Archives for December 2005

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is currently approving a greater number of temporary work permit applications based on provincial assessments submitted through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).

The Provincial Nominees Program allows provincial governments the ability to effectively bypass Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s (HRSDC) labor market opinion in order to address regional employment shortages. CIC is increasingly prepared to accept applications that have been assessed through provincial channels as an alternative to HRSDC.

This has led CIC to issue the following addendum:

If someone holds a work permit in an occupation found in the NOC skills level O, A, or B that person’s spouse is entitled to an open work permit (i.e. no HRSDC opinion needed, no occupation, or employer need be specified);If someone has been nominated by a province, regardless of NOC skill level, the person is entitled to a work permit with a letter of support from the province, and that person’s spouse is entitled to be issued a work permit;

If someone seeks entry as a business person or entrepreneur, and their application is accompanied by from a province indicating that it is interested in considering this person for provincial nomination, even if they have not yet been nominated. This person can be issued a work permit without HRSDC confirmation.

The British Columbia (B.C.) Construction Association’s says that 50 per cent more workers in the industry are needed to fill the shortage. This represents an additional 60,000 people than are currently employed in the sector.

We don’t have enough of the skilled trades necessary just to carry out the functional construction tasks,” says economics professor at Simon Fraser University, Lindsay Meredith. “I’d poach everything that was breathing,” She added. The CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) has also warned that a major provincial construction boom and the 2010 Summer Olympics is leading to a serious shortage of qualified construction workers in Canada’s most western province.

Vancouver- Whistler was awarded The 2010 Summer Olympic Games at a time when “we are not drawing on a big pool of unemployed people,” explains Maurice Levi, professor of international finance at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The labour shortage is expected to continue well after the Olympics, according to the B.C. Construction Association. “We’re very conscious of a shortage right now of […] skilled workers,” explains Manley McLachlan, vice-president of the B.C. Construction Association.

In response to the growing demand for qualified construction trades people, B.C. is now actively looking outside of its borders. “I know contractors that have been to Europe; they’ve conducted job fairs in England, France, Belgium, and other parts of Europe,” says McLachlan. Skilled labour shortages mean that commodity prices will also rise as a result.

The Canadian government has extended a helping hand to ease the labour shortage B.C is currently facing by facilitating work permits for potential immigrants. A new program is now in place that allows employers to identify a qualified skilled worker for “fast-tracked” immigration processing.

Gulf residents applying for Canadian Permanent Residency in pre-defined categories will be processed through the Abu Dhabi Embassy, instead of the previous London (UK) Visa Office beginning on January 1, 2006.

The affected countries are:

* Bahrain
* Kuwait
* Oman
* Qatar
* United Arab Emirates
* Saudi Arabia
* Yemen

Applications that will be processed through Abu Dhabi are:

* Family Class (all categories)
* Protected Persons
* Quebec Cases (all categories)
* Provincial Nominees
* Dependants of the Live-in Caregiver Class in Canada

London will continue to process all applications from these classes that it receives prior to January 1, 2006. All economic class applications will continue to be processed through the London Office.