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 a three year degree in nursing
Full time work experience within the last 5 years
Applicants ages 18 – 25 will be awarded top points (less points if you are older)
If married, spouse’s age and education will add bonus points
Additional points are awarded for having children
Be self-sufficient and have minimum funds
Applicants who are successful under the Quebec Immigration system are issued certificates which are then used to obtain permanent residence (immigrant visas) from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Attorney Henry Moyal is a certified and licensed immigration lawyer in Toronto, Ontario.
The above article is general advice only and is not intended to act as a legal document.
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