The announcement is the latest in a series Minister Kenney has made about transforming Canada’s immigration system into a fast and flexible system focused on jobs, growth and prosperity.

“Our Government’s top priority remains jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. Canada cannot afford to lose out in the competition for foreign entrepreneurs among immigrant-receiving countries,” said Minister Jason Kenney. “We need to proactively target a new type of immigrant entrepreneur who has the potential to build innovative companies that can compete on a global scale and create jobs for Canadians.”

Economic Action Plan 2012 highlighted Canada’s commitment to supporting entrepreneurs, innovators and world class research. It also announced the Government’s intention to build a fast and flexible economic immigration system whose primary focus is on meeting the new and emerging needs of the Canadian economy. This will include changes to Business Immigration Programs, which will target more active investment in Canadian growth companies and more innovative entrepreneurs.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) intends to consult with industry associations in the development of a “start-up” visa program for innovative entrepreneurs in the coming months. Linking immigrant entrepreneurs with private sector organizations that have experience and expertise working with start-ups will be important as newcomers often require outside assistance in successfully navigating the Canadian business environment.

This “start-up” visa initiative is an example of the type of small-scale programs that would allow CIC to try innovative approaches to economic immigration. Under the proposed changes, the Government could create new, short-term programs under the Economic Immigration Class. These programs would be limited to no more than 2,750 applications per year and would end after five years. If a program proves successful during the five-year trial period and the Department wishes to maintain it,CIC would be required to formally introduce the new economic class in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.

“Our Government is committed to strengthening the immigration system to make it truly proactive, targeted, fast and efficient in a way that will sustain Canada’s economic growth and deliver prosperity for the future,” said Minister Kenney.

Currently, to be eligible to apply, applicants under the temporary foreign worker stream of the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) must have acquired 24 months of full-time work experience within the last 36 months. Under the proposed regulatory changes, the requirement would be reduced to 12 months of experience.

The announcement is the latest in a series Minister Kenney has made about transforming Canada’s economic immigration program into a fast and flexible system focused on jobs, growth, and prosperity.

Launched in 2008, the CEC offers a pathway to permanent residence – and eventually Canadian citizenship – for international students and temporary foreign workers with highly-skilled Canadian work experience. The CEC aims to support the economic success of immigrants by selecting those who are most likely to succeed in Canada’s labour market.

In 2011, a record number of people were admitted to Canada under the CEC. According to preliminary admissions data, 6,022 immigrants were welcomed under the CEC last year, a significant increase in admissions of more than 50 % from 2010. In 2012, 7,000 permanent residents are expected to be admitted through the CEC – more than ever before.

“The CEC is a key part of our plan for the future of immigration in Canada, and so it is gratifying to see the dramatic growth in the program since its inception,” said Minister Kenney.

Further details about the proposed changes to the Canadian Experience Class will be announced later in 2012.

“This online tool allows prospective immigrants to assess their eligibility before they apply to come to Canada,” says Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister, Jason Kenney. “This can help immigrants save time and money and it can also help the department to be more efficient by reducing applications.”

The Come to Canada Wizard is interactive. It presents users with a series of questions to determine which federal immigration option best suits their specific circumstances. It then leads users through the application steps and provides instructions and forms.

“It was detailed and superb,” said one user. “I found it easy to use. The main aim was to provide information and guidance, which was fulfilled.”

There are more than 4,000 visits to the Come to Canada Wizard every day. Close to 90 spercent of users say they would recommend the Come to Canada Wizard to someone they know.

“The Wizard is just one of the many steps in our modernization process to continually improve our services to immigrants,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney.

Recent improvements to the Citizenship and Immigration website include an interactive tool for newcomers to find services to help them adjust to life in Canada, an interactive map that allows users to find organizations in their area, and improvements to search capabilities that make it easier to find information on the website. In the future, we will build on these successes through improvements to the Come to Canada Wizard, and the creation of an Online Help Centre.

For more information, visit the Come to Canada Wizard.

Starting July 1, 2012, most Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) applicants for semi- and low-skilled professions will have to undergo mandatory language testing of their listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities and meet a minimum standard across all four of these categories.

In addition, Minister Kenney said that further changes to the program will be made to continue to focus on economic streams. The changes are the latest in a series of announcements the Minister has made about transforming Canada’s economic immigration program into a fast and flexible system focused on jobs, growth and prosperity.

“As a result, immigrants coming to Canada under PNPs will arrive with much better language skills and will be selected for the impact they can have on Canada’s economy,”the Minister said. He was joined at a news conference by his Saskatchewan counterpart, Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration Minister Rob Norris.

The announcement is the latest in a series Minister Kenney has made about transforming Canada’s immigration system to better support economic growth.

The PNP has been a major success in helping to spread the benefits of immigration across the country, with many economic immigrants choosing to settle outside of the three major cities. In Saskatchewan, 5,354 immigrants arrived under the program in 2010, compared with 173 in 2003.

