Ontario to make it easier for immigrants to work in their professions
October 21, 2021
[REPRODUCED FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS]
Ontario is set to introduce legislation that would make it easier for immigrants to get licensed to work in professions that match their areas of expertise.
Labour Minister Monte McNaughton says the proposed legislation would, if passed, prevent many regulatory bodies from requiring immigrants to have Canadian work experience to get licensed.
It would also standardize English-language testing requirements and ensure licensing applications are processed faster.
McNaughton says the changes would help remove barriers immigrants often face when trying to work in their professions.
“It really is an injustice when you think of only 25 per cent of immigrants in Ontario work actually in jobs and professions that they were trained for,” he said in an interview.
“It’s all about improving their lives, ensuring that they get bigger paychecks and more worker protections.”
McNaughton says Ontario is facing a labour shortage as some 293,000 jobs are unfilled across the province.
The proposed legislation would apply to licensing bodies governing engineers, architects, teachers, accountants and social workers, among other. But it would not affect those regulating medical professions, including those that licence doctors and nurses.
The legislation would also help internationally trained workers in 23 trades, including electricians, plumbers and hoisting engineers.
Licensing bodies would still be able to apply for exemptions that could require Canadian work experience, but that would need government approval, McNaughton said.
“They have to make a health and safety case, which would come to the minister for approval,” he said, noting that he hoped to see the changes brought by the legislation take effect in two years.
The director of engineering training projects at ACCES Employment, an organization that help newcomers find suitable jobs in Ontario, said removing the Canadian work experience requirement would help immigrant engineers get licensed and hired a lot faster.
Gabriela Tavaru said immigrant engineers cannot work in their profession before they get their professional license, regardless of how many years of experience they had before they came to Ontario.
“Starting a job, performance evaluation, the whole system, it’s new. So it’s a little bit too difficult for any immigrant and especially for regulated professionals like engineers to navigate this process and get a job,” she said.
She said a maximum of four years of international experience is recognized by the licensing body for engineers in Ontario, but a minimum of one year of Canadian work experience in the field is also required. Immigrant engineers have to work for a year under the supervision of a licensed Canadian engineer to gain that experience.
“This is the problem: you cannot get a job to get your license,” she said. “They cannot be engineers. They cannot sign contracts. They cannot be called engineer, but they can work, for example, as estimators, project managers, field coordinators.”
Economic outlook says Canada among leaders in post-pandemic recovery
June 25, 2021
In a recent economic outlook report co-authored by Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge, Canada’s economy is projected to strongly rebound this year as COVID-19 vaccination rates rise and things return to more pre-pandemic conditions, with growth easing slowly between now and the end of 2023.
Dodge says that he expects growth to accelerate in the second half of 2021, with real GDP growing 5.5 per cent between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2021. For 2022, the outlook is for 2.6 per cent during 2022 and 1. 9 per cent during 2023.
Economic output should return to its pre-pandemic level by the third quarter of 2021 and back to its pre-pandemic trend level by the end of 2022.
With all of this having been said and Canada’s economy on the rebound, now is an excellent time to consider immigrating to Canada. If you have not already had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada assessed free of charge by Abrams & Krochak, you may do so by visiting https://www.akcanada.com/assessment1.php. If you have already had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada favourably assessed by Abrams & Krochak and wish to proceed with your proposed Canadian Immigration plans, follow the instructions at the bottom of the favourable eligibility assessment that you received, via e-mail, from the firm or send a message to askus@akcanada.com.
Canada plans to bring in more than 1.2 Million immigrants in next 3 years
October 30, 2020
The Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, tabled the 2021‒2023 Immigration Levels Plan, today.
The 2021 to 2023 Levels Plan aims to continue welcoming immigrants at a rate of about 1% of the population of Canada, including 401,000 permanent residents in 2021, 411,000 in 2022 and 421,000 in 2023. Of those, the following are the number of immigrants that will be admitted under the Express Entry system (the system used to process Immigration Applications of Federal Skilled Worker/Federal Skilled Trades/Canadian Experience Class applicants):
2021: 81,000-110,250
2022: 96,250-112,900
2023: 100,000-114,500
Highlights of the plan include
- an increase in admissions over the 3 years of the Plan
- a focus on economic growth, with about 60% of admissions to come from the Economic Class
- a continued focus on innovative and community-driven approaches to address diverse labour and demographic needs across the country
- additional points for French-speaking candidates under Express Entry, to promote the growth of Francophone communities outside of Quebec
According to the Minister, “[t]he 2021–2023 Immigration Levels Plan will help cement Canada’s place among the world’s top destinations for talent, creating a strong foundation for economic growth while reuniting family members with their loved ones and fulfilling Canada’s humanitarian commitments”.
Additional Express Entry CRS Points for French Speakers
October 27, 2020
To increase the number of French speakers residing in Canada outside of Quebec, the Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced today that French-speaking and bilingual candidates will receive additional Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points under the Express Entry system.
The change announced today will see the current number of points increase from 15 to 25 for French-speaking candidates and from 30 to 50 for bilingual candidates. The increase in points will obviously improve the chances of French-speaking and bilingual Express Entry applicants receiving an Invitation to Apply for Permanent Residence in Canada.
If you are a French speaker or you are bilingual and wish to have your eligibility to immigrate to Canada under the Express Entry System assessed by our firm at no charge to you, please visit https://www.akcanada.com/assessment1.php. Likewise, if you are a French speaker or you are bilingual and you have already had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada under the Express Entry System assessed by our firm and wish to proceed with your proposed Canadian Immigration plans, please send us an e-mail or contact us, via our website, at https://www.akcanada.com/contact.php.
Canada Increases Number of Immigrants – Larger Percentage of Skilled Workers
November 2, 2018
On October 31, 2018, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced the new multi-year immigration levels plan for 2019-2021.
The new plan will see the number of permanent residents that Canada welcomes annually grow to 330,800 in 2019, 341,000 in 2020 and 350,000—nearing 1 percent of Canada’s population—in 2021.
According to Minister Hussen, this new immigration plan will benefit all Canadians because immigrants contribute to Canada’s economic growth and help keep Canada competitive in a global economy. With this in mind, the majority of the increase in 2021 will be allotted to those wishing to enter Canada under the Express Entry System.
According to the plan, Canada will see the number of immigrants admitted under the Express Entry System increase as follows:
2018: 72,700-78,200
2019: 76,000-86,000
2020: 81,000-88,000
2021: 84,000-91,000
If you are considering immigrating to Canada under the Express Entry System and you meet the eligibility requirements of the Federal Skilled Worker Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Class or the Canadian Experience Class, now would be an excellent time for you to enter the Express Entry Pool of Candidates so that you can be one of the first applicants to benefit from possible lower CRS drawing scores and an increased number of Express Entry candidates invited to apply for Permanent Residence in Canada.
If you have already had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada favourably assessed by Abrams & Krochak and wish to proceed with your proposed Canadian Immigration plans, please follow the instructions that were sent to you, via e-mail, in Mr. Abrams’ favourable eligibility assessment or send an e-mail to askus@akcanada.com for further information/instructions.
If you have not yet had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada assessed by Abrams & Krochak but wish us to do so, please complete our Online Eligibility Assessment Questionnaire at https://www.akcanada.com/assessment1.php and we will assess your eligibility to immigrate to Canada under Express Entry, free of charge, and send you our assessment within one (1) business day.