The Hindu Business Line : Canada Govt eases immigration rules for professionals

The number of skilled workers and professionals migrating to Canada from Coimbatore has touched 2,000 in the last ten years and this number would multiply rapidly, thanks to recent changes introduced in the immigration policy by the Canadian Government, which will bring down the visa/work permit processing time.

There is a better chance of getting visas and two-year work permits even if applied for via education route which is processed in a span of four to five months now, said Mr B.S. Sandhu, Chairman and Managing Director of the placement services company, Worldwide Immigration Consultancy Services (WWICS).

“Every month 30-35 families of skilled workers/professionals are migrating from Coimbatore to Canada, which also offers favourable conditions for businessmen to take up small ventures with as low a capital as Rs 50 lakh,” said Mr Sandhu, whose immigration consultancy firm is familiar with the placement needs in Coimbatore region for a decade now.

Widening opportunity

The growing human resources demand in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and of late in Czech Republic whose amalgam with the European Union has rendered the latter emerging as the entry point for the European countries, has made India the most reliable skilled manpower source-point.

Every year, about 30,000 Indian families migrate to Canada, and according to Mr Sandhu, 40 per cent of them are from Southern States.

The recent changes in the immigration policy introduced by Canada has given a fillip to transition to Canada via education route. International students will be able to get work permit up to three years without even a job offer. The gestation period for getting work permit would get shortened by several months.

“The immigration policy changes presented in the C-50 bill by the Canadian Parliament has gone through the process of second wait. The bill which has sought to categorise the skilled/professional immigrant into a three-tier system is expected to come into a legislation by June end and it will drastically reduce the processing time for issue of visa/ permanent residency status/ work permit,” he added.

With job opportunity in India hovering at 60 per cent, the country would be in a position to spare its surplus skilled labour to the extent of 25 per cent or so who can migrate to high demand regions such as Europe, Canada or Australia which are facing acute shortage of skilled labour right now, are in need of about one lakh professionals annually.

Czech Republic offers scope for small time investment in areas like hospitality, travel and tours, operation of call centres by Indian professionals and businessmen with as low an investment as 8000 euros.

Right now, according to Mr Sandhu, there is a demand for 500 nurses in Canada and those possessing B.Sc. nursing graduation from India are eligible, he added.

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