“We have supported enormous growth in the number of provincial nominees in recent years because it makes sense for the provinces and territories to have the flexibility to meet regional needs,” said Minister Kenney. “Saskatchewan has successfully used the program and has actively recruited immigrants with the skills needed here. I’d like to thank the province for its continued cooperation.”

“Newcomers play a significant role in building and maintaining the highest quality of life in our province and in our country,” said Minister Norris. “The Government of Saskatchewan is committed to building the best provincial immigration program to meet our economic and labour market needs.”

The Provincial Nominee Program was designed to be aligned with Canada’s economic and labour needs. But, in some provinces, it is being used as an indirect route to family reunification.

“We have a federal family sponsorship program that reunites families,” added Minister Kenney. “This is not the goal of the PNP and we want to work with provinces and territories to ensure that the program is solely focused on supporting economic growth rather than duplicating non-economic federal immigration streams.”

The PNP is now Canada’s second largest economic immigration program, with admissions having grown from about 8,000 immigrants in 2005 to expected admissions of 42,000 people this year. Each province and territory is responsible for the design and management of its own PNP, which must be consistent with federal immigration policy, legislation and the terms of bilateral agreements.

Photo of Minister Kenney will be available later today.

“Our Government recognizes that our country faces a critical shortage in certain skilled trades,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney.“That’s why we are taking concrete steps to address this problem at a national level.”

Under the modernized Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) to be unveiled later this year, CIC intends to create a separate and streamlined program for skilled tradespersons. Skilled trades include occupations in construction, transportation, manufacturing and service industries. Skilled tradespersons are in high demand in Canada particularly in the natural resources and construction sectors.

Currently, FSW applicants are assessed against a 100-point grid, with a pass mark of 67. The grid takes into account the candidate’s official language ability, education, work experience, age, whether they have a job offer in Canada (arranged employment), and their overall adaptability (which awards points for things like previous work or study in Canada, spouse’s education and relatives in Canada).

Some criteria in the FSW grid, such as years of education, have traditionally favoured professionals and managers more than skilled trades, and thus skilled tradespersons only make up 3 percent of all FSWs entering Canada. During CIC’s consultations on FSWPmodernization over the past year, stakeholders also agreed that changes were necessary to make the program more accessible to tradespersons.

The proposed FSWP Skilled Trades program would create a means for skilled tradespersons to be assessed based on criteria geared towards their reality, putting more emphasis on practical training and work experience rather than formal education. The new skilled trades stream would avoid some of the complexities of the traditional points grid. Skilled trades applicants will, however, need to meet minimum language requirements, given the importance of language as a determinant of immigrant success.

“Above all, our Government remains focused on promoting economic growth and long-term prosperity,” said Minister Kenney. “Attracting skilled tradespeople is important for maintaining Canada’s momentum in the global economy.”

If approved, further details about the Skilled Trades program and the revised FSWP are expected to be announced later in 2012. The full regulatory changes to the FSWP will also be published in the Canada Gazette in due course.

Photo of Minister Kenney will be available later today.

“The Federal Skilled Worker Program backlog is a major roadblock to Canada’s ability to respond to rapidly changing labour market needs,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. “Having to process applications that are as many as eight years out of date reduces our ability to focus on new applicants with skills and talents that our economy needs today.”

As announced in Economic Action Plan 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is planning to refund fees and return stale applications from nearly all those applicants who applied under the dated criteria in existence before February 27, 2008.

CIC is transforming its suite of economic immigration programs to create a just-in-time system that recruits people with the right skills to meet Canada’s labour market needs, fast tracks their immigration, and gets them working in a period of months, not years. Eliminating the longstanding backlog of FSW applications will allow the Department to focus resources on facilitating the arrival of skilled immigrants who apply under the current eligibility criteria.

Under proposed legislation, CIC will close the files of FSW applicants who applied before February 27, 2008, and for whom an immigration officer has not made a decision based on selection criteria by March 29, 2012. This is expected to affect around 280,000 applicants, including their dependants. CIC will begin the process of returning the full amount of fees paid to the Department by these affected FSW applicants. For those who have passed the selection criteria stage – approximately 20,000 people – CIC will continue processing their applications until they are approved for entry into Canada or not.

Over the last decade, the number of FSW applications received has greatly exceeded the space available within the Immigration Levels Plan each year, resulting in long processing times and an increasing inventory. Under the 2008 Action Plan for Faster Immigration, CIC began to limit intake to priority occupations. The Department added caps to the number of new applications in 2010. As a result of these efforts, CIC has reduced the pre-2008 backlog by more than 50 percent, and the overall FSW inventory by over 25 percent. However, without further action, some FSW applicants might have to wait until 2017 for a decision.

“It’s unreasonable to keep applicants waiting for another five years,” said Minister Kenney. “It’s also a far cry from the nimble and responsive immigration system Canada needs to remain a destination of choice.”

The proposed new requirement would mean that applicants wanting to immigrate as Federal Skilled Workers would have their foreign education credentials assessed and verified by designated organizations before they arrive in Canada.

