Canada launches new immigration programme

Canada has launched its new immigration system for skilled immigrants, Express Entry, which is designed to get people with the skills to succeed in Canada’s economy here faster than ever.

Starting yesterday, skilled workers who want to apply to emigrate to Canada’s through one of the country’s key economic immigration programmes – the Federal Skilled Worker Programme, Federal Skilled Trades Programme and the Canadian Experience Class – are able to create an online profile and express their interest in coming to Canada permanently. Provinces and Territories will also be able to use the Express Entry system to select a portion of candidates for their Provincial Nominee Programmes.

“Our government is focused first and foremost on job creation and economic growth. With the launch of Express Entry, Canada will be able to attract skilled newcomers who can succeed in, and help grow Canada’s economy,” explained Canada’s Immigration Minister, Chris Alexander. “Successful Express Entry candidates will be able to hit the ground running and start contributing to our communities, labour market and economy more quickly than ever before,” he added.

Candidates who meet the minimum criteria will be accepted into a selection pool and then ranked according to various factors. These include language proficiency, education and work experience. Each is a leading indicator of one’s likelihood of integrating fully and quickly into Canada’s economy and Canadian society.

The highest ranking skilled workers will then be invited to apply for permanent residence and most will see their application processed in six months or less. The first invitations to apply will be issued during the last week of January. Only once candidates have been invited to apply for permanent residence they will need to complete the immigration process.

Express Entry should allow Citizenship and Immigration Canada to identify those who are most likely to succeed economically in Canada, instead of simply processing applications on a first-come, first-served basis. This should result in faster processing and will allow the Government of Canada to be more flexible and respond better to Canada’s changing labour market needs.

“In my time as Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister, I have made backlog elimination a top priority. Express Entry will help eliminate long wait times and get eligible skilled foreign nationals to Canada in six months or less,” declared Alexander.

It is hoped that between 260,000 and 285,000 new immigrants will be welcomed to Canada in 2015.

Article published 2nd January 2014