As part of our ongoing commitment to our clients, we are pleased to present this edition of Worldwide News. 

In this newsletter, you will find information about some of the latest changes to the Federal Skilled Worker program and the Investor Class program.

We hope you will find this information useful. 

Feedback or ideas for future editions are always welcome!

1. New Rules about Under-the-List Occupations (Federal Skilled Workers)

A few years back, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration introduced Bill C-50, an amendment to the Federal Skilled Worker program which was designed to target and attract professionals in key occupations which are in high demand in Canada. 

Based on the needs of the Canadian economy, this list of occupations is regularly updated and modified. The present list of 29 selected occupations can be viewed here. 

A new development to this regulation is that as of July 1,2011 Citizenship & Immigration Canada will only process a maximum of 500 applications each year per occupation mentioned in the list. Furthermore, only a total of 10,000 applications will be processed each year. Once these caps have been met, an application will only be considered if it has the support of a positive Arranged Employment Opinion from Service Canada. 

These changes were implemented with the hope of reducing excessive processing times and allowing qualified individuals to come to Canada faster. To find out if you can qualify as a Skilled Worker or in any other category, please Fill out our Free online Assessment Form.

2. IELTS is a now a mandatory requirement (Federal Skilled Workers)

On April 10, 2010, as of past of the government’s Action Plan for Faster Immigration, it was introduced that all Federal Skilled Worker applications must now contain an original copy of the applicants Language Proficiency Test Results. Previously written statements were accepted, but it was discovered that in most cases the level of proficiency claimed in these letters was inconsistent with the applicant’s actual abilities. Thus, to eliminate any doubts, this option has been replaced with mandatory standardized testing. For English speaking applicants, they can take either the IELTS exam or the CELPIP exams and for French speaking applicants they would take the TEF exam.

If you are considering applying for immigration as a Skilled Worker it is recommended that you look into taking one of these exams right away, as your initial application cannot be submitted without these results.

3. New Eligibility Requirements (Immigrant Investor Program)

Due to a surge in applications and a dramatic rise in processing times over the last few years, the Federal Immigrant Investor Program has been temporarily put on hold and is currently only processing applications received up to June 26, 2010. When this program resumes on December 1, 2010, some significant changes are going to be implemented at that time. In particular, it has been proposed that the net worth requirement of the applicant will be increased from CAD$800,000 to CAD$1,600,000. Additionally, the applicant would have to commit to investing a minimum of CAD$800,000 (instead of the current CAD$400,000 investment requirement).

These changes have been proposed in the hopes of making the Canadian Immigrant Investor Program more aligned with similar programs in other countries such as USA, Australia, New Zealand and UK. As before, this program will still continue to offer investors the advantage of expedited permanent resident status as well as guaranteed repayment of their investment.

Please note that although the Federal program is not accepting applications right now, the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program is still open for applicants who meet the CAD$800,000 net worth requirement. Until the new program is fully implemented in December, the old criteria still applies to applicants wanting to invest in Quebec.

To find out if you are eligible to apply in Quebec or to be informed of when the Federal program is going to resume, please contact us.