Andrew Miller

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/...tion-jean.html

If PM Harper pulls plug on his government next week and asks Madam Governor to dissolve the Parliament then we may not have Minister's Instructions coming any time soon, regardless promises made by Immigration Minister to issue them in "early fall this year". We may have to wait until after election and if Conservatives fail to win then we may be back at square one...

Jules Europe

Hi, So does it mean if PM Harper and the Conservatives lose the election that the new rules for immigration will not be implemented? Therefore if this were the case, would skilled worker visa applications after Feb 27th 2008 just be processed under the old rules? Or would the new system still be implemented anyway?

Tim Steer

Jules - There was a post on here a week or so ago that stated something along the lines of if the Liberals were to get in then they would repeal the changes..They decided not to vote against the Bill at the time so it passed in the commons and then in the senate to become law so if I understand it correctly the changes will still go ahead unless the liberals get in and repeal them..in which case, who know what will happen..I think there was some further discussion in the other thread..I'll try and find it..I am not a big fan of politics but immigration is a real hot potato when it comes to politics and election time..
More uncertainty though if that does happen....
Cheers
Tim

Found the thread..Have a read in here: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ghlight=repeal

Jules Europe

Hi Tim thanks for the thread. It would therefore seem that despite the pro immigration tendencies of the liberals, that by them repelling the new bill it will in theory be better for all potential applicants as few people would be rejected as long as they passed the set criteria for immigration, but in practice it will make wait times even worse leaving the immigration queues ballooning even more. The only hope I see of beating this madness seems to be securing a job offer, student visa, being eligible for the new Canadian class etc. Avenues that will get you into Canada legally and this side of the next ice age

Tim Steer

Well I haven't read that stuff recently but I think there was some mention about increasing vias quotas over the next few years etc but I don't know whether the backlog is a result of not enough quota or not enough people processing the applications? I do however know that it was the liberals who got us in this mess in the first place by reducing the points...That is when the backlog started to grow..Obviously good for people who didn't have the points before but now everyone is waiting for 3,4, 5 and still increasing number of years...I don't have the answer but something has got to change...its just a shame that it all gets messed up with the politics...
Cheers
Tim

Jules Europe

Hi Tim, From what I understand the whole situation had originally arisen by the lowering of points and then not employing enough people to deal with the flood of residency applications in offices throughout the world. It seems that CIC want to model their immigration program on a country like New Zealand which seems to have a fast and efficient immigration service. If your skill or trade is not on their list then you don`t get in. In New Zealand`s case I understand this as it is a small country and it just couldn`t absorb millions of new immigrants, but in Canada`s case a country of 30.000.000 or so people and the second largest country in the world it should be a different story!!!

Andrew Miller

The culprit is the quota, not resources. All visa posts usually (at least in past several years) meet their allocation of visa quotas by mid October to mid November each year.

Current visa quota for 2008 is 265,000 visas, out of which only 70,000 goes to federal SW class (30% less than in previous years, with difference allocated to PNP and CEC).

The ultimate goal (economy permitting) of the government is the 1% of population growth coming from immigration within next 5 or so years. If achieved it will mean an increase from current quota to about 320,000 - it is only a 20% total increase spread over next 5 years and among all classes. With already announced further shift of quotas in following years from federal SW class to PNP and CEC any increase in total number of available visas will not make any dent in the backlog of about 1 million applications. Remember please that 1 million of applications, if all approved, means 2.2 million visas. If 50% refused then it still will take 1.1 million visas - about 15 years worth of 2008 visa quota in federal SW class.

And more importantly the "talk" about possible quota increase by Liberals didn't come from the top of Liberal party as nobody formally will commit to anything like this. It came from Liberal party political critic. I doubt that any such increase will be carved in stone in Liberals platform during election campaign - it all will likely be just talk from various individuals and leaders of Liberal party will always be able to say later (if they win) that they didn't promise anything.

More - it were Liberals in power several years ago (about 8 or 10 years ago by now) that came with promise to increase quota to the size equal to 1% of Canada's population within 5 years. And it was just talk, nothing happened and nothing even started happening in that respect. Quite opposite - around 2003 Liberals reduced quota for sponsored parents and grandparents from 19,000 to just 6,000 per year. Then, in 2005 when first election scare came they "generously" announced that they will "triple" the quota for parents from 6,000 to 18,000 for 2 years period. When Conservatives won election they restored the 19,000 quota for parents and grandparents and keep it at same level so far.

Jules Europe

Thanks for the factual information and it would just seem that regardless of who is in power the situation for potential immigrants still just means long queues The thing that I don`t understand, is that I read all the time especially with the new immigration bill in place, is that Canada at this moment needs desirable immigrants such as Doctors, nurses and engineers etc. The thing that I don`t understand is, just how many of these professionals they actually hope to get, given that many will come from countries where their credentials will not be recognized in Canada. I know of a number of these types of professionals here in europe through my work and most lead high quality lives and would have no intention of emigration anywhere. The whole concept of immigration is to improve ones lifestyle, economic situation etc. So therefore, the vast majority of people that want to emigrate to Canada would not fall into the desired category. My point being that to fulfil quotas they may have to take people that are not on their high priority list. But I suppose in time all will be revealed.