Canada's immigration rate is twice the rate of the US because it has a policy of promoting skilled immigrants. New changes in its rules are now attracting a lot of professionals, especially from India
Ananda Aisola, a newly minted permanent resident of Canada, moved to the country from the United States as a college student, and chose to stay. He's the kind of migrant Canada increasingly hopes to attract as it revamps its immigration policy. While the process is geared towards aligning the immigrant inflow with the country's economic needs, it could confer Indian immigrants with advantages over those from other countries.
Aisola's case is a good example. The 25-year-old from Secunderabad transferred from Duke University in the US to McGill University in Montreal where he completed a bachelor's degree in economics. He immediately got a three-year work permit and began working at a bank in Toronto. Aisola applied for permanent residency last year under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), which he could apply for after a year of work experience, and was admitted as a permanent resident last month. He plans to apply for citizenship as soon as he qualifies. His friends in the US and the UK face a longer process, he noted.
"I think Canada is a better choice simply because they have a policy of promoting skilled immigrants, whereas in the UK I know a lot of people who graduated from universities there and were not given visas to stay on. And then they had to go back as they could not seek employment. Same is true for the US; it's quite a long drawn out process," says Aisola.
Ravi Jain, an immigration lawyer with the Toronto firm, Green and Spiegel, knows exactly what Aisola's talking about. "The US system is dysfunctional right now," Jain says, "I get a lot of calls from people in the US who're trying to look at Canada. They tell me that they've been working in the States for years and that green card applications are just processed so extraordinarily slowly. At the end of the day they don't want to wait for 10 years."
Canada is a nation of immigrants. The country of 35 million has been adding around a quarter of a million immigrants each year in the recent past. Its immigration rate is one of the highest among developed countries and twice that of the US. Colin Busby, senior policy analyst at the Toronto-based think tank CD Howe Institute, says, "There's been a consistent support for reasonably large levels of immigration into Canada year over year mainly because of the general demographic concerns the country has with an aging population. And it's also seen as part of the nation-building effort, that adding more highly skilled workers to the economy is a good thing."
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India is one of the top three sources of immigrants to Canada, along with the Philippines and China. It also sends the second-highest number of foreign students to Canada after China.
Now with some recently announced changes to immigrant programs, potential Indian immigrants could get a leg up over other applicants. The Immigrant Investor Program was put on hold last July. The Foreign Skilled Worker Program, traditionally the main immigration route for economic immigrants, was also suspended last July due to a huge backlog and will reopen in May with fresh criteria. Under the new rules, priority will be given to younger applicants, and those with a better knowledge of English, a requirement that is likely to benefit Indian applicants.
Jain observes, "Compared to the Chinese, for instance, I think Indians have much greater advantage because of the language. And the investor program has been suspended federally and in Quebec very recently. A lot of Chinese were coming in that way and now they won't be able to come through that route anymore."
Last September, Canada also made applications under the Canadian Experience Class easier, cutting the work experience requirement for all applicants to just 12 months from 24. Given the high number of Indian students in Canada, this is another change that is likely to benefit them. In fact, Canada's Immigration Minister Jason Kenney brought along an Indian immigrant, Gaurav Gore, while announcing the change. Gore, who had earned an MBA degree from the University of Toronto, was the 20,000th immigrant admitted under the CEC program since its inception in 2008. "Gaurav is exactly the sort of skilled worker that Canada hopes to attract and retain through the CEC program… The proposed changes to the CEC will make it easier for (international students) to stay here, contribute to Canadian innovation as well as to the economic development that will help ensure Canada's future prosperity," Kenney said at the event.
Canada is actively courting Indian immigrants in another category - the brand new start-up visa program - which began this month. The program will fast-track permanent residency for entrepreneurs who meet a certain language and education criteria and have obtained funding for their ideas from designated Canadian investors. Kenney recently told a Canadian newspaper, "My dream candidate is someone who has maybe studied at the Indian Institute of Technology, has a brilliant start-up concept, and has attracted Canadian investment… Rather than starting that business in Bangalore, we are saying, 'Come to Canada and come quickly. Start the business here, create the jobs in this country'."
That's a big change from the time Naeem "Nick" Noorani, 55, moved to Vancouver 15 years ago. He worked in advertising in his hometown Mumbai before moving on to jobs in Muscat and Dubai in the same sector. He came to Canada with his wife and two children so that his daughter could attend university here. Like many of his fellow immigrants, he was stymied in his efforts to find a job because his credentials and experience from outside Canada were not recognised. Instead Noorani channeled his frustrations into a successful second career, advising immigrants on how to navigate Canadian society and the job market, through the online magazine www.prepareforcanada.com. He now has a busy schedule travelling across Canada and overseas, including India, for seminars titled '7 Success Secrets for Canadian Immigrants'. Citizenship and Immigration Canada sought his input for its official handbook Welcome to Canada launched this month at an event attended by Kenney and Noorani in Vancouver.
