publically announced on July 1, 2011, however,immigration consultants and lawyers received advanced notice and were able to prepare and submit applications extremely quickly. The cap was reached just three days later, on July 4, 2011!
It’s not surprising that Citizenship and Immigration Canada has introduced intake caps for the Immigrant Investor Program. In 2007 the number of people applying to the program was just over 10,000. By 2010 that number had skyrocketed to just under 40,000.
Entrepreneur Program
Many people come to Canada with a dream of starting their own business. However, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has announced a temporary suspension on the intake of new applications to the Entrepreneur Program. Under the program, an individual could immigrate to Canada if they had a legally obtained minimum personal net worth of $300,000, and had an approved plan to establish and be actively involved with the management of a qualifying business in Canada.
Between 2006-2010, 9,353 people immigrated under the program. Given the staggering current processing times, it is not hard to see why Citizenship and Immigration Canada has decided that they will no longer receive new applications.
The current processing times at all embassies currently processing Entrepreneur Program applications are shown below:
|
Cairo
|
7 years, 7 months |
|
Damascus
|
7 years |
|
Beijing
|
3 years, 7 months |
|
Manila
|
5 years, 4 months |
|
New Delhi
|
6 years, 10 months |
|
Seoul
|
3 years, 10 months |
|
Berlin
|
3 years, 9 months |
|
London
|
4 years, 6 months |
|
Paris
|
7 years, 10 months |
|
Buffalo
|
6 years, 6 months |
Article courtesy of
Ryan Rosenberg &
Steven Meurrens, Canadian Immigration Lawyers based in Vancouver BC.
Copyright 2011 © No text or graphical material may be copied without the express written permission of Larlee Rosenberg.
Tags: immigration