“Our Government is building an immigration system that is focused on economic growth and ensuring that all Canadians, including immigrants, are able to contribute to their maximum capacity,” said Jason Kenney.  “By having their foreign education credentials assessed before their arrival to Canada, foreign skilled workers will have a better sense of how their credentials fit into the Canadian labour market and will be able to contribute their full skill set to the economy more quickly. This proposal is part of a broader package of transformational changes that will make Canada’s immigration policies work better for the Canadian economy.”

A pre-arrival assessment would let applicants know how their education credentials compare to Canadian credentials and it will give immigrants a sense of how Canadian employers are likely to value their education. This will also screen out people without proper education levels and is an important step in helping to address the problem of immigrants arriving and not being able to work in their field.

The assessment of international educational credentials would not mean that Federal Skilled Workers would automatically find employment in Canada commensurate with their skills nor would it guarantee that they would become licensed to practice in a regulated occupation. Applicants who intend to work in a regulated profession would likely need to have their qualifications assessed in greater depth for purposes of licensure by a regulatory body specific to their profession and intended province of work.

“Internationally trained workers make an important contribution to Canada’s job market and the economy,” added Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. “That’s why our Government is working in partnership to improve foreign credential recognition so that skilled newcomers can put their knowledge and skills to work sooner.”

Minister Kenney also used the occasion to release the 2011 Government of Canada Progress Report on Foreign Credential Recognition, Strengthening Canada’s Economy. The annual report, led by the Foreign Credentials Referral Office, highlights achievements made by Citizenship and Immigration Canada , Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, and Health Canada to help foreign trained individuals integrate into the Canadian workforce.

Highlights of the report include:

• expansion of the Canadian Immigration Integration Program (CIIP), which is designed and managed by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. CIIPcurrently offers pre-arrival orientation sessions in up to 25 countries, based on demand;
• an innovative assessment and bridging program to help internationally educated nurses meet regulatory requirements for licensure across Canada; and
• the launch of the International Qualifications Network Website for stakeholders to share information and best practices in credential assessment.

To read the Government of Canada 2011 Progress Report on Foreign Credential Recognition, Strengthening Canada’s Economy, go to:http://www.credentials.gc.ca/fcro/progress-report2011.asp

Under the new proposal, now open for further public input, a spouse or partner being sponsored by a Canadian or permanent resident would be required to live together with their sponsor in a legitimate relationship for two years following receipt of their permanent resident status in Canada. If these steps are not pursued, the sponsored spouse or partner’s status could be revoked, possibly leading to their removal and in some instances, criminal charges could also be laid. For all legitimate relationships, the condition would cease to apply once the conditional period has elapsed.

The proposed conditional measure would help deter people from engaging in a relationship, such as a marriage or a common law partnership, for the purpose of acquiring status or privilege under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. This measure would apply to all spouses in relationships of two years or less who have no children with their sponsor at the time of the sponsorship application.

“Our objective is to weed out people trying to use a phony marriage as a quick and easy route to Canada,” said Minister Kenney. “In town hall meetings I held in 2010 with victims of marriage fraud, I heard first-hand from victims who were still suffering the consequences years later. They implored me to do something to stop this from happening to others.”

This follows on the heels of a separate measure last week.  Effective March 2, sponsored spouses or partners are ineligible to sponsor a new spouse or partner for five years from the day that they are granted permanent residence status in Canada.

“The problem of marriage fraud is serious and will only get worse if we don’t put measures in place that protect the integrity of our immigration system while deterring people from trying to use a marriage of convenience to cheat their way into Canada,”added Minister Kenney.

Other countries, such as Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, use a form of conditional status as a deterrent against marriage fraud and the lack of a similar measure increases Canada’s vulnerability to this type of unlawful activity.

The proposed regulations, which were prepublished today on the Canada Gazettewebsite, will appear in the March 10 edition of the Canada Gazette (Part I) and are open for further public input for a 30-day comment period, ending April 9, 2012.

A Notice of Intent proposing the development of this conditional measure was published in the Canada Gazette on March 26, 2011. A number of respondents expressed concern that a conditional measure could increase the vulnerability of sponsored spouses and partners who are in abusive relationships.

Given these concerns, the proposed condition would cease to apply in instances where there is evidence of abuse or neglect, or of a failure to protect from abuse or neglect by a person related to the sponsor, whether that person is residing in the household or not, during the conditional period. Working with stakeholders and other interested parties, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is also developing guidelines to assist spouses and partners who could be victims of abuse or neglect in such situations.

For additional information on the proposed conditional permanent residence measure or to provide comments, please visit the Canada Gazette.

Canada welcomed 248,660 permanent residents in 2011, well within the Government’s planning range of 240,000 to 265,000 new permanent residents for the year and consistent with the average of about a quarter of a million immigrants admitted to Canada annually since 2006 – the highest sustained level of immigration in Canadian history.

“Canada’s per-capita immigration rate remains one of the highest in the world,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. “Immigration has always been a sustaining feature of Canada’s history and continues to play an important role in building our country.”

In 2011, Canada welcomed 156,077 economic immigrants and 56,419 family class immigrants.