Ela Dutt, Press Trust of India
In a bid to attract more foreign students Canada announced new rules that make it easier for them to work while studying in the country and also relaxed the entry for parents and grandparents of immigrants. Announcing the new measures here Monday, Joe Volpe, minister of citizenship and immigration, said: "International students who choose to stay in Canada after they graduate greatly contribute to our labour market. "It is important that they be exposed to the Canadian work force at an early stage to increase their chances of success following graduation." The announcement of relaxed immigration rules to Canada comes at a time when several European countries are trying to corner foreign students even as the US is concerned it is losing some bright incoming researchers. "We are certain that these initiatives will help increase the global competitiveness of Canada by attracting and retaining more international students to our schools," said Volpe.
Volpe also announced measures to speed up the processing of sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents coming to Canada as family class immigrants. India is a major source country for immigrants coming here. With these new measures in place, it is expected that in both 2005 and 2006, the number of parents and grandparents immigrating to Canada will increase by an additional 12,000 each year. This triples the original 6,000 forecasted for 2005. Volpe also announced that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will be more flexible in issuing multiple-entry visitor visas to parents and grandparents. This will allow them to visit their families in Canada while their sponsorship applications are in process, as long as they are able to prove that they are visiting temporarily. Regular security and health screening will still apply and some parents and grandparents may require health coverage to be admissible to Canada. Canada has had over one million permanent residents since 2000. However, the number of sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents is growing and more applications are received each day than CIC can process, the agency admitted. "To address this concern, the government of Canada is investing $36 million a year over two years to increase processing of parent and grandparent applications and to cover integration costs once they arrive in Canada. Additional processing will begin immediately. In the coming weeks, CIC will add temporary duty officers and support staff at visa offices with the largest number of applications."
The new initiatives in the area of foreign students include: (1.) Allowing international students at public post-secondary institutions to work off-campus while completing their studies and (2.) Allowing students to work for two years, rather than one year, after their graduation. This second initiative will apply outside Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver to possibly spread immigrants more widely rather than their current concentration in the above-named cities. Canada is investing $10 million a year for five years to support this announcement, the CIC said. The agency also announced other adjustments to its international study programme. For example, post-secondary international students can now transfer between programmes of study and institutions without applying for a change to the conditions of their study permit. Secondary-level international students can now obtain longer high-school study permits. As of May 16, 2005, international students who meet the eligibility criteria for a second year of post-graduation employment will be issued a two-year work permit. For these students, the two-year work permit will only be valid for one year since they will have already completed their first year of post-graduate work. As with existing pilot projects, the off-campus work initiative will be implemented bilaterally in each province and territory, following agreements with CIC. The measures include an investment of $69 million over two years to restore, by 2007-2008, processing times to an average of 12 months for a grant of citizenship and four months for a proof of citizenship. CIC is also exempting citizenship applicants from undergoing language ability and knowledge-of-Canada tests at 55 rather than 60 years of age. But the CIC said that in no way would the rigorous security screening requirements that all applicants for Canadian citizenship must go through before becoming citizens of Canada, be relaxed.
In a bid to attract more foreign students Canada announced new rules that make it easier for them to work while studying in the country and also relaxed the entry for parents and grandparents of immigrants. Announcing the new measures here Monday, Joe Volpe, minister of citizenship and immigration, said: "International students who choose to stay in Canada after they graduate greatly contribute to our labour market. "It is important that they be exposed to the Canadian work force at an early stage to increase their chances of success following graduation." The announcement of relaxed immigration rules to Canada comes at a time when several European countries are trying to corner foreign students even as the US is concerned it is losing some bright incoming researchers. "We are certain that these initiatives will help increase the global competitiveness of Canada by attracting and retaining more international students to our schools," said Volpe.
Volpe also announced measures to speed up the processing of sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents coming to Canada as family class immigrants. India is a major source country for immigrants coming here. With these new measures in place, it is expected that in both 2005 and 2006, the number of parents and grandparents immigrating to Canada will increase by an additional 12,000 each year. This triples the original 6,000 forecasted for 2005. Volpe also announced that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will be more flexible in issuing multiple-entry visitor visas to parents and grandparents. This will allow them to visit their families in Canada while their sponsorship applications are in process, as long as they are able to prove that they are visiting temporarily. Regular security and health screening will still apply and some parents and grandparents may require health coverage to be admissible to Canada. Canada has had over one million permanent residents since 2000. However, the number of sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents is growing and more applications are received each day than CIC can process, the agency admitted. "To address this concern, the government of Canada is investing $36 million a year over two years to increase processing of parent and grandparent applications and to cover integration costs once they arrive in Canada. Additional processing will begin immediately. In the coming weeks, CIC will add temporary duty officers and support staff at visa offices with the largest number of applications."
The new initiatives in the area of foreign students include: (1.) Allowing international students at public post-secondary institutions to work off-campus while completing their studies and (2.) Allowing students to work for two years, rather than one year, after their graduation. This second initiative will apply outside Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver to possibly spread immigrants more widely rather than their current concentration in the above-named cities. Canada is investing $10 million a year for five years to support this announcement, the CIC said. The agency also announced other adjustments to its international study programme. For example, post-secondary international students can now transfer between programmes of study and institutions without applying for a change to the conditions of their study permit. Secondary-level international students can now obtain longer high-school study permits. As of May 16, 2005, international students who meet the eligibility criteria for a second year of post-graduation employment will be issued a two-year work permit. For these students, the two-year work permit will only be valid for one year since they will have already completed their first year of post-graduate work. As with existing pilot projects, the off-campus work initiative will be implemented bilaterally in each province and territory, following agreements with CIC. The measures include an investment of $69 million over two years to restore, by 2007-2008, processing times to an average of 12 months for a grant of citizenship and four months for a proof of citizenship. CIC is also exempting citizenship applicants from undergoing language ability and knowledge-of-Canada tests at 55 rather than 60 years of age. But the CIC said that in no way would the rigorous security screening requirements that all applicants for Canadian citizenship must go through before becoming citizens of Canada, be relaxed.
No comments:
Post a Comment