Canada – Page 2

25 Occupations in Demand as of March 2014

Mar 142014

by : Attorney Henry Moyal MOYAL & MOYAL Canadian Immigration Lawyers (screenshot courtesy of www.moyal.com) It was only a few months ago that the Saskatchewan International Skilled Worker Category was announced and listed two hundred occupations in demand in Canada that did not require a job offer to qualify. Unfortunately, that program was restricted to only 250 applicants and it now closed. However, Canada Immigration has just announced a new program that is effective March 2014 and which does not appear to have a designated quota. It should be noted that the government reserves the right to close the program at any time and without notice. Under the new program applicants must be willing to relocate to Canada and become permanent residents. THE PROGRAM IS NOT FOR EMPLOYMENT. THE PROGRAM IS NOT A RECRUITMENT FOR JOBS AND IS FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO IMMIGRATE TO CANADA ONLY. The program requirements are: Applicant must be between the ages of 21 and 55. Applicants do not require an offer of employment or job offer. Applicants must have completed high school and obtained a certificate or degree of at least one year after high school. Applicants do not require to have a relative living in Canada. Applicants must have “medium” proficiency in the English language. Applicants do not need to be fluent in English or French Applicants are able to include their spouse, partner and dependant Must have a minimum of two years of work experience in the last five years to apply. The work experience must be in one of the following Read More …

Mexico to trump Japan as No. 2 car exporter to US

Economy

Feb 212014

Mexico to trump Japan as No. 2 car exporter to US

Volkswagen Jettas produced in Mexico for export are parked at the port terminal in the Gulf city of Veracruz, Mexico. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez) CELAYA, Mexico — Mexico is on track to become the United States’ No. 1 source of imported cars by the end of next year, overtaking Japan and Canada in a manufacturing boom that’s turning the auto industry into a bigger source of dollars than money sent home by migrants. The boom is raising hopes that Mexico can create enough new jobs to pull millions out of poverty as northbound migration slows sharply, but critics caution that most of the new car jobs are low-skill and pay too little. Mexico’s low and stagnant wages have helped kept the poverty rate between 40 and 50 percent since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement two decades ago. An $800 million Honda plant that opened Friday in the central state of Guanajuato will produce more than 200,000 Fit hatchbacks and compact sport-utility vehicles a year, helping push total Mexican car exports to the U.S. to 1.7 million in 2014, roughly 200,000 more than Japan, consulting firm IHS Automotive says. And with another big plant starting next week, Mexico is expected to surpass Canada for the top spot by the end of 2015. “It’s a safe bet,” said Eduardo Solis, president of the Mexican Automotive Industry Association. “Mexico is now one of the major global players in car manufacturing.” When NAFTA was signed two decades ago, Mexico produced 6 Read More …

First Filipino-Canadian senator recounts rise through the ranks

News

Jan 272014

First Filipino-Canadian senator recounts rise through the ranks

Loading the player… Senator Tobias Enverga Jr. MANILA, Philippines – Canada’s first senator of Filipino descent was once a struggling overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who left the Philippines seeking adventure. “I went to Canada for adventure, I took a chance,” Senator Tobias Enverga Jr. shared with INQUIRER.net in an interview January 24, while he was in the country leading a Filipino delegation of “winter escapees” from Canada. “I never realized I will be a Canadian Senator,” he told the 240-strong delegation, mostly composed of Canadians of Filipino descent, that toured Kalibo, Boracay, Roxas City, Iloilo City, and Guimaras from January 18 to 23 as part of the first “Winter Escapade” tour. Filipino roots Enverga was born to a middle-class family in Lucena City. He shared that there were two clans of Envergas in Lucena, one was mostly composed of politicians and the other was mostly educators. “I’m part of the educators,” he said. During college, he went to the Letran College in Manila where he graduated with a degree in Economics. He worked for less than a year in two banks in the country after he graduated. He met his wife there in the bank, Enverga recalled. He however said that he felt “tired” about being in the Philippines. “I got so tired about being here in the Philippines,” Enverga said. “When you are a young man you have so many things going on in your life.” It was then that he decided to go to Canada to stay with Read More …

Aquino welcomes winter ‘escapees’

