Jul/080
Government to hold talks on ‘bad faith’ marriages
Globeandmail.com reports that
The federal government is opening up talks with Canadian lawyers on whether legal changes are required to tackle marriages of convenience.
Officials from Citizenship and Immigration Canada are looking for input from the Canadian Bar Association on possible changes to regulations regarding “bad faith” marriages, in which foreigners dupe Canadians into marriage to gain a Canadian passport.
Good to know 
May/080
Canada makes life better for international students
Changes in the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program, makes it easier for graduating international students to obtain work permits and acquire Canadian work experience.
The changes to ( the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program )
- remove the requirement to have a job offer at the time of application. International graduates can now obtain an open work permit, i.e. they can work for any Canadian employer who offers them a job.
- international students now have the flexibility to work outside of their field of study.
- The duration of the work permit has now been extended to three years across the country.
A related change, in the new Canadian Experience Class category:
- makes it easier for international students and foreign workers who are already in Canada with temporary status to become Canadian Permanent Residents.
- At least one year of work experience in a managerial, professional, or technical position will be required to apply for the Canadian Experience Class.
Nov/070
New category: Canadian Experience Class
In 2008, a new stream of Canadian immigration will be available to certain temporary foreign workers and international students with Canadian degrees and Canadian work experience. The Canadian Experience Class will help address the country’s labor force needs by better focusing on these candidates for Canadian Permanent Residency. Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s goal for 2008 is to admit between 10,000 and 12,000 under the new Canadian Experience category of immigration.
Nov/070
6 Secrets of Successful Immigrants
Originally article Published Sept. 11, 2007 – MSN Money Online
Many entrepreneurial newcomers to the United States prosper by exploiting opportunities missed by native-born Americans. Here’s how three made it here.
Ever wonder how some immigrants who arrive in this country with nothing can work their way into the middle class in one generation?
Immigrant entrepreneurs are the fastest-growing segment of small-business owners today, says a report on the future of small business by Intuit and the Palo Alto, California, Institute for the Future. That’s partly because immigrants have few options: U.S. jobs usually go to those fluent in the English language and American culture.
Oct/070
D-MADE: exciting opportunity to access grants financing entrepreneurial projects by Africans in the diaspora
Have you been wondering how to get funds to start a great business at home? Well, here is one honey pot:
The Development Marketplace for African Diaspora in Europe (D-MADE) is a new and exciting opportunity to access grants financing entrepreneurial projects that are designed by Africans, to support the development of Africa. Based on the very successful global Development Marketplace, for the first time such a programme will target Sub-Saharan Africa-wide members of the Diaspora living in Europe.
D-MADE, an initiative of the World Bank financially supported by the Belgian Development Cooperation, the Dutch
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Source: http://www.dmade.org/
Sep/070
Have Degree: Can Work
The following article taken from the “times of India” makes for informative reading:
With the revision of work rules in a number of foreign countries, the most recent being Australia, Indian students are now being presented with the option of staying back in the country where they receive their degree in order to gain that elusive international work experience. Educators in the United States regard these revisions as the latest in a series of attempts by other countries to chip away at the dominance of American higher education. The country also claims to be the first to offer international students the opportunity to gain work experience after completion of studies.
Aug/070
Trafficking fear: hookers may enter on student visas in 2010 Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver could lead to an increase in student-visa fraud as people in the sex trade recruit young women from overseas to work as prostitutes
Border cops warn hookers could enter on student visas in 2010.
“With the huge numbers of tourists expected to visit British Columbia during the Olympics, the possibility for this type of human smuggling cannot be discounted.”
Aug/070
Student visas used as ticket into Canada
There are so many people in B.C. scamming Canada’s foreign student-visa program – from bogus students to shady schools – that authorities can only investigate about five per cent of the cases, according to an internal government report obtained by CanWest News Service.
“It is impossible to actively pursue all the cases … with the current resourcing levels assigned to the project,” warned an August 2006 report prepared by the Canada Border Services Agency.
The number of foreign students admitted to B.C. on student visas has nearly doubled over the past decade, from just 22,000 in 1995 to 43,000 in 2005.
Jul/070
Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada on the Increase
The Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program is the Canadian government’s primary means of helping employers address immediate skill and labour shortages. As labour tensions continue to mount across industries, Canadian employers have been making use of this program to fill a growing number of vacant positions.
In 2006, over 112,000 temporary workers arrived in Canada, making up 42 per cent of all new temporary residents. In December 2006, the total population of temporary foreign workers in Canada was nearly 171,000, a 122 per cent increase over the past ten years.
Jul/070
Brain Drain II: Immigrants let glass ceiling gather dust
The term “flight capital” probably doesn’t mean much to you, but if you have a stake in the GTA economy it should.
Three reports released in the last three weeks underscore the potentially harmful trend of “flight capital” – the loss of skilled immigrant and second-generation labour to competing job markets – and the effect it could have on the Southern Ontario economy.
This week, data from the 2006 census revealed a fact that’s obvious even without the numbers: Many of the youngest neighbourhoods in an aging city with serious labour shortages are dominated by immigrants.
Another report, released by TD, detailed Toronto’s relative economic decline compared with other Canadian cities, such as Calgary. It highlighted the myth of immigrants being the economic panacea for the GTA – an area where, in fact, huge numbers of young immigrants are likely to be unemployed or underemployed and earn considerably less than their non-immigrant counterparts.
And in late June, Catalyst Canada released its comprehensive survey of visible minorities in the Canadian workforce, which revealed a perceived glass ceiling that prevents immigrants and other non-whites from advancing beyond mid-level positions.