Citizenship and Immigration Canada has announced that new Kits and Application forms for the Federal Skilled Worker Program, which reopens on May 4, 2013, will be released and available to the public later today, May 3, 2013.

Once these new Kits and forms become available, they will be sent to all of Abrams & Krochak’s Federal Skilled Worker clients who meet the new eligibility requirements to take effect on May 4, 2013.

If you have not received an e-mail from Abrams & Krochak by 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4) on Saturday, May 4, 2013, with the new Kit and forms, please send an e-mail to info@akcanada.com with a request for same.

On Thursday, April 18, 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada made a major announcement, concerning the Federal Skilled Worker Class.

Once again, there will be a General Occupations (Demand) List for the Federal Skilled Worker Class; however, the jobs on the List, the number of jobs on the List, the overall quota for the category and the quota per job on the List WILL change.

To be eligible to apply for Permanent Residence in Canada in the Federal Skilled Worker Class, an applicant must:

score at least 6.0 in each of Listening/Reading/Writing/Speaking on the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam, AND

have his/her foreign educational credentials favourably assessed by one (1) of four (4) designated Canadian assessment agencies; AND

have a valid offer of arranged employment, OR

have one (1) year of continuous full-time paid work experience or two (2) years of continuous half-time paid work experience in at least one (1) of the following twenty-four (24) occupations:

0211 Engineering managers

1112 Financial and investment analysts

2113 Geoscientists and oceanographers

2131 Civil engineers

2132 Mechanical engineers

2134 Chemical engineers

2143 Mining engineers

2144 Geological engineers

2145 Petroleum engineers

2146 Aerospace engineers

2147 Computer engineers (except software engineers/designers)

2154 Land surveyors

2174 Computer programmers and interactive media developers

2243 Industrial instrument technicians and mechanics

2263 Inspectors in public and environmental health and occupational health and safety

3141 Audiologists and speech-language pathologists

3142 Physiotherapists

3143 Occupational Therapists

3211 Medical laboratory technologists

3212 Medical laboratory technicians and pathologists’ assistants

3214 Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists

3215 Medical radiation technologists

3216 Medical sonographers

3217 Cardiology technicians and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists, n.e.c. (not elsewhere classified)

A maximum of five thousand (5,000) Federal Skilled Worker applications will be considered for processing between May 4, 2013 and April 30, 2014. Within the five thousand (5,000) cap, a maximum of three hundred (300) Federal Skilled Worker Applications per eligible occupation (any one (1) of the twenty-four (24) occupations that appears on Canada’s General Occupations (Demand) List) will be considered for processing between May 4, 2013 and April 30, 2014.

2. What does this mean?

 

a. Existing Clients of Abrams & Krochak

 

(i) Application already filed

 

If you are already a client of Abrams & Krochak and your Application for Permanent Residence in Canada was filed with and accepted for processing by Citizenship and Immigration Canada BEFORE May 4, 2013, the new quotas do NOT apply to you.

(ii) Application not yet filed

If you are already a client of Abrams & Krochak and your Application for Permanent Residence in Canada has not yet been filed with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, we will be sending you an e-mail shortly to advise you as to your eligibility based on the information that we have on file for you. Please ensure to check your Junk Mail folder as well as your Inbox for our e-mail over the coming days.

b. Non-Clients of Abrams & Krochak

 

(i) Eligibility already assessed

 

If you had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada in the Federal Skilled Worker Class already favourably assessed by Abrams & Krochak prior to April 19, 2013 and wish to have your eligibility reassessed, please send an e-mail to askus@akcanada.com with your request. You will receive your reassessment within one (1) business day.

If you had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada in the Federal Skilled Worker Class already favourably reassessed by Abrams & Krochak OR you are certain that you meet the eligibility requirements and you wish to apply for Permanent Residence in Canada as a Skilled Worker with our assistance, it is IMPERATIVE that you retain/engage our services AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE so that we can file your Application for Permanent Residence before the quota for your particular occupation and/or the quota for the Federal Skilled Worker Class is/are reached. Otherwise, you may have to wait until next year’s List is announced; however, should you do so, you run the risk that your particular occupation might no longer appear on that List or that selection criteria will have changed, thereby rendering you ineligible to immigrate to Canada as a Skilled Worker. If you no longer have instructions on how to retain/engage Abrams & Krochak’s services, please visit http://www.akcanada.com/resources/ind.cfm.

