Expat blog introduces new jobs and housing tools

Our friends at Expat blog passed on the following information about some new features on their site. Be sure and check them out and join up to use. In addition to the jobs platform announced below, they have added a tool to assist you in finding housing. Here's a link to the Canadian housing resources they are making available.


Facing economic difficulties in their country, a growing number of people choose to go abroad to explore new job opportunities. To follow that trend and help expats, Expat blog, the expatriate social network, launches a new international job platform.

Since the beginning of the economic crisis, one of the first reasons of mobility has been employment. “Most of our members are generally willing to expatriate for professional motivations”, explains Julien Faliu, founder and CEO of Expat blog. “Fed up with facing difficulties on the job market in their native country, a lot of them want to take a chance overseas”.

But, looking for a job in a country you know nothing about is not as simple as that! With its new international job board, Expat blog makes it easier: indeed, you can access to job offers everywhere in the world, wherever you are.

“This new platform dedicated to overseas jobs meets both the demands of job seekers and employers. They can define its selection criteria and therefore find offers perfectly matching their wishes”, Julien Faliu says.

Expat blog also provides useful tools for expatriates and soon-to-be expatriates to help them prepare their relocation project. As a matter of fact, getting a job is often just the first step. The next one will be to find accommodation, to learn more about the country, its customs and day-to-day life. Expat blog answers all these questions by relying on expatriates’ experience for more than 7 years.

Expat blog is the expatriate social network, with more than 420 000 members and 1,8 million visitors per month. Designed for expatriates by expatriates, Expat blog offers free information and advice to those who live or wish to live abroad.

Small talk

My Love and I were in Niagara Falls over the weekend to see her mom and dad and we also met up with a friend of ours who is living in NYC while we were there. Funny thing came up (as in interesting) when she mentioned that I'll start a conversation with anyone in an elevator (which I will). I guess that's not very Canadian. Our friend concurred, saying she's never had more random conversations with strangers as she has had in New York. Apparently Canadians are polite, but not personable! I notice now that rarely does anyone speak in elevators, or to their neighbours...But I say no to this convention - I am who I am and I'm going to be the one "Canadian" (of the permanent resident variety) who does.

Canadians not personable? I don't think so! Maybe you and I can chat about it sometime?

Harper's true Skilled Worker agenda revealed

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Canadian companies that want to bring in highly skilled foreign workers temporarily will be able to do so faster and pay them less under new federal immigration rules aimed at addressing the country’s persistent labour shortages.

What's the agenda? As I read it:

• Benefit the West (Harper's power base)
• More profits for Big Business (the act will drive all wages down)
• Temporary workers don't become Canadians (we send them home when we don't want them any more, or after four years - when employers can drive wages down further)

Read the article in today's Globe and Mail

“No one will be willing to go there because it’s not a system we can trust.”

I personally know the feeling of those 300,000 Skilled Worker applicants who are on the verge of having their hopes and dreams of coming to Canada eliminated by the Harper Government. My own immigration process was over four years long. In that time of waiting, you'll see reflected in many of the posts here, a person's life is on hold, in limbo, as you await the next stage in processing. You're hesitant to make any major changes in  your life (like marriage) that might change your status and cause your application to be bumped to the bottom of the line.

Today's Star article, Immigration applicants upset at Ottawa’s plan to wipe out backlog tells of this frustration for many who feel directly the sting of the current government's changes to immigration policy. And it also serves as a warning to Canada about the issue of trust. Skilled immigrants are intelligent and highly mobile. They have chosen Canada for a number of positive reasons, including the fairness of the immigration process.

If the Harper Government continues down the single-minded path of "just-in-time" immigration policies with the clumsy implementation they are currently following, don't be surprised if the country faces even greater shortages of skilled workers in the future. After all, what reason do they have to trust us now?

Read the article here

My new eBook, "How To Immigrate To Canada For Skilled Workers" coming soon to Amazon, iBookstore, Kobo, Sony and other outlets

The cover of my upcoming eBook, available soon !

