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Fundamental Change in Skilled Worker Selection Here Reproduced by permission of Thomson Reuters Canada Limited. Subscriptions to ImmQuest are available at 416.609.3800 (Toronto and Volume 13, Issue 3 International); 1.800.387.5164 (Toll Free Canada March 2017 and United States); www.carswell.com “Qui bene interrogat bene docet” “He who questions well teaches well” Editor-in-chief: Mario D. Bellissimo C.S. Fundamental Change in INSIDE Skilled Worker Selection Focus—Selecting Skilled Workers Cobus Kriek, RCIC1 The Federal Government’s most recent policy manoeuver has quietly and fundamentally shifted the unsteady balance between • Fundamental Change in Skilled Worker its posited concept of an immigrant’s human capital value and Selection. 1 Canadian industry’s access to a vital immigrant labour source. — Cobus Kriek, RCIC On 12 November 2016, Ministerial Instructions were published Case Tracker: Cases You Should Know! . 6 2 • in the Gazette, which effected a simple reduction in points — Mario D. Bellissimo, C.S. awarded for “arranged employment” of Express Entry applicants, while simultaneously constituting one of the biggest changes to skilled immigration in decades. This article will consider the change (brought into force on 19 November 2016) which effected the reduction in points awarded in the Express Entry system3 for “arranged employment”4 from 600 points to 50 points out of a total score of 1200 points (‘the November AE change’). It will achieve this by analysing: the immediate impact of the November AE change, the lack of ratio- nal and accountability of the change, as well as placing the change in the historical context of Canadian Immigration law. 1 This is part 1 of a two-part article. Part 2 will appear in the April edition of ImmQuest. 2 Canada Gazette, Part I, Vol 150, No 46, 12 Nov 2016. 3 Express Entry is an online system developed by Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Can- ada that is used to calculate a potential immigrant human capital value based on language proficiency, foreign and Canadian work education, foreign and Canadian work experience as well as “arranged employment” (a valid job offer). The total score is 1200 points and the federal government issued invitations between 450 and about 550 points for about 2 years. Therefore applicants with job offers (supported by a provincial government nomination and job offers supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) obtained 600 points for the valid job offer from a Canadian or about 50% of the total score. If an immigrant had a validated job offer, immigration was basically a guarantee (sans criminal and medical checks). 4 Arranged Employment is a job offer supported by a positive Labour Market Impact Assess- ment; therefore, it is a validated job offer. Full Story on page 2 ImmQuest VOLUME-13 ISSUE-3 Fundamental Change in 1. The November Shift & the CRS The November AE change has largely denied the input of indus- Skilled Worker Selection try in determining the human capital value of an immigrant. Instead, the accepted premise which forms the foundation of the continued from page 1 decrease in arranged employment points is Express Entry’s CRS points system, which attempts to determine the value of human Generally, the November AE change: capital. The government states: “The Comprehensive Ranking 1. decreases recognition of the skilled labour needs of System (CRS) is a scoring mechanism tied to best predictors of employers; economic success.”5 2. bears the same root cause of the ongoing and unsuccessful It follows that an immigrant’s value to our economy will now be intention of the federal government to determine human almost uninterruptedly represented by Express Entry’s fallible capital value through excessive interference in the market CRS points system. It is accepted as an unquestionable truth place; on which the Federal Government will base their selection of 3. effects a fundamental shift of power from industry to the Economic Immigrants. federal government based on the premise of human capital During 2017, Canada will take in 300,000 immigrants to be value as determined by the Express Entry Comprehensive divided as follows:6 Ranking System (CRS); • 73,000 Federal Economic Immigrants 4. significantly affects certain industries without consulta- • 17,000 Federal Caregivers tion or accountability; • 500 Federal Business 5. has not been supported by evidence from research or due • 51,000 Provincial Nominees consideration (according to the available information); • 29,300 Quebec Skilled Workers and Business 6. is in contrast to indicators and research which evidence a trend of unemployment or overqualified employment of • 64,000 Spouses Partners and Children economic immigrants that migrate without job offers; • 20,000 Parents and Grandparents 7. is inconsistent with the statutory objectives of the • 40,000 Refugees Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), political • 3500 Humanitarian and Compassionate Applications objectives of the Prime Minister’s office as mentioned in the mandate letters of the Minister of Immigration, Refugees The November AE change will therefore have an effect on the and Citizenship