加拿大移民部（CIC）部长Jason Kenney6月28日发布消息，指原定于7月1日重开的联邦技术移民及联邦投资移民项目将再度暂停。联邦投资移民项目在去年7月4日即暂停。当时给出该项目700个申请名额，在去年7月4日，移民部接受申请的第一天，即告额满。而联邦技术移民项目上年（2011年7月1日-2012年6月30日）则受双重配额限制，即整个项目的处理数量为10000个，而每个职业类别的配额则为500个。某些职业类别的配额在去年下半年就告满，而项目的总配额（10000）也与今年5月份告满。多伦多移民律师李杰辉称，联邦技术移民项目是加拿大众多移民项目中最重要的一个，很多海外人士通过这个项目移民到加拿大，在这里生根发芽，为加拿大经济做出了贡献。自5月18日该项目配额达到后，还有很多申请人在做申请准备，期待7月1日配额重开时就递交申请。现在这个项目再度暂停，实是令人失望和无奈。
李杰辉律师并称，移民部目前的计划是在明年1月份重新开放这个项目，不过预料条件将会有所变动。移民部目前正考虑将语言列为强制要求，所有申请人必须达到一个最低语言水准才有资格申请。在评分方面，移民部会在申请人年龄、语言能力、及加拿大经验给予更多的分数。但是，该计划能否如期重开，还需拭目以待。李杰辉律师称，近来加拿大移民政策频频变化，以达到令人无所适从的地步。所以未来会怎样很难预测，而大家对保守党政府的移民政策不能有太高期望。
有关6月28日政府公布内容如下：
Calgary, June 28, 2012 — Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney today announced the latest step in re-designing Canada’s economic immigration system.
Effective July 1st, 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will place a temporary pause on new applications to the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP).
“We have been making lots of changes to our economic immigration system,” said Minister Kenney. “We will take the next six months to do a lot of the heavy lifting to get us closer to a fast and flexible immigration system.”
The pause will allow CIC to make important changes to its economic immigration programs before accepting more applications. This is an important step in moving towards a faster, more flexible immigration system, while immigration levels are at a historic high.
Since the launch of Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2012, Minister Kenney has announced a series of changes to CIC’s economic immigration programs. They include:
- eliminating the backlog of old FSWP applications;
- improving the selection of FSWs;
- creating a new Federal Skilled Trades Program;
- modifying the Canadian Experience Class to help transition successful skilled temporary workers to permanent residence;
- changing business immigration programs to target more active investment in Canadian growth companies and more innovative entrepreneurs; and
- moving towards a new application management system, to develop a pool of skilled workers who arrive in Canada ready to begin employment.
“This temporary pause on new Federal Skilled Worker applications will allow us to set the program on a new course as we intend to launch revised selection criteria soon,” said Minister Kenney. “The pause has no impact on the number of workers Canada admits into the country, as CIC continues to process applications already received. Current immigration remains at historically high levels.”
Application intake is expected to resume in January 2013, when the proposed FSWPregulatory changes – which will be published in the Canada Gazette in the coming months – are expected to come into force.
The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act allows the Minister to issue special instructions to immigration officers to enable the Government of Canada to best attain its immigration goals. Since the 2008 Action Plan for Faster Immigration, four sets of “Ministerial Instructions” have been issued relating to Economic Class applications.
Under this fifth set of Ministerial Instructions, CIC will also introduce a pause on new federalIIP applications. This pause will remain in place until further notice, allowing the Department to make progress on processing its existing inventory.
As Minister Kenney announced earlier in April, CIC will be consulting with provinces, territories and stakeholders on ways to reform the current IIP in order to maximize the economic benefit to Canada. The Department is also consulting on whether to create a new investor program on a short-term basis, to promote growth in the Canadian economy.
The temporary pause on FSWP applications does not apply to candidates with offers of arranged employment or those applying under the PhD eligibility stream. The full set of Ministerial Instructions will be available online in the Canada Gazette tomorrow.