Nova Scotia announces new options for skilled workers

If you want to immigrate to Canada, but don't qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker Program because of all of the changes and limitations, Nova Scotia may have a solution for you:

The new Regional Labour Market Demand stream is aimed at selecting individuals who meet the labour market needs, are destined to join the labour market with a full-time and permanent position, and wish to live in the Province of Nova Scotia permanently.

Check out the new program at the province's official site:

Regional Labour Market Demand NOVA SCOTIA NOMINEE PROGRAM

First immigration steps and basic information - CIC

Sometimes I forget that some of you may be on your first steps toward immigrating to Canada. If that's the case, you've found a good jumping off point with this blog. You're going to hear it from the horse's mouth here. My immigration was probably a little tougher than most; but you'll never learn much from those who had an easy time of it.

I was once right where you are - looking into what my options were for possible immigration into Canada.

As you're getting started, be sure and look through the materials at the government of Canada's Customs and Immigration (CIC) web site. You'll find it here:

Immigrate to Canada - Customs and Immigration Canada

Also please check out my two ebooks on Canadian immigration. They have already assisted many in working their way through the sometimes daunting immigration process and paperwork. See the "How To Immigrate Books" link on the top of this page for more information.

What the CIC says it's doing to reduce citizenship processing times

Why is it that when I read an official CIC document, it always feels like a Harper campaign press release? This is true of the CIC backgroudner, "Backgrounder — What is CIC doing to reduce citizenship processing times?" Just look at the info-graphic below:

See the use of "Economic Action Plan" - that's Harper campaign-speak. Now, the Tories have been in power since 2006. That's 8 years as either leading a minority or having a majority government in place. And now - now that an election cycle approaches - now they are going to do something about citizenship wait times (which the same infographic explains are currently almost three-years).

So what are they finally doing?

1. Throwing money at it - $44 million in 2013
2. Streamlining processing - now a Citizenship Officer will be the sole handler of an application. Judges will only come into play if there are complications or disputes on a file.
3. Increasing fees - the old, "make it more expensive and less people will use it" school of government service. Harper is great at this. Fees for application will increase from $100 to $300.
4. Actually defining a "complete application" - believe it or not, what has constituted a complete application has been a little fuzzy over the years. This is a positive change.
5. Giving judges discretionary grant power - this power to grant citizenship in exceptional circumstances was previously held at the officer level. Now, judges will control this aspect of citizenship.
6. Dealing with abandonment - there are lots of dead files out there; applicants who aren't responsive to requests for information or interviews. This change would allow those non-responsive applicants to be flushed from the backlog. Another positive step. 

So all in all, not a bad pass at improving citizenship wait times. Now we'll wait to see how they follow through. 

One more juxtaposition - the press and politics

I noticed a difference again between the U.S. and Canada related to the press in dealing with politics: See if you agree.

A couple months back, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau brought up in a speech that he thought it was time to consider decriminalizing marijuana in Canada. Of course, the law and order agenda of the ruling Tories were outraged. So much so, that they immediately began an advertising blitz in multiple languages painting Trudeau as a pusher - ready to sell drugs to your children.

In the U.S., this would have been fodder enough for the 24/7 new stations to haul out the pundits to explore the pressing questions of (let me think of a few): Did Trudeau really want to sell drugs to Canadian children? How much would marijuana cost under a Trudeau administration? Would Trudeau's position bring out the youth vote? Was Trudeau a moral man? If the position helped in the polls, would Harper go pro-pot?

But in Canada, the attack ad blitz by the Tories went almost entirely without comment. In Canada, it was understood that Harper would jump at any chance to attack his opponents, and Trudeau had given him one. Beyond that? Meh.

How refreshing that the press in Canada doesn't jump at every bit of propaganda bait thrown their way. How sad U.S. political discourse is so full of such nonsense.     

Globe and Mail - If Canadian citizenship becomes more ‘exclusive’ it must be more meaningful

Nicholas Rouleau writes in today's Globe:

...Mr. Alexander (the new Minister of Citizenship) rightly observes that “Canadian citizenship is uniquely valuable in the world, a weighty privilege that involves both duty and rights, opportunity and responsibility.” If the duties of Canadians increase, so should their rights. A more exclusive citizenship should also mean a more meaningful one.

