Starting from November 5, 2011, under the Canadian federal immigration program Federal Skilled Worker, a new immigration category MI4 PhD has been introduced for individuals pursuing education in Canada under programs leading to a PhD degree. According to a statement made by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, from November 5, individuals who have studied for at least two years in PhD-level programs, have good academic results, and are continuing their studies may apply for immigration under the Federal Skilled Worker program.
This opportunity also applies to individuals who have successfully completed and obtained a PhD-level education in Canada within the last 12 months. At the same time, this category has a quota of 1000 applications per year. It is worth adding that approximately one quarter of all students studying in Canada at PhD-level programs are foreigners. This new immigration initiative is designed specifically for them.
Another program that the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada intends to pay much more attention to is the federal program Canadian Experienced Class. It was introduced in 2008, and under it, approximately 10,000 immigration visas have been issued to date. The majority of those who applied for immigration to Canada under this program are foreign students who received education in Canada and have worked in the country after graduation for at least one year.
As part of the development of this initiative, the federal government in 2011 allocated $10 million for the implementation of a two-year program to attract more foreign students to Canada. It is worth noting that Canadian education is among the best in the world, as evidenced by the fact that a number of Canadian universities are in the list of the top 100 universities in the world, with two of them among the top 25.
Overall, as noted in its publication by «Русский Торонто», the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada confirmed that it does not plan to change the quota for the number of immigrants accepted. In particular, in 2012, between 240,000 and 265,000 new residents are expected to be accepted, which is consistent with the annual average of 254,000 derived from recent years' statistics.
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