As previously reported, on December 19, 2012, Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney (the “Immigration Minister”) announced that the Federal Skilled Worker Program (“FSWP”) would once again begin accepting new applications on May 4, 2013. However, several key details of the FSWP were not announced at that time. These outstanding details included:
- The cap on the number of applications that would be accepted without arranged employment in the first year;
- The list of eligible occupations that would not require arranged employment (which in most cases would now mean a Labour Market Opinion); and
- The organizations that would be designated to conduct educational assessments.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) has now provided these last remaining details.
Eligible occupations and numerical limits
Applicants who do not have arranged employment and who do not qualify under the PhD stream will require at least one year of continuous full-time work experience in one of the listed eligible occupations. Applicants who possess this work experience may apply without a job offer.
The eligible occupations stream will have an overall cap of 5,000 new applications and sub-caps of 300 applications in each of the 24 occupations on the list. The list of eligible occupations, with each corresponding 2011 National Occupation Classification (“NOC”) code, is as follows:
- 0211 Engineering managers
- 1112 Financial and investment analysts
- 2113 Geoscientists and oceanographers
- 2131 Civil engineers
- 2132 Mechanical engineers
- 2134 Chemical engineers
- 2143 Mining engineers
- 2144 Geological engineers
- 2145 Petroleum engineers
- 2146 Aerospace engineers
- 2147 Computer engineers (except software engineers/designers)
- 2154 Land surveyors
- 2174 Computer programmers and interactive media developers
- 2243 Industrial instrument technicians and mechanics
- 2263 Inspectors in public and environmental health and occupational health and safety
- 3141 Audiologists and speech-language pathologists
- 3142 Physiotherapists
- 3143 Occupational Therapists
- 3211 Medical laboratory technologists
- 3212 Medical laboratory technicians and pathologists’ assistants
- 3214 Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
- 3215 Medical radiation technologists
- 3216 Medical sonographers
- 3217 Cardiology technicians and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists, n.e.c. (not elsewhere classified)
Educational credential assessment (“ECA”)
The purpose of the ECA is to determine whether the applicant’s foreign educational credential is authentic and equivalent to a completed credential in Canada. Applicants who have Canadian educational credentials do not need an ECA, unless they are also submitting a foreign educational credential in support of their application.
As of April 17, 2013, four organizations have been designated by the Immigration Minister to provide ECA reports for purposes of immigrating to Canada under the new FSWP. Additional organizations may be designated by CIC in the future. The designated organizations are:
- Comparative Education Service: University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies;
- International Credential Assessment Service of Canada;
- World Education Services; and,
- Medical Council of Canada.
The Medical Council of Canada has been designated only for those principal applicants who intend to apply with specialist physician (NOC Code 3111) or general practitioner/family physician (NOC Code 3112) as their primary occupation in their FSWP application.
CIC will only accept ECA reports issued after the date the organization was designated by CIC to provide ECA reports for immigration purposes (April 17, 2013). An ECA report will be valid for immigration purposes for 5 years from the date that it was issued by the designated organization.
Henry Chang
Blaney McMurtry LLP
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Latha Sukumar says
I was at a wedding reception recently, where immigrant parents who had made a living as factory workers or administrative staff showed off their children who were doctors, lawyers and investment bankers. All those who denounce our past Immigration Policy of attracting human capital rather than one which creates a resume bank, as the present one does, are being truly short-sighted. Those who come merely to fill jobs will not have the same rootedness and stake in Canada to remain when their jobs are gone. We cannot bank on their kids to become contributing members of our society. Yes immigrants complained that they came here with a hope of finding jobs in their fields of expertise and did not.
By that they meant:
– manage people’s expectations better when you communicate your immigration policy that attracts human capital;
– penalise employment practices that prevent immigrants from getting jobs based on ethnocentrism.
Not, throw out the Immigration Policy, that attracts human capital, altogether?
Also, the emphasis on English and French hurts us greatly. By shutting out the majority of folks who may have trouble communicating in English, but are experts in their fields we lower the standards for people we can attract and our prospects for innovating in a competitive global economy.
This will surely be remembered as Canada’s missed opportunity!