As of February 27^th, 2008, coming to Canada as a skilled worker has become more difficult.

In order to immigrate to Canada under the skilled worker category, one must now either:

1)      Be a Quebec selected applicant;

2)      Be an applicant selected under one of the Provincial Nominee programs;

3)      Be part of the Canadian Experience Class;

4)      Have an arranged employed offer;

5)      Possess at least one year experience (in the past 10 years) in one of 38 selected occupations, deemed to be under pressure in the Canadian job market.

In order to qualify in the last category, one must still meet the pass mark of 67 points.

Why the changes? Changes to the system were put in place in order to help diminish the large backlog of files under the Federal Skilled Worker class that has accumulated over the years. It is estimated that there was some 900,000 files waiting to be processed across the world.

What does this mean for you? For those applicants who are not destined for Quebec, and for those who have no employment offer, or recent work or study experience in Canada it has become difficult for you to now qualify. For those whom have work experience in one of the 38 selected occupations, you can now expect a quicker immigration process.

What happens to my application if it was filed after February 27^th, 2008? If you applied after the change in legislation and your work experience does not correspond to any of the 38 selected occupations, your application will be returned to you. If your work experience does correspond to one of the 38 selected occupations, then your application will be forwarded to the new processing centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

What happens if my application was filed before February 27^th, 2008 but I have work experience in one of the 38 selected occupations? It will be up to you or your representative to determine if it would be advantageous for you to re-submit your file at the new processing centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia. It is highly recommended that you seek counselling from a qualified representative in order to determine what options are available to you.