Global Trade Alert

On 28 June 2010, Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced several changes to the Federal Skilled Workers Program. For applications received later than 26 June 2010, the following regulatory changes apply:

• Elimination of visa category for temporary foreign workers and international students living in Canada for one year. Foreigners living in Canada may no longer apply for permanent residency under the previous scheme. Instead, they must now fulfill the general criteria of the Federal Skilled Workers Program.
• Number of non-arranged employment cases capped. From 1 July 2010, the CIC will not accept more than a total of 20,000 applications without arranged employment. In addition, no single occupation may receive more than 1,000 applications.
• List of eligible occupations reduced. Under the new regulation 29 occupations qualify for an application. Prior to the change, 38 occupations were eligible.
• Mandatory language tests. Proficiency in either English or French must now be certified at the first stage of the application. Previously, this requirement was imposed on the second stage.

 On 18 August 2012 Canada approved regulations amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. The bill is based on a three-pronged approach to better select skiller workers who actually meet Canadian requirements. It includes:
- Amendments to the Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSWC), altering the weights given to the selection criteria and hereby giving more importance to elements like language proficiency, Canadian education and previous Canadian experience,
- The creation of a new Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC)
- Impovements to the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) to ease transition to permanent residence of temporary skilled workers.