Commencing January 1, 2015, there will be significant changes to Canada's immigration system which will impact any individual wishing to become a Canadian permanent resident. Employers should take note of these changes if they have any temporary foreign worker employees or potential employees who want to remain in Canada or come to Canada on a long-term basis.
Effective January 1, 2015 Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will be overhauling its permanent residency program and introducing a new immigration system called "Express Entry". This is not a new immigration program, but rather it is a new way to manage certain permanent residency applications online. The practical effect for employers is that certain candidates will be able to receive permanent residency quicker.
There are currently various paths towards permanent residency – Canadian Experience Class, Provincial Nominee Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, and the Federal Skilled Worker Program. Each of these streams currently have their own processing times and unique requirements. Applications under each stream are currently processed in the order in which they are received with no applicant receiving any preferential treatment. As a result, highly qualified candidates must often "wait in line" for almost two years until CIC processes their applications. These programs will close on December 31, 2014.
Under the new Express Entry system, in order to apply for permanent residency, applicants must first create an online profile setting out their skills, experience, ability to speak English, whether they have a job lined up already, etc. Based on that profile the applicant will receive points from CIC. The more skilled the employee, the better their English, the fact that they have a job lined up, and Canadian work experience will mean they will receive more points. CIC will review each applicant's profile and if they have enough points, will issue an Invitation to Apply for Permanent Residency ("ITA"). It is unclear how long it will take for CIC to issue ITA's after an applicant creates a profile. However, CIC has indicated that the more points a profile earns the quicker it will receive an ITA. Once an applicant receives an ITA, CIC is indicating that they will process that permanent residency application within six months. This is a significant reduction from the current 12-17 month processing times for most permanent residency applications.
The overall effect of this new system is supposed to be that the best candidates will be picked first for permanent residency instead of having to wait in line for their application to be processed. The downside, however, will be that applicants with lower levels of points might have to wait longer to have their applications processed.
A second key feature of this new system is that employers can search the online profiles in the Express Entry Pool and select potential foreign skilled worker candidates. This may allow employers to pick the best candidates for employment knowing that they will be able to receive quicker processing of their permanent residency applications.
The Express Entry system will not affect the temporary foreign worker program. Employers seeking to bring in workers on a temporary basis will still be able to do so using the current temporary foreign worker program rules.
In conclusion, beginning January 1, there will be new processes for applicants seeking permanent residency in Canada. Both applicants and employers should be familiar with these new processes as they could result in quicker processing times for qualified candidates. We will monitor this new immigration system as it is unrolled and will provide future updates when we get a better sense of what impact it is having on employers and applicants.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
