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Immigration newsletter 16 May 2013
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On May 4th, the Canadian Federal Skilled Worker Program reopened. It was suspended by Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney in 2012. The new FSWP will continue to be Canada’s main immigration route for skilled workers. About 55,000 FSWP applicants will receive Canadian permanent residence visas each year. Under the revised program 5,000 of these will go to people skilled in one of 24 ‘eligible occupations’
The FSWP now also favours younger applicants and those who speak good English or French. The 5,000 ‘eligible occupation’ visas will go to people with a year’s experience in an ‘eligible occupation’. Eligible occupations include many types of engineer and various medical technicians. If you would like help with your application why not contact us at canvisa@workpermit.com.
Canadian ministers have announced a U-turn in their policy on temporary foreign workers. Under the new rules:
- Temporary foreign workers must now be paid the same as Canadians
- There will be more checks to ensure that Canadian workers are not displaced and
- The Accelerated Labour Market Opinion (ALMO) procedure which allowed employers to employ temporary foreign workers within weeks of applying, has been suspended.
- The government will also be able to revoke permits where there has been abuse.
The changes were announced after claims that the Royal Bank of Canada dismissed 45 workers and replaced them with temporary workers from India.
Canada will need 250,000 more construction workers by 2021, according to a construction industry body. A report by Buildforce Canada says that the non-residential construction sector will grow, creating 44,000 extra jobs.There will be jobs on mining projects in Labrador, Newfoundland, Northern Ontario and Saskatchewan. Jobs will be created in the oil industry in Alberta and British Columbia. There will also be opportunities in infrastructure projects in Toronto, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
The report says there will be opportunities for:
- Boilermakers
- Bricklayers
- Carpenters
- Electricians
- Plumbers
- Welders
and many other workers.
A US senator says that Indian IT firms are abusing the US H-1B temporary work visa. Senator Dick Durbin told the US Senate’s Judiciary Committee that many H-1B visas were going to Indian outsourcing companies which were then employing Indian workers on low wages.
Mr Durbin is a member of the so-called 'Gang of Eight' senators who have written a draft law which would comprehensively reform the US immigration system. If the Gang of Eight’s bill becomes law, it will increase the number of H-1B visas issued rise from 65,000 to 110,000 annually with a maximum of 180,000 per year. It would also introduce new penalty fees for 'H-1B dependent employers'. If over 50% of a firm’s workers are foreign staff with H-1B or L-1 visas, it will have to pay $10,000 for each additional H-1B worker it employs.
The UK government has announced that it will pass legislation requiring visitors to the UK to pay a fee for any treatment they receive from the UK’s National Health Service. The legislation will also:
- Introduce bigger fines for firms which employ foreign staff illegally
- Oblige private landlords to check that prospective tenants are in the UK legally and
- Introduce measures intended to make it easier to deport foreign criminals.
The UK's Labour Party opposition has said that the measures 'don't tackle important issues on exploitation and illegal immigration'.
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