NEW CANADA IMMIGRATION LIST STARTING FROM 1 JULY 2011

Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) has announced changes that will be made to three of Canada’s federal immigration programs effective July 1, 2011. In order to reduce the backlog of economic applications, CIC will be adjusting the intake of applications from certain immigration categories.

Federal Skilled Worker Program

To qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker Program, applicants must have at least one year of paid work experience in one of the 29 eligible occupations or have a valid job offer from a Canadian employer. CIC has just announced that the list of 29 eligible occupations will remain the same for the coming 12 months; however, fewer applications will be accepted for processing. As of July 1, 2011, only 500 applications will be accepted for processing per occupation and only 10,000 applications will be considered in total for the coming 12 months. Applicants who have a validated job offer from a Canadian employer will not be affected by the caps.

Twenty 4 Seven 365 HR Worldwide encourages applicants to submit their applications as soon as possible, “These 29 open occupations will fill up very quickly. Speaking from my own experience, a number of our clients have anticipated that the same occupations would reopen and they already have their files ready for submission for July 1st. It is important that your application gets submitted quickly and that you get it right the first time. There will be no room for error as occupation caps will be filled quickly, especially in the popular occupations.”

Find out if you qualify for Canadian Permanent Residency by completing our Online Assessment.

Federal Immigrant Investor Program

CIC has announced that as of July 1, 2011, the number of Federal Immigrant Investor applications accepted for processing will be capped at 700 for the coming 12 months. Canadian financial institutions, which act as facilitators in this program, are reporting that applicants will be required to submit government processing fees, a copy of their passport, and completed simplified forms to the Centralized Intake Office in Sydney, Nova Scotia. All other supporting documents will be required at a later stage of the processing.

To qualify for the Federal Immigrant Investor Program, applicants must have:

• Prior business experience;

• A minimum net worth of C$1,600,000 CAN; and

• Make a C$800,000 CAN secured investment.

“Given the demand for this program, especially from Chinese nationals, we expect this imposed cap limit to be reached extremely quickly… probably within a matter of days,” says Attorney David Cohen. “Applicants should keep in mind that Quebec has its own Immigrant Investor Program which could be a great option for applicants who cannot submit under the Federal Investor Program as Quebec will be increasing the number of applications accepted under its program.”

The Government of Quebec is expected to make an announcement regarding its Immigrant Investor Program early next week.

Moratorium on the Federal Immigrant Entrepreneur Program

As of July 1, 2011, CIC will not be accepting any new Federal Entrepreneur applications. CIC has not stated when the Federal Entrepreneur Program will begin accepting new applications. Applicants are encouraged to submit their application to the Quebec Entrepreneur Program or to one of the various Business Immigration Programs offered by the provinces.

A Happy Canada Story

Sponsored to come to Canada as a nanny, Elenor Diaz immigrated to Canada from the Philippines in 2006 and became a Canadian permanent resident in 2009. She has been working three jobs to save enough money to bring her family to Canada for Christmas and to begin a sponsorship application to permanently settle her family in Canada.

Diaz saved over $4,000 and sent the money to a travel agent in the Philippines to pay for round-trip airline tickets for her husband and three children. She soon learned that the tickets had been cancelled after the travel agent had closed his business. Diaz lost the money and lost any hope of seeing her family for Christmas.

Learning about the situation, one of Diaz’s employers, Lissa Maytas, wrote to a local newspaper. Within a day of the article appearing the paper, Canadians began offering help to bring the family over to Canada. In particular, a Montrealer, Larry Modafferi, paid nearly $6,000 for new plane tickets for Diaz’s family.

Earlier this Wednesday morning, Diaz was finally reunited with her husband and children at Montreal’s airport. Thanks to the generosity of Canadians around the country, Diaz’s Christmas wish of being with her family has finally come true.

Know more about Canada's Family Sponsorship & Immigration Programs

Tips for IELTS - The English Test Required for Immigration

Being an immigration expert for the last 7 years, here are some tips I would like to share with you -                                                                                                                                 

IELTS has become the mandatory requirement for immigration processes. If you are a citizen of a country where English is not the first language, then you have to take your IELTS exam before you apply for your immigration or permanent residency process. Australia immigration or Canada skilled worker PR program, hong kong immigration options or UK work permit, you have to appear for your IELTS exams to establish your eligibility for immigration. 

Language is not a subject that you can just clam up in a week or a fortnight. Language is a skill that you can master with time. Do not think that a crash course from any English teaching institute will help you get the scores. 

Give time to the Basics - brush up your basics of grammar and comprehension. 

Reading - read English newspapers and magazines to increase your reading speed and retaining capabilities. Read an article and then allow yourself 5 minutes to revise and write the summary or basic points for the article you have just read. It is a great exercise to sharpen your reading and retaining power. 

Writing - Pick a business newspaper or the education, business, political or entertainment section of any newspaper and choose a 'headline' randomly - then without reading the content under the headline, write an article or composition of your own based on the headline. Once you are finished, read the original content published with the headline you just chose and see how closely connected is your write-up with the original. Learn to pick topics from everyday life and write your own stories about them. The evaluator will expect some real facts in your write-ups in the real examination - so do not just make things up, stick to the original context and stay updated with whats going on around you in the world. And yes, don't forget the 'spellings'.

Speaking - Try to talk in English with your family members, friends, and colleagues. Using slang language and the hip-hop terms may make you feel like a star in front of your friends, but it will not impress the examiner one bit. Use proper English and learn some good English adages and phrases. Doing a role-play of a newsreader in front of the mirror helps a lot in building confidence and fluency. Record what you say - and play it to know where you stammered, or the places where you faltered for a word, or if you are filling the blank spaces of time with ''ummm, aaaaannn, i mean to say, u know like''.....and these kind of expressions that clearly tag you as not so proficient in English.

Listening - The best exercise to develop your listening skills is to the most entertaining - watch movies and I mean good English movies. And try to understand what the actors are really saying - without reading the subtitles'. Now that should be fun, and want to make you start preparing for your IELTS exams immediately, right ?

One last advise for everyone, preparing or not preparing for IELTS - subscribe today for your Reader's Digest, it is the best thing to keep yourself entertained, informed and proficient in English. And no I have absolutely no gains or shareholdings in the above mentioned digest.

Most important - just remember that IELTS is an examination to test your English language abilities and not your technical, financial, global or general intelligence and knowledge, so do not try to unduly pressurize your mind on finding the most intelligent things to say and write. Simply let it focus on speaking 'good English' that sounds nice to the ears and makes sense.

Wish you all the luck you need for your IELTS or any other English language examination.....enjoy the language !