Canada Expands Entry Program for Immigrant Workers
By Marjorie Carmona Newman, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau
Posted at 10/06/2015 5:58 PM | Updated as of 10/07/2015 12:37 AM
EDMONTON, Alberta – A newly expanded entry program in Canada aims to welcome immigrants into the country with a shorter waiting time.
Take the case of Christopher Solis, who came to Canada in June 2009 as a temporary foreign worker with a low-skilled occupation.
He was promoted to the food service supervisor after six years. He applied for a permanent residency through the Express Entry Program under the Canadian Experience Class. Three days after uploading his profile, he received an invitation to apply.
But Solis said it’s not as easy as it sounds.
“Mahirap i-gather yung mga documents dahil 60 days lang ang required na bigay sa iyo para mai-submit yung mga requirements. Kailangan sa pagpapadala from Philippines to Canada, about 15 to 20 days,” he said.
The Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) said invitation for candidates without job offers or provincial nominations will start if they meet the current needs of Canada’s Labor market.
“This is a new program that will allow new immigrants to come to Canada in a very short period of time, who are skilled and have a job already lined up or a high possibility of getting a job,” said Minister of State, Tim Uppal.
On their Express Entry profile, candidates are given a comprehensive ranking score based on the information given like age, education, and work experience. Scores can range below 100 and all the way to about a thousand.
While 85 percent of candidates who received an invitation to apply already in Canada, candidates from India, United States and the Philippines lead other countries in terms of successful applications under the Express Entry System.
While Solis’ case was a success, it was not the same for more than 48,000 who submitted an Express Entry profile with hopes of being invited to apply for permanent residency in Canada.
Forty-three percent of 112,701 submissions have been found not eligible to meet the criteria under the Express Entry System.
In its weekly report, Immigration Canada said most of those invited to apply for permanent residency were those already working in Canada like Solis.
But there is hope for those applying from abroad. The countries of origin are expected to change with more invitations to be issued in the coming months.