Canada Immigration Visas

The Canadian government has stated its intention to attract British workers to its shores by offering them fast-tracked immigration visa applications which will exploit the rising cost of living in the UK.

Canada expects that large numbers of Britons will be lured in by the scheme, with increasing unrest as a result of soaring food and fuel prices in Great Britain, as well as the diminishing quality its hospitals and the state school system.

Hector Goudreau has been sent to Britain to target such individuals in an audacious and aggressive recruitment raid. He will be targeting doctors, nurses, teachers, electricians, construction workers, engineers, carpenters and joiners, management consultants and cardiac and diabetes experts, all of whom will be eligible for fast-track immigration applications.

Mr. Goudreau commented: “Somebody from London might be able to sell their small flat and come to Alberta where they can buy a detached house with a huge back yard and huge front yard for the same amount.

‘The cost of living is considerably less than in the UK. Our salaries are comparable or even higher, so anyone who moves over would be able to make money and set some aside.”

He then went on to speak exclusively about the province of Alberta, stating: “We are looking at attracting 50,000 foreign workers within the next year alone.

‘There is beautiful scenery, the health care system is second to none in the world and our educational system is second to none in the world. We have some of the lowest business taxes, there is no province sales tax on goods.”

Alberta’s population is just 3.4 million, less than half of London’s, though it covers an area twice the size of Japan. The average annual salary for a civil engineer in Alberta last year was £44,428.

Mr. Goudreau continued: “There has been a recent change in the UK economy which is part of the reason we are targeting it, it is a very important priority for us.
“If there are a lack of future or opportunities here we will encourage the individuals who feel this way to come to Alberta.

“There are tremendous opportunities, all over the world the people are feeling the housing crunch, but we aren’t. We might have some very little dips, but we have a very stable economy which is set up for the future.”

Canada’s department of Citizenship and Immigration has announced two major changes to the process of applying for a Permanent Residency (PR) card.

The first change in policy is that citizens applying to replace a PR card which is due to expire no longer need to send their current valid card with their application. Instead, they will be able to obtain a new card in exchange for their old one when they visit a local Citizenship and Immigration Canada office.
It is believed that allowing permanent residents to keep their valid PR cards whilst waiting for a replacement would benefit them as the cards can be used for travel.

The second alteration is that people applying for a new or replacement PR card are no longer required to obtain the signature of a guarantor, or sign a statutory declaration should they be unable to do so. Removing the need for a guarantor will simplify the application process for a PR card without compromising security as CIC can verify an applicant’s permanent residence status and identity due to passport, driver’s licence and employment information.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister, Diane Finley commented:

“These changes demonstrate our continued commitment to providing more convenient services to newcomers. We recognize that people may want to hold on to a valid card for travel purposes while waiting for the replacement. We also understand that newcomers may have difficulty finding a guarantor who has known them for at least two years.”

Popular Canadian magazine Muchmor Canada recently conducted a survey analysing the various reasons why newly-arrived British migrants chose to make the move across the Atlantic, as well as what they thought they would miss once they had migrated to Canada.

As many would suspect, the British weather was cited as a primary reason amongst new migrants seeking a better quality of life, claiming that Britain did not have a proper summer, had far too many rainy days and even lacked an adequate amount of snow.

Furthermore, the government also came under fire, with respondents largely claiming to have lost faith in Gordon Brown and his party whom they do not believe can make Britain a better place.

Another major factor in several migrants’ decision to migrate to Canada was the extremely huge cost of living in the UK, with the prices of housing, petrol and tax reaching extortionate levels. People also claimed that there was a strong feeling of having to “keep up with the Jones’s” in terms of jobs, houses and cars.

The NHS also took a hammering in the survey, with people complaining heavily about long waiting-lists as well as the risks of being treated in public hospitals, such as the possibly contracting the MRSA virus.

Moreover, migrants also claimed that Canadian people were generally speaking much more laid back and friendly that people back home.

Further reasons for the constantly growing number of Canadian visa applications from British citizens who have had enough of life in the UK included: chav-culture, yob-culture, congestion, too many asylum seekers, easy access to drugs, rising crime rates, litter, graffiti and the country’s binge-drinking culture.

When asked what they would miss most about Britain, the former UK residents suggested, naturally, that family, friends and pets top the list, however, beyond this, it seemed that all other answers given were all of a seemingly trivial nature, such as fish and chips, Irn Bru, Coronation Street, football, British beer and ‘decent newspapers’.

Generally speaking, the results of the survey showed that people, by and large, no longer feel that Britain offers the quality of life it once did, and is not the sort of place that parents wanted their children to grow up in. The vast majority of people who have made the move to Canada stated that they have absolutely no regrets.

Canada Immigration Minister Diane Finney and Ontario Minister of citizenship and Immigration Mike Colle have announced the opening of a Welcome Centre in Vaughn, Ontario, which will aim to provide integration services for some 3,500 new migrants over the next 12 months.

A further four such centres are to be opened under the Canada-Ontario Agreement, which will provide settlement and employment support services, language training and accreditation and qualification recognition services.
Continue reading ‘Welcome Centre for new migrants opened in Ontario York Region’

The first three months of 2007 saw Canada’s population increase by 0.23 per cent, two thirds of which has been attributed to international migration, Statistics Canada have revealed.

The population estimates report stated that Canada’s population is in the region of 32.85 million as of 1 April this year, compared to 32.78 million on 1 January.

Despite the growth in Canada’s population, only the four westernmost provinces experienced growth rates at or above the national average.
Continue reading ‘Immigration accounts for two thirds of Canada’s population increase’