Candidates applying under the Express Entry system will receive additional points if they have worked for at least a year in a high-wage job in Canada or have a high-paid job offer.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Highly paid foreign nationals working in Canada – including doctors, engineers and programmers – will now have an advantage when applying for permanent residence.
Immigration Minister Lena Diab announced changes to immigration rules Friday morning that will see applicants to the Express Entry system receive additional points if they have worked for at least a year in a high-wage job in Canada or have a high-paid job offer.
The extra points will increase the chances of skilled foreign nationals, such as nurses, academics and people working in high tech, getting an invitation from the immigration department to apply for PR.
The move follows calls in recent years from economists to focus immigration on the highly skilled workers that Canada needs to fuel growth and plug labour gaps, rather than large numbers of unskilled workers doing menial jobs.
A high-wage occupation is defined as job where the median wage is at least 1.3 times greater than the national median wage for all workers, which is currently about $57,000, according to the Immigration Department.
Ms. Diab is also expected to announce targets for permanent and temporary residents over the next three years at the end of November or beginning of December.
More to come