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In the latest Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) draw held on May 22, invitations to apply for provincial nomination were issued to candidates belonging to Express Entry and Occupation In-Demand immigration sub-categories. Out of the total 325 invitations issued, 221 invitations were issued to Occupation In-Demand candidates while the remaining 104 invitations went to candidates belonging to the Express Entry sub-category. The lowest score of candidates invited under both of these categories was 82.

Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP)

Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program nominates economic immigration candidates who can meet the specific labor market needs of the province, for permanent residence in Canada. Since 2007, Saskatchewan has welcomed more than 108,000 newcomers from 170 countries.

Immigration is a key driver of the population and labour force in Saskatchewan. In order to apply for a provincial nomination from Saskatchewan under the Express Entry and Occupation In-Demand sub-categories of the SINP, a candidate must have work experience in one of the in-demand occupations of the province. However, it is not mandatory for the candidates to have a job offer from a Saskatchewan employer in order to apply. Saskatchewan has issued 854 invitations through its Occupation In-Demand sub-category and 814 through its Express Entry sub-category so far this year.

The first step for a candidate to apply for provincial nomination through one of these categories is to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) with the SINP. Each EoI profile is assigned a score out of 100 based on a number of eligibility factors such as education, skilled work experience and language proficiency. The highest-scoring candidates are invited to apply for a provincial nomination in the draws that are conducted regularly.

The Express Entry candidates nominated by Saskatchewan would receive 600 additional Comprehensive Ranking System(CRS) score points that would guarantee them an Invitation to Apply for permanent residence in the subsequent Express Entry draw. The Occupation In-Demand sub-category candidates nominated by SINP will have their applications processed outside the Express Entry system.

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Established Canadian immigrants were found to be wealthier than their Canada-born counterparts in 2016 in a study released by Statistics Canada. According to the report, the longer an immigrant family has been in Canada, the wealthier they are.

The study observed that the immigrant families who had been in Canada for more than 20 years and had their major earners in the age group of 45 go 64, had a worth $1.06 million on an average in 2016. Compared to this, the average worth of their Canadian-born counterparts was almost $980,000.

The immigrant families who had been in Canada between 10 and 19 years and major earners aged between 35 to 54 had worth approaching $575,695 in 2016. Compared to this, the worth of Canadian-born families was $658,607. However, this gap seems to be closing as the average wealth of 10-19 years immigrants has increased by 134 per cent since 1999. But at the same time, the wealth of Canadian-born families witnessed a rise of only 87 per cent.

The average wealth of families who had been in Canada for less than 10 years with major earners in the age group of 25-44 was $271,935 in 2016. Compared to this, the wealth of their Canadian-born equivalents was $347,577. But in the case of these newly arrived immigrants, average family wealth has grown by 146 per cent since 1999, compared to the 70 per cent growth rate of Canadian-born families.

Statistics Canada released the study titled ‘The Wealth of Immigrant Families in Canada’ in April 16, 2019. The study is based on the data collected in Surveys of Financial Security conducted in 1999, 2005, 2012 and 2016. “While many studies have documented the financial characteristics of immigrants in Canada in terms of low income and labour market outcomes, the wealth of immigrant families has received relatively little attention. The study finds that the wealth of both immigrant families and Canadian-born families grew substantially from 1999 to 2016,” says the study report.

Another interesting observation of the study is that the average family wealth of new immigrants is growing faster compared to established immigrants. While the average wealth for families in Canada who had been in Canada for less than 10 years with the major earner aged 25 to 44 increased by 146 per cent between 1999 and 2016, the wealth of those families who had been in Canada for more than 20 years increased by only 70 per cent. While earning was significantly more in the case of established immigrant families, the growth rate of their wealth was less than half of the percentage for new immigrants.

A significant contributor to the growth of wealth in immigrant families between 1999 and 2016 was housing equity. In the case of established immigrant families, this factor accounted for 69 per cent of the wealth increase during the said period. Another significant contributing factor was the pension value, with registered pension plan assets accounting for 17 per cent of wealth increases.

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Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that immigration was a crucial factor behind Canada’s thriving technology sector. Acknowledging the contribution of immigrants to the growth of technology sector, Trudeau, at a conference held in Toronto, said Canada’s openness to welcoming new immigrants was central to the growth of its technology industry.

Countries like the US are closing themselves off to immigration. In this context, Canada’s ability to remain open has given it an important edge, said Trudeau. “Access to talent obviously comes from immigration and it comes from training young and educating Canadians right,” he added.

By the year 2021, Canada will be welcoming 350,000 newcomers per year to the country. Majority of these newcomers would be economic immigrants or skilled workers with skills and experience in demand in the Canadian labor market.

