Canada Immigration News

The Canadian government has announced that passengers with US Visas on Air China flights with connecting flights to the US via Vancouver no longer have to have transit visas. On 1 February 2012 Canada awarded Air China with Transit Without Visa (TWOV) and China Transit Trial (CTT) status.

Canada's government has announced a new pilot program to support new immigrants working in its provinces. The three-year pilot project, known as the Foreign Credential Recognition Loans Pilot, will make it easier for internationally trained professionals to have their credentials recognized and find jobs in their fields.

From 1 February 2012 Canadian Immigration and Citizenship (CIC) has started issuing new citizenship documents to new citizens in an effort to cut down on fraud. CIC will no longer produce the current plastic wallet-sized citizenship certificate or the commemorative certificate and will instead provide new citizens with a letter-sized paper citizenship certificate. The new paper certificate features information that can be validated through a new electronic validation system.

This month at the official opening of the Canadian tourism office in Beijing Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper helped launch a new tourism marketing campaign to encourage more Chinese to travel to Canada on visitor visas.

Canada's province of Saskatchewan is looking to fill nearly 300 skilled worker positions with Irish workers. Local businesses have been pushing the Canadian Government for more overseas workers to deal with skills shortages.Next month the government of Saskatchewan and employers throughout the province will begin the labour recruitment process in Ireland. Premier Brad Wall and Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration Minister Rob Norris will attend the trip to Dublin and Cork.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada is set to visit Malaysian cities this month to encourage Malaysian students to emigrate to Canada to study.Canadian immigration officers will be present at all of the fairs to provide information on student visa applications for Canada. There will also be representatives from Canadian universities to answer student's questions about the University admission requirements.