Canada, as well as departmental objectives. selection of approximately 24% of total immigration to Canada in 2017. Decreasing the points of arranged employment from 600 The article concludes that the November AE change was not well to 50 points is a 46% decrease of the total score of 1200 points in coordinated, well researched, or transparent. It was not the result Express Entry. The 50 points that applicants will now receive for of a consultative or collaborative process and is highly unlikely a job offer represents a mere 4% of the total required points. This to result in a better outcome for immigrants, Canadians, or the is a clear reflection of the decrease in value of a job offer by a Canadian economy. Ultimately, it represents yet another example Canadian employer to an economic immigrant. No supporting of the Federal Government’s philosophy of interference in the research or motivation was provided to the public leading up to market of human capital and so is representative of many of the November AE change. Large Canadian industries including Canada’s skilled immigration woes. 5 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, “Express Entry System – Technical”, 22 March 2016, http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/employers/express-entry- presentation-briefing.asp 6 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 31 October 2016, “Notice – Supplementary Information 2017 Immigration Levels Plan”, http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/me- dia/notices/2016-10-31.asp 2 ImmQuest VOLUME-13 ISSUE-3 the agricultural industry were not consulted, and no Regulatory The existing flawed CRS points system in combination with the Impact Assessment was made available. Such devaluation will November AE change reinforces the devaluation of employers’ invariably suppress the significant potential of economic immi- needs and influence in determining the most suitable economic grants to support industry. immigrants. Industry’s needs are being replaced by a focus on Understandably, the development of immigration policy is not an younger and higher-educated applicants without job offers. easy task given the many conflicting objectives requiring consid- With the quiet announcement of the November AE change, the eration by policy makers. More grandparents and more refugees Federal Government has unilaterally decided what is best for could mean less skilled immigrants and vice versa. Many other Canadian society. examples informing the complexity of immigration policy could 2. Lack of Accountability, Reasons & be mentioned. Complexity should not, however, excuse the need for policy choices to be made on the basis of facts, consultation, Resulting Complaints and due consideration. In the face of an important policy change, A lack of accountability and unwillingness to learn from history the voice and impact of industries that have an intimate under- is a theme throughout immigration policy for skilled workers. standing of their own needs should be considered. Take for example the policy of June 2002 when any foreign The November AE change evidences that the Federal national could apply to immigrate to Canada if a score of 67 Government would rather the immigration of a 29-year-old (out of 100) was reached. This score was calculated by assign- foreign national with a PhD in Egyptian Hieroglyphics or in ing value to Language Proficiency, Education, Work Experience, Nyika (language spoken by a tribe of 10,000 people in Malawi), Age and Family in Canada. Several hundred thousand people with 3 years of any skilled work experience, a high language pro- applied and eventually waiting periods increased to 7 years. After ficiency and no job offer from a Canadian employer, in place of costly litigation and through retroactive legislation, the Minister a 40-year-old robotics engineer with a job offer by a Canadian of Immigration returned all the applications in the queue and employer that cannot find a Canadian to do the work. refunded all fees. This was an immigration policy fiasco and a world-class embarrassment for Canada. Taxpayers’ money was Without valuing the voice of industry through arranged employ- squandered on a grand scale. Interestingly, the current system ment, there are no occupational checks and balances to curtail of Express Entry does not fundamentally differ in the way that the wildly indiscriminate manner of determining the Canadian immigrants are selected when compared to the 2002 failed value of “human capital”. Theoretically, there is a potential for up program; it is again a points system largely based on age, experi- to 73,000 immigrants to immigrate to Canada in 2017 without ence, education, and language proficiency. job offers via Federal Selection from Express Entry. This is despite indications that skilled immigrants without jobs do not Access to Information Requests submitted to obtain the rationale perform well after arrival in Canada, especially in conjunction and research which would support the decrease in points of the with existing high unemployment of Canadians in certain indus- November AE change have been answered with a request for a tries and occupations.
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