David Cohen’s Blog: Discretion can lead to discrimination

The Conservative led minority government has recently introduced a bill in Parliament that contains significant changes to Canada’s immigration law. If passed, the proposed amendments will empower the immigration minister to instruct visa officers to take certain candidates quickly, hold some applications for consideration at a later date, and return others without any consideration at […]

By CIC News

Proposed Changes to Canadian Immigration Laws: Implications for Applicants

On March 14, 2008 Canada’s Conservative government tabled a bill that proposed amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). Under the current law, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is required to assess every Permanent Resident application received at a visa office, in a particular immigration category, on a “first come, first served” basis. […]

By CIC News

Canadian Labour Shortage Solution: International Students in Canada

Young, educated, and attuned to life in Canada, foreign students are Canadian immigrants of choice, with no settlement-integration cost and strong potential to contribute to the Canadian labour force. In December 2006 there were 157,000 foreign students in Canada – many from China, Korea, and the United States. The Canadian Bureau for International Education reports […]

By CIC News

Visa-Free Travel to Canada for New European Union Member States

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has been working with new EU countries in an effort to establish visa-exempt status for all EU member states. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Lithuania, are the most recent countries for which citizens traveling to Canada are no longer required to obtain Temporary Resident (Visitor) Visas. Twelve countries joined the EU in […]

By CIC News

Language of Choice at Work – Investments in English and French Language Training

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has been pumping funds into the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program, supporting English and French language training providers across Canada as they help newcomers transition into life in Canada. Additionally, the Quebec government has recently introduced new measures to improve and extend French language classes to immigrants. […]

By CIC News

David Cohen’s Blog: Government Gets It Wrong

Since it’s inception in 2002, Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) has stood for the principle that anyone is entitled to apply for permission to live in Canada and to have his or her admissibility considered fairly, according to purely objective criteria. This core value is now threatened. >> Read Full Blog on Canadavisa.com

By CIC News

Canadian Immigration Visa Office Targets for 2008

How long will it take to process a Canadian Permanent Resident Visa application? Well, that depends on several factors. One of the most important factors is the planned number of visas to be given out at a visa office (target numbers) for the year. The assignment of these target numbers to each Canadian visa office […]

By CIC News

Smaller Canadian Cities Offer Faster Economic Integration for Newcomers

Nearly three quarters of Canadian immigrants settle in Canada’s three largest metropolitan areas, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. However, a recent Statistics Canada report suggests that those who go against the grain and start their new lives in smaller Canadian centres will likely experience an even more successful integration into Canadian society. In response to this […]

By CIC News

Message to Canadian Employers: Hire Skilled Immigrants

The Canadian economy is growing at a much faster rate than the Canadian population. The Canadian population would not be growing if it were not for immigration. To maintain economic growth, Canadian businesses are reliant on the large pool of new skilled immigrants, who by 2011 will account for all net labour force growth in […]

By CIC News