Canada concludes consultations to identify critical occupational shortages and future role of immigration

A cross-Canada consultation process, launched by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) on July 7 to discuss occupational priorities for immigration purposes, has finally reached to its end following two round table consultation sessions with national stakeholders from business, industry, labour, non-governmental organizations, Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC), and the Bank of Canada.

Hosted by Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, these broad consultations with stakeholders provided CIC with a national perspective on critical occupational shortages of short- and medium-term and the role of CIC in effectively balancing Canada’s immigration system with its needs.

This knowledge and expertise, along with input gathered at workplace/industry/sector/region level and in form of feedbacks submitted through Internet over the past month, will help CIC develop instructions for immigration officers on occupations that are identified for priority processing. Expected to be released this fall, first such minsterial "set of instructions" will then focus on post Febraury 26, 2008 applications, in the federal skilled worker category, in the perspective of current labor market needs.

In the meantime, government is also focusing on modernizing the immigration system to respond to Canada’s labour market needs, reducing wait times for new applicants, and reducing the backlog of immigration applications.

For this purpose, the budget 2008-09 allocates $109 million over five years. With this funding, CIC has begun recording occupational information for applications in the current skilled worker backlog. The Department will be referring applications of interest to the provinces and territories for possible processing under the Provincial Nominee Program. CIC is also working toward increasing capacity and efficiency in missions with the largest backlogs, centralizing the receipt of applications, and reconfirming the intentions of applicants facing the longest wait times.

CIC is also setting up a network of path-finding and referral services to help internationally trained individuals use their skills in Canada. For this purpose, government has established Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO) in May 2007, which helps internationally trained individuals find the information they need to get their credentials assessed and recognized more quickly. There are now 320 Service Canada centres across the country offering in-person services to newcomers.

Provincial and territorial governments of Canada also intend to better recognize foreign credentials. In its two-day annual "Federation of the Council" meeting, the provincial premiers and territorial leaders have decided to harmonize the different provincial requirements for recognizing foreign credentials after August 2009.

CIC has made sure that every time following such consultations, the instructions will be published in the Canada Gazette and available on CIC website. They will also be tabled in Parliament as part of the Annual Report on Immigration.

To meet the 2008 immigration plan, CIC missions around the world continue to process applications submitted before February 27, 2008. Applications received on or after February 27, 2008 will be placed on hold until immigration officers receive instructions resulting from the consultations. However, federal skilled worker applicants who already have a job waiting for them in Canada will be processed.

Further, the new legislation will not affect agreements with the provinces to process provincial nominees or, in the case of Quebec, Quebec skilled workers, and programs relate to refugee protection, so applications in those areas will continue to process in the usual way. The new legislation is also not intended to affect Canada’s goals for family reunification.