On March 14, 2008, a draft amendment to the IPRA law was submitted for consideration to the legislative bodies of Canada, which will give much more freedom to immigration service workers when considering applications for immigration to Canada under the Skilled Worker category. If the draft is approved (and few doubt this), the amendments will immediately come into effect and will apply, among others, to applications submitted after February 27, 2008. Those whose applications were submitted to the embassy before that date will be processed under the old rules.
Under the current rules, immigration applications are processed on a first-come, first-served basis. The embassy is required to accept and review all submitted immigration applications, even those that are clearly non-viable. Based on the application, a file is opened, a number is assigned, and it is placed in a queue for processing. When the time comes, an immigration officer reviews all documents attached to the application and makes a conclusion: whether the applicant meets the selection criteria and whether an immigration visa can be issued.
With the new rules coming into force, the queue principle will be abolished. The officer himself will decide which applications to process first, which to postpone, and which to return to the applicants. This is motivated by the fact that priority is given to applications from specialists who are in greatest demand in Canada at the current time and who need to be given the opportunity to enter the country as quickly as possible. Another innovation is that Canada's immigration services are no longer obligated to process all submitted applications and may return some of them.
Applications that are waiting in line at embassies will be processed on an expedited basis. Additional funds have been allocated for this in the 2008 budget. Currently, the number of applications waiting in line at embassies is about 900,000, of which 600,000 are for the Skilled Worker category. The number of unprocessed applications is snowballing. For example, in 2000, there were only 374,000 for the Skilled Worker category, in 2004 it was already 524,000, and by the end of 2007 it was over 600,000. It is not surprising that waiting times have been increasing year after year—embassies simply cannot cope with processing them.
This situation deters those who would like to immigrate to Canada but do not want to deal with long processing times. As a rule, these are precisely the highly qualified specialists that Canada needs. Due to the constant volatility of the Canadian labor market, more efficient work with specialists wishing to move here for permanent residence is necessary. Representatives of professions that are in greatest demand at the current time need to be let into Canada first. Under the current rules, this is difficult to do, causing harm both to specialists who are deprived of the opportunity to quickly enter Canada and to the country's economy.
The amendment to the immigrant selection process will undoubtedly bring uncertainty. For example, it is not entirely clear how the screening of submitted applications will be carried out and what criteria will be used to determine who is most needed by Canada at a given time. So far, there is only partial information on this matter: special instructions for Canadian embassies will be developed and published in the media.
Another important provision is the intention to focus on attracting temporary workers via Work Permits to Canada. In the summer of 2008, a new immigration category—Canada Experience Class—may appear, under which those who are in Canada on a work visa can apply for immigration. The procedure may be analogous to the Live-in Caregiver program.
In connection with the upcoming changes, it can be assumed that selection will become stricter and case processing more subjective. Therefore, the following factors will become significantly important:
- Knowledge of the current immigration situation, understanding trends, knowledge of the state of the Canadian labor market, its needs, etc.;
- Proper preparation of files in order to convince the immigration officer that Canada needs this particular applicant.
Competent and thorough preparation of documents has always been an important factor for successful immigration. Whether your case ends up in the coveted stream of applications selected for expedited processing, is postponed indefinitely, or is outright refused will depend on how correctly the strategy for presenting experience is chosen and how well the documents are prepared.
The main consequence of the innovations is an increase in risks and uncertainty. In fact, such an important parameter as the projected processing time for your application is being removed. A negative aspect of combating backlogs in embassies could be a temporary restriction on processing newly filed applications. However, considering the current situation at the Moscow and Kyiv embassies, let us hope that such a development can be avoided there.
Skilled Worker Class is the most common immigration category. Almost half of all those arriving annually for permanent residence in Canada are immigrants under this category. It is the most accessible both in terms of its requirements and financially.
An Application for Permanent Residence in Canada must be submitted to a Canadian embassy or consulate according to certain rules. A successful candidate under this immigration class must provide documented evidence of their ability to establish themselves independently with their family in Canada. Along with the candidate, their family (spouse and unmarried children) also receives permission to immigrate to Canada.
The main requirements for applicants under the Skilled Worker class: education (maximum points for this factor – 25), language proficiency (up to 24 points), professional experience. Points are also awarded for age, a job offer in Canada, and one or more factors, each of which indicates the applicant’s ability to economically establish in Canada. At the same time, having funds for settlement in Canada is a mandatory condition for obtaining an immigration visa.
Elena RYABININA.
"Russian Toronto"