CANADIAN EXPRESS ENTRY REVIEW 2018
The half yearly draw of the Canadian Express Entry selections that ended in June 2018 stand out in the number of Invitation To Apply (ITA’s) issued. This is the substantially high when we compare the data of the Federal Program since its inception in 2015. In the running second quarter of the year, two rounds of Express Entry draws were conducted and 7,500 Invitation To Apply (ITA’s) were issued to candidates for the Canadian permanent residence application in the month of June. The figure of June 2018 has crumbled all the records of the preceding years.
The Express Entry system allows economic immigrants to get settled in Canada. An Express Entry is the application system that manages the pool of eligible candidates for the three main economic immigration classes namely the Federal Skilled Worker Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Class and the Canadian Experience Class. The highest-ranked candidates in the Express Entry pool are issued “Invitation To Apply” (ITA’s) in regular invitation rounds.
The frequency and as well as the larger rounds of invitation draws has positively lowered the Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS), thereby increasing the number of invitations send in June. More importantly, the recent draw on June 25th saw a CRS cut-off score of 442.
The number of Invitation To Apply (ITA’s) issued in each program draw of 2018 has gradually increased over the course of the year. If IRCC maintains this invitation round schedule with large rounds of draws every two weeks heading through the summer, it could result in a further reduction of the Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS).
60 CALENDAR DAY APPLICATION DEADLINE
The highlight in the month of June was IRCC’s announcement on reducing the application deadline to 60-calender days post receiving an Invitation To Apply (ITA’s) for permanent residence. This change is effective from June 26, 2018. If a candidate misses the 60-day timeframe, the Invitation to Apply for permanent residence that was issued remains invalid. The candidate would be required to re-enter the Express Entry pool.
ENHANCING YOUR COMPREHENSIVE RANKING SCORES (CRS) TO GET AN INVITATION TO APPLY (ITA)
Creating an Express Entry profile with accuracy is the first step, towards increasing the CRS score. Thereafter proactively tracking the developments and finding potential ways to upgrade the scores will lead the way to successfully achieving an Invitation to Apply for permanent residence. The final step with an in- hand Invitation To Apply completely lies upon the prospective applicants in ensuring that their documents and forms are prepared and reviewed thoroughly before submission.
With the 60-calendar day deadline to submit an application for Permanent residence, Scarborough Immigration Services Private Limited can be your one stop solution for such scenarios. Our expertise with the Canadian Express Entry will help you get down to the nitty–gritty of applying for the Express Entry program. Kindly give us a call at +91-989-559-8755 or drop us a line at info@scarborough.co.in.
Read More‘Canada needs more immigrants to fill jobs’
The Canada economy is growing by leaps and bounds and immigrants have a key role in helping it grow further, says Bank of Canada Governor Stephen S. Poloz. In a lecture at Queen’s University, Poloz said that along with increased participation in the workforce, immigrants act as a source of untapped potential economic growth.
The head of Canada’s central bank further added that immigration is critical in keeping the inflation low. “The more people available to work, and the more productive they are, the greater the contribution that labour makes to supply,” he said. In every economy, demographic forces and immigration determine the available workforce.
A Statistics Canada data show that job vacancies are quickly rising, reaching a record 47,000 in 2017. Many of these vacancies are going unfilled because of the shortage of skilled workers. To have companies looking for so many skilled workers is a sign of strong economy. To help solve this shortage, Poloz said, Canada needs to speed up the integration of recent migrants into the workforce. “This would allow their important contribution to the workforce to increase more rapidly over time,” he said.
The participation of prime-age women is the need of the hour, and this could add almost 300,00 people to Canada’s workforce.
If all these factors are put together, Canada’s labour force could expand by half a million workers. This could increase the country’s potential output by as much as 1.5 percent, or about $30 billion per year. That is equal to a permanent increase in output of almost $1,000 per Canadian every year.
Are you looking to immigrate to Canada? To know more about Canada immigration opportunities, contact Scarborough Immigration Services at +9198955 98755 or mail to info@scarborough.co.in.
Read More
Canada slashes minors’ processing fee for citizenship
After the Canadian government removed the legal barrier for minor immigrants under the age of 18 applying for citizenship on their own on June 19, 2017, the Government has announced a cut on the processing fee for minors. Now, a minor immigrant applying under subsection 5(1) of the Citizenship Act needs to pay only $100, a cut from the previous hefty fee of $530. The new move is expected to see more minor immigrants applying for citizenship without their parents.
The amendment ensures that there is no difference in the fee paid by citizenship grant applicants who are minors, regardless of whether they have a Canadian parent, are applying with a permanent resident parent or are applying on their own behalf.
Anyone who already paid the $530 fee for a minor applying under this subsection on or after June 19, 2017, will be reimbursed the difference of $430. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will contact these applicants directly to outline the process for receiving a refund.
