Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration John McCallum<\/em><\/p>
If we speak generally about Mr. McCallum's statement, he did not announce any major changes. The main point in his statement was that the 2016 quota for the number of immigrants accepted is maintained, that is, 300,000 people per year. Undoubtedly, this is larger than the quota of 260,000 people per year that was in effect in previous years under the Harper government, but the devil, as they say, is in the details. When the Trudeau government came to power, it increased the quota for 2016, but this increase was mainly due to a rise in the number of refugees. Moreover, the quota for federal economic class programs was even cut.<\/p>
For 2017, the overall quota is maintained, with a small redistribution of internal quotas – the number of refugees accepted is decreasing in favor of increasing the number of immigrants coming through the economic class. In particular, the number of refugees is planned to be reduced from 55,800 to 40,000 people, while increasing the number of economic class immigrants accepted from 160,000 to 172,500. Also, the number of immigrants accepted through family sponsorship is increasing from 80,000 to 84,000 people.<\/p>
That is, despite earlier signals, the Trudeau government decided not to take any radical steps. At least, during consultations with business representatives and public organizations, ministry officials agreed that Canada needs a noticeable increase in immigration, and there was an impression that the government would reach the recommended level of accepting immigrants at 1% of the country's population per year. However, this did not happen.<\/p>
As already seen in other areas of Canadian life, not only immigration, the Trudeau government is not inclined to decisive action and is in no hurry to take responsibility for a change of course. The immigration department's decisions are in the same vein – that is, no radical improvements can be expected in this area. In fact, in 2017 the status quo of previous years is being restored in terms of the number of economic class immigrants accepted. Which, of course, is good, but essentially does not change the overall picture.<\/p>
The same applies to immigrants accepted through family sponsorship: an additional quota of 4,000 people does not make much difference, considering that the processing times for parent sponsorship applications are stretched over several years and only 10,000 applications are accepted annually.<\/p>
The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration said nothing about business programs, under which a very small number of immigrants are currently accepted at the federal level. And yet, it is precisely business immigrants who could help boost the Canadian economy, yet they receive the least attention for some reason.<\/p>
Nothing was said about the Express Entry system either, whether they plan to change anything in it, and if so, what. Only a promise was given that work is underway in this direction, and later measures to improve the selection system for immigrants in the economic stream will be announced. As can be understood, this primarily concerns foreign students studying in Canada. At least, the minister emphasized that they are the best candidates for immigration.<\/p>
Summing up, it can be stated that no particular changes are expected in the immigration sphere for the coming year. There will be no deterioration, but there is no hope for radical improvements either. Of course, this is not at all what was expected from the Trudeau government. Nevertheless, there is good news: finally there is clarity that no changes need to be expected, the rules of the game remain for the coming years, so one can act based on them.<\/p>
The best chances of successful immigration will still be for those who graduate from a Canadian college or university in a sought-after specialty and then find employment in Canada. Therefore, immigration through education has been and remains the most reliable method, despite the difficulties that exist.<\/p>