Focus on Canada Investment Immigration and the life of immigrants in Canada: As more industrialized countries face declining populations and aging issues, immigration is seen as a way to reduce the population deficit. Immigrants of working age who can find jobs and work legally to pay taxes can contribute to countries with insufficient working-age populations. The taxes paid by immigrants and the costs of services they receive are carefully weighed by local governments. Generally, the destination country does not have to bear the costs of raising, educating, and training immigrants, making it seem very cost-effective to obtain a ready-made tax-paying workforce. However, as the unemployment rate among immigrants rises, the costs associated with settling immigrant families and the ensuing welfare expenses, along with competition with local settled communities, have tilted the balance in the opposite direction.
The unemployment rate among Canadian immigrants is 14%, yet there are tens of thousands of various technical positions across the country that cannot find suitable employees. Immigration Minister Kenney acknowledged that the economic performance of new immigrants arriving in Canada has been declining for the past 30 years, with low incomes and high unemployment rates. Many research reports indicate that experts agree that new immigrants receive more social resources than they contribute to society.
Since 2008, the Canadian Federal Immigration Department has begun a series of actions to clear the backlog of federal skilled immigrants. In 2008, the number of occupations that met Canadian skilled immigration requirements suddenly dropped from over 300 to 38 critical occupations; in 2010, in addition to further reducing the list of occupations, limits were placed on the number of new applications accepted; in June 2012, applications submitted before February 27, 2008, were returned, totaling 280,000, and the Canadian federal government refunded CAD 130 million in application fees; in July, the application for skilled immigration was suspended, except for applicants who had been hired by employers and obtained a doctoral degree.
A series of decisive policies have reduced the backlog of skilled immigrant cases from 640,000 at that time to about 100,000 now. The immigration department stated that it would process all backlog cases by the end of 2014, three years earlier than expected.
Why can't approved immigrants find good jobs in Canada? This is related to Canada's previous federal skilled immigration policy. Canada uses a points-based system to assess immigrant applicants. For applicants on the occupation list, points are awarded based on age, education, language proficiency, work experience, and other criteria. Those who exceed the threshold score are eligible to apply.
Applicants under 35 years of age receive the highest points for this criterion, and having proficiency in French in addition to English is also advantageous. Other work experience outside the list can earn additional points. Other criteria for additional points include the spouse's education and language proficiency, the applicant's education and work experience in Canada, and family connections.
Applicants who meet the score requirements do not need to find a job in advance to pass the review. "The immigration office assesses your ability to find work in Canada, but whether you can find a job is your responsibility," said Dai Yangtian, a senior consultant at Zhi International Education Consulting.
"Before 2007, many people went through federal skilled immigration, peaking in 2006 when the policies were very lenient, with low professional requirements and low occupational thresholds, allowing jobs like advertising copywriting or corporate management administration to qualify."
On September 16, 2003, Canada lowered the qualifying score for federal skilled immigration to 67 points, a score that has remained in place to this day. At the same time, the Canadian government began to relax occupational restrictions for skilled immigrants, announcing over 340 occupations eligible for application, covering both arts and sciences. After the new law was enacted, a new wave of immigration to Canada quickly surged, lasting until 2008.
Due to the excessive backlog of global applications at that time, the immigration office began using a simplified application process on September 1, 2006, requiring only a 3-page application form and application fee to queue for processing, aiming to speed up processing and reduce the backlog. However, the actual situation was counterproductive, as the overly simple application process led many to submit applications without considering their own qualifications, resulting in an increase in the number of applications in backlog.
New immigrants who pass the application must reside in Canada for 2 years within 5 years to obtain permanent residency. Therefore, to obtain a Canadian permanent resident card, immigrants, even if their jobs are unsatisfactory, will settle for living here, leading to many immigrants becoming blue-collar workers or simply relying on welfare. "The government naturally does not want immigrants who are struggling to make a living to come in; the receiving country expects immigrants to work, pay taxes, and support local welfare recipients."
To ensure the employability of immigrants, the threshold must be continuously raised. After a one-year suspension, the Canadian federal skilled immigration application reopened in May this year, with a pilot period of one year. The immigration office has re-established an occupational assessment system to evaluate whether the applicant's work experience and content meet the requirements. The new occupational list includes only about 20 of the most critical occupations, such as aerospace engineers, physical therapists, and oceanographers. Applicants must have worked in an occupation on the list for at least one year within the past ten years. The total quota is 5,000, with each occupation having a quota of about 300 people.
The limited quotas released are quickly consumed due to the long-standing market demand. Popular jobs such as financial and investment analysts, computer programmers, and interactive media developers were nearly filled within three months.
In a situation where there are more applicants than available positions, many choose to take the onshore route—studying first and then immigrating. Local work experience becomes quite important. Federal experience class immigration has gained popularity in recent years, requiring applicants to have two years of education above high school in Canada and one year of full-time work experience, with an annual quota of about 1,000.
Compared to experience class immigration, the time cost of provincial nomination is relatively short, generally requiring less than one year of public university education and a period of work experience, up to six months, with most around three months. For highly educated talents, some provinces offer more favorable policies to attract them.
For immigrants taking a roundabout route, the most troublesome issues are financial and time costs. The cost of studying in Canada for one to two years becomes a significant barrier. Dai Yangtian gives an example of a 1981-born animation designer who graduated from a college and worked for over ten years. To immigrate, he spent a year and a half studying for a bachelor's degree at an art college in Canada and found a job in Toronto shortly after graduation. His main costs were tuition and living expenses, with tuition at CAD 14,000 per year, equivalent to over 90,000 RMB, plus living expenses of CAD 150,000 for two years, totaling CAD 300,000, along with an agency fee of CAD 20,000. Those like him who find jobs right after graduation are considered lucky; others have spent 500,000 to 600,000 RMB and three to four years without finding work, having to return home before their work visas expire.
As the tolerance of receiving countries for lazy immigrants decreases, living off welfare for a few years to obtain immigration status is becoming increasingly unrealistic.