Global Talent Stream

Canada launched the Global Talent Stream with an aim to attract global talents to the technology sector of the country. It is a flagship work permit stream that makes possible the processing of work permit applications complete within 10 business days. It also aims to provide support to companies which are looking to make significant job-creating investments in Canada. Companies applying for workers through the Global Talent Stream will have access to the new streamlined application process. It offers guidance to the employers on the application process and the development of the Labor Market Benefits Plan, with a service standard of 10 business days.

Canada vs US

Under the Trump administration, the US has introduced a deliberate increase in red tape in the H-1B visa for technology workers. On the contrary, the Global Talent Stream of Canada offers a viable option for skilled technology workers from across the globe to obtain a Canadian work permit. As a result, foreign technology workers have increasingly started to choose Canada over the US. Not only that, the ability to hire the right employees without much hassle has encouraged major tech firms to move their operations to Canada, at least partly. The tech workers who come to Canada on work permit can apply for Permanent Residence in Canada after gaining sufficient level of Canadian work experience.

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Manitoba is planning to introduce a few innovative measures to attract more immigrants to the rural areas of the province, which are facing a serious demographic challenge because of an aging population and lower fertility rate. As part of these measures, Manitoba will be bringing out a rural immigration toolkit to help the rural communities in the coming weeks. The toolkit is expected to make it easier for employers and community leaders in the rural areas of Manitoba to recruit, welcome and integrate immigrants to the smaller towns of the province.

Data shows that, in the past 20 years, 20 per cent of the 130,000 immigrants to Manitoba have settled in rural areas. However, Manitoba has taken a few important steps to improve that figure by helping employers in rural areas recruit foreign workers. These include:

·         Giving input to the employers on selecting applicants and hiring them from applicant pools.

·      mproving accessibility of the employers to the Labour Market Impact Assessment-exempt work permits under the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) and thus increasing the direct recruitment of foreign workers.

·         Organizing international recruitment events and the hiring workers on exploratory visits.

·         Streamlining the recruitment of higher skilled, higher wage workers.

The new measures planned by the province include launching a new rural investment immigration stream in collaboration with the federal government, similar to that of British Columbia. The existing Business Investor Stream of Manitoba is extremely investor-friendly and the investment requirement is comparatively lower. Moreover, Manitoba gives extra points to the entrepreneurs who plan to invest in rural projects.

Another plan of Manitoba is to implement a formal public commitment to invest MPNP application fee revenues in the integration projects for newcomers, including in rural areas. The province is also planning to modernise the existing Canada-Manitoba Immigration Agreement, signed in 2003, with an aim to prioritize rural economic development by improving flexibility.

Manitoba also wants to move away from what it describes as the federal ‘one size fits all’ approach. The province plans to take efforts to reduce the processing time of applications, as it welcomes 90 percent of its economic immigrants through MPNP. Manitoba finds the discrepancy in processing times between federal and provincial candidates as unfair. While the applicants to federal programs receive PR visa within six months, most provincial nominees have to wait for almost 18 months for the same. It affects the arrival of immigrants and employers to its rural communities of Manitoba and unnecessarily delays families joining the newcomers. So, the province is looking for an effective solution to the problem.

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Thanks to immigration, the Maritime provinces of Canada namely Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have recently been witnessing the fastest population growth in decades, according to a report released by the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council (APEC). Over the past few years, Maritime provinces have been the key focus in Canada’s efforts to attract and retain skilled foreign workers and their families. These provinces are struggling to deal with the population and labour force declines caused by migration to other provinces, low fertility rates, and aging population and immigration is considered to be the key solution to these problems.

Population growth in Maritime provinces of Canada:

The APEC report observes that Prince Edward Island experienced an incredible population growth rate of two percent year-over-year since 2016. Immigration was the key contributor to this growth, as the province recorded the largest number of new immigrants in Canada in 2016-2018, relative to the size of its population.

Nova Scotia witnessed an average growth rate of 0.8 percent during the same period, which is the fastest since the mid-1980s, according to the APEC report. At the same time, the average annual growth rate of New Brunswick was 0.5 percent, the highest since the early 1990s. The only Atlantic province of Canada that reported a negative growth rate is New Foundland and Labrador, its population decreasing by 0.2 percent per year.

Provincial Nominee Programs and population growth:

A total of 22,000 newcomers came to the Atlantic provinces of Canada through Provincial Nominee Programs between 2016 and 2018. It means Provincial Nominee Programs are the biggest source of new immigrants in these provinces. Provincial nominee programs allow Canadian provinces to nominate a given number of economic immigration candidates each year for permanent residence in Canada.

Besides the PNPs, the Atlantic Immigration Pilot launched two years ago brought another 1600 new immigrants to the Atlantic provinces of Canada. Under the program, employers in the Atlantic provinces of Canada can hire foreign workers to fill the jobs that they are unable to fill locally.