"The previous government had a perspective of immigration that was unreal. With that perspective we had highly educated people who were driving taxis here. Immigrants are an economic driver for Canada, not a social one," says Noorani.
The flurry of activity in Canada is in contrast to the US, where business groups and immigration supporters have long complained that reform of legal immigration is being held hostage to the endless debates about illegal immigration. Immigration experts like Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at Stanford Law School, have warned that the US is "committing economic suicide" by denying foreign graduates and entrepreneurs the means to stay on. Now, American lawmakers are again discussing a comprehensive immigration reform package, but experts fear partisan political concerns could derail the effort.
While there is broad support for immigration among Canadians, the issue is not without sensitive flash points. There was a political uproar this month when it was revealed that US-based outsourcing firm iGate had brought in temporary foreign workers from India to work at the major Canadian bank RBC. Even as RBC and iGate maintained that their actions had followed the law, the government was quick to stress that the foreign worker program was only meant to relieve acute and temporary labour shortages and not to replace domestic workers with cheaper labour from abroad.
* * *
Lawyers also point to the need for potential immigrants to inform themselves better about what to expect in Canada. Saumil Patel, 30, from Ahmedabad, came to Canada to study industrial pharmacy, but enrolled in a private college without the knowledge that the degree would not count towards getting a work permit. Since he had already paid the tuition fee, he stayed on to complete the degree before joining a community college in Toronto and getting an MBA. Having now obtained his work permit, Patel will apply for permanent residency under the Canadian Experience Class after completing the required year of work experience. His first priority is to get a job in the pharmaceutical sector and eventually start his business.
Unlike in the US, where only lawyers can practise immigration law, Jain says that in Canada even non-lawyers can do so, and he has seen many Indians being misled by the latter. "It's very dangerous because we see a lot of consultants and travel agents ruining people's lives. If you're sick, you'd go to a doctor, not to a medical consultant, right?" he says.
Even though his firm does not have operations in India, Jain says he gets a lot of queries thanks to referrals. If the aspiring immigrants are young, he will suggest they come to Canada and study for at least a year and get some work experience and apply for permanent residency through that route.
According to the government, the ongoing overhaul of Canada's immigration programmes is to make the system respond faster to the country's economic needs, as well as to help immigrants integrate faster. For aspiring immigrants from India, the advantages are clear, as are some of the challenges - like the cold climate and driving on the wrong side of the road. But to those brought up on an overdose of cricket, some challenges may be tougher.
As Aisola jokes, "I learnt how to skate. I got into ice hockey, which no one in India would really know about. But I think once you move to Canada, you really have to start following it, otherwise you will be ostracised."
Ananda Aisola, a newly minted permanent resident of Canada, moved to the country from the United States as a college student, and chose to stay. He's the kind of migrant Canada increasingly hopes to attract as it revamps its immigration policy. While the process is geared towards aligning the immigrant inflow with the country's economic needs, it could confer Indian immigrants with advantages over those from other countries.
Aisola's case is a good example. The 25-year-old from Secunderabad transferred from Duke University in the US to McGill University in Montreal where he completed a bachelor's degree in economics. He immediately got a three-year work permit and began working at a bank in Toronto. Aisola applied for permanent residency last year under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), which he could apply for after a year of work experience, and was admitted as a permanent resident last month. He plans to apply for citizenship as soon as he qualifies. His friends in the US and the UK face a longer process, he noted.
"I think Canada is a better choice simply because they have a policy of promoting skilled immigrants, whereas in the UK I know a lot of people who graduated from universities there and were not given visas to stay on. And then they had to go back as they could not seek employment. Same is true for the US; it's quite a long drawn out process," says Aisola.
Ravi Jain, an immigration lawyer with the Toronto firm, Green and Spiegel, knows exactly what Aisola's talking about. "The US system is dysfunctional right now," Jain says, "I get a lot of calls from people in the US who're trying to look at Canada. They tell me that they've been working in the States for years and that green card applications are just processed so extraordinarily slowly. At the end of the day they don't want to wait for 10 years."
Canada is a nation of immigrants. The country of 35 million has been adding around a quarter of a million immigrants each year in the recent past. Its immigration rate is one of the highest among developed countries and twice that of the US. Colin Busby, senior policy analyst at the Toronto-based think tank CD Howe Institute, says, "There's been a consistent support for reasonably large levels of immigration into Canada year over year mainly because of the general demographic concerns the country has with an aging population. And it's also seen as part of the nation-building effort, that adding more highly skilled workers to the economy is a good thing."
* * *
India is one of the top three sources of immigrants to Canada, along with the Philippines and China. It also sends the second-highest number of foreign students to Canada after China.
Now with some recently announced changes to immigrant programs, potential Indian immigrants could get a leg up over other applicants. The Immigrant Investor Program was put on hold last July. The Foreign Skilled Worker Program, traditionally the main immigration route for economic immigrants, was also suspended last July due to a huge backlog and will reopen in May with fresh criteria. Under the new rules, priority will be given to younger applicants, and those with a better knowledge of English, a requirement that is likely to benefit Indian applicants.
