Skilled workers: Canada makes major changes in procedure

News Paper: Business Recorder

KARACHI (July 19 2010): Pakistan's leading immigration consultants Lalani & Associates reported that last month, Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced major changes in the procedure for 'Federal Skilled Worker' category through ministerial instructions, which went into force immediately.

All federal skilled worker applications that are received by citizenship and immigration Canada on or after June 26, 2010 will be subject to the changes, and applications found to be ineligible will be returned, with the refunding of government processing fees.

Sikander Lalani, CEO of Lalani & Associates said, "The most significant change is the change in eligible occupations, with the elimination of some popular occupations and the additions of a few new ones, bringing the list from 38 to 29 occupations.

"He added that occupations that were previously ineligible but are now eligible include Primary Production Managers (except Agriculture), Manage-ment ISO/Organisational Consultants, Advertising /Branding Professionals, Insurance/Claims Adjusters, Biologists, Architects, Dentists, Pharmacists, Social Workers and Psychologists.

Occupations that continue be eligible include Doctors & Nurses, Physiotherapists, Medical Radiation Techno-logists, Restaurant and Food Service Managers and Oil and Gas Drilling Supervisors.

Some of the most popular occupations which are no longer eligible include Financial Managers, Financial Auditors and Accountants, Computer and Information Systems Managers, Managers in Healthcare, Accommodation Service Managers, Construction Managers, University Professors, College and Other Vocational Instructors and Supervisors (Petroleum, Gas and Chemical Processing and Utilities).

Lalani also stated that ministerial instructions also put an annual cap of 20,000 on federal skilled workers to be considered for processing in a year, starting on June 26, 2010 until June 30, 2011. In addition, he said there would be an annual cap of 1,000 applications per each eligible occupation to be considered for processing, also starting on June 26, 2010. Another change introduced by the ministry is the requirement for documentation and especially language proficiency results to be filed in the beginning of the process - the results of test such as IELTS need to be attached to the initial application, along with all other supporting documents and sent to the Centralised Intake Office in Canada. Previously, IELTS results and other supporting documentation could be sent at a later stage in the process to the local Canadian Visa Post in Islamabad

-www.brecorder.com