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IMMIGRATION NEWS - PAGE II
Modernizing the Immigration System
Advantage Canada recognized that in a modern global economy,
Canada’s immigration policies need to be closely aligned with our labour
market needs. Budget 2007 took action to make the immigration system more
responsive to the new labour market realities in Canada. The Temporary Foreign
Worker Program was streamlined to enable employers to bring in workers more
quickly to address their immediate labour shortages. The Government also
introduced the new Canadian Experience Class to expedite the process for
skilled temporary foreign workers and foreign students with Canadian
credentials and work experience to remain in Canada as permanent residents,
under certain conditions.
Canada must maintain the ability to compete globally for the best and
the brightest by creating the optimal conditions to attract immigrants who can
contribute fully to Canada’s prosperity. A well-managed and efficient
immigration system is critical to achieving this objective. The Government
will continue to modernize Canada’s immigration system.
Budget 2008 builds on Advantage Canada priorities with additional
measures to improve the immigration system’s capacity and flexibility to
respond to Canada’s dynamic and evolving labour market needs. Concrete
measures will be initiated to expedite the processing of permanent resident
applications. Combined with the recent improvements to the Temporary Foreign
Worker Program, the expansion of the Provincial Nominee Program and the new
Canadian Experience Class announced in Budget 2007, these measures will ensure
that the labour needs of employers in all provinces and territories are met in
a more timely fashion.
To complement these actions, changes will be made to the Immigration and
Refugee Protection Act to improve the immigration process. It is not fair for
prospective immigrants to wait for years before being considered, and it is
not desirable to wait that long for the immigrants the country needs.
The measures proposed in Budget 2008 will expedite the processing of permanent
residents to ensure that skilled immigrants can get to Canada when their
skills are in demand. The proposed legislative changes will provide
flexibility for concrete measures, as required, to more effectively manage the
future growth in the inventory, such as addressing the number of applications
accepted and processed in a year. The end result will be reduced wait times
and improved service. These changes will allow Canada to take the first steps
towards establishing a "just-in-time" competitive immigration system which
will quickly process skilled immigrants who can make an immediate contribution
to the economy.
Action will also be taken to help address the growing demand at
Canadian missions abroad for temporary resident visas for students and skilled
workers. In particular, the Government will focus on helping post-secondary
educational institutions attract foreign students and on facilitating their
arrival in Canada. For example, an online application system, as well as other
measures to improve service and speed up processing, will be implemented for
student visas. These initiatives, combined with new Canada Graduate
Scholarships for Canadian and international students, will enhance Canada’s
ability to compete with other countries to attract and retain the best foreign
students.
Taken together, these initiatives will ensure the ongoing integrity of the
immigration program. They will enable Canada to respond to growing demand and
to admit more highly-skilled immigrants and their families, including foreign
students. At the same time, Canada’s social and humanitarian objectives will
be preserved and continue to be balanced with Canada’s labour market needs.
Budget 2008 provides $22 million over the next two years, rising to
$37 million per year by 2012–13, to implement this next critical stage
of modernizing the immigration system.
http://www.budget.gc.ca/2008/plan/chap3c-eng.asp#immigration |
