Canadian Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney, has announced that Canada will not be cutting back immigration in response to the global recession. “Canada plans to welcome between 240,000 and 265,000 new permanent residents in 2010, the same number of immigrants as in recent years. In 2010, Canada will again welcome more new permanent residents than the average annual intake during the 1990s,” said Minister Kenney. “The focus of the 2010 plan is on economic immigration to support Canada’s economy during and beyond the current economic recovery.”

In fact, the Canadian Government is aiming to increase regionally-nominated immigration, considering that the provinces and territories are in the best position to understand how Canada’s intake can be aligned to their labour market needs.
The Government also wants to see immigration spread across the country, so will work with the provinces to increase the total number of immigrants processed under the economic category. In turn, it is hoped to further reduce the backlog of federal skilled worker applicants as part of the Action Plan for Faster Immigration. 

Although the Action Plan has been in place for less than a year, early indications are that it is paying off. “People applying now under the federal skilled worker program can expect to receive a decision within six to twelve months, compared to up to six years under the old system,” said Minister Kenney. “We’ve also brought the backlog of federal skilled worker applicants down from over 630,000 to 425,000—a reduction of more than 30%.”
The backlog consists of people who applied before February 27, 2008, the date the Action Plan took effect.  Since then, almost 240,000 people have applied to the new federal skilled worker program under the Action Plan. But even with those additional applicants, the total number of people currently awaiting a decision on their application is still 12% lower than when the Action Plan took effect.
“Before we changed the system, we had to process every application received. Since many more people applied every year than could be accepted, a backlog was created,” said Minister Kenney. “Now that we are processing only those applications that meet specified criteria, our Government is making significant progress in reducing the backlog.”

The Canadian Government’s approach underlines the importance of seeking professional advice when preparing a visa application for Canada. For details and an initial test of your eligibility, please click here.

Source: Canadian Ministry for Immigration and Citizenship