immigration express entry consultant
Canadians will head to
the polls in October to elect a new central government, which could bring
changes to Canada’s current immigration policies.
Canada’s three major
political parties — the governing Liberals, the traditional Party of Canada and
the New Democratic Party (NDP) — are all on the record as being in favour of
economic immigration, but there are differences in their approach to the issue
that could have an impact on immigration policy.
Under the Liberals,
Canada’s immigration policies have taken a direction that puts them in
increasingly stark contrast to the current policies of the United States and
many European countries.
Chief among their
policies was the adoption of increased immigration targets that would see Canada welcome more than
one million new permanent residents by the end of 2021 and push the country’s
immigration rate to nearly one per cent of its population.
True to their name,
they have also liberalized immigration policy to reduce the time it takes to get Canadian citizenship
while reforming medical inadmissibility rules and emphasizing family reunification,
among other updates.
In their four years in
office, the Liberals have also introduced important changes to the Express Entry system, which manages the pool of candidates
for three of Canada’s main economic immigration categories — Federal Skilled Worker
Class, Federal Skilled Trades
Class and Canadian Experience
Class.
Since taking power in
late 2015, the Liberals have overseen a dramatic increase in the number
of invitations
to applyfor Canadian permanent residence, or ITAs, issued through
the Express Entry system — from 33,782 in 2016 to 86,023 in 2017 and 89,800 in
2018.
The Liberals have also
introduced significant changes to Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) that determines a candidate’s
position in the Express Entry pool, namely the reduction of
additional points awarded for a
job offer.
While a job offer is
not required in order to be eligible under Express Entry, the Conservatives’
original CRS rewarded candidates with a Labour Market Impact Assessment
(LMIA)-backed job offer with an additional 600 CRS points —
effectively guaranteeing an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent
residence regardless of their core CRS score.
Critics, however, said this approach favoured low-skilled, low-wage labour at the expense of candidates with greater earning potential who would ultimately provide greater economic benefit to Canada.
Critics, however, said this approach favoured low-skilled, low-wage labour at the expense of candidates with greater earning potential who would ultimately provide greater economic benefit to Canada.
In late 2016, the
Liberals acted on these concerns and reduced the points award for a job offer
to a maximum of 200.
This has benefited candidate
with superior human capital scores, which include age, proficiency in English
and French, education, and skilled work experience. Combined, they provide what
is known as a candidate’s core CRS score, which can reach a maximum of 600
points.
“The Arranged
Employment additional points are now balanced with the core CRS, which means
that candidates with a qualifying arranged employment need a sufficiently high
core CRS to receive an invitation,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Canada (IRCC) noted in its Express Entry year-end report for 2017.
The report showed that
invitations to Federal Skilled Worker Class candidates jumped by nearly
400 per cent in 2017 thanks to the Liberals’ targeted changes to the CRS.
IRCC also reported
that lowering the points awarded for a job offer was having a “significant
impact on the occupation mix of candidates that received an invitation.”
In 2016, cooks and
food service supervisors figured among the top five occupations of candidates
invited through Express Entry that year. In 2017, they lost their fourth and
fifth place rankings to financial auditors and accountants and managerial
assistants and dropped to 28th and 14th, respectively.
Conservatives
If the Conservatives
win in October — CBC’s Poll Tracker currently gives them a six-point lead over the Liberals —
changes to Canada’s immigration policy are possible. # Australia vs England
While they have yet to
provide a more extensive outline of their immigration platform, the
Conservatives say they are for a “fair, orderly and compassionate”
immigration system that would emphasize both an immigrant’s ability to become
self-sufficient and Canada’s labour market needs.
“We would directly
link the number and skills of people seeking to enter Canada for economic
reasons to the needs of the Canadian economy,” Conservative immigration critic
Michelle Rempel told reporters earlier this month.
This emphasis on
economic immigration was central to Conservative immigration policy when they
governed Canada between 2006 and 2015 and resulted in their introduction of the
Express Entry system in 2015.
The Conservatives have
not said whether they would change the Express Entry CRS or the overall immigration
targets set by the Liberals.
Lempel, however, has
been critical of the Liberals’ approach to setting the targets, which she
compared to an auction.
Rempel said
immigration targets had to be rooted in policy and the product of a process
#austrailavsengland #immigration #canada
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