Canada Seeks Immigrants for Work Force
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Canada Seeks Immigrants for Work Force
By BETH DUFF-BROWN
Associated Press Writer
April 18, 2005, 4:35 PM EDT
TORONTO -- Canada opened its arms wider to foreigners Monday, enticing international students to join its work force once they graduate and making it easier for immigrant parents to join children already in Canada.
The United States has attempted to limit the number of refugees and immigrants since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and also stanch the stream of illegal aliens that cross the U.S. border from Mexico each year.
Canada, by contrast, is seeking more immigrants to complement its relatively small population of 33 million, which needs more skilled workers, as well as students on college campuses.
Immigration Minister Joe Volpe said Monday he hopes to triple the approvals of parents and grandparents seeking citizenship in Canada to some 18,000 a year. He also said Ottawa would spend an additional $58 million over the next two years to address a backlog of 110,000 cases.
Volpe said that starting this week, parents and grandparents waiting for their immigration visas to be processed would be granted five-year, multiple-entry visas so they could visit their children in the interim.
A decision on an immigration application currently can take up to five years; Volpe said he wants that to come down to eight to 12 months.
"We become Canadians by doing that which Canadians do," Volpe said at a news conference. "We manifest our identity as Canadians by fulfilling our obligations and responsibilities as Canadians."
Volpe said Ottawa would also relax the work rules on most foreign students, who are currently restricted to on-campus jobs while they study. They'll now be able to study off campus and, once they have graduated, students will be able to work for two years, instead of one, in jobs outside the major metropolises of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
He said the new rules would encourage foreign graduates to seek jobs outside the big cities and help universities attract more students who, on average, contribute about $20,000 a year to the schools they attend.
"International students who choose to stay in Canada after they graduate greatly contribute to our labor market," Volpe said. "Whether they choose to stay in Canada or return to their home country, they will have acquired Canadian experience and values that will enrich their lives."
Jeffrey Reitz, a professor of ethnic and immigration studies at the Munk Center for International Studies in Toronto, said the announcement on Monday was in keeping with Canada's plan to speed and increase immigration.
"We're still in the nation-building mold up here and we're bringing in immigrants in a program that is relatively well managed," he said.
"Not only is the program much larger in Canada, but it's also more popular," Reitz said, noting legal immigration is considered a positive policy move among most Canadians.
Reitz said Ottawa is more open to immigrants than Washington because it has a much smaller population, isn't as fearful of terrorist attacks as doesn't have to deal with the influx of illegal aliens from Mexico.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada: www.cic.gc.ca
:x But they don't want to deal with illegal aliens from Mexico. They say Washington has to deal with them.
