Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada Chris Alexander
His speech was awaited with particular interest, since from January 2015 Canada is switching to a new system for selecting immigrants under the economic stream, which the Conservative government always presents with great fanfare. In this regard, the closer the launch date of this system, the more attention is paid to the statements of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada – what surprises are we still to expect?
It is also worth noting that in 2015, parliamentary elections are to be held, when a new government will be elected, and now for the Conservatives in power, it is extremely important to show the results of their work.
As for the immigration sphere, so far things are going very badly for the Conservatives. As a result of unsuccessful experiments in recent years, Canada's immigration system has actually been paralyzed and has largely discredited itself in the eyes of potential immigrants.
In this regard, starting from 2015, it is logical to expect radical improvements in this area – otherwise, what was the point of all this, including the loss of reputation? Therefore, big announcements were expected from the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
What was the main point in the plans for 2015?
Of everything Chris Alexander said, the main news was his announced decision to increase the annual quotas for the number of immigrants accepted from the traditional 250 thousand per year to 260-285 thousand per year.
This can to some extent be considered an important milestone, since over the previous years the annual quota had not changed, remaining within 250 thousand per year. The planned figure – up to 285 thousand per year – will become the highest quota for accepting immigrants in Canada's history.
Chris Alexander also provided a breakdown of quotas by different categories. He identified three streams:
– economic stream;
– family sponsorship;
– refugees.
The largest portion of quotas is given to economic immigration – 64.9% is allocated to it. Those who immigrate through the family sponsorship program are allocated 24.4% of all quotas. The remaining 10.7% of quotas are allocated to refugees.
Economic Stream
The increase in quotas, primarily for the economic stream, is related to the launch on January 1, 2015 of the new Express Entry system for selecting skilled workers. The success of this system is extremely important for the Conservative government. Therefore, everything has been done to ensure that the system works without major glitches, at least for the time being.
The increase in quotas is also explained by the fact that 2015 will be a transitional year. In addition to processing applications submitted under the new system, the processing of applications previously submitted under the economic stream programs will also continue, with the issuance of immigration visas against the quotas provided for 2015.
If we believe the ministry's promises, it plans to process applications within a very short period, not exceeding 6 months. That is, those who submit applications for immigration through the Express Entry system at the beginning of next year may receive immigration visas as early as 2015.
Personally, I doubt the realism of such promises, since background checks usually take a lot of time, and I don't quite understand how the ministry intends to solve this problem. Nevertheless, one can at least hope that the actual processing of applications will not take as long as it did before. One can also hope that at least in 2015 everything will be done to ensure that background checks are completed as quickly as possible.
It is worth noting that the economic stream includes the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), and the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP).
As for the FSWP program, for which the development of the new Express Entry selection system was actually undertaken, the quotas for it remain virtually unchanged – up to 51 thousand immigration visas.
At the same time, the quota has been significantly increased for those who go through the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program. This primarily concerns graduates of Canadian colleges and universities who have worked at least one year in Canada after graduation, which gives them the opportunity to immigrate through the CEC program.
In 2015, a quota of 23 thousand immigration visas has been allocated for this program. For comparison, in 2014 this quota was only 8 thousand immigration visas. So there is an increase of almost three times. This once again shows that immigration through study is one of the most reliable and promising ways to start a life and build a successful career in Canada.
Finally, the quotas are significantly increased for those who go through the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) – up to 48 thousand immigration visas are allocated for them. This is also the highest level of accepted applicants under provincial programs in Canada's history.
Read the continuation of the article:
CANADA-2015: BETTING ON SPECIALISTS (Part 2)
Elena Ryabinina.
"Russian Toronto"