Quebec

The job vacancies portion of this update revealed that Canada had over 1,000,000 job vacancies in May of this year.

Two thirds of Canadian businesses surveyed hire talent from abroad

Canada works hard to position itself as an ideal home for the best and the brightest global talent across all industries.

The Business Council of Canada (BCC) recently released a report in which 80 Canadian businesses were surveyed about how they use Canada’s immigration programs to hire skilled workers. The businesses surveyed cumulatively employ over 1.6 million workers. Two thirds of companies surveyed say they recruit talent overseas using Canada’s immigration system. The remaining third hires immigrants who have already relocated to Canada.

Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024 looks to welcome over 450,000 new permanent residents per year by 2024. Canada offers a multitude of work permit and economic class immigration pathways.

According to the BCC survey, all employers agree that Canada’s labour shortage is widespread, and they face real difficulty finding skilled workers across all industries. Labour shortages are particularly pronounced in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia.

Canada’s tech sector has been hit hardest by labour shortages as industry growth and demand is outpacing the number of skilled workers. Professions such as computer science, engineering and information tech are in high demand.

Improvement factors:

Only half of respondents agree that the Immigration Levels Plan for 2022-2024 is adequate to address their business needs and the growing labour shortages. The remaining half indicated that the number of economic immigrants needs to be increased but acknowledged that this is not practical until the government has a plan in place to ensure there is adequate housing and other infrastructure to support new immigrants, such as childcare and healthcare.

Employers also believe they have a role to play in helping immigrants settle. This can take the form of language training, assisting employees in obtaining recognition of foreign credentials and relocation assistance.

Canadian businesses expect that competition for skilled immigrants will intensify over the next few years. This is especially true of recent graduates who they say face significant barriers in obtaining permanent residency in Canada due to the time it takes to gain sufficient work experience.

The Honourable Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, today announced that French-speaking and bilingual candidates will receive additional points under the Express Entry system.
This change will help deliver on the government’s commitment to reach the target of 4.4% French-speaking immigrant admissions outside Quebec by 2023.

Canada’s Immigration Minister, Ahmed Hussen, played up the positive impact of immigrants and refugees on the country and its economy in an address this week to international immigration experts gathered in the nation’s capital city, Ottawa.

Alberta
Alberta announced it is launching a new expression of interest portal and a new immigration pathway for recent international student graduates from Alberta post-secondary institutions.

Canada's immigration system is entering a new era where the provinces want to have even more control than the federal government.

Another disappointment for Quebec skilled worker applicant.

This a primer for new Canadian PRs containing answers to a few of the most common questions about healthcare in Canada.

More than 91,000 immigration candidates have submitted expressions of interest through Quebec’s online Arrima portal since it opened last September — a six-month period dominated by the rise of the province’s new Coalition Avenir Québec government.   

Some in-demand occupation categories experienced increases in offered wages even higher than the national average, including:

The Quebec immigration department carried out the first round of invitations through Arrima based on the new expression of interest scoring system which was introduced in July.

The (QSWP) will reopen in under a week, with postal applications to be accepted from November 4, 2015. The QSWP is a popular Canadian immigration program, with successful applicants and their families obtaining Canadian permanent resident status.

The family class is a significant category for newcomers to Canada, facilitating the reunion of Canadian citizens or permanent residents with their family members who can obtain permanent residence in the country.

Four provinces have invited candidates in most recent provincial immigration draws.

Four provinces issue ITAs in most recent draws.

Four Canadian provinces have invited candidates in the most recently published Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draw results.

This move comes as part of Canada’s attempt to mitigate driver shortages in the busing and transport trucking industries across the country.

As the only Canadian test designed specifically for academic purposes, CAEL is accepted by over 180 Canadian universities and colleges. CAEL is also accepted for the Student Direct Stream (SDS), which allows you to fast-track your studies in Canada, all using one test score.

The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal has called on the government of Quebec to increase the overall annual intake of immigrants to the province, from around 50,000 to 60,000. The recommendations were presented yesterday to the Committee on Citizen Relations as part of consultations on immigration planning in Quebec for the period 2017-2019.

Quebec’s Minister of Immigration Kathleen Weil has announced a new promotional campaign to encourage immigrant enrollment in French-language courses. The $750,000 initiative will focus on promoting courses through social media and community websites, as well as in newspapers, on the radio and on public transport. Ms Weil outlined the plan on Monday July 11.