Canada opens doors for workers in new list of professionals

Canada on Friday reopened the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) that will allow people enlisted in the new ‘occupations list.’ The list was released on Saturday.

The Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism minister Kenney made this announcement on Friday under which the maple country will start taking applications from the enlisted people from May 4 onwards, Colonel (retd) B S Sandhu, CMD, World Wide Immigration Consultancy Services (WWICS) said.

The Canadian government’s focus is on specific occupations that are in short supply in their country to boost its economy.

“Overall 5,000 applications will only be entertained which trickles down to 300 applications in each of the 24 occupations on the list,” Col Sandhu said.

“The immigration procedure will be opening from May 4 onwards,” he said.

Four organisations, he added, have been designated to conduct educational credential assessments (ECA), which is mandatory for applicants submitting foreign educational credentials.

“Applicants must show proof that they meet the minimum threshold of Canadian language benchmark 7 in all four language skill areas,” he said.

“The ECA process will help determine if the foreign educational credential is authentic and equivalent to a completed credential in Canada,” he added.

He said a prospective applicant must take a third-party language test from Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP), International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Test d’évaluation de français (TEF), the organisations designated by minister and submit their test report along with their application to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

Occupations list

The occupations list includes engineering managers, financial and investment analysts, geoscientists and oceanographers, civil, mechanical, chemical engineers.
Mining engineers, geological engineers, petroleum engineers, aerospace engineers, computer engineers (except software engineers, designers), land surveyors, computer programmers and interactive media developers are also part of the list.
Industrial instrument technicians and mechanics, inspectors in public and environmental health and occupational health and safety,  audiologists and speech-language pathologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists are also included in the list.