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The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Denis Coderre, announced on December 3rd that various amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) would come into effect today. The amendments, which included changes to the Skilled Worker and other economic class permanent residency applications, were originally proposed on 18 September 2003.
The main changes affect Skilled Worker and other economic class applications, which include permanent residency applications under the investor, entrepreneur, and self-employed person categories. The amendments allow applications lodged before 1 January 2002 to be assessed against the criteria of the former regulations or the new regulations, whichever are easier to come under. In case an application is assessed negatively under one set of regulations, it will automatically be reassessed under the other set of criteria.
The applications under the economic classes are divided into four groups: withdrawn applications, refused applications, pending/in-progress applications and applications referred back by the Federal Court.
These new regulations do not apply to individuals whose applications have been lodged on or after 1 January 2002. The new provisions also do not apply to provincial nominees or applications for migration to Quebec, which has the sole responsibility of selecting immigrants who wish to migrate to Quebec, as per the provisions of the Canada-Quebec Accord.
Check your eligibility at any time with the Canada Skilled Worker immigrationPoints Calculator. If you live in the UK call 020 7842 0800 for a free assessment now.
