By Ishani Duttagupta, Times of India | Link to Article
By Ishani Duttagupta, Times of India | Link to Article
Three years ago, Preeti Jain and Amit Khanna first applied for immigration to Canada, but they didn’t quite make it to the quota of 400 worldwide applicants. The husband-wife duo, who post-graduated in computer animation from Sheridan College in Oakville, Canada, in 2004, applied once again in 2013; this time there were only 300 openings. “But we were well prepared with our documents,” says Jain. “Although we have got our permanent resident status in just about a year, it has been a long process for us.”
Come January 2015, armed with degrees, qualifications and skills won’t have to wait as long as Jain and Khanna to step onto Canadian shores thanks to a new ‘express entry’ skilled immigration system that’s set to come into force. On the lines of Australia’s SkillSelect and New Zealand’s pointbased system, the new programme, says Canada’s immigration minister Chris Alexander, is a shift from “passive processing to active recruitment”. “Under the new system, some of the skilled successful applicants in the economic and business immigrant categories could get their papers processed in as little time as six months,” Alexander, who was in Delhi recently, told ET Magazine. He called it a gamechanger, with the potential to “revolutionize the way we attract skilled immigrants and get them working in Canada faster”.
Express entry
Under tCanada’s ‘Express entry’ immigration system to be a boon for skilled immigrantshe new express entry system, applicants will be able to submit an ‘expression of interest’ to the Canadian government; their resume and details will be entered into a database. Employers seeking foreign skilled workers will have access to such information on the database, allowing them to select suitable candidates.