Changes Make it Harder for Students to Immigrate to Canada

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The immigration system of Canada has made recent changes affecting foreign students who graduate from Canadian universities to immigrate there.

Changes were brought about by the immigration system known as Express Entry. The program was introduced by the federal government last January, a far cry from 2014, where foreign students who graduated from Canadian universities and colleges are qualified for immigration after one year working experience.

The new program uses a point system for the prioritization of immigration applications. Individuals with government-approved job offers are given priority. This means that even if foreign students have years of Canadian work experience, they have lesser chance of immigration f their job offers are not on the approved list.

The individuals with priority however are identified by Canadian employers themselves and in order to get government approval, employers must prove that there are no Canadians or Canadian permanent residents willing and able to take on the job. This clears up the matter of prioritization. However, foreign students must be offered more opportunities.

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Initially, Canada opened its doors for foreign students who are Canadian graduates because they recognize that encouraging immigration for those who have university level of English or French and have lived, worked and paid taxes in Canada as well as contributed to the economy and global relations is a good public policy.

However, the immigration system is wrong in that it does not prioritize Canadian education. In Express Entry, there are foreign education credentials that are equivalent to that of Canadian credentials, offering the same amount of points with that of Canadian degrees or diplomas. Express Entry does not factor that Canadian employers prefer Canadian credentials and that in obtaining Canadian educational credentials, the student has already integrated into Canadian society, which the foreign equivalent credentials cannot offer.

Canada has past reports of immigrants that are underemployed because of foreign education or experience is not recognized, a partial solution to this problem would be encouraging people with Canadian education and work experience to immigrate to Canada.

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In addition to this negative effect, freezing these individuals would cancel out the accomplishment of attracting foreign students to Canada. Canadian universities and colleges have expended effort in attracting foreign student. Foreign students also pay higher fees which is another source of income for the institutions. If the policy persists, foreign students may choose other countries to study in.

Unless changes are made into the system, foreign students will be less and less likely to become permanent residents, regardless of the Liberal party’s proposition to shorten the time for a foreign student to become a Canadian citizen, given that the promise would only apply after foreign student immigrates here.

The clear solution, which has been overlooked by the Express Entry program, is to increase the points available to students who have studied or worked here to a level equal or higher than that of immigrants with government approved job offers. This would allow foreign students, who are the best prospects for immigrants in Canada, to be allowed to immigrate here.

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