Canada’s population is above 34 million for the first time ever with some two thirds of the growth down to new arrivals…
The latest figures from Statistics Canada show that the country’s population was 34,019,000 on April 1, an increase of 88,000 people since it last counted on January 1. But the growth rate of expats has slowed compared to previous years.
All provinces saw an increase in their population in the first three months of this year, except Nova Scotia. British Columbia saw the highest growth in population and there were large increases in the western provinces with Saskatchewan reporting its biggest quarterly population increase since 1972.
At the same time it has been revealed that Canada’s 2010 immigration plan will put even greater emphasis on economic recovery and reducing the federal skilled worker backlog but limits are being put on applications.
Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced changes to the Federal Canadian Skilled Worker Visa. ‘As we recover from the recession, increasing economic immigration will help ensure employers have the workers they need to supplement our domestic labour supply,’ he said. The planned Canadian immigration range for 2010 is 240,000 to 265,000.
As more applications though are received than can be processed in a timely way, the department is limiting the number of new applications it will consider in the federal skilled worker category every year.
‘Canada will continue to welcome historically high numbers of immigrants, but we need to manage the number of new applications or risk creating new backlogs and longer processing times,’ Kenney explained.
‘We have more than enough applications on hand now to fill many of our needs, and we want to be fair to those people who have been waiting the longest,’ he added.
The main change is that to be eligible to apply as a federal skilled worker, applicants must either have a job offer, or they must have experience in one of 29 occupations on the Priority Occupation List which includes business services, architects, GPs, pharmacists, nurses, biologists, plumbers, chefs and cooks.
Applications under the Priority Occupation List are being limited to 20,000 per year with a maximum of 1,000 per occupation. Also all federal skilled worker and Canadian Experience Class applicants must submit the results of an independent language test before they will be considered.
The changes are designed to allow the government to keep the intake of applications for economic immigration in line with the number and types of jobs available as well as providing timely processing times for migrants.
Source: www.expatforum.com
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