Major Changes In Canada Federal Skilled Worker Program 2013

 

The suspense over the Canada Federal Skilled Worker was finally over as Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced the dates for the commencement of the program. The Federal Skilled worker program will start from 4th May, 2013 albeit a few changes.

The Federal Skilled Worker Program is Canada’s largest economic immigration programs, around 56,000 individuals are expected to migrate to Canada this year. The Federal Skilled Worker Program or FSW as it’s popularly know, is focused on Canada’s economic needs and shortage of skilled workers. To quote Minister Kenney “The new Federal Skilled Worker Program criteria will ensure Canada is selecting the skilled immigrants our economy needs, who are the most likely to succeed and fully realize their potential in Canada.”

There are a few changes to this year’s Federal Skilled Worker program as compared to previous years, more emphasis will be given to language proficiency, youth and work experience. Given below are the proposed changes for the FSW program for 2013:

1) Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has proposed that more importance will be given to English and French language.

2) Emphasis on younger immigrants.

3) More value to those individual having Canadian work experience.

4) Points will be rewarded to those having spousal language ability and Canadian experience.

5) Simplifying the arranged employment

6) Adaptability will be a major factor.

Apart from these proposed changes there are other changes as well. Unlike previous years, this year the applications will be fast tracked and will be processed within months, this step was taken to ensure that there are no backlogs this year. The major steps that will be the part of the new selection process are:

1) There will be a minimum threshold for language, which is level 7 of the Canadian Language Benchmark Assessment System. The agencies designated to assess the language skills of the candidate are IELTS (International English Language Testing System) and CELPIP (Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program) for English and TEF (Test d’évaluation de français) for French.

2) All the candidates need to get their educational credentials assessed by designated bodies by the Canadian government. This step was taken to make sure that the candidate’s educational qualification matches to Canadian educational standards. A list of the assessing bodies will be available early in January.

The Canadian immigration department also plans to implement Expression of Interest (EOI) in order to provide the prospective employers a pool of employees to choose from. “The government’s number one priority remains jobs, economic growth, and long-term prosperity,” said Minister Kenney. “The new Federal Skilled Worker Program criteria will ensure Canada is selecting the skilled immigrants our economy needs, who are the most likely to succeed and fully realize their potential in Canada.”

So all of you who wish to migrate to Canada, don’t wait till May to submit your applications, the assessments will start from early 2013. We suggest that you should be ready with your applications and relevant document and apply now to beat the rush as there will be limited amount of applications accepted.

Written By, Visas Simply