Read more here
Read MoreDon’t be a victim of a disappearing act- Choose your immigration representative carefully
Scarborough Immigration Services offers Canadian Permanent and Temporary immigration programs including Permanent Residency, Study Permits and Visit Visas. We work with authorised Canadian consultant. For more information, reach out to us at info@scarborough.co.in or +91 98955 98755.
Read MoreAn Insight to Canada’s Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)
The Provincial Nominee Program or PNP intends for Permanent Residency in Canada. The programs are under the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, which is formerly the CIC). The Provincial Nominee program develops the economy of the Provinces which nominates applicants who are ready to settle there for positively contributing to the economy.
Under this category, the different Canadian provinces and territories selects the applicants who “Express an Interest” in relocating and settling in a particular Canadian province or territory.
Only few provinces participate in the programs. The provinces which currently offer Provincial Nominations are as below:
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- Manitoba
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Northwest Territories
- Nova Scotia
- Ontario
- Prince Edward Island
- Saskatchewan
- Yukon
Advantage of Provincial Nomination:
Provincial Nomination reduces the application processing time for a “Canadian Immigration Visa”, apart from the Federal Skilled Worker Category of application. The qualifying process of Permanent Residency is through natural selection from a pool of applicants with the highest scores. The scoring factors include education canadian experience etc.
Criteria of an Application:
The criteria for the selection process are:
- Employment offer in the province
- International or Canadian education
- International or Canadian Work experience in critical industries
- English and/or French language skills
- Siblings (Close blood relations) in that province and
- Adaptability to the Province.
***Provinces and territories may add any additional criteria for their own immigration streams at any point of time.
How it works
The Provincial Nominations primarily submitted to the appropriate provincial government office, before applying for a Canada Immigration Visa.
The nomination by the Province/Territory gives no guarantee on the approval of Canadian Immigration Visa. The approval of “Canada Immigration Visa” depends on the decision of IRCC on satisfying it with regard to the Provincial Applicant’s health, genuinity of documents etc.
29-11-2017
Read MoreH-4 EAD- Lawsuit
Decision from Federal Court is pending regarding H-4 EAD program . Federal Court is waiting for the decision of Trump Administration on the H-4 EAD program .Currently there is no rule-making process in place either to amend or repeal the H-4 EAD rule.
H-4 EAD holders should watch carefully in the coming days regarding the development of this lawsuit
Read MoreThe RAISE Act
What Lies Beneath the Proposed Points System? August 11, 2017
If enacted, the recently introduced Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment Act (RAISE Act) or S. 354 would mark a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. immigration system. The bill seeks to significantly reduce levels of legal immigration to the United States by drastically cutting off some family-based categories, redefining others, and eliminating the diversity visa. It would also substitute the existing employment-based system with a narrow and rigid points system.
An evaluation of the proposed system requires an understanding of its potential implications. First, the proposed system would represent a departure from the demand-driven model that characterizes the U.S. employment-based immigration system, which allows employers to select the workers they need, subject to government regulations. While switching to the points system proposed in the RAISE Act may result in a higher proportion of high-skilled immigrants, this may not lead to economic growth and increased competitiveness if these immigrants cannot find jobs to match their skill set. Second, the effort to create a points system conflicts with many core values the United States has traditionally embraced, such as providing equal opportunities for all, fighting discrimination of all sorts, protecting minorities and disadvantaged groups, and preserving family unity.
A preliminary analysis reveals that the proposed points system likely would put some categories of people at a tremendous disadvantage. Those groups include women, people who work in the informal economy (including those who do unpaid work), individuals with family ties to U.S. citizens but without formal education and employment history, middle-aged and older adults, and applicants from less-developed countries. The problems identified in this analysis raise concerns not only about the technical design of the points system, but the foundational values upon which the proposed new system is based. These concerns suggest that, before eliminating existing visa categories and replacing them with others, lawmakers must carefully explore the impacts of any new program to determine whether such a program can meet the needs of the nation.
What are immigration points systems and how do they work?
- Point-based immigration systems are immigration-management tools used to score who is eligible to enter the host country. Variations of points systems are already used in some countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
- In every country that uses a points system, these tools are used in addition to other immigration-management methods which are often based on family relationships, humanitarian concerns, or other employment-based systems.
- Points systems are typically based on a list of characteristics that a country values, such as education, occupation, work experience, language ability, or age.
- After determining all desired characteristics and point values, a country sets the total number of points that a person needs before being allowed to enter the host country; this is called the “pass mark.”
- In 2007, S. 1348 (the “Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007”) proposed a complex points system that relied on a combination of factors, including education, job skills, English proficiency, and family ties. The proposed system was widely criticized because it favored educated, high-skilled immigrants at the expense of less-skilled workers. Critics also asserted that the system would have favored certain regions over others (in particular, it would have placed immigrants from Latin America at a disadvantage).