I have had numerous requests over the last few years to help others who are interested in immigrating to Canada. I finally decided to honour those requests earlier this year by writing the first in a series of how-to books on the immigration process. In cooperation with Customs and Immigration Canada (CIC) and other federal and provincial government agencies, I believe I have put together an authoritative book that will help anyone with the goal of becoming a Skilled Worker class immigrant to Canada.

"How To Immigrate To Canada For Skilled Workers" will help Skilled Worker applicants to understand the requirements to successfully apply for immigration to Canada, help them in being aware of common issues and problems that can arise in the process, and make plain some of the costs and hurdles that they can expect to encounter along the way. Skilled Worker applicants will learn who is eligible to apply; how the application process works; the range of information that they can expect to gather and provide; the pros and cons of using an immigration representative; and expectations for the post-application process and other essential information.

Additionally, this book provides an overview of Skilled Worker nomination programs offered by the Provinces and Territories. These programs can give applicants an extra advantage by directing their skills to regions of Canada where they are most needed.

The book will be available worldwide over the course of the next month through Amazon (for Kindle), iBookstore (for iPad), Barnes & Noble (for NOOK), Reader Store (for Sony Reader), Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker & Taylor, and eBookPie.Watch for updates here for release dates as they become available.

The Globe and Mail - Entry to Canada to cost wealthy foreigners more

The Globe and Mail reported over the weekend that under proposed modifications to Canada's investor class of economic immigration, Jason Kenny wants to double the price of admission.

This was a proposal that first came to light a few months back, and now, like all things immigration of late, the Harper government and their new majority are seeking to hit the gas on legislation to enact their new policy ideas.

Again, it looks like those who have waited patiently under the current programs are likely to be thrown under the bus. This time it's 25,000 wealthy foreigners (totalling over 90,000 people when you include their dependants) who are at risk. Their problem? Apparently they aren't wealthy enough. Instead of being ready and able to drop $800,000 into Canada, new investors would have to be ready to drop double that - $1.6 million.

It's like Canada sold you a ticket to ride, and now, when they think someone else is willing to pay more, they want to refund your money so they can sell the seat to someone else. Kenney believes the current requirements for investment are, to paraphrase, "massively under-priced".

With all the changes the Harper government are trying to make across all aspects of the immigration system, as well as their staff reductions introduced in the current budget, you have to believe that current applications will be further delayed if not suspended. Imagine being an immigration official trying to administer this major transition in policy?

It's a challenging time for would-be immigrants to Canada.

Read the article at The Globe and Mail here    

    

Kenney announces Federal language requirements to apply to Provincial nominees

News Release – Citizenship and Immigration Canada Announces its Intention to Create a New Skilled Trades Program

To fill Canada’s growing labour shortages in construction, natural resources and similar industries, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced plans on April 12th to make it easier for skilled tradespersons to immigrate to Canada.

Read the release here

The Star - Ottawa needs to balance common sense and compassion in immigration reform

To hear Stephen Harper’s government tell it, Canada’s immigration system is in dire need of a fix, and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney intends to deliver it. In a meeting with the Star’s editorial board this past week Kenney sketched out bold plans for a faster, more flexible system that will give “the best and the brightest” newcomers a better chance to succeed, and will rely less on temporary workers.

But the problem with this government is that, like with the current F-35 scandal: you can't believe what they say. Kenny went on to tell The Star's editorial board that the Tories are committed "to maintaining Canada’s intake of more than 250,000 immigrants a year..." yet he has cut in half the number of Skilled Worker applications allowed each year (from 20,000 to 10,000), and last year's visas for Skilled workers were down from 48,822 to 36,770. The Tories may be committed to overall numbers, but they will pick and choose the winners and losers.

Read the article here

More money cut from Immigration programs under new budget

The Star has reported:

The immigration department’s budget will be axed by $29.8 million or 5.3 per cent in 2012, followed by further cuts of $65.2 million and $84.3 in the next two years.

Cuts are expected in both the department’s operating budgets and settlement program funding. Ottawa has reduced immigrant settlement program funding since 2010, $75 million from Ontario alone.