More Changes to Canadian Immigration Announced

The second session of the 41^st Parliament in Canada opened on Wednesday with the Right Honourable David Johnson, the Governor General of Canada, giving a speech from the Throne to detail what Canadian citizen and immigrants to Canada can expect from the Canadian Government in the next term.

During the speech, more improvements to the Canadian immigration system were announced. The Government intends to make the immigrant system in Canada even more robust. One of the measures included the introduction of a new immigration model. The new model plans to help Canada further built its strong economy by allowing immigrants to be selected for the skills they have, which will allow businesses to recruit the staff they need to build their businesses.

There was also another announcement that could affect people planning to immigrate to Canada. In the speech, the Right Honourable David Johnson announced that the reforms of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program will continue and as a result, Canadians are to be offered the first opportunity at any available jobs.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated that the Government would be creating more jobs and opportunities for Canadian citizens and announced that he “would be putting Canada first.”

The announcement concerning Canadian immigration reform is a continuation of changes to the system that have already been announced. Although the changes to immigration are supposed to make the system simpler, there have also been tighter restrictions imposed on those wishing to immigrate to Canada.

As detailed on the Expat Forum, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has already imposed a cap on the amount of applications for federal skilled worker visas. The cap was first brought in last May and will continue until April 2014. During this time, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will only consider visa applications from federal skilled workers if they meet a set criterion. In 2012, the number of people coming to Canada under a federal skilled worker visa reached more than 200,000. This figure is a threefold increase from 2002.

Illegal Immigration

Although there wasn’t anything specific detailed in the speech about illegal immigration in Canada, this is also an issue that clearly needs to be addressed. It is estimated that there could be as many as 120,000 illegal immigrants in Canada; there are concerns that the Canadian Government has lost track of more than 40,000 illegal immigrants. There are also fears over the credibility of the Canadian refugee screening process, which means deportation orders are often ignored.