Canada immigration alert: Intake cap... but many slots still open

The Canadian government has revealed the number of applications accepted for the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) programme. Meanwhile, the Government of Quebec revealed the number of applications received for its provincial skilled worker programme. The numbers provide an overview of the possibilities for those who plan to move to Canada.

Nearly two months ago the new FSW programme was announced, with a promise of a total intake of 25,000 applications in the one-year period ending April 30, 2015. The occupation list for this year counts 50 with an intake cap of 1,000 applications per category.

As of June 19, 157 applications had been accepted for review, revealed the Canadian Government. However, a large difference in popularity between the different occupation categories is already visible.

Thus far, the category of ‘Financial and Investment Analysts’ has received the most submissions, with 43 to date. This is followed closely by ‘Computer Programmers and Interactive Media Developers’ (39) as well as ‘Software Engineers and Designers’ (20). In other categories applications accepted remain under the 10.

Meanwhile, the numbers presented by Quebec look more threatening.  The new Skilled Worker Programme of Quebec was opened only a month earlier on April 1, 2014 and promised the review of 6,500 until March 31t, 2015.

As of May 16, 2014, the programme received 2,173 applications. This number does not indicate the application intake per occupation category, which is subdued to intake caps too.

It is important to bear in mind the difference between applications accepted and applications received, with the latter obviously representing a much higher number.

“There is no way of knowing exactly how many applications are waiting to be accepted for review at this time,” said Attorney Cohen, a Canadian immigration consultant, adding that some occupations might be filled very fast.

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) it has historically been the information technology and financial occupations that are amongst the most popular for prospective immigrants, and they were among the first occupations to see their caps reached last year.

Starting in January 2015, Canada will be transitioning to an Expression of Interest immigration system. According to this system individuals will no longer be able to apply directly to the conventional immigration programmes, but will have to submit an intent to apply for immigration to an applicant pool. The Federal government, the provinces/territories and employers will all be able to select candidates from the larger pool and invite them to submit an immigration application.

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