Minister Kenney announces immigration levels for 2009; Issues instructions on processing federal skilled workers
Ottawa, November 28, 2008 ― Canada will stay the course on immigration in 2009, welcoming between 240,000 and 265,000 new permanent residents, Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, announced today.
“While countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia are talking about taking fewer immigrants, our planned numbers for 2009 are on par with last year and are among the highest for this country over the past 15 years,” Minister Kenney said. “The numbers reflect a continued commitment to an immigration program that balances Canada’s economic, humanitarian and family reunification goals.”
The 2009 plan includes up to 156,600 immigrants in the economic category; 71,000 in the family category; and 37,400 in the humanitarian category.
Minister Kenney also announced another step in measures to improve the immigration program’s responsiveness to Canada’s labour market. Retroactive to February 27, 2008, the date specified by the Federal Budget, the Action Plan for Faster Immigration includes issuing instructions to visa officers reviewing new federal skilled worker applications to process those from candidates who:
- are in 38 high-demand occupations such as health, skilled trades, finance and resource extraction; or
- have an offer of arranged employment or have already been living legally in Canada for one year as a temporary foreign worker or international student.
The list of 38 occupations was developed after consultations with the provinces and territories, business, labour and other stakeholders. New federal skilled worker applications that do not meet the eligibility criteria outlined above will not be processed, and the application fee will be fully refunded. This, along with funds set aside in the 2008 Budget to improve the immigration system, will stop the backlog from growing and will start to draw it down.
“The eligibility criteria apply only to new federal skilled worker applicants and will not affect Canada’s family reunification or refugee protection goals,” said Minister Kenney. “Applicants who aren’t eligible for the federal skilled worker category may qualify under another category, such as the Provincial Nominee Program, or as temporary foreign workers, which could then put them on a path to permanent residency through the new Canadian Experience Class. There are many ways to immigrate to Canada.”
The Department has expanded its website in an effort to make it easier for people to navigate the range of immigration options open to them. The site now includes a specific section for employers (
www.cic.gc.ca/employers) and a new interactive tool (
www.cic.gc.ca/cometocanada) that matches information provided by potential applicants with immigration programs that best suit their circumstances.
“We expect new federal skilled worker applicants, including those with arranged employment, to receive a decision within six to 12 months compared with up to six years under the old system,” said Minister Kenney. “All other economic class applications―including applicants chosen by Quebec, provincial nominees, the Canadian Experience Class, and live-in caregivers―will continue to be given priority.”
These improvements, coupled with a number of recent initiatives that include the introduction of the Canadian Experience Class, bring Canada in line with two of its main competitors for highly skilled labour: Australia and New Zealand. Both of these countries have eliminated their backlogs and have systems that deliver final decisions for economic applicants within a year.
“The recent steps this Government has taken to improve our immigration system will help ensure that Canada remains competitive internationally and responsive to labour market needs domestically,” said Minister Kenney.
Kenney[FONT=宋体]部长宣布[/FONT]2009[FONT=宋体]移民计划；发布处理联邦技术移民的政策[/FONT]
2008[FONT=宋体]年[/FONT]11[FONT=宋体]月[/FONT]28[FONT=宋体]日，渥太华[/FONT]―[FONT=宋体]加拿大公民，移民和多文化部部长[/FONT]Janson Kenney[FONT=宋体]于今日宣布，加拿大将在[/FONT]2009[FONT=宋体]年坚持其移民政策，接受[/FONT]240,000[FONT=宋体]到[/FONT]265,000[FONT=宋体]的新永久居民。[/FONT]
[FONT=宋体]“当像英国和澳大利亚这些国家在谈论减少接收移民时，我们在[/FONT]2009[FONT=宋体]年计划接收的移民数量将于去年持平，也是在近[/FONT]15[FONT=宋体]年以来数量最高的年份之一”，[/FONT]Kenney[FONT=宋体]部长说到：“这样的数量反应了我们移民项目持久的承诺：为了达到平衡加拿大的经济，宣扬人道主义，和帮助家庭团聚的目标。”[/FONT]
2009[FONT=宋体]年的目标包括经济类中最多[/FONT]156,600[FONT=宋体]位移民，家庭类中[/FONT]71,000[FONT=宋体]位，人道主义类中[/FONT]37,400[FONT=宋体]位。[/FONT]
Kenney[FONT=宋体]部长还宣布了另一举措，以便使移民项目更加适应加拿大人才市场的要求。追溯到[/FONT]2008[FONT=宋体]年[/FONT]2[FONT=宋体]月[/FONT]27[FONT=宋体]日（由联邦预算定出），快速移民执行计划发布了相关政策，以使签证官重新评估新的技术移民申请，来处理符合以下条件的申请者：[/FONT]
w [FONT=宋体]属于[/FONT]38[FONT=宋体]类紧缺职业，包括医疗，技工类职业，金融和资源开发类；或者[/FONT]
w [FONT=宋体]
已经有工作安排，或者拥有临时工作签证或留学生签证在加拿大合法居住一年。[/FONT]
38[FONT=宋体]个紧缺职业的确定是经过与各省，地区，商业，职工和其他相关领域人士商讨之后的结果。不符合以上要求的新的联邦技术移民申请不会被处理，申请费会全额退回。为了改进移民系统，在[/FONT]2008[FONT=宋体]预算中储蓄的资金和此项措施一起，会阻止请积压文件的增长，甚至会使之开始减少。[/FONT]
[FONT=宋体]“合格性标准只适用于新的联邦技术移民申请人，并不会影响到加拿大的家庭团聚或难民保护目标”，[/FONT]Kenney[FONT=宋体]部长说，“不符合联邦技术移民的申请人可能符合其他类别的条件，比如省提名计划，或者临时工作签证，这可以使他们通过加拿大经历类别取得永久居民权。还是有很多途径可以移民到加拿大的。”[/FONT]
[FONT=宋体]
为了使人们更加方便的查看有哪些移民项目适合自己，移民部已经拓展了官方网站。此网站现包括专门为企业所有者的专栏[/FONT]
(www.cic.gc.ca/employers)[FONT=宋体]
，和一个新的互动工具[/FONT]
(www.cic.gc.ca/cometocanada)[FONT=宋体]，[/FONT][FONT=宋体]此上的信息是特别针对潜在的申请人所给出的数据，提供给他[/FONT][FONT=宋体]们最适合其情况的移民项目。[/FONT]
[FONT=宋体]“我们希望新的联邦技术移民的申请人，包括哪些已经有了工作安排的，能够在[/FONT]6[FONT=宋体]到[/FONT]12[FONT=宋体]个月内处得到答复，而不是像以前那样要等最多[/FONT]6[FONT=宋体]年。”[/FONT]Kenney [FONT=宋体]部长说到，“其他经济类的申请，包括魁北克省甄选的申请人，省题名人，加拿大经历类别，和住家保姆，这些都会被优先处理。”[/FONT]
[FONT=宋体]此项改良措施，和近期其他几项措施，包括加拿大经历类别介绍，这些都使加拿大在[/FONT][FONT=宋体]高级技术工人方面向其他两个主要的竞争者[/FONT]―[FONT=宋体]澳大利亚和新西兰看齐。这两个国家都已经消除了文件积压，并使系统在一年之内就可以给经济类申请人发出决定函。[/FONT]
[FONT=宋体]“政府近期采取的改进移民系统的各项举措，会帮助我们确保加拿大在国际上的竞争力，以及与人才市场需求的协调性。”[/FONT]Kenney[FONT=宋体]部长说[/FONT]