Immigration overhaul would let employers choose prospects
joe friesen — Demographics Reporter
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Mar. 01, 2012
Article Link
The Conservative government is poised to overhaul the immigration system to give employers an important role in the selection of new Canadians.
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said he plans to build a faster, more flexible, just-in-time immigration regime. He’s also going to redesign the points system, on which immigrants are judged, to emphasize language ability and youth.
Fresh off a trip to labour-starved Saskatchewan, Mr. Kenney said in an interview Wednesday that he wants to create a new economic stream for trades people, who currently don’t qualify under Canada’s education-focused federal skilled worker program.
He also said employers will soon be able to hand-pick prospective immigrants and send them to the front of the line for assessment.
“Once people have been identified by employers, if they meet our other standards we would fast-track them into the country,” Mr. Kenney said. “Frankly, the employer knows better than a big bureaucracy whose skills are needed and will be relevant to the Canadian labour market the minute they arrive.”
The first of these changes will be introduced over the next few months. Ability in English or French, which research shows is crucial to economic success in Canada, will become more important under the new system. In future, professionals in language intensive fields, such as doctors and lawyers, will have to be fluent in an official language, Mr. Kenney said. That’s a significant shift from Canada’s current system, which rewards language ability but doesn’t set such a high benchmark. At the same time, Mr. Kenney said he wants a flexible language grid, so that applicants in fields that don’t require a high level of fluency aren’t automatically excluded.
Mr. Kenney also said he’ll be considering a pre-assessment system, as they have in Australia, that evaluates the credentials of skilled professionals before they immigrate to see whether they will qualify to work in Canada.
“There is really no point inviting people who are working as licensed professionals in their countries of origin to come to Canada merely to face perpetual frustration as they try to get their licences. It makes sense for Canada and those professionals to do the credential assessment as part of their immigration application,” he said.
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joe friesen — Demographics Reporter
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Mar. 01, 2012
Article Link
The Conservative government is poised to overhaul the immigration system to give employers an important role in the selection of new Canadians.
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said he plans to build a faster, more flexible, just-in-time immigration regime. He’s also going to redesign the points system, on which immigrants are judged, to emphasize language ability and youth.
Fresh off a trip to labour-starved Saskatchewan, Mr. Kenney said in an interview Wednesday that he wants to create a new economic stream for trades people, who currently don’t qualify under Canada’s education-focused federal skilled worker program.
He also said employers will soon be able to hand-pick prospective immigrants and send them to the front of the line for assessment.
“Once people have been identified by employers, if they meet our other standards we would fast-track them into the country,” Mr. Kenney said. “Frankly, the employer knows better than a big bureaucracy whose skills are needed and will be relevant to the Canadian labour market the minute they arrive.”
The first of these changes will be introduced over the next few months. Ability in English or French, which research shows is crucial to economic success in Canada, will become more important under the new system. In future, professionals in language intensive fields, such as doctors and lawyers, will have to be fluent in an official language, Mr. Kenney said. That’s a significant shift from Canada’s current system, which rewards language ability but doesn’t set such a high benchmark. At the same time, Mr. Kenney said he wants a flexible language grid, so that applicants in fields that don’t require a high level of fluency aren’t automatically excluded.
Mr. Kenney also said he’ll be considering a pre-assessment system, as they have in Australia, that evaluates the credentials of skilled professionals before they immigrate to see whether they will qualify to work in Canada.
“There is really no point inviting people who are working as licensed professionals in their countries of origin to come to Canada merely to face perpetual frustration as they try to get their licences. It makes sense for Canada and those professionals to do the credential assessment as part of their immigration application,” he said.
More on link
