Immigration Direct

The Canadian government ended 2014 touting the fact that the year had been a record-breaking one for immigration, with over 260,000 new Canadian citizens sworn in during the calendar year. However, some Canadian immigration experts are cautioning not to pop too many champagne bottles in anticipation of sustained high immigration levels in the coming years; […]

It has been a record-breaking year for Canadian immigration. Building upon the momentum of recent years, Canada set a new immigration record in 2014, welcoming 260,000 new citizens from around the world; the number of new Canadians was also more than double that recorded in 2013. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the record-breaking number

The province of Alberta says it needs more foreign workers, and as a result it is asking the federal government to raise the number of immigrants it can sponsor for permanent residency. Alberta’s Job Minister Ric McIver recently sent a letter to Canada’s Citizenship & Immigration Minister Chris Alexander requesting that the federal government lift the cap on

As Canadian businesses, and immigrants to the country, prepare for the January 1st arrival of the country’s new immigration program—titled Express Entry—the federal government has revealed details of the points system it will use to determine which immigrants will receive approval. The basic premise of the Express Entry program is that, for the first time, immigrants

With less than a month to go before the introduction of Canada’s new immigration program, at least two of the nine national employer organizations who helped the government formulate the new policy are adopting a wait and see attitude about the changes to immigration policy. On January 1, 2015, the long-anticipated “Express Entry” immigration program

A new study finds that a significant number of Canadian immigrants responded to the Great Recession of 2008 by starting their own small business. The joint report by Social Planning Toronto and Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto found that, within the space of just one year (2008-2009) Toronto’s self-employment rate jumped from 15.7 to 17.1 percent; among

The association representing Quebec farm workers says Canada’s immigration bureaucracy is hurting the province’s agricultural industry and could result in the closure of many of its farms. FERME, the association that represents more than 800 Quebec farms and 8000 of its farm workers, accuses the federal government’s immigration bureaucracy of impeding the use of foreign

Citing the need to ensure the safety of Canadians, the federal government has tabled a new immigration-related law that bans any foreign individuals who engage in “barbaric cultural practices.” When passed into law, the Zero Tolerance For Barbaric Cultural Practices Act will amend Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), as well as its Civil

Future immigrants to Canada will have to meet the needs of the country’s labor market in order to attain their work visas. That was the message recently delivered by Canada’s federal Employment Minister Jason Kenney. The minister said that his government’s immigration policies will be designed to rectify gaps in the labor market, where jobs