(ii) Eligibility not yet assessed

If you are interested in immigrating to Canada as a skilled worker but you have not yet had your eligibility to do so assessed by Abrams & Krochak, we invite you to complete our Free Online Assessment Questionnaire at http://www.abramsandkrochak.com/skilled-worker. You will receive your assessment within one (1) business day.

On January 24, 2013, the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, announced a pilot Immigration program, which will likely permanently replace the former Entrepreneur Category of the Business Class, which ceased to accept new Applications as of July 1, 2011.

The new pilot program, “The Start-up Visa Program”, will run for up to five years. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, initially, the number of Applications will be limited because of the program’s narrow focus.

The Start-up Visa Program will link immigrant entrepreneurs with experienced Canadian private sector organizations that have expertise in working with start-ups and who can provide essential resources.

Foreign entrepreneurs will require the support of a Canadian angel investor group, venture capital fund or a business incubator before they can apply to the Start-up Visa Program. In addition to that, foreign entrepreneurs will also have to meet certain criteria regarding language proficiency and educational qualifications.

According to the Government, no longer will entrepreneurs be able to limit investment to small, safe enterprises. Instead, they will now be required to invest in “innovative”, “dynamic” ones that “can compete on a global scale”.

The full set of criteria will be published in the spring of 2013. The Program will open for applications on April 1, 2013. As soon as the criteria are published, they will appear on our website.

On July 1, 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada placed a temporary pause on accepting new Federal Skilled Worker Applications for Permanent Residence in Canada for processing. On December 19, 2012, Jason Kenney, Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, announced that the Government of Canada will start accepting Federal Skilled Worker Applications, again, on May 4, 2013.

Under the new Federal Skilled Worker Program, successful applicants will have to score sixty-seven (67) points or more based on revised eligibility criteria and, depending on which is their stronger language (English or French) they will have to meet a minimum language threshold (Medium Intermediate Proficiency or higher in each of reading/writing/speaking/listening). They will also have to have their foreign educational credentials assessed by a Canadian agency. To qualify, applicants’ foreign educational credentials must match or exceed Canadian standards. As part of our legal services, Abrams & Krochak will assist its clients to have their credentials assessed.

What is unclear, however, is whether Citizenship and Immigration Canada will publish an Occupational Demand List, whereby applicants must have a minimum of one (1) year of full-time experience in any one (1) or more of the occupations on the List in order to qualify.

If you have had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada in the Federal Skilled Worker Class favourably assessed by Abrams & Krochak since August 17, 2012 and wish to retain/engage our services, we strongly recommend that you do so as soon as possible. In previous years, Citizenship and Immigration Canada imposed a quota on the number of Federal Skilled Worker Applications it would accept in a twelve (12) month period AND on the number of Applications it would accept for a particular occupation. It appears as though quotas will be reinstated when the Federal Skilled Worker category reopens on May 4, 2013. Therefore, if you wish to apply for Permanent Residence in Canada as a Federal Skilled Worker with our assistance, it is IMPERATIVE that you retain/engage our services AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. In this way, (i) we can have your educational credentials assessed; (ii) you can undergo formal language testing (both requirements under the Federal Skilled Worker Class); and (iii) we can have your Application package prepared and ready for filing by May 4, 2013. Otherwise, the quota(s) for your particular occupation and/or for ALL Federal Skilled Worker Applications may be reached by the time you are ready to file, thereby rendering you ineligible to immigrate to Canada as a Federal Skilled Worker.

Assuming you become Abrams & Krochak’s client, once Citizenship and Immigration Canada provides further details regarding the processing of new Federal Skilled Worker Applications and if it publishes an Occupational Demand List and your occupation(s) do(es) not appear on the List OR if your educational/professional credentials are not favourably assessed by the new Canadian foreign credentials assessment agency, Abrams & Krochak will work with you to explore other options to make your proposed Canadian Immigration plans a success (i.e. Arranged Employment/Provincial Nominee Programs/Temporary Visas (i.e. Work Permits/Study Permits), etc.). Nevertheless, if you ultimately decide to discontinue the process, the terms and conditions of our 100% Money-Back Guarantee (page 4, paragraph 4) will govern the amount of the refund of legal fees to which you are entitled (if any).

If you have had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada in the Federal Skilled Worker Class favourably assessed by Abrams & Krochak and you have any questions, regarding the new Federal Skilled Worker Program, please send an e-mail to askus@akcanada.com.

If you have not yet had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada in the Federal Skilled Worker Class assessed by Abrams & Krochak, but wish to do so, please visit http://www.abramsandkrochak.com/skilled-worker.