The Canadian Federal and Provincial Governments are constantly introducing new laws and programs to ensure successful resettlement for the immigrants. There are numerous options under which you may reach and settle in the Maple Country Canada.
Express Entry System
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has launched the Express Entry system to manage applications for permanent residence and applicants from across the world who qualify under Federal Skilled Worker Program/ Canadian Experience Class/ Federal Skilled Trades Program or a portion of Provicial Nominee Program will be offered the Invitation to Apply for Permanent Residency by the authorities. The qualifying criteria to receive the invitation varies from Program to Program. For people to qualify under the FSWP and FSTP, the candidate must have an Employment Offer approved by the competent authorities in Canada whereas, to apply for Permanent Residency under PNP, the candidate must receive a state Nomination and for Canadian Experience Class they need to meet the selection criteria.
It will be a point-based system. A maximum of 1200 points can be allotted under the Express Entry system. Points break- up will be as follows:
A maximum of 500 points for human capital factors like age, education, experience, and language will be awarded; 40 points will come from if an applicant has an accompanying spouse or common-law partner, and up to 80 points if the candidate holds at least one year of experience in Canada
Transferrable skills will add another 100 points. Skills that can be used across different jobs and industries in technical and non-technical areas are usually referred to as transferrable skills
600 points will be awarded if the applicant has a job offer in Canada or have received nomination certificate from any of Canadian provinces
Anyone who is accepted into the Express Entry pool could get an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence. Only the candidates who fall in the top bracket will get this ITA. The draws will be conducted every month. If the candidate has been invited to apply, the candidate will have 60 days to submit a complete Application for Permanent Residence online.
To sum up, once the online application is received it goes through the following steps:
Step 1- Candidates create an Express Entry profile identifying their skills and qualifications in an online resume. The profile is then ranked against other applicants based on various factors that indicate that the candidate will be an asset to the Canadian workforce.
Step 2- Those applicants that do not have a Canadian job offer from an employer will need to register in the Canada Job Bank site.
Step 3- Assessment of every profile in the Job Bank is done to judge who could meet the criteria of a federal economic program and then upgraded with other entries in the Express Entry pool.
Step 4- If an application is selected, the applicant will be issued an Invitation to Apply to which he/she needs to respond within 60 days’ time to qualify for permanent residence.
The entire process takes a maximum of 6 months.
Federal Skilled Worker Program
It grants you the Visa which entitles you to live and work lawfully anywhere in the country because of your Permanent Resident status which is granted on the basis of your education, work experience and various other factors.
From January 1, 2015, Federal Skilled Worker applications are being processed through the Express Entry selection system for immigration to Canada.
Candidates eligible under the Federal Skilled Worker Program must first make an Expression of Interest in immigrating to Canada to start the Express Entry procedure.
Following are the conditions that are required to be fulfilled, to apply for this category.
Skilled Work Experience: Have at least one year of continuous full-time or equivalent paid work experience in the past 10 years in a skilled occupation (National Occupational Classification skill lever 0, A or B).
Education: The applicant must have an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report from an agency approved by Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) to show that the applicant’s education is equal to Canadian education standards.
Language Skills: The applicant must meet the minimum language level of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7, and take a language test approved by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) that shows you meet the level for speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Federal Skilled Trades Program
This is a dedicated and streamlined program that will help transform Canada’s immigration system into a fast and flexible system focused on jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. The new program ensures greater consideration is given to the needs of industry when processing eligible immigration applications.
The Federal Skilled Trades Program is for people who want to become permanent residents based on being qualified in a skilled trade. There are some conditions that an applicant applying under this category must ensure to have complied with.
Those basic requirements are as under:
Must have at least two years of full-time work experience (or an equal amount of part-time work experience) in a skilled trade within the five years before applying
Must meet the job requirements for that skilled trade as set out in the National Occupational Classification (NOC)
Must have a full time employment letter for the time period of at least one year; or a certificate of qualification in that skilled trade issued by a Canadian Provincial or Territorial authority.
Work Experience
Skilled Trades currently eligible for the Federal Skilled Trades Program are organized under these major and minor groups of the NOC:
Major Group 72, industrial, electrical and construction trades,
Major Group 73, maintenance and equipment operation trades,
Major Group 82, supervisors and technical jobs in natural resources, agriculture and related production,
Major Group 92, processing, manufacturing and utilities supervisors and central control operators,
Minor Group 632, chefs and cooks, and
Minor Group 633, butchers and bakers.
These major NOC groups are subdivided into different occupations. (All are NOC skill type B.)
The applicant must show that he did the duties set out in the lead statement of the occupational description in the NOC, including all the essential duties and most of the main duties listed.
Education
There is no education requirement for the Federal Skilled Trades Program. But, if the applicant wants to earn points for education under Express Entry, either of the following requirements needs to be accomplished.
a Canadian post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree,
Or, an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report produced by an agency approved by CIC to show it is equal to Canadian education standards.
Language ability
The applicant must meet the minimum language level of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5 for Speaking & Listening and CLB 4 for Reading & Writing, and take a language test approved by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) that shows you meet the level for speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Provincial Nominee Program
Provincial Nomination is an important fast-track alternative for Canadian Permanent Residency. Most provinces in Canada have an agreement with the Government of Canada that allows them to nominate immigrants who wish to settle in the respective province.
The significant benefit of being nominated under a PNP is that,it is immaterial if you do not have experience in an occupation listed on the Priority Occupation List under Federal Skilled Worker Class or if you have not scored minimum 67 points to qualify for Federal Skilled Category. All Canadian provinces and territories offer unrivalled Provincial Nomination Programs.
Express Entry System
From January 2015 onwards, skilled foreign workers who are planning to apply to any of Canada’s economic immigration programs can benefit from the use of Express Entry – an electronic application management system.
The software will help apply to:
Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP);
Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP);
A part of the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP).
Canadian Experience Class (CEC); and,
Express Entry should not be regarded as a new immigration program; it is a new way for CIC to manage the online economic immigration applications.
The program gives employers access to a list of skilled foreign nationals who they can take into consideration for a permanent position in case they are unable to find someone who is a Canadian or permanent resident to fill up the job.
For potential skilled foreign workers, the system will lead to faster processing time.
