Immigration news round-up – August 2015

This month has seen the release of interesting findings from Canada’s new Express Entry visa system, and the launch of three new exciting provincial visa streams in Canada.

There’s also news of incentives for would-be Kiwis who are willing to live and work in areas outside of Auckland. Find out how to get your skills assessed in Australia; know your rights on an Australian Working Holiday visa; and beware a phishing scam in New Zealand.

Australia

Assessing Authorities

With some visa applications, you’ll be required to prove that your international skills are transferable and relevant to Australia. To do this, you will need a skills assessment undertaken by an authorised organisation. You’ll need to contact them direct and they can provide you with all the relevant forms and information. You may need to pay to have your skills assessed.

View the assessing authorities in Australia.

Being treated fairly on a Working Holiday Visa

Australia offers Working Holiday visa schemes to many countries, including the UK, Europe and China, giving young people (aged 18-30) the opportunity to travel, work and enjoy Australia.

However two Dutch backpackers are taking their Working Holiday employer to court and suing them for unpaid wages. They undertook the unusual job of golf-ball diving (that’s recovering thousands of lost golf balls from golf course lakes and water features) and are claiming that they weren’t paid fairly for their work.

It’s a good reminder to make sure you fully understand the rules and regulations around Australia’s Working Holiday visa and your rights.

Read more about the backpackers’ experience.

Canada

Express Entry report released

Following the launch of Canada’s Express Entry system in January 2015, Citizenship & Immigration Canada has released a report of key findings from its first six months.

These findings include:

• The pool is growing by about 1,500 persons/profiles per week.
• The number of profiles completed was 112,701, with 48,723 (that’s roughly 43%) of these not eligible.
• The most dominant countries of citizenship of invited candidates are India and the Philippines, which each supplied around one-fifth of those invited to apply.

Through the first 11 draws:

• 4% of those invited to apply did not have a qualifying job offer or enhanced provincial nomination certificate.
• 65% had a qualifying job offer.
• 4% had an enhanced provincial nomination certificate.

However, not including the first four draws (because at that stage only applicants with a score above 600 were invited to apply before this threshold was lowered:

• 41% of those invited to apply did not have a qualifying job offer or an enhanced provincial nomination certificate.

The majority of candidates selected in the sixth (March 27), eighth (April 17) and eleventh (June 27) draws had neither a qualifying job offer nor a provincial nomination certificate.

See the official data from Citizenship & Immigration Canada.

All of this is great news for people looking to apply for a Canadian visa as the requirements are becoming slightly less restrictive.

British Columbia launches new entrepreneur program

British Columbia has recently launched a new visa program aimed specifically at experienced business people and entrepreneurs. Successful applicants will be awarded a work permit. Then, if their business is commercially viable and provides significant benefits to the local economy, they (and their families) will be able to apply for permanent residency through the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP).

Like other Canadian visa programs, this one will work by you entering a pool of candidates with the aim of getting as many points as possible, out of a maximum 200. Only 200 candidates are accepted into the pool each month. BC PNP will then invite the highest-scoring candidates to submit visa applications.

Requirements for this program include factors such as:

• Business and/or work experience
• Personal net worth and source of funds
• Adaptability
• Business proposal, including proposal investment and local job creation

Find out more about the BC PNP.

Ontario opens two new immigration streams

Ontario is the most sought-after province by would-be Canadians and it’s just opened two new immigration schemes that are aligned with the Express Entry system:

1. The Human Capital Priorities stream; and
2. The French-speaking Skilled Worker stream

Find out more about the streams and whether you’re eligible – Human Capital Priorities stream or French-speaking Skilled Worker stream.

New Zealand

Incentive to move to New Zealand’s provincial centres

Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city, and home to thousands of newly landed skills – and now New Zealand wants to encourage people to look beyond Auckland if they’re making the move.

Effective from November 2015, skilled migrants will have bonus points trebled if they apply for residence with a job offer not from Auckland – although you will have to stay in that region for 12 months, rather than three. If you’re starting a business in the provinces, you’ll have your Entrepreneur Work Visa points doubled.

This means it could be easier and quicker for you to move to New Zealand, as long as you’re willing to live and work outside Auckland.

Scam Immigration NZ website warning

A fake website has been set up that is trying to trick people in providing their passport details. The official Immigration NZ website is www.immigration.govt.nz and the fake one is http://www.immigration-govt.nz.

Beware of this site if you’re searching for the Immigration NZ website.

Read more about the scam.