Changes in the Federal Skilled Worker Program

Most immigrants to Canada are clearly aware of the long log jam at Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) and, although to a smaller extent, provincial nominee programs. Canada might have one of the main open immigration systems in the world, but processing times of Canadian Immigration are lag behind many other countries – often taking 3-5 (or more) years for conclusion.

As part of a plan to decrease the immigration holdup and speed up processing of immigrants with the most active skills, the Canadian government newly embarked on a complete review of the Federal Skilled Worker program.

At the end of November 2008, the Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism issued the long expected instructions on the 38 occupations entitled for processing after February 28, 2008.

The number shown prior to each occupational title corresponds to the National Occupational Classification (NOC) code, which is a consistent method of categorize and telling occupations in Canada. Each NOC code holds a description of major job duties, a variety of job titles, job (skill and education) requirements and other information. For the reason of the Federal Skilled Worker program, job titles are not ultimate; the issue is whether the applicant has no less than 1 year of experience in the previous 10 years performing the major duties of the appropriate occupation.

All candidates to the Federal Skilled Worker program have to score still at least 67 points out of a maximum of 100 points under the government’s evaluation criteria. Points are calculated based on age, education, work experience, language ability, and arranged employment and adaptability factors.

At the same time as these changes to the Federal Skilled Worker program have been hot, for those candidates who meet the new criteria, CIC is indicating that processing times will range from 6-12 months.