News

Jan 242014

President Benigno Aquino III. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—They traded the bitterly cold winter for a relatively mild chilly weather. Two hundred forty Filipino-Canadians had plenty of sun, sand and sea during their six-day visit—from Jan. 18 to 23—to the islands of Panay and Guimaras, which, like the rest of the country, are experiencing a cold spell. President Benigno Aquino III on Friday welcomed to Malacañang the foreign “escapists”—the term used by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario to refer to the Filipino-Canadian visitors who joined the first “Winter Escapade—It’s More Fun In The Philippines” tour, a program started by the Department of Tourism and Department of Foreign Affairs to attract balikbayans (Filipino migrants). “I didn’t expect that here in Malacañang, I would gladly welcome the ‘escapees,’” he said, adding in jest that when he talks of escapees, “most of the time I’m seated beside Secretary Leila de Lima of the Department of Justice, and we praise the apprehending [authority].” Donning swimming gears Ditching their layered winter garb, they donned their swimming gears and basked in the sun on the famous white sand and blue waters of Boracay Island in Aklan. They also joined street dancing for the Ati-Atihan festival in Kalibo, Aklan, and the Pintados festival in Passi City, Iloilo. The so-called journey of discovery also took the sun-starved visitors to Roxas City, Iloilo City and Guimaras province. The visitors said they could not get over their frenzied encounter with fire dancers and street dancers as well as school children Read More …

Global HR solutions provider opens Phl office

Economy

Jan 162014

Global HR solutions provider opens Phl office

MANILA, Philippines – Global human resources (HR) solutions provider SilkRoad has established a new office in the Philippines as it seeks to grow its operations in the country and in Asia. In a statement, SilkRoad chief operating officer and co-founder Brian Platz said the company decided to set-up an office in the country as it sees an important market given the fast pace at which the economy is growing. “We believe the Philippines not only presents a unique opportunity for us to help local companies strengthen their talent acquisition and management programs and build their bottom line; our presence on the ground will also act as a strategic hub, helping us grow our operations all over Asia,” he said. In an increasingly competitive environment, he said companies have to take their business to new levels and differentiate themselves in the market. “SilkRoad helps companies manage their talent pool to keep things efficient,” he said. SilkRoad provides a full suite of HR software solutions to small and medium businesses that enable them to find, attract, develop and retain the best talent possible. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 As a solutions provider, SilkRoad leverages the potential of the Philippines as a hub of talent in software development. The company’s clients can also use a range of technologies to determine influence among their employees. “By learning more about their most influential employees, organizations can better understand how they contribute to the company and leverage their influence to help drive Read More …

Canada pulls out 300 relief personnel from PH

News

Jan 072014

Canada pulls out 300 relief personnel from PH

A Filipino soldier takes a break beside relief goods at the Tacloban airport, in central Philippines on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – Canada’s more than 300 humanitarian relief personnel have pulled out of the country following the completion of their aid mission in areas devastated by typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan). Canada’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) deployed in Panay Island officially wrapped up its humanitarian assistance mission last December 16 followed by the batch by batch departure of 315 Canadian Air Force (CAF) personnel up to the last week of December. Based in Roxas City, DART treated more than 6,500 patients, cleared over 130 kilometers of road, and delivered almost 500,000 liters of purified water and more than 230,000 pounds of food, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement Tuesday. “The DART is a multidisciplinary military organization designed to deploy on short notice anywhere in the world in response to situations ranging from natural disasters to complex humanitarian emergencies,” DFA said. “This was the first time that Canada has engaged in this type of humanitarian action in the country,” it said. More than 10,000 pounds of building materials for homes were also brought by the DART to help residents on Panay Island in rebuilding shelters. Helping the DART throughout their humanitarian relief mission were more than a dozen Filipino-Canadians who served as liaison officers since they knew how to converse with the locals in Filipino. “As such, they provided vital links Read More …

New report says immigrants fiscally burden Canada

News

Oct 252013

New report says immigrants fiscally burden Canada

Academic Herbert Grubel. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO TORONTO, Canada – A recently released report by the Fraser Institute implied that immigrants are costing Canadian taxpayers Canadian $20 billion a year. It also calls for an end to sponsorships of parents and grandparents of immigrants and that Canadian immigration selection require employment by the private sector rather than the government. At the center of the controversial report is Economics Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University Herbert Grubel, who wrote Canada’s Immigration Selection Policies in which he noted that immigrants who arrived since 1986 earned less and paid less taxes than the benefits they received from the government. Unlike the US, Canada’s points system of selecting principal immigrants has remained largely unchanged since the 1960s. Candidates’ work experience, education, language competency and other factors give them higher points and more likely acceptance for immigration to Canada. In 2011 about 30 percent of Canada’s immigrants were selected this way. But with spouses and under-age children coming with them, their number rose to about 63 percent. Grubel recommended stopping the “fiscal drain” by abandoning the points system, replacing it with pre-arranged work contracts as the main criterion to immigrate to Canada. Early this month, Grubel was quoted by The Philippine Reporter: “Instead of relying on university certificates assessed by civil servants who are in turn instructed by politicians, I would like to see accepted as landed (the Canadian term for citizenship status) immigrants only people who have a job offer from a Canadian employer.” But the Read More …

