10 May 2013
Category - Uncategorized
23 Apr 2013
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. Read More 12 Apr 2013
Canada Opens a New Immigration Category Pilot: The Start Up Business Class Immigration Program
After announcing the creation of a new type of entrepreneur application process in 2012, on March 30, 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada ( “CIC”) changed the law and policy in Canada to implement the Start-Up Business Class, which is currently in a Pilot (ie. test) format subject to further CIC assessment. Read More 8 Mar 2013
International Women’s Day: A Reason to Celebrate and to Reflect
The past five decades have brought meaningful legal improvements into the lives of many women in the world. At our office, we have been discussing how fortunate we are to live in Canada and enjoy the constitutional entrenchment of gender equality and the rule of law. Read More 27 Feb 2013
Immigration Alert: Canadian Permanent Residence Application Categories Now Open
Foreign workers seeking to apply for permanent residence to Canada may now do so based on three new categories. Some of these permanent residence categories have caps and restricted occupations, such as the new Federal Skilled Trades Class and the Skilled Worker Class. For example, the Federal Skilled Trades Class only accepts up to 100 applicants Read More 21 Jan 2013
Canada’s New Immigration Rules 2013
Canada’s efforts to counteract an ageing population and the need for young skilled workers has led to a re-evaluation of the Federal Skilled Worker program and the introduction of new immigration rules by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”). The FSW program has been in suspension since July 1, 2012 Read More 19 Sep 2012
Canadian Immigration Changes: A 10-Point Summary
Federal Entrepreneur program is closed. CIC is currently redesigning a new program with the goal of having it implemented by the end of 2012. Investor program has been suspended and the current program has backlogs with a wait time of up to nine (9) years. CIC is currently looking at pilot programs to complement the existing program. Read More 1 Aug 2012
Fast-Track LMO Processing Leads to Compliance Reviews for Employers
Service Canada has implemented a new A-LMO (Accelerated Labour Market Opinion) program which is intended to respond to the needs of eligible employers for timely Labour Market Opinion (LMO) processing. However, this initiative places substantial responsibility on the employer for program compliance Read More 1 Jul 2012
ALMO Report
The most common manner for a foreign worker to be issued a work permit is for the Canadian employer to obtain a positive Labour Market Opinion from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)/Service Canada (SC) for the foreign worker’s prospective position. Read More 1 Nov 2011
Immigration Alert: Changes to Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Application Process
In November, the Government of Canada has announced a new plan to reduce the backlog and wait times for sponsored parents and grandparents. Current processing times for parent and grandparent sponsorship applications exceed seven (7) years. This plan involves a temporary pause of up to twenty-four (24) months Read More 24 May 2011
Immigration Alert: Significant Changes to Temporary Foreign Worker Regulations in Canada
On April 1, 2011, the government introduced into law a number of important legislative amendments on employer immigration compliance concerning foreign worker work permits and Labour Market Opinions from Service Canada. In summary, the immigration law changes effective April 1, 2011 are as follows Read More 29 Sep 2010