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New Federal Skilled Worker Program: Occupations and Caps Unveiled

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has announced a list of 24 qualifying occupations for the new Federal Skilled Worker Program. The list includes various engineering occupations, certain medical and computer professionals, and a number of other occupations listed below. Applicants will be assessed based on language abilities, age, education, work experience, employment already arranged in Canada, and adaptability. The maximum number of points which can be awarded is 100 and the pass mark is 67 points.

Applicants must demonstrate that they have at least one continuous year of work experience in one of the 24 qualifying occupations, unless they have arranged employment in Canada. They must also be in possession of a foreign educational credential evaluation and a passing language proficiency test score.

The eligible occupations stream will have an overall cap of 5,000 new applications and sub-caps of 300 applications in each of the 24 occupations listed below:

  • 0211 Engineering managers
  • 1112 Financial and investment analysts
  • 2113 Geoscientists and oceanographers
  • 2131 Civil engineers
  • 2132 Mechanical engineers
  • 2134 Chemical engineers
  • 2143 Mining engineers
  • 2144 Geological engineers
  • 2145 Petroleum engineers
  • 2146 Aerospace engineers
  • 2147 Computer engineers (except software engineers/designers)
  • 2154 Land surveyors
  • 2174 Computer programmers and interactive media developers
  • 2243 Industrial instrument technicians and mechanics
  • 2263 Inspectors in public and environmental health and occupational health and safety
  • 3141 Audiologists and speech-language pathologists
  • 3142 Physiotherapists
  • 3143 Occupational Therapists
  • 3211 Medical laboratory technologists
  • 3212 Medical laboratory technicians and pathologists’ assistants
  • 3214 Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
  • 3215 Medical radiation technologists
  • 3216 Medical sonographers
  • 3217 Cardiology technicians and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists, n.e.c. (not elsewhere classified)

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Federal Court Decision Validates Government’s Termination of Processing of Pre-February 27, 2008 Permanent Residence Applications
On April 18, 2013, the Federal Court released its decision in the case ofTabingo v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2013 FC 377. This case involved a class action judicial review application with the Federal Court upon the passing of section 87.4 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act on June 29, 2012. This section terminated the processing of all applications for permanent residence made as a member of the federal skilled worker class before February 27, 2008.

Unfortunately for the pending pre-February 27, 2008 applicants, the Federal Court found that section 87.4 is valid legislation, compliant with the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In their decision, the Court indicated that the legislation which effectively terminated the pre-February 27, 2008 backlog of applications was lawful.

In light of the Court’s decision on this matter, all applications for permanent residence under the Federal Skilled Worker Class filed before February 27, 2008 have been terminated, and all applications for judicial review on this issue have been dismissed. This decision means that all pre-February 27, 2008 are required to re-qualify for immigration to Canada based on current law (i.e. file new applications under one of the new immigration classes for permanent residence, including the amended Federal Skilled Worker class or the new Federal Skilled Trades class).

For additional information on filing a new application, please contact Jacqueline Bart & Associates.