Read the entire article here

Globe and Mail - Citizenship Slalom

February explanation: February observation

It's been a quiet February here at The Mind, and I feel like I owe you all an explanation. I had to return to the States for family business on very short notice, and it has left me little time to address anything else. While there is immigration news to share, my focus this month has been elsewhere. Hopefully March will be back to normal for everyone involved.

And now another observation about the U.S. from my Canadian vantage point. I have come to have so little patience for the political discourse in this country on either side of the aisle. As I see America now, it is a country full of me-firsters of both conservative and liberal persuasion. It is a country where there is only one correct point of view: and that belongs to whoever is speaking. It's is an immature country of people who have no tolerance for each other, or of each other's viewpoints or needs. It is a short-sighted, impatient, greedy country with a fast-food mentality, fully engaged in a Darwinist race to the bottom, where only one person wins, everyone else loses, and it's all the loser's fault.

Obamacare? Just more money for insurance companies as far as I'm concerned. The right to purchase an insurance policy doesn't mean anything if you can't afford it in the first place. But in America, if you are living in the margins, it's your own fault. If you need social assistance, you must be sitting on your ass and gaming the system. Your children should be taken from you, and you deserve whatever suffering comes your way. I hear this nonsense time and time again.

America lacks compassion. America lacks political courage. America does not take care of its own. Land of the free? Hardly. Home of the brave? Possibly. But do I miss it now that I have lived in Canada?

Not at all.  

CanadaVISA.com - Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Cap Filled

After only a month, the Parent and Grandparent sponsorship program has reached the maximum number of applications that will be accepted this year. The program, which re-opened on January 2, 2014, had placed a cap of 5,000 on application intake.

“As Citizenship and Immigration Canada has now received 5,000 complete applications, new intake into the [Parent and Grandparent] program will again pause until next year, as we devote our energy to reuniting more families,” said a statement issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). “By the end of 2014, we expect to welcome an additional 20,000 parents and grandparents to Canada, marking a substantial reduction in wait times for all applicants.”

Read the rest of the article here

CBC - New citizenship rules target fraud, foreign terrorism

The Canadian government is proposing sweeping changes today in what is being called "the first comprehensive reform to the Citizenship Act in more than a generation​."

Under the Conservative government's Bill C-24, dubbed the strengthening Canadian citizenship act, would-be citizens would have to live in Canada longer before applying for citizenship, but would see their applications for citizenship processed more quickly.

Read the rest of the article here

The U.S. income tax exclusion you can never use

The U.S. is one of two countries in the world who extract taxes from citizens who live and work abroad. No matter where you live, the U.S. wants its share. That's the cost of being a citizen. There is one tax law you may be able to take advantage of, however - the  Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. Sounds good right?

The IRS tells us that, "United States Citizens and resident aliens who live and work abroad may be able to exclude all or part of their foreign salary or wages from their income when filing their U.S. federal tax return. They may also qualify to exclude compensation for their personal services or certain foreign housing costs."

And there's only one catch: you can almost never leave your foreign home in order to qualify.

To qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion, you must have a "tax home" in a foreign country and income received for working in that country. You also have to meet one of two tests: the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test.

Bona fide residence can only be taken advantage of if you are a "citizen" of the country you live and work in. Permanent resident? No such luck.

The physical presence test is the kicker if you are a permanent resident, and one for those living and working in Canada that makes this an exclusion that is almost impossible to qualify for.

The U.S. tax law states that you have to be present in the foreign country for 330 days in the tax year. Now given that a great majority of Canadian towns and cities are within 100 miles of the U.S. border, it makes it pretty difficult to avoid the country for 35 days a year. And if you travel home to see family, or take a holiday anywhere outside of Canada - forget it - your 35 days are going to pass quickly. You don't qualify any more. Travel for business? Tough. 330 days or no dice.

So thank you U.S. for picking our pockets. Thank you for joining the African nation of Eritrea (a nation who's government has shuttered all privately owned print media, arrested and held without trial all critics of the government and who none other than the U.S. State Department has declared a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) for its record of religious persecution (Wikipedia)). Really - good partner in tax policy!