Federal Skilled Worker Program: Skilled Workers

Canada Dept: Ottawa has cancelled applications that predated Feb. 27, 2008, telling applicants they are welcome to apply again and promising to refund the collective $130 million in fees they paid to apply under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, according to Vancouver Sun. There are compelling reasons for an overhaul that includes prioritizing younger immigrants with Canadian experience and knowledge of French and English. Canada's employers have long complained of a mismatch between available jobs and the skilled workers admitted under the current point system; they are now also warning of a looming skills shortage. Meanwhile, recent immigrants who have arrived in Canada without knowing English or French, or without job skills that are in demand, are struggling financially and in the end, the federal government solved the problem of Canada's eight-year-long, 284,000-applicant immigration backlog the simplest way possible: it erased it. It might have been fairer for the government to sift through the waiting list for particularly worthy candidates, but the list had become so long that just starting over made pragmatic sense. The government's goal of creating a "fast and flexible economic immigration system" could never get off the ground as long as the enormous backlog existed. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.