However, APEC report states that it is impossible to predict whether the Maritime provinces of Canada would be able to sustain the current population growth rate in the future.

Provincial Nominee Programs offer diverse options to skilled professionals to migrate to Canada. If you are interested, we shall guide you to choose the best course forward. Contact us for more information.

The Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) issued a total of 3357 invitations in the 14 draws held through its Express Entry-aligned immigration stream so far this year. The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score of the invited candidates was as low as 300. The invited Express Entry candidates received 600 additional CRS score points, guaranteeing them an invitation to apply for permanent residence in Canada.

Edmonton and Calgary, two of the most popular destinations for immigrants, are located in the province of Alberta. Oil and gas production is the backbone of the province’s economy. However, the economy is also being diversified into the fields of information technology, health services and other industries.
Alberta Express Entry stream:
Alberta launched its immigration stream aligned to the federal Express Entry in the year 2018. In order to apply for provincial nomination under the stream, the candidates must be eligible for one of the three federal immigration programs managed by the Express Entry system — the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class and Canadian Experience Class. They are also supposed to have an active profile in the federal Express Entry pool.

The Alberta Express Entry Stream allows the province to select Express Entry candidates who meet the requirements of the province and invite them to live and work in the province. The eligibility criteria include a minimum CRS score of 300 and experience in an occupation that “supports Alberta’s economic development and diversification priorities.” A previous connection to the province is an added advantage, which can be a job offer and/or work experience in Alberta, a degree from a Canadian post-secondary institution and/or a parent, child or sibling already living in Alberta.

Alberta Express Entry draws:

In the total 14 draws held for Express Entry candidates so far this year, three draws invited candidates with a CRS score as low as 300. This is way too low compared to the lowest score applied for the federal Express Entry draws this year, which is 438. The largest Alberta Express Entry stream draw was held on March 5, in which a total of 473 invitations, or Notifications of Interest (NOIs), were issued.

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The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) conducted a program-specific Express Entry draw exclusive for Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) candidates on May 15. The draw invited a total of 500 candidates with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score as low as 332 to apply for permanent residence in Canada.

The Federal Skilled Trades Program is one of the three federal economic immigration programs managed under the Express Entry system. Under the program, Canada invites qualified tradespersons from across the globe through Express Entry to live and work in the country.

Tie-break rule was applied in the May 15 draw as well, the time stamp given being August 29, 2018 at 8:32:03 UTC. It means candidates with a minimum CRS score of 332, who submitted their Express Entry profiles before the said date and time, were given priority in the draw.

With the latest draw, which is the 10th Express Entry draw of 2019, the number of invitations issued by Canada through the Express Entry system so far this year has reached 31750.

IRCC has conducted program-specific draws earlier too. Such draws allow Canada to invite candidates for filling the identified labour shortages in key sectors. However, candidates under the other two federal economic immigration programs under Express Entry– Federal Skilled Worker and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC)– need not be disappointed. A program-specific draw is usually followed by an all program-draw, that too with a decrease in CRS cut-off threshold.

Minimum CRS requirements in the Express Entry draws held this year:

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Canada witnessed the largest employment gain on record in April 2019, according to a report by Statistics Canada. Employment in Canada rose by 107000 last year, with the provinces Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Prince Edward Island recording remarkable gains. April’s incredible rise in employment has surpassed the forecasted increase of 10,000 net jobs by a huge margin and brought the unemployment rate of Canada slightly down from 5.8 per cent in March to 5.7 per cent in April.

Of the net new jobs reported in April, 73,000 were full-time jobs. The majority of the employment gains, which comes to 84000, were reported in the private sector. On a year-over-year basis, employment in Canada has grown by 426,000, and 248,000 of these are full-time jobs.

There was a rise in employment for youths in the age group of 15-24, people aged above 55 and women in the age group of 25-54. Experts have observed more Canadians entering the labour market and the wages going up. They conclude that these positive developments indicate the fact that employers still have faith in the Canadian economy.

Bloomberg News has observed that the reported increase in employment in Canada reflects the fact that the Canadian economy is attracting more new workers such as immigrants and youngsters, rather than a fall in unemployment.

Ontario records biggest employment gains

Ontario, the most populous province of Canada, recorded an employment increase of 47,000 in April, the biggest among the Canadian provinces and territories. According to Statistics Canada, the main reason for this increase was part-time work among people aged 15 to 24.

In Quebec, employment increased by 38000. The unemployment rate of the province also came down by 0.3 percentage points to 4.9 per cent. This is the lowest unemployment rate ever since Statistics Canada began compiling similar data in 1976. Alberta also posted employment gains of 21000 in April.

The industries that recorded the highest employment gains were:

• Wholesale and retail trade: +32,000
• Construction: +29,000
• Information, culture and recreation: +14,000
• Public administration: +9,000
• Agriculture: +7,000

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