Seminar for Canadian migrants

Canada has seen a large influx of immigrants from Sri Lanka over the past 30 years. Most of the 300,000 Sri Lankans living in Canada have come either as refugees or have been sponsored as members of the “Family Class”- that is, sponsored by spouses, children, parents or other close relatives.

The movement of Sri Lankans to Canada as skilled workers or business people has been relatively small but steadily rising.

However, over the past few years there have been a number of changes to the Canadian immigration policy that have changed the focus from family reunification to an emphasis on skilled worker migration. These changes bring new opportunities to Sri Lankans who are well-educated, speak English, and are interested in immigration to Canada.

The changes are to be found in the federal immigration policy and in the new provincial immigration policies.

The Canadian Migration Center in partnership with Australian Migration Centre will facilitate migration, be it skilled, business or any other permanent resident visa or appeal. There will be a free informative seminar on August 4 and 6 conducted by Canadian migration expert in Colombo Chris kemp Jackson for those keen on Canadian migration.

Since the implementation of the Immigration Refugee Protection Act in 2002 Canadian federal immigration policy has emphasized the need for new immigrants to have post-secondary education, work experience in a skilled trade or profession, and an ability to communicate in English. The goal is to select immigrants who are young, easily integrated into the Canadian job market, and who will be a net benefit rather than a drain on Canadian society. Since September 2008 the Federal Immigration policy has been further refined by only selecting skilled workers who have work experience in certain selected fields.

As a country with a federal form of government Canada shares responsibility for selection of immigrants with its 10 provinces.

A number of these provinces has created immigration programs to meet their particular demographic or labour market needs. Under Canada’s shared immigration system the provinces can select immigrants based on criteria of their choosing.

The federal government is only responsible for ensuring that the prospective Immigrant meets the medical and criminal background check criteria.