Immigrants To Canada Are Faring Well

02 Dec 2010

As per a new evaluation, Canada’s economy is getting impressive with the contribution of immigrants to Canada. The evaluation also found that the major benefiters are those having a job already arranged in Canada when applying; the ability to speak English or French; and having worked in Canada before applying to immigrate. More emphasis has been laid on arranged employment, language and education.

Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney said, “The evaluation showed that skilled immigrants are doing well in Canada and filling gaps in our work force.”

It has also been noted that the income for skilled workers selected under the current criteria was as much as 65% more than under the previous criteria. Skilled workers who already had a job offer when they applied for permanent residence fared best of all, earning on average $79,200 three years after arriving in Canada.

Minister Kenney said, “We’re committed to making it [the program] even better and will be consulting on improvements in the coming weeks.” Several proposals will be put forward for public consultation to improve the program further.

A few suggestions of the evaluation were placing higher priority on younger workers, and increasing the integrity of the arranged employment part of the program, which is susceptible to fraud. Further recommendations suggested emphasis to be placed on fluency in English or French, and supported the Minister’s June 2010 decision to require language testing for federal skilled worker applicants to combat fraud.