Tories’ new immgration strategy might mean fewer Asian immigrants in future

In the federal budget 2007, the Tories vow to invest $67.3m in new money to help Canada getting the right immigrants. By looking closely at the figures and the potential immigrants targetted by the Tories, one cannot help to have a suspicion that the Tories are subtly moving away from Asia as the main source of immigrants but are aiming to get those from North America, Europe and Australia.

The major change in the Tory strategy in getting “immigrants Canada need” is to allow inland application for immigration from foreign students and work permit holders.

To ensure that Canada retains the best and brightest with the talents, skills and knowledge to meet rapidly evolving labour market demands, the Government will introduce a new avenue to immigration by permitting, under certain conditions, foreign students with a Canadian credential and skilled work experience, and skilled temporary foreign workers who are already in Canada, to apply for permanent residence without leaving the country. Recent international graduates from Canadian post-secondary institutions with experience and temporary foreign workers with significant skilled work experience have shown that they can succeed in Canada, that they have overcome many of the traditional barriers to integration, and that they have formed attachments to their communities and jobs.

This is definitely the right direction for the country. It’s for the good of the country. The government expects to get 25,000 applications a year from these people, which means more than 10% of the total number of immigrants Canada gets annually. (Canada’s annual intake of immigrants is about 210,000 to 230,000)

However, if we look at the figures and the mix of work permit holders and foreign students currently attracted to Canada, this measures might tell us something else.

As shown in this table, the top five source countries of foreign workers are the United States, Mexico, France, the UK and Australia. These countries make up of over 50,000 workers in 2005.

China and India, which are currently the two largest source countries of all immigrants to Canada, only contributed 1,296 and 3,273 foreign workers in 2005, respectively.

Immigration lawyer Lawrence Wong explains that foreign workers are usually people from those countries that travel visas aren’t required by Canada. As such, these people can come to Canada at any time, find a job and apply for a work visa.

It’s very difficult for people from countries like China, however, which does not have such an arrangement with Canada, to get travel visas in the first place, not to say work visas. Even if they can finally get a work visa, few employers would have the patience to wait so long.

In other words, the new measures announced in the budget yesterday is intrinsically more favourable to western countries than Asian countries.

Then what about foreign students?

This table indicates that although China ranks second in the number of students sent to Canada a year, the number is only as high as about 7,000 in 2005. For India, the number is even lower at less than 2000. Even if all Asian students from the table’s top source countries apply for immigration, the total number would still only be about 16,000, which only matches the number of American workers in the same year.

As Wong points out, if priority was given to process inland applications filed by foreign workers and foreign students, then the backlog for overseas cases (which currently stands at about 800,000) would continue to build.

Over time, immigrants from Asia will eventually give way to immigrants from the US, Europe and Australia. These countries are coincidentally considered to be “best friends” of Stephen Harper.

The other plan outlined in the budget is the creation of the foreign credential referral office, which will be located at Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The new Office will provide prospective immigrants overseas and newcomers already in Canada with information about the Canadian labour market and credential assessment and recognition requirements. As well, it will provide immigrants with path-finding and referral services to identify and connect with the appropriate assessment bodies. The services provided by the Office will complement the programs and services currently provided by provincial governments and by provincial credential assessment agencies. With an investment of $6.4 million per year in support of its ongoing operation, the new Office is expected to be fully operational by late spring of 2007.

Budget 2007 also proposes a series of improvements to the temporary foreign worker program designed to reduce processing delays and more effectively respond to regional labour and skill shortages.

New measures such as expanding the online application system, maintaining lists of occupations where there are known shortages of workers, and processing work permits more rapidly will ensure that the process of hiring skilled foreign workers for not only large, but also small and medium-sized enterprises, is easier, faster and less costly for employers. Budget 2007 provides $50.5 million over the next two years to support these improvements.

Tags: canada, federal budget 2007, immigration, foreign workers, foreign students, work permit, conservatives, jim flaherty

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