Ottawa, Nov 1 (IANS) Canada will maintain its intake of immigrants while making room for international students and temporary foreign workers, a minister said.
“Our government’s number one priority remains economic and job growth,” federal Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced here Wednesday.
“Newcomers bring their skills and talents, contribute to our economy and help renew our workforce so that Canada remains competitive on the world stage.”
Citizenship and Immigration Canada plans to admit between 240,000 and 265,000 new permanent residents next year for the seventh straight year, the highest sustained level in Canadian history, reported Xinhua.
The 2013 immigration targets will accommodate the so-called Canadian Experience Class (CEC), a designation created in 2008 to allow immigrants with high-skilled work experience, including foreign students and temporary workers, to move from temporary to permanent residence status.
In 2009, Canada accepted about 2,500 people under the CEC program and more than 6,000 last year. In 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada plans to accept a record high of up to 10,000 permanent residents an increase of about 3,000 from 2012 under the program.
The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, which represents more than 320,000 university and college students, praised the federal government for taking a “positive step” toward attracting and retaining the best and the brightest from around the world.
“Whether international or domestic, students want to see the best possible long-term returns for investments in education, (and) improving permanent residency opportunities for international graduates is one important component of that,” said Zachary Dayler, national director of the alliance.
The organization said that among the 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada has the highest stay-rate among graduating students, with one-third of international students choosing to change their visa status upon graduation to remain in Canada.
Over 80 percent do so for reasons related to employment.
