Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has launched an exciting new pilot, the Entrepreneur Start-Up Visa program, on April 1st 2013. The program, which will connect promising foreign entrepreneurs to Canadian organizations that will assist in start-up operations, is the first of its kind in the world.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has officially announced that the new Federal Skilled Worker program will include a list of designated occupations.

The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) is Canada’s fastest growing immigration program, with over 9,353 visas issued in 2012. This exceeded the program’s yearly target of 7,000 by 34%.

The Canadian Immigrant Integration Program (CIIP), founded in 2010, recently celebrated the graduation of its 20,000th participant.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has announced that the new points system for the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) will take effect on May 4th, 2013. At that time, the program will begin accepting applications to its Skilled Worker category.

A new rule change will allow some applicants for Canadian Permanent Residency to be considered for a ‘bridging open work permit’ if their current work permit is set to expire.

Starting January 2, 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will begin accepting applications for a new Federal Skilled Trade program designed to facilitate the entry of overseas skilled tradespersons into the Canadian workforce. Aimed at addressing “serious labour shortages in some regions of the country”, the program will also aim to revamp an immigration system that “has not been open to these in-demand skill workers,” according to Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney.

An internal government review has revealed suggestions to begin raising Canada’s immigration targets beginning in 2014.

Approximately 150 new Canadian Permanent Residents were allowed to stay in Canada even though their visas had been issued by mistake.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has presented its Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration. Each year, this report is given to Canadian Parliament as a way to summarize recent developments in immigration and outline immigration policy for the following year.

Effective immediately, Human Resources and Skills Development (HRSDC) will be issuing negative Labour Market Opinions for individuals destined to work in fields related to the sex trade. This includes jobs with companies such as strip clubs, escort services, and massage parlors. Beginning on July 14th, 2012, HRSDC will no longer accept new applications for businesses in these fields.

The majority of the over 60 Canadian immigration programs have, and will continue, to accept applications despite a temporary freeze on the acceptance of applications for the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program.

Beginning 20 April 2012, most Permanent Residents who require Permanent Resident (PR) cards will no longer have to pick up these cards at a Citizenship and Immigration Canada office. Instead, through a new pilot project, they will be able to receive their cards by mail.

As of yesterday, 8 May 2012, the maximum number of 10,000 Federal Skilled Worker applications has been reached. This cap on applications has been put in place for individuals applying under one of the 29 eligible occupations being targeted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced today that Canadian Experience Class applicants who are currently residing in Canada as Temporary Foreign Workers will soon see their permanent residency applications expedited.

The Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Jason Kenney, announced today plans to streamline the application process for skilled tradespersons seeking entry to Canada.

On 28 March 2012, Jason Kenney, the Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism, announced major changes to the ways in which foreign skilled workers will have their education credentials assessed before arriving to Canada.

The Government of Canada announced on 29 March 2012 a plan to reduce the backlog of Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) applications by returning all applications and government fees submitted prior to 27 February 2008. This will amount to a total of almost 300,000 returned applications, as well as approximately $130 million in refunded government processing fees.

Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney suggested Wednesday the possibility of legislating away Canada’s backlog of immigration applications.

"We’re looking at all options for dealing with these backlogs… It’s not fair to [applicants] and it’s not fair to our economy," said Kenney.

In an effort to cut down on spousal sponsorship fraud, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has put into action a new requirement where any new immigrant to Canada sponsored by a spouse or partner must have permanent residency (PR) status for 5 years before they themselves can sponsor a new spouse or partner from abroad.

Two sources in the past week reported a potential influx of Greek immigrants which could be on their way to Canada.

News1130 in Vancouver, and Metro News in Calgary, reported that these respective city’s Hellenic organizations have both fielded a huge increase of calls from people in Greece with interest in immigrating to Canada.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is signalling more changes to Canada’s immigration policy are in store.

According to new report by the Fraser Institute, Alberta is the most economically free jurisdiction in North America, topping all other provinces and states, based on data from 2009.

Immigration from Latin American countries to Canada has risen by 121% between 1996 and 2006.

The Government of Canada has placed a two year moratorium on the Family Class program for parents and grandparents. As of November 5, 2011, no new sponsorship applications will be accepted for that specific category of the Family Class program.