Canada need immigrants who can be an asset to Canadian economy and society. Building a better Canada is why frequent changes are occurring in immigration rules. Are we on right track ?
International students come to Canada to study. Most of these international students complete two (2) years Canadian Education and then they receive a three (3) years of post graduate work permit to gain Canadian work experience. While living in Canada for 5 years of their life they learn and adapt to Canadian society. They are young all in early twenties, fluent in English, educated and already working in Canada. They are a good option to grow our Canadian population.
If we need 2,50,000 new immigrants every year then why not these applicants rather than getting people from other countries where most of them does not even know when is Canada Day celebrated but these International students turned workers have celebrated five Canada day celebrations wearing Red and white T shirts waving Canadian flags cheering to fireworks. They came to Canada in early years of their life after completing high school in foreign countries and this is an age when personality develops and person adapt a lifestyle. Our 1st choice should be these young International Canadian graduates. 2nd choice is to choose Federal skilled workers, mature immigrants with foreign University education and work experience who come to Canada with their fully developed personalities. Federal skilled workers also proves an asset to Canada but I am of the opinion that not by loosing In Canada International students turned workers. Now How are we loosing them ?
Once 3 years post graduate work permit expires they are not able to extend these work permits and most of these workers are not able to get permanent residence within these 3 years. So gaining Canadian Education and after working for 3 years in Canada, they are now leaving because it is very hard, next to impossible to extend work permits till they wait for permanent residence. Although all these post graduate workers have stable employment and even employers are willing to hire them still to extend work permit, employer has to go through a hard process called LMIA where they have to prove that there is shortage of workers in category they are working. Most of these workers are eligible for permanent residence in Canada and have submitted applications under Express Entry program that are in process but still they are not allowed to get an extension till they get Invitation to apply from CIC which are not issued on frequently regular basis because CIC is stuck in backlog processing old applications.
Till Express Entry program is not regulated properly, this situation will lead to either loosing these Canadian Educated valuable workers who leave Canada or if these postgraduate workers choose not to leave Canada will create a big pool of illegal people in Canada. I am of opinion Express Entry program is launched to create a pool of eligible candidates, will also create a pool of illegal workers in Canada.
Solutions is to restart LMIA program exclusively for post graduate workers exempt from recruitment efforts as it used to before June 2014 when it was not required and now after Express entry we need it but has been stopped. Other solution is to exempt Canadian Experience Class from Express Entry CRS ranking.
Today this is a question and future will give us answer how prevailing Immigration rules will impact our Canadian Immigration System.
CCV Immigration Solutions Inc. 