In early July Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced that they will start accepting applications for visas under the new Federal Skilled Trade Program. Since opening the gate for applications, the immigration office have started processing visas and have now issued the first permanent residence visa under the program.
The FSTP will allow up to 3,000 applicants permanent residence in the country if they can provide evidence of a satisfactory level of work experience and trade qualifications as opposed to scoring points on a grid system, which is used in the Federal Skilled Workers Program.
“From an industry perspective, we are elated that the first ones of what we hope will be many new skilled trade professionals have been admitted to Canada under the Federal Skilled Trades Program,” said Mr. Michael Atkinson, President of the Canadian Construction Association. “This new Program responds directly to industry requests for a faster and more effective immigration program focused specifically on skilled trade professionals who are in short supply across Canada.”
Earlier this month changes were made to Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the main change was that an employer wishing to employ a foreign worker must pay a $275 processing fee which will pay for a ‘Labour Market Opinion’ check to asses if there are any Canadian job seekers already living in the country that could do the job.
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