Canada Reports Record Immigration in 2008

Canada welcomed an unprecedented number of immigrants in 2008, according to a recent announcement by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The total figure of 519,722 included approximately 247,000 permanent residents, 143,000 temporary foreign workers, and 79,000 foreign students. The Minister made this announcement while speaking at the Progress Career Planning Institute's Internationally Educated Professionals conference.

The Minister highlighted efforts that the government is making to ease the transition of professionals and skilled workers when migrating to Canada. The prime minister's recently announced plans to build a national framework for foreign credential recognition was referenced as one effort to ease the red tape and provide more clarity for skilled immigrants.

Canadian Immigration Minister Seeks more International Students

Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has announced plans to dramatically increase the number of foreign students that the country admits annually. Although no specific numbers have been quoted as yet, it was pointed out that Australia admits as many as 10 times as many foreign students from nations such as India than does Canada.

Canadian Immigrant Investor Program Attracts Indian Applicants

Recent statistics suggest that the number of Immigrant Investor Program applications deriving from citizens of India have increased 500% in the past 12 months. The immigrant investor program allows applicants to seek Canadian permanent resident status on the basis of a secured investment into a Canadian government approved fund. The investment is used to support Canadian business for a five year term, and applicants are granted immigration approval prior to disbursement of the funds. Contributing to this rise is a change to Indian regulations increasing the amount that its nationals could invest outside of the country.

In recent years, as India has built its economic infrastructure, an increase in its trade with Canada has taken place. For example, reciprocal trade between Canada and India grew four per cent, to $3.8 billion in 2007. This increase in commerce is expected to continue to increase the appeal of Canada as a destination for Indian business persons, who in turn are likely to increase trade with India once established in this country.

Canadian Banks Cater to Immigration

For years, a common complaint of new immigrants to Canada was that it was difficult to get a solid financial foothold in the first years after arriving. The lack of a Canadian credit history, for example, would prove to be a bar to obtaining credit, which - of course - prevents establishing a credit history. More recently, Canadian banks are specifically catering services to new immigrants, a population that grows by approximately 250,000 annually.

Recognizing the need to address the immigrant community, most of the large Canadian banks appoint a Director of Multicultural Markets in order to ensure that the needs of new Canadians are met. Canadian banks now seek to help a new Canadian with everything from opening bank accounts and applying for insurance and credit cards to giving advice on how to get a driver's licence, preparing taxes, even deciding where to live or send their kids to school. The Royal Bank of Canada's communitycorner.ca web site provides details on the demographic and cultural makeup of most communities in Canada. This helps prospective immigrants can check out neighbourhoods, including home values, and find cultural communities they want to be close to.