- In 2013, S. 744 (“The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act”) proposed a points system as a tool to allocate a portion of new immigrant visas each year. Had this new system been adopted, a minimum of 120,000 foreign-born people would have been able to obtain immigrant visas each year by accumulating points mainly based on their skills, employment history, and educational credentials. At the same time, visa slots currently allocated to siblings and married, adult children of U.S. citizens, as well as to the Diversity Visa program, would have been reallocated to this new system.
What are the specifics of the points system included in the RAISE Act?
- A maximum of 140,000 immigrant visas would be issued each fiscal year based on the points system. Spouses and minor children of the principal applicant would count against the 140,000 cap. This proposed cap on visas is the same quantity as currently allocated for employment-based visas only.
- An individual would be able to apply to be placed in the Eligible Applicant Pool if he or she had accrued 30 points (“pass mark”).
- The allocation of points in both tiers would be based on a combination of factors, including age, education, English language proficiency, extraordinary achievement, a job offer, and intention to invest in the United States. Additionally, an applicant who has been granted admission under a family preference but who has not received a visa within one year of the law’s enactment would be eligible for extra points.
- An applicant with a spouse who is accompanying or following to join would have to calculate the points the spouse would accrue if he or she were applying for a point-based immigration visa. If the points accrued by the spouse were lower than the points accrued by the applicant, the points accrued by the applicant would be adjusted.
The points would be distributed as follows:
Full Details of Points System
Worldwide level | Cap of 140,000 for each fiscal year (including spouses and children) | |
Point Allocation | Age (10 points maximum) | |
Between 0 and 17 | May not submit an application | |
Between 18 and 21 | 6 points | |
Between 22 and 25 | 8 points | |
Between 26 and 30 | 10 points | |
Between 31 and 35 | 8 points | |
Between 36 and 40 | 6 points | |
Between 41 and 45 | 4 points | |
Between 46 and 50 | 2 points | |
51 or older | 0 points | |
Point Allocation | Formal education (13 points maximum) | |
U.S. or Foreign High School Degree | 1 point | |
Foreign Bachelor’s Degree | 5 points | |
U.S. Bachelor’s Degree | 6 points | |
Foreign Master’s Degree in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) | 7 points | |
U.S. STEM Master’s Degree | 8 points | |
Foreign Professional Degree or Doctoral STEM | 10 points | |
U.S. Professional Degree or Doctoral STEM | 13 points | |
Point Allocation
|
English language proficiency (12 points maximum) | |
1st – 5th deciles | 0 points | |
6th – 7th deciles | 6 points | |
8th decile | 10 points | |
9th decile | 11 points | |
10th decile | 12 points | |
Point Allocation | Extraordinary achievement (40 points maximum) | |
Nobel Laureate or comparable recognition | 25 points | |
Individual Olympic medal or first place in a comparable international sporting event | 15 points | |
Point Allocation | Job offer/highly compensated employment (13 points maximum) | |
Annual salary offered is at least 150% but less than 200% of the median household income in the state of employment | 5 points | |
Annual salary offered is at least 200 % but less than 300% of the median household income in the state of employment | 8 points | |
Annual salary offered is at least 300% of the median household income in the state of employment | 13 points | |
Point Allocation | Investment and active management of new enterprise (12 points maximum) | |
Investment of at least $1.35 million but less than $1.8 million in a U.S. New Commercial Enterprise (NCE); maintain the investment for three years and play active role in managing the NCE as primary occupation | 6 points | |
Investment of at least $1.8 million in a U.S. NCE; maintain the investment for three years and play active role in managing the NCE as primary occupation | 12 points | |
Point Allocation | Valid (pre-existing) offer of admission under family preference category | 2 points |
The underlying message of this point distribution is very clear: it prioritizes individuals who are already U.S.-educated, trained in STEM fields, highly-compensated, English-fluent, and young.
The challenges of shifting away from a demand-driven immigration model
- As detailed in the bill, this proposed system would represent a departure from the demand-driven model that characterizes the U.S. employment-based immigration system. Under the current system, employers are allowed to select the workers they need, subject to government regulations. Specifically, employers can petition for foreign workers through different visa preference categories. Because they respond directly to the labor needs of employers, immigration systems that are demand-driven and employer-led have proven to be the most successful models for facilitating economic growth and competitiveness.
- Under the proposed points system, potential immigrants are largely valued in terms of their human-capital attributes (an individual’s current skills, knowledge, and experience), and therefore, their presumed capacity to produce economic value.
- Switching from a demand-driven to a human-capital model entails some risks. While selective migration strategies such as the points systems can be an effective way of attracting highly-educated individuals, the intended objective of increasing national economic competitiveness is not guaranteed. Research has shown that even if an immigrant selection system produces a higher proportion of high-skilled immigrants, the economy does not reap benefits if these people cannot find jobs to match their skill set.