Jain observes, "Compared to the Chinese, for instance, I think Indians have much greater advantage because of the language. And the investor program has been suspended federally and in Quebec very recently. A lot of Chinese were coming in that way and now they won't be able to come through that route anymore."
Last September, Canada also made applications under the Canadian Experience Class easier, cutting the work experience requirement for all applicants to just 12 months from 24. Given the high number of Indian students in Canada, this is another change that is likely to benefit them. In fact, Canada's Immigration Minister Jason Kenney brought along an Indian immigrant, Gaurav Gore, while announcing the change. Gore, who had earned an MBA degree from the University of Toronto, was the 20,000th immigrant admitted under the CEC program since its inception in 2008. "Gaurav is exactly the sort of skilled worker that Canada hopes to attract and retain through the CEC program… The proposed changes to the CEC will make it easier for (international students) to stay here, contribute to Canadian innovation as well as to the economic development that will help ensure Canada's future prosperity," Kenney said at the event.
Canada is actively courting Indian immigrants in another category - the brand new start-up visa program - which began this month. The program will fast-track permanent residency for entrepreneurs who meet a certain language and education criteria and have obtained funding for their ideas from designated Canadian investors. Kenney recently told a Canadian newspaper, "My dream candidate is someone who has maybe studied at the Indian Institute of Technology, has a brilliant start-up concept, and has attracted Canadian investment… Rather than starting that business in Bangalore, we are saying, 'Come to Canada and come quickly. Start the business here, create the jobs in this country'."
That's a big change from the time Naeem "Nick" Noorani, 55, moved to Vancouver 15 years ago. He worked in advertising in his hometown Mumbai before moving on to jobs in Muscat and Dubai in the same sector. He came to Canada with his wife and two children so that his daughter could attend university here. Like many of his fellow immigrants, he was stymied in his efforts to find a job because his credentials and experience from outside Canada were not recognised. Instead Noorani channeled his frustrations into a successful second career, advising immigrants on how to navigate Canadian society and the job market, through the online magazine www.prepareforcanada.com. He now has a busy schedule travelling across Canada and overseas, including India, for seminars titled '7 Success Secrets for Canadian Immigrants'. Citizenship and Immigration Canada sought his input for its official handbook Welcome to Canada launched this month at an event attended by Kenney and Noorani in Vancouver.
"The previous government had a perspective of immigration that was unreal. With that perspective we had highly educated people who were driving taxis here. Immigrants are an economic driver for Canada, not a social one," says Noorani.
The flurry of activity in Canada is in contrast to the US, where business groups and immigration supporters have long complained that reform of legal immigration is being held hostage to the endless debates about illegal immigration. Immigration experts like Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at Stanford Law School, have warned that the US is "committing economic suicide" by denying foreign graduates and entrepreneurs the means to stay on. Now, American lawmakers are again discussing a comprehensive immigration reform package, but experts fear partisan political concerns could derail the effort.
While there is broad support for immigration among Canadians, the issue is not without sensitive flash points. There was a political uproar this month when it was revealed that US-based outsourcing firm iGate had brought in temporary foreign workers from India to work at the major Canadian bank RBC. Even as RBC and iGate maintained that their actions had followed the law, the government was quick to stress that the foreign worker program was only meant to relieve acute and temporary labour shortages and not to replace domestic workers with cheaper labour from abroad.
* * *
Lawyers also point to the need for potential immigrants to inform themselves better about what to expect in Canada. Saumil Patel, 30, from Ahmedabad, came to Canada to study industrial pharmacy, but enrolled in a private college without the knowledge that the degree would not count towards getting a work permit. Since he had already paid the tuition fee, he stayed on to complete the degree before joining a community college in Toronto and getting an MBA. Having now obtained his work permit, Patel will apply for permanent residency under the Canadian Experience Class after completing the required year of work experience. His first priority is to get a job in the pharmaceutical sector and eventually start his business.
Unlike in the US, where only lawyers can practise immigration law, Jain says that in Canada even non-lawyers can do so, and he has seen many Indians being misled by the latter. "It's very dangerous because we see a lot of consultants and travel agents ruining people's lives. If you're sick, you'd go to a doctor, not to a medical consultant, right?" he says.
Even though his firm does not have operations in India, Jain says he gets a lot of queries thanks to referrals. If the aspiring immigrants are young, he will suggest they come to Canada and study for at least a year and get some work experience and apply for permanent residency through that route.
According to the government, the ongoing overhaul of Canada's immigration programmes is to make the system respond faster to the country's economic needs, as well as to help immigrants integrate faster. For aspiring immigrants from India, the advantages are clear, as are some of the challenges - like the cold climate and driving on the wrong side of the road. But to those brought up on an overdose of cricket, some challenges may be tougher.
As Aisola jokes, "I learnt how to skate. I got into ice hockey, which no one in India would really know about. But I think once you move to Canada, you really have to start following it, otherwise you will be ostracised."