E-newsletter – Past Editions
Fall 2012
Expression of Interest – Transforming Canada’s economic immigration programs
A major next step in building a fast and flexible immigration system will be the creation of a pool of skilled workers ready to begin employment in Canada, a commitment made in Economic Action Plan 2012.
Inspired by an approach developed by New Zealand – and now also being used in Australia – an Expression of Interest application system is the model the Government of Canada plans to use to create this pool of skilled workers.
Sponsor your spouse: New rules in effect
In an ongoing effort to deter people from using marriages of convenience to cheat their way into Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada introduced a new regulation that requires certain sponsored spouses to live in a legitimate relationship with their sponsor for two years or risk losing their permanent resident status.
These regulations bring Canadian policy in line with that of many other countries including Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, all of whom use a form of conditional status as a deterrent against marriage fraud.
The regulations include an exception for sponsored spouses or partners suffering abuse or neglect. The exception would also apply in the event of the death of the sponsor.
Canada maintains record levels of immigration to support economic growth in 2013
CIC plans to maintain immigration levels of between 240,000 to 265,000 new permanent residents in 2013, for the seventh straight year. This represents the highest sustained level of immigration in Canadian history.
While highlighting elements of the annual immigration levels plan, CIC Minister Jason Kenney also drew attention to the progress being made in reducing the backlog of applications in the Federal Skilled Worker program. This will pave the way for a faster, more flexible economic immigration program. Progress has also been made in reducing the backlog of applications in the Parent and Grandparent program.
Another highlight of the 2013 Immigration Levels Plan was the increased room given to the popular Canadian Experience Class (CEC). The CEC, which was created in 2008, facilitates the transition from temporary to permanent residence for those with high-skilled work experience in Canada, including international students and temporary foreign workers. Admissions under the CEC have increased from about 2,500 people in 2009 to a planned level of up to 10,000 permanent residents next year.
Changes to citizenship language assessment take effect
Citizenship applicants between 18 and 54 years of age are now required to provide up-front objective evidence of their language ability at the time they apply. The change took effect on November 1, 2012.
Since the first Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947, most citizenship applicants have been required to demonstrate an adequate knowledge of one of the official languages. However, this marks the first time that applicants have been required to demonstrate that knowledge with objective evidence at the time they submit their application.
Applicants must submit one of three types of evidence to satisfy the new requirement:
- the results of a CIC-approved third-party test; or
- the evidence of completion of secondary or post-secondary education in English or French; or
- the evidence of achieving the appropriate language level in certain government-funded language training programs.
Canadian Citizenship Week 2012
A successful Citizenship Week wrapped up on October 22, with a team of high schoolers from Ottawa defeating two Press Gallery journalists in the ‘Are You Smarter Than a 10th Grader? Citizenship Challenge.’ Minister Kenney presided over the third-annual event, which was hosted by the Historica-Dominion Institute at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec.
CIC celebrated Canadian citizenship in a unique way through a partnership with Canadian Tire. The Canadian retailer hosted a celebration of hockey and citizenship, featuring the Great Canadian Oath, a mass reaffirmation ceremony, on October 17 in Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. Two days later, 50 new citizens were sworn in at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
CIC also launched its new public service announcement, Free, to encourage all Canadians to learn more about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship by reading Discover Canada, CIC’s citizenship test study guide.
In total, 54 citizenship ceremonies were held over the course of Citizenship Week, including a ceremony commemorating the War of 1812 and three ceremonies celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. About 3,000 new citizens took the Oath during Citizenship Week 2012.
View photos and find out more about Citizenship Week 2012.
Tutela.ca – National online community for ESL and FSL professionals
This year, CIC celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Program, and its French equivalent Cours de langue pour les immigrants au Canada (CLIC). These programs support newcomers in developing language skills that will enable them to better function in all aspects of Canadian society.
CIC continues to innovate in the field of language training, and the recent introduction of Tutela.ca is a good example. Tutela.ca is a national online library of teaching materials, research papers and more. It is also a place where settlement language training instructors across Canada can connect with other English as a Second Language (ESL) and French as a Second Language (FSL) professionals, share materials and discover new approaches. Users benefit from discussion forums, events listings, job/opportunity postings and more. Tutela already has an active community of over 1300 users.
Visit tutela.ca to find out more.
New! Online Help Centre
Looking for information on the status of your application, how to get a PR card, a work permit, or how to apply for citizenship? Find answers to your questions with CIC’s new online Help Centre. Your A-Z guide to information, quick access help tools and how-to-videos on topics including completing forms, extending visas and permits, and replacing lost documents. Over 500 answers, with more than 200 glossary terms, are available and searchable by keyword or by browsing.
News releases
Subscribe to our RSS feeds to receive instant updates- Date Modified:
