Canada's immigration department has proposed dramatic changes in the
way some immigrants are selected. Under a new "Canadian Experience
Class, " some temporary workers and foreign students who are already
in Canada would be recruited to remain here as permanent residents.

The immigration minister has presented the plan as a way to make
Canada more competitive in the global drive to attract skilled workers
as immigrants. And on the face of it, the plan does seem to make
sense. The government wants to have it up and running by mid-October.

In a nutshell, foreign students who have completed a two-year program
and then do one year of skilled, professional or technical work would
be eligible to apply from inside Canada for permanent resident status.
Currently, they have to leave Canada to make such an application. By
the same token, temporary workers who have jobs in the same skilled
trade, professional or technical fields would also be eligible to
apply to stay after two years of working in Canada.

These applicants would not be put through the same kind of point
system used to select other independent immigrants from abroad.

(For detailed information about the proposed stream, visit the
immigration department website at cic.gc.ca/english/DEPARTMENT/MEDIA/
RELEASES/2008/2008-08-12.ASP. You can also read the fine print in the
government newspaper the Canada Gazette, where all proposed regulatory
changes are published: canadagazette.gc.ca /partI/2008/20080809/html/
regle1-e.html.)

But the minister, Diane Finley, didn't draw attention to the apparent
disconnect between the proposed new immigration stream and the way her
officials currently do business.

One of the first questions international students are asked when they
apply for a permit to come to Canada and study is whether they plan to
go home at the end of their studies. Indeed, applicants are sometimes
asked bluntly to provide written proof that they do not intend to
remain in Canada at the end of their program. They are often asked for
letters from employers or other documentary evidence of their
attachment to their homeland.

I know this because in my other life, I teach journalism at Carleton
University and frequently assist international students in their
attempts to secure study permits from Citizenship and Immigration
Canada.

So, while immigration officials try to weed out prospective
international students who actually have designs on staying in Canada
permanently, the bureaucracy has come up with a plan to recruit those
very people to come to Canada to study – with an eye to remaining here
permanently.

The government's rationale for the proposed new stream, spelled out in
the fine print in the Canada Gazette, makes clear that we will now be
recruiting international students as future immigrants. The new
Canadian Experience Class "has been designed to ... attract more
temporary foreign workers and foreign students to Canada and retain
them as permanent residents, thereby enhancing Canada's ability to
compete against countries like Australia that have similar programs,''
the documents state.

The immigration department predicts 30,000 to 35,000 people would take
advantage of the changed application process and 25,000 would be
accepted – a much higher acceptance rate than for typical skilled
workers who apply to come to Canada as independent immigrants.

But this doesn't mean that the number of immigrants coming to Canada
each year is being expanded. For now at least, the government wants to
roll out this new immigration stream within the current immigration
targets. That means the 25,000 new immigrants projected to remain in
Canada permanently through the new stream would replace immigrants who
would otherwise have come from abroad, immigration officials say.

I'm not suggesting there is anything wrong with this strategy. Indeed,
it probably makes sense. But everyone needs to realize that this is a
new way of doing business. And the immigration officials who work on
the front lines overseas will have to wrap their heads around a very
different approach toward prospective temporary workers and
international students.

http://www.thestar.com/article/481538