Citizenship and Immigration Canada temporarily halt Skilled Workers and Investor Applications

On June 28th, Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced new instructions for 2012-2013 year for new federal permanent residency applications. Effective immediately, the federal government has temporarily suspended skilled worker and professional and investor applications. It is expected applications will resume in January 2013. This pause does not affect federal skilled worker applications of applicants with arranged employment offers or those applying under the PhD stream.

The purpose of this temporary pause is to give the government time to make effective changes for a more efficient and faster process without adding to the existing backlog. This is in support of the goals outlined in the Canadian Economic Action Plan 2012:

• eliminate backlog of old Skilled Worker application
• improve selection of skilled workers
• create a new Federal Skilled Trades Program;
• improve the the Canadian Experience Class to help skilled temporary workers move to permanent residence;
• target more active investment in Canada by innovative business entrepreneurs; and
• create a new application management system that supports skilled workers already in Canada and ready for employment

For more information, visit CIC website or contact us.