Skilled Worker Application Processing times lowered
The processing time of skilled worker visa applications has been almost cut in half according to a new report by a British Columbia immigration lawyer Richard Kurland.
In 2005, it took approximately 50 months to process a Skilled Worker application whereas in 2009 is took only 26 months on average.
In 2008, the Government of Canada began fast-tracking skilled worker visa applications for a series of select occupations, including chefs and nurses, which are placed ahead of workers who don’t have those skills. Today, the approvals usually come within seven months. However, a larger issue lies under the surface of these speedy visa approvals.
The skilled worker’s family members are still waiting years to be reunited with their relatives in Canada. “We continue to process applications from family members, particularly from spouses and dependent children, but attracting immigrants who are most likely to help grow our economy remains our focus,” a spokesperson for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenny said to the Montreal Gazette in an e-mail.
According to Toronto-area MP Olivia Chow some immigrants wait up to five years to have their parents allowed into Canada and just last week a neurosurgeon in Toronto headed for the US because he had been waiting three years to have his wife accepted into Canada. Last year, 14,917 visas were given to fast-tracked foreign workers and their families.
Have a question about Canadian Skilled Worker Applications? Contact Niren and Associates immigration law firm.
Intake
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