- Both Australia and Canada use points-based systems to select economic migrants. In both cases, research has shown that generically qualified immigrants selected through such systems often have difficulties finding or maintaining employment in their professions; in other words, they have not been able to fully utilize all of their skills.
- As documented by the Canadian case, the human capital-driven points-based system is unable to assess intangible qualities such as social adaptability or emotional intelligence. Thus, the degree to which the system reflects the hiring needs and practices of the Canadian labor market has been questioned. According to Canadian immigration expert Arif Anwar, “In Canada, the traditional disconnect between government policy and private sectors’ practices are exacerbated, and play a role in the general lack of success experienced by Canadian skilled immigrants who arrive without arranged employment.”
- The points system proposed in the RAISE Act is a hybrid (combining elements of the traditional point and demand-driven models) in that it assigns points based on an offer of employment, but those points only apply to highly compensated occupations. By doing so, the proposed system seems to assume that only STEM occupations present pressing labor shortages. That is not consistent with the reality of several industries, such as direct care workers who provide care to the elderly and those with disabilities or serious illness; these industries are expected to experience severe labor shortages in the coming years.
Who is forgotten by the RAISE Act’s proposed points system?
- Unlike S.744, the points system in the RAISE Act does not contain a dedicated path for less-skilled immigrants. Less-skilled immigrants play a fundamental role in the “essential economy”– which encompasses the food services and hospitality industries, construction, agriculture, elder care, and manufacturing. By ignoring this fact, the RAISE Act could harm those industries.
- In addition to the possible negative impact on U.S. economic competitiveness, the proposed points system raises concerns about its potential gender bias. As noted above, the system would disproportionately prioritize applicants with STEM degrees. Women, who are traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields, not just in the United States but in other countries as well, would have fewer opportunities to immigrate under the proposed points system. Additionally, in some countries women have less access to education and work opportunities than men and would be systematically excluded from these channels.
- Even if we adhere to the purely economic rationale upon which this new system is premised, the potential contributions of women who work in the care economy are not adequately valued. Immigrant women who perform their work in the domestic sphere help sustain the current workforce, raise the future workforce, care for the elderly and sick, and play a critical role in household well-being. Their contributions to the economy are, therefore, not only immediate, but also longstanding.
- Family ties are downplayed in the proposed system. Even though it has been demonstrated that families expedite the social and economic incorporation of immigrants, the points system does not grant any points based on family ties. It has been demonstrated that families provide critical resources for new immigrants (e.g., opportunities for employment, credit, and support). In addition to not granting points based on family ties, the RAISE Act also proposes to eliminate some current categories of family-sponsored immigration. Specifically, the bill would eliminate all family sponsorship beyond spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.
- The assignment of points based on age also raises concern regarding the moral and practical implications of age discrimination. The United States has evolved into a country that stands out globally for its principles of inclusion and civil-rights protection, and for fighting against discrimination of all sorts. However, this bill seems to go against those values that are embedded in domestic policy. By privileging younger cohorts over older ones, this system reduces the chances of admission of people who, because of their age, have more experience, knowledge, and wisdom. This certainly does not reflect core American values.
- The proposed points system may also result in nationality bias, which will be translated into a systematic exclusion of immigrants from countries with lower levels of human capital arbitrarily valued under the system. The Diversity Visa component, which has been an important part of the U.S. immigration system for more than twenty years, would—under this bill—be terminated.
courtesy link:https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/raise-act
Read MoreKnow Your Rights Handouts: If ICE Visits a Home, Employer, or Public Space
AILA provides Know Your Rights handouts for several scenarios: ICE worksite raids (for employers), ICE home visits, and ICE public stops.
http://www.aila.org/advo-media/tools/psas/know-your-rights-handouts-if-ice-visits
Read MoreThe United States and India to Co-Host the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit
The United States and the Republic of India jointly announced they will co-host the eighth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad, India on November 28-30 via a series of tweets on August 10. Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump will lead the U.S. delegation to the Summit, which will focus on supporting women entrepreneurs, solving 21st century challenges, and fostering economic growth globally.
Courtesy: DipNote Bloggers on August 16, 2017
Read More
H-1B processing time update as on June 30, 2017.
USCIS generally process cases in the order they receive. The below shows most forms processed at the Service Centers.
I-129 H-1B | Extension | Change of Status | Consular Proc |
CSC | 04/02/2017 | 04/02/2017 | 04/02/2017 |
VSC | 05/01/2017 | 04/10/2017 | 04/10/2017 |
NSC | 05/01/2017 | – | – |
https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do%3Bjsessionid%3DbacXD1OC9RCyFagQNRyeu
Read More