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2008 Immigration
Immigration plan announced at UW
Waterloo - Two provincial cabinet ministers visited UW Tuesday February 12, to announce a change in the rules that will allow more international students to stay in the province, and thus in Canada, after they graduate.
The province is after the “best and brightest”, a news release explained: “Attracting international students to Ontario and keeping them here in high-value jobs is a benefit to the provincial economy.” And that’s what Michael Chan, the Ontario minister of citizenship and immigration, and John Milloy, the minister of training, colleges and universities, told guests who crowded into the Waterloo International conference room on the first floor of Needles Hall to hear what they had to say. (Left, Chan talks with students after the announcement.)
More international students will have a chance to become permanent Ontario residents as a result of changes to the province’s Pilot Provincial Nominee Program, the government says. Previously, only graduates of Ontario post-secondary institutions could be considered. Now the program is open to international students Canada-wide. The students have to be graduates of a publicly funded Canadian college or university and have a job offer in Ontario.
“There’s a global competition for talent,” said Chan. “International students are highly skilled, have Canadian credentials and are familiar with Canadian society. Our province will benefit from their talents for years to come.”
Under Ontario’s Pilot Provincial Nominee Program, employers can hire skilled workers, including international students, to fill jobs where labour is in short supply. Currently that includes 20 specific occupations in the health, education, manufacturing and construction sectors. And multinational investors can bring in key employees who will contribute to the long-term success of their investment.
Successful nominees — more of them, under the new rules —receive permission to work in Ontario and will be nominated by the provincial government to have their application for permanent residency fast-tracked by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Other changes to the program make it easier for small employers outside the Greater Toronto Area to attract skilled workers in a number of occupations in the health, education, manufacturing and construction sectors.
The province says more than 35,000 international students are currently enrolled in post-secondary institutions in Ontario — 28,500 in universities and 6,700 in colleges. UW was chosen as the site for yesterday’s announcement because of the large number of international students on this campus. One of them Eman Al Abadleh, a graduate student in management sciences, spoke briefly at the event.
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