Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney today announced the latest step in re-designing Canada’s economic immigration system.

Effective July 1st, 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will place a temporary pause on new applications to the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP).

“We have been making lots of changes to our economic immigration system,” said Minister Kenney. “We will take the next six months to do a lot of the heavy lifting to get us closer to a fast and flexible immigration system.”

The pause will allow CIC to make important changes to its economic immigration programs before accepting more applications. This is an important step in moving towards a faster, more flexible immigration system, while immigration levels are at a historic high.

Since the launch of Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2012, Minister Kenney has announced a series of changes to CIC’s economic immigration programs. They include:

eliminating the backlog of old FSWP applications;
improving the selection of FSWs;
creating a new Federal Skilled Trades Program;
modifying the Canadian Experience Class to help transition successful skilled temporary workers to permanent residence;
changing business immigration programs to target more active investment in Canadian growth companies and more innovative entrepreneurs; and
moving towards a new application management system, to develop a pool of skilled workers who arrive in Canada ready to begin employment.

“This temporary pause on new Federal Skilled Worker applications will allow us to set the program on a new course as we intend to launch revised selection criteria soon,” said Minister Kenney. “The pause has no impact on the number of workers Canada admits into the country, as CIC continues to process applications already received. Current immigration remains at historically high levels.”

Application intake is expected to resume in January 2013, when the proposed FSWP regulatory changes – which will be published in the Canada Gazette in the coming months – are expected to come into force.

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act allows the Minister to issue special instructions to immigration officers to enable the Government of Canada to best attain its immigration goals. Since the 2008 Action Plan for Faster Immigration, four sets of “Ministerial Instructions” have been issued relating to Economic Class applications.

Under this fifth set of Ministerial Instructions, CIC will also introduce a pause on new federal IIP applications. This pause will remain in place until further notice, allowing the Department to make progress on processing its existing inventory.

As Minister Kenney announced earlier in April, CIC will be consulting with provinces, territories and stakeholders on ways to reform the current IIP in order to maximize the economic benefit to Canada. The Department is also consulting on whether to create a new investor program on a short-term basis, to promote growth in the Canadian economy.

The temporary pause on FSWP applications does not apply to candidates with offers of arranged employment or those applying under the PhD eligibility stream. The full set of Ministerial Instructions will be available online in the Canada Gazette tomorrow.

miteolu: Pls, I need summary.

zaboy:

you won't get canadian visa, so dont bother applying.

zaboy:

you won't get canadian visa, so dont bother applying.

hagma37@yahoo.com:
i can just understand wetin people dey go do for inside dat heavy cold called canada mteeeeew

hagma37@yahoo.com:
i can just understand wetin people dey go do for inside dat heavy cold called canada mteeeeew

Effwazobia:

You are kidding me right? FYI- Better life, better place to raise your children, more opportunities, stable economy, better healthcare system, more structured system that is governed by rules. Need I go on?

kunlaxo:

Bros..All that glitters are not GOld..in same canada same people enjoy good road network..health facilities..best cars BUt no money in the pocket..all they they live on is credit card and crunch..debts and loan of all kinds..they cant even afford to maitain more than one car or even build a 2 Bedroom apartment in nigeria supports their family member back home and when they die of cold they get sent back home on nothing.i just lost a friend last 2months died of cold.

Curious_city:
WHY DOES EVERYONE WANTS TO LEAVE NIGERIA?

AjanleKoko:

Point of correction there.
Less than 1% of Nigerians apply for any kind of visa, statistically speaking.
So it would appear that the other 99% do not have any plans of leaving.

AjanleKoko:

Point of correction there.
Less than 1% of Nigerians apply for any kind of visa, statistically speaking.
So it would appear that the other 99% do not have any plans of leaving.

Effwazobia:
You are kidding me right? FYI- Better life, better place to raise your children, more opportunities, stable economy, better healthcare system, more structured system that is governed by rules. Need I go on?

renewnaija:

If given the opportunity, most of them will leave. Did you see what Effwazobia listed out? I would never trade these for anything.



Bro, you are so on point. Quality of life (security, health, sleeping with two eyes closed, etc)[b][/b] for me is key for I & my children.

renewnaija:

If given the opportunity, most of them will leave. Did you see what Effwazobia listed out? I would never trade these for anything.



Bro, you are so on point. Quality of life (security, health, sleeping with two eyes closed, etc) for me is key for I & my children.

birdman:

You can have those same things in Nigeria, within reason, if you put in the hard work you undoubtedly will be forced to in Canada. And owning a house debt free is something you will probably never be able to do abroad. Dont forget the standard of living is falling too. There are PhDs from good schools sweeping streets and driving taxis in Canada. Living abroad has its pluses, but is not a slam dunk (or gbam) as you think.

factbox: Hynmmmmmmm! after reading all the correspondent posts so far, here is my advice for all our youth back home, before i write anything i will like to aknowledge some ppl dat will get back @ me for posting dis simple truth. buh d truth still needs to be told anyways, There is no where like home HONESTLY! here i am in Hamilton Ontario Canada, i am a student here and i have couple of naija folks here too ranging from young to adults.
No big deal about abroad to be very factual ppl come back home to tell us different stories which is far different from what i saw when i got here. There is serious suffer head here despite d fact dat there are all those facilities Tonnytox talked about but yet we pay handsomely to enjoy them all, what is d essence of good facilities without money in d pocket moreso who are those lying to u ppl dat free medical for everybody dat are citizens here BLANTANT LIE ppl here just get part of it paid by the government but d biggest part of it is paid by d invalid himself.
Alot of lies ppl come back to tell us but my advice here is seeing is believing because there are lots of things to talk about buh i have no tym to type for long. EAST OR WEST HOME IS D BEST .we dont always understand dis until we see for ourselves,PEOPLE ALWAYS BELIEVE GRASS IS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE INSTEAD OF WETTING THE GRASS THEY ARE STANDING ON.
When u get here u will realise dat (Canada is urs to discover).
THIS IS A WONDERFUL TRUTH DAT NOT SO MANY PPL HERE WILL LIKE TO TELL because THEY WANT OTHERS TO COME EXPERIENCE SAME WIF THEM............... my little coin.

hagma37@yahoo.com:
i can just understand wetin people dey go do for inside dat heavy cold called canada mteeeeew