Ajk1

beckiwoo

christmasoompa

Vulcanoid

Could the Conservatives abolish Express Entry? Sure. Are they likely to? Less so than the Liberals, since the last Conservative govt were the ones who made it in the first place.

Any government could change the immigration rules at any time to be anything. If you want to move, the best time to do so is when you qualify.

scilly

One never knows what a new government will do, even if they promise to do or not do something on the campaign trail.

I have experience of British elections and 50 years of experience in Canada, and I never believe campaign promises. I vote for the local candidate based on how I think s/he will be for the constituents.

In this case, it will not be the Conservative candidate!

As said above, if you have the points to apply for Express Entry now, then go ahead and do it ............... though I don't know whether there is time for the process to work through before the election takes place!

Ajk1

DigitalGhost

My understanding though is that it was originally invented as a means to weed out those people Canada didn't want and vastly speed up the process for applicants who did make the grade. It's obviously much more difficult to do that with a paper-based application system. Abolishing EE entirely is unlikely but the qualification criteria can be changed at almost any time.

OP; it might be worth seeing if you can increase your points slightly somehow while you're so close to the threshold.

christmasoompa

Agreed. OP, what did you both score on IELTS, is there any potential for getting more points if you re-took it?

DigitalGhost

It might also be worth pointing out that as far as I can gather, the hot political topic in Canada right now in terms of immigration isn't skilled immigrants. It's refugees and in particular the clandestine arrivals from the US into Quebec.

​​​​Scheer is talking about a 250k annual cap, not killing off Canada's legal immigration programs completely. The current FSW and EE criteria are far from a cake walk for most people and that's reflected in the size of the pool. You can't compare it to UK policies and politics. UK net migration was just over 250k last year. That includes returning UK citizens and international students and still the UK government wants those numbers to be massively reduced.

scilly

Living here, I can tell you that this is correct. Thousands of people have been crossing the border from the US, using any way they can to get out of the US and away from Trump's crackdown on refugees and immigrants from certain countries..

The land border between Canada and the US is unprotected from the Pacific to the Atlantic, apart from the controlled border crossings where immigrants and refugees are expected to apply, or in the Great Lakes region of Ontario. In many places, it is just a simple walk through a forest or agricultural land.

BC, Manitoba and Quebec seem to have had the most problems with this. Almost all those crossing have been people who have refugee status in the US, but then claim refugee status in Canada. They're all in limbo, as every one has to have a hearing to prove/disprove their status. Canada has an agreement with the US re a refugee with status in either the US or Canada cannot then claim the same status in the other. They have to be returned.

Quebec has received the most refugees using this route, for obvious geographical reasons, but all provinces have been overloaded with the need to take care of people unable to work while they wait up to 2 years (at the current estimate) for their hearing.

This has caused a lot of unhappiness, especially among refugees and immigrants trying to enter Canada the legal way.

THAT is where the Tories are likely to make changes, though it is hard for me to see how they can stop people walking across an unguarded land border ............ the situation might get even worse if Trump gets in for a second term.

Maybe he will decide to build a wall on the US's northern border with Canada as well as along the southern border!!!

But almost all of these people escaped to the US, claiming refugee status, and had been granted some form of status, including being able to work in many cases, before Trump was elected ............ but they have all been scared by Trump's declarations about getting rid of immigrants.

I don't think there is much reason for a legal immigrant to worry about a shut-down, although there have always been tweaks to requirements.

DigitalGhost

The saddest part is that they can't even rely on nature to do that for them. Some people have been permanently maimed or scarred for life by illegally crossing the border at the wrong time of year and without adequate protection from the elements.

A northern border wall won't be necessary from a US standpoint though. Right now those people are leaving America in one way or another and that was precisely the dream that Trump sold to his supporter base. Canada could build one but that would likely take a very, very long time and would cost a fortune.

scilly

The Trumpoid has actually threatened a northern wall ............. about 2 years ago when he was trying to get the Canadian government to agree to his terms for some trade deal.

He raised that old "fake news" about some of the 9/11 terrorists having entered the US from Canada, therefore it was our fault (or so go those who believe it).

DigitalGhost

By far the most obvious mistake I heard regarding the 9/11 hijackers was to admit one of them to the US despite the fact his visa had already expired. That mistake was the fault of the INS and nobody else. All the in-fighting and one upmanship that took place between the FBI and the CIA at the time probably didn't help much either.