Canada Immigration News

Canada has announced that the Federal skilled Worker Program (FSWP) is to reopen in May 2013. The FSWP is Canada's main skilled migration programme and enables applicants to apply for permanent resident status if they have adequate skills and experience.

As of 2nd January 2013, Canada will make it easier for skilled foreign workers with experience of working in a skilled role in Canada to obtain Canadian permanent resident status, Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney told journalists on 11th December 2012.

Jason Kenney, the Canadian Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, has announced that Canada will soon require people from 29 countries and from the Palestinian Territory to provide biometric information with their visa applications.

The biometric data required will be a photograph and fingerprints. The information will be held on a database and will be checked when the applicant arrives in Canada to ensure that the correct person has travelled to Canada. The system will come into operation in 2013.

On December 10th 2012, the Canadian immigration minister, Jason Kenney, announced that the new Canadian Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) will be launched on January 2nd 2013.

The FSTP will allow skilled tradespeople from around the world to apply for Canadian permanent resident status if they have a job offer in Canada and fulfil certain other criteria. Mr Kenney said that, in the first year, 3,000 applications will be accepted.

The Canadian government has told over 500 Canadian citizens that it intends to revoke their citizenship. It has said that it is investigating over 3,000 more people for immigration related offences.

A leaked report prepared for the Canadian government recommends a rise in immigration levels of 6% annually between 2014 and 2018. This would take the annual immigration target from about 253,000 at present to 337,000 in 2018. The immigration target figure has been held at 253,000 since 2007.