Canadian Immigration News

CanadaVisa brings you the latest information about immigration to Canada, including Express Entry, the Provincial Nominee Program, family sponsorship, and study and work permits.

Immigration Minister talks of aggressive moves to reduce backlog

  March 08, 2012

Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney suggested Wednesday the possibility of legislating away Canada’s backlog of immigration applications.

"We’re looking at all options for dealing with these backlogs… It’s not fair to [applicants] and it’s not fair to our economy," said Kenney.

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New sponsorship restriction aims to reduce marriage fraud

  March 07, 2012
In an effort to cut down on spousal sponsorship fraud, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has put into action a new requirement where any new immigrant to Canada sponsored by a spouse or partner must have permanent residency (PR) status for five years before they themselves can sponsor a new spouse or partner from abroad.

This new requirement is effective immediately for new immigration applications under the Family Class category.
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More action on Alberta’s labour shortage dilemma

  March 02, 2012
A newly formed group called the Alberta Coalition for Action on Labour Shortage (ACALS) is pushing the federal government of Canada to amend immigration policies to address a significant labour shortage. Read more

Preparing for the Quebec Selection Interview

  February 28, 2012

Applicants in the Quebec Skilled Worker (QSW) program may be required to attend an interview with a Quebec immigration officer.

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Quebec employers no longer must recruit locally to hire foreign workers for range of jobs

  February 27, 2012
While the Quebec Facilitated IT program came to an end on February 24th, the 7 affected professions are now part of a newly announced facilitated labour market assessment process. The new process, in effect now, includes a much broader range of 44 occupations, both in high tech and from other fields. It is an accelerated way for employers to hire foreign workers in Quebec, which importantly does not require employers to show local recruitment efforts. Read more

Alberta boom continues to tap tight labour market

  February 23, 2012
A shortage of labour was cited by a roundtable of energy companies in Alberta as their key business challenge. Easing immigration rules has been put forward as a possible partial solution. Read more

Greeks looking to Canada as immigration option

  February 22, 2012

Two sources in the past week reported a potential influx of Greek immigrants which could be on their way to Canada.

News1130 in Vancouver, and Metro News in Calgary, reported that these respective city’s Hellenic organizations have both fielded a huge increase of calls from people in Greece with interest in immigrating to Canada.

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Montreal best city in Canada for university students

  February 16, 2012
Montreal was just ranked the best city for university students in Canada, and the 10th best in the world.

The survey, conducted by the British firm QS, has Montreal beating out Chicago and New York City, and just behind Paris, London and Boston. Montreal scored so highly based heavily on its quality of life and number of international students.
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The Success of Manitoba’s Provincial Nominee Program

  February 15, 2012

While Canada is a large and diverse country, traditionally newcomers tended to settle in immigrant enclaves like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. The situation is changing, however, as immigration programs like the popular Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program become more of an attraction.

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Black History Month continues to be celebrated nation-wide

  February 14, 2012
As mid-February approaches, Canada continues to celebrate Black history until the end of the month.

Black History Month started as an American tradition, originally referred to as ‘Negro History Week’ and lasting for this shorter time span. It was expanded to a full month and celebrated for the duration of February ever since 1976.
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