New immigration rules come into effect in New Year

A group of immigrants look on before taking the oath of citizenship during a special Canada Day citizenship ceremony for 60 people in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday July 1, 2012. (Daryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Beginning Jan. 1, 2015, the Canadian Government is implementing a new program to make it easier and faster for skilled workers to immigrate to Canada.

The Express Entry Program is a new system for selecting economic immigrants. Applicants applying under the Economic Immigrant program fill out a profile online. Through a computer-formula, profiles are then given a score out of 1,200 based on factors including age, education and skills.

Throughout the year, the government then selects the highest scored profiles to apply for immigration status.

With the new system, a decision on applicants will be made in six months or less, once their application is received. In 2015, the government plans to accept between 172,100 and 186,700 people in the economic class of immigrants.

The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce says the new system will not hurt locals from finding employment. It says bridging the skills gap issue is the number-one problem facing Manitoba companies, and that while companies prefer to hire citizens, because there are less barriers, the reality is there are some jobs locals don’t want.

The government plans to continue expanding the program later in the year by letting companies access the pool of applicants and search for immigrants who would be a good fit for open jobs, provided no Canadians can be found for the position.