GRSJ224/canadapointssystem

Overview

Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Immigration to Canada is regulated by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, 2001 (IRPA). Historically, Canada has had broad generous immigration policies, but in 2006 the Canadian government has reformed their policies to “focus Canada’s immigration system on fuelling economic prosperity” and to place “a high priority on finding people who have the skills and experience required to meet Canada’s economic needs.”. “Canada welcomes about 310,000 permanent residents each year from all the categories”. Immigration to Canada is administered by the Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency. They are responsible for border enforcement, immigration enforcement, and customs services.

Categories of Immigration

Categories for Immigration to Canada

There are several categories of immigrants for permanent residence which Canada accepts . There is the economic class immigrants category which is a skilled or business immigrant. The second category is the family class which admits specified family members or adopted children. The third category are refugees, or others which do not fall into these specific categories. All the categories have different type of requirements and ranking systems. The most notable is the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS).

Comprehensive Ranking System

Canada’s 1200-point Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) estimates one’s immigration eligibility according to a number of factoring including: marriage or common-law status, age, education, language proficiency, work experience, skill transferability, and other additional points. The points you get from the CRS include a core set of points of up to 600. The rest is through an additional set of points of up to 600. The core 600 points look at factors listen above, but the additional set of points look at things like if you have a Canadian degree, a valid job offer, a nomination from a province or territory, a brother or sister who is a permanent resident, or strong french language skills. The recent November 14th, 2018 threshold CRS score was 449 points.

Selection Criteria

There are 6 selection criteria factors influence the CRS score. “A score of 67 or higher out of a 100 is required to for one to qualify to immigrate to Canada under the Federal Skilled Worker Program”

• Education: A maximum of twenty-five points can be earned if someone has a Master’s Degree or a Ph.D.

• Languages: A maximum of twenty-four points can be awarded to persons who are highly proficient in both official languages of Canada.

• Experience: A maximum of twenty-one points can be awarded for experience in approved occupations. This can be earned with four or more year of experience in approved occupation. The government uses the National Occupation Classification (NOC) to classify approved occupations which can be found here: Find your NOC

• Age: A maximum of ten points is awarded to persons who are between twenty-one and forty-nine years of age.

• Arranged employment: A maximum of ten points can be awarded for having a permanent job offer which has been confirmed by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

• Adaptability: A maximum of ten additional points can be awarded for a spouse’s education, previous work in Canada, and family relations in Canada.

Express Entry Program

Express Entry Process

To manage the immigration system in January 2015 the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) formally launched the Express Entry system for the purpose of managing economic class immigration applications more effectively. Canada switched from a passive CRS processing system. The newly designed system now prioritizes the most qualified and in-demand individuals.

The new Express Entry Program works as follows:

1. Prospective immigrants have to fill out an Express Entry profile, which is then placed in a job bank and then made accessible to prospective employers.

2. Once a ‘match’ is made between a prospective employer and an immigrant, employers are asked to pay a Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) fee.

3. Depending on the prospective immigrant’s ‘points’ under the CRS. The prospective immigrant may be given an ‘invitation to apply’ for Canadian permanent residency.

4. Those who are invited to apply have sixty days to fill out their applications.

Overall these changes appear positive. However, there are several advantages and disadvantages of the new Express Entry Program

Advantages and Disadvantages of Current Programs

The major advantages of the new systems means faster processing time, and potentially solving the problem of immigrant unemployment. The time to review and approve applications has drastically been reduced. In addition, international students no longer have a deadline to enter the Express Entry Pool. “This improvement guarantees equal opportunities for all qualified candidates to be evaluated with the same priority”

However, there are several disadvantages to this system because the immigrants perceived value is solely based on their potential economic contributions and the new program is full on gender and racial bias which are explained below:

1. Job Market Discrimination: The new system is dependent on a “match” with immigrants and employers. Skilled immigrants struggle in the labor market, facing substantially higher levels of unemployment and lower wages than non-immigrants. “Employers discriminated substantially by name, even among individuals that obtained undergraduate education and work experience in Canada”.

2. Racial Quotas In Immigration: The Express Entry system brings us back to a period of racially-based decision-making because ‘free market’ highlight thats reigns that men and women of colour from developing countries face a disproportionate disadvantage in the Canadian job market.

3. Perception of Skill: The Express Entry program is very limited and only endorses the entry of people who provide the most economic benefits to the country. The Canadian government does not consider the range of other benefits that people could have.