Canada to make immigration easier

The Canadian government plans to fast track the immigration process. In an exclusive interview with Business Today, Canada’s minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Alexander said that from the start of 2015, the country would adopt a new system for immigration.

From January 1, those seeking to immigrate to Canada will have to create their profiles on a specified website. “Based on this profile and the education of those who apply, we will rank them,” Alexander added. “After this we will invite these professionals. Once they complete their applications, we will process their papers within six months.”

Alexander says there are roughly 22,000 Indian students and workers in Canada on temporary basis. The new programme can benefit them get permanent status in the country.

The minister was hopeful that with this new process, Canada will be able to attract more talent, especially when the US has tightened norms around issuing H1B visas. Moreover, minister said that for the first time, prospective employers in the country will have real-time data about those interested in immigrating and their profiles. “If the applications take two-three years to process, no employer would be interested,” he added.

Canada has benefited after the US government decided to limit the number of H1B visas. “We understand there is frustration on this. This is precisely the reason behind our decision to put up billboard advertisements in Sillicon Valley: asking geeks to come to Canada,” said Alexander.

The minister said that cities like Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Alberta have seen investment pouring in from the information technology majors such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco amongst others. “These areas are now the new technology hubs in the region,” the minister said.

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