NURSES BACK IN DEMAND IN CANADA…BUT ONLY IN QUEBEC

Entertainment

Sep 112013

NURSES BACK IN DEMAND IN CANADA…BUT ONLY IN QUEBEC

By Atty. Henry Moyal Atty. Henry Moyal and Lani Misalucha (photo courtesy of www.moyal.com) When the Federal Immigration Minister announced the list of “occupations in demand” in Canada last May 2013, it took many by surprise. The announcement that narrowed the list to only 24 occupations was not the surprise but the occupations themselves. A quick perusal of the list illustrates that engineers make up for most of the occupations and that doctors and nurses were off the list. Applicants who seemingly qualified as nurses for the past decade were now shut out of the competition and had to find other ways to enter Canada (for example via a spouse’s occupation or as a live in caregiver). However, the Quebec government has just announced that effective immediately 20,000 selection certificates will be issued for occupations in demand in their province and nurses are in high demand. The Canadian Nurses Associations predicts that 60,000 nurses will be needed by 2022 in order to fill labor shortages. As such, it may be possible for nurses who qualified previously under the Federal Immigration stream to now qualify under the newly revamped Quebec program. It should be noted that Quebec is a French speaking province and a high allocation of points are awarded for those who are proficient in French but it may be possible to qualify without much French knowledge as nurses have now been awarded 16 points for training (the maximum amount). Some of the other requirements to qualify are: Must complete Read More …

Globe launches new service in Canada

Economy

Sep 042013

MANILA, Philippines – Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. further expanded its presence overseas by offering telecommunication services in Canada to cater to almost one million Filipino permanent resident and transients. Rizza Maniego-Eala, head for International Business Group of Globe, said the company has extended the reach of its international inbound calling offer DUO International to over 900,000 Filipinos living and working in Canada. “Almost 90 percent of Filipinos in Canada are permanent migrants who are unable to visit family and friends back home as frequent as those in other countries, and we are proud to be able to give them an innovative and affordable way to keep in touch with loved ones in the Philippines for less than CAD$1 a day,” Maniego-Eala stressed. Canada is one of the top countries worldwide that houses the most number of overseas Filipinos making it a viable market for the telco’s roster of international services. DUO International is also offered in the US, Korea, and the United Kingdom. DUO Canada is a subscription service that assigns a virtual Canadian landline number to a registered Globe number in the Philippines. This allows Filipinos in Canada to call their loved ones in the country through their virtual Canadian landline number. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Calls to the virtual Canadian landline number assigned to the Globe subscriber would be charged at domestic Canadian call rates, effectively lowering call costs. “This allows Filipinos in Canada to contact loved ones at a much affordable rate Read More …

Businesses turn less bullish in Q3

Economy

Aug 302013

MANILA, Philippines – After sentiment hit an all-time high in the second quarter, businesses turned less bullish in the succeeding three-month period on the back of the seasonal drop in demand, peso volatility and concern over the impact of the US Federal Reserve’s looming exit from its massive bond buying program, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said yesterday. In its Business Expectations Survey (BES), the BSP said the overall confidence index for the third quarter eased to 42.8 percent from record high of 54.9 percent in the second quarter. Despite the slight drop, the index for the fourth quarter climbed to a new high of 60 percent. The index is the difference between the percentage of firms that answered in the positive and those in the negative. “Basically, the general story is the business sentiment of our respondents continue to be broadly bullish,” BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said. “There was some slight decline in the confidence index but in general, it remains in the positive story so the bullishness that we saw in the first quarter and second quarter continued in the third quarter,” he added. “Respondents attributed their less buoyant outlook to expectations of lower seasonal demand during the quarter, stiffer competition, particularly from products from China, and volatility in the movements of the peso” Teresita B. Deveza, deputy director of BSP’s Department of Economic Statistics, said. “Uncertainties in the global economy such as the impact of the anticipated exit from quantitative easing in the US Read More …

Older Entries Newer Entries