新移民计划将填补新省劳动力空缺 Immigration initiatives working to bridge Nova Scotia labour gap

Immigrants

Contribution by Province of Nova Scotia

文/Cyndi Sweeney 
译/Christine Qin Yang

新斯科舍省为鼓励移民推行多项新政,作为政策之一的新省奖学金计划于今年在圣文森山大学启动。

圣文森山大学国际教育中心主任Paula Barry Mercer女士谈到:“我常在思考,怎么做才能够鼓励国际学生留在新省。” Barry Mercer从事国际学生事务工作已有十年。她表示在明年的招聘中,有意向雇用打算留在新省的应届国际毕业生。

“我们尽最大的努力为国际生提供各种帮助,包括语言测试预备课程、个性化职业规划、就业指导、移民咨询,以及校友互助等。希望为国际生申请新省永久居民身份助一臂之力。”

圣文森山大学现有644名国际生就读。从过去五年的数据显示,每年在校国际生人数呈5%到10%年均递增。

尽管如此,Barry Mercer表示,根据加拿大移民局的官方数据,仅有3%的国际学生毕业后选择留在新省。

Barry Mercer透露,在与圣文森山大学就业指导办公室和实习办公室的共同努力下,大学的新省奖学金计划将适时地帮助15名左右的学生。“人性化就业指导的意义重大,因为学生需要深度地探索自己未来的发展方向…… 就业指导将帮助他们塑造自我竞争力。”

Barry Mercer 同时也是Inspired Immigration移民公司的合伙创办人。今年四月,她与曾就职于ISIS的Caroline Lodge女士共同创办移民公司Inspired Immigration。

“我们聚焦于新省,愿帮助本省留住更多人才。”Barry Mercer希望加拿大经验类移民申请资格能够拓宽,她也认为加拿大移民体系相对复杂和多变。“这是一个相对混乱的移民体系,需要大家一起来改善它。”

Inspired Immigration帮助当地及海外的申请者提供简历修改、语言测试辅导以及招聘信息等服务。Barry Mercer与我们分享了她的一位客户的经历:“之前有一位条件优异的客户通过‘特快通道’计划申请移民。 我们希望能留他在新省,他的家人也在这里,但这位客户最终决定去阿尔伯塔省发展。”

“特快通道”移民计划

加拿大公民及移民部(CIC)的“特快通道”移民计划将于 2015年1月起推出。该计划缩短了特定经济计划中永久居民申请者的等待时间,申请审批时间从几年缩短至8个月。

新省移民处战略方针与对外关系中心主任Suzanne Ley女士告诉我们:“‘特快通道’移民计划主要针对经济移民。在明年1月, 联邦技术移民、技工移民、加拿大经验类移民以及部分省提名移民可通过‘特快通道’移民申请。其审核标准不变,但整体进程有所不同。”她还表示,通过省提名移民项目,他们有机会通过“特快通道”提名申请者。

Barry Mercer认为“特快通道” 与澳大利亚2012年的一项移民计划极为相似,其计划在当时并未得到当地企业和组织的重视。她还表示新省应该作为该项目的先驱,争取在明年1月项目启动前,推动商业各界对此项目的关注。

Ley说:“实际上,我们特别看重这次机会,我们希望充分利用这个机会,尽可能地鼓励更多移民来到新省。”

今年五月,在新省移民处办公室与CIC开展的扩大会议中,较于其他省份,新省多出了三倍的投票。Ley 介绍道:“70多家企业、雇主及组织前往参加会议,了解更多关于‘特快通道’政策的内容,同时探讨了如何利用该政策来解决他们的劳动力空缺问题。”这次会议的参与者来自IT行业、制造业,还有Irving这类的企业,它们都想要更多地了解“特快通道”计划。 “我们将尽全力地在新省推广‘特快通道’计划,成为这个政策在加拿大执行力度最大的一个省份。”

8月份,本计划的宣讲会将在商业 、软件工程、工程、会计、金融分析以及医疗等行业中展开。

“若申请者于境外提交技术移民申请,需要3到4年时间等待申请结果。”Barry Mercer还介绍道,“特快通道”移民计划通过人力银行网站的一个在线门户,技术类申请者可通过该系统填写个人资料。其中,被聘用或省提名移民申请者将在名单中占有优先的位置。”

一旦被选中,被选中的申请者将有60天期限提交永久居民的申请,同时CIC承诺在6个月内完成80%申请者的材料审批。

对于工作经验不足的国际生,Barry Mercer认为,省提名是最快的选择,申请时间大致需要8个月。她也希望新移民政策可以帮助弥补当地劳动力的短缺。

很多毕业生选择在外地寻找工作机会。对新省而言,留住这批人才意义重大。阿尔伯塔省的提名移民项目允许申请者在工作经验不足12个月的条件下提交申请。Barry Mercer说:“一旦你被录用就可以开始申请移民…… 这就是他们的竞争优势。”

Ley告诉我们,新省人口整体保留率是 70%。尽管“特快通道”是一个吸引移民的有效的方式,新省移民办公室也将不断探索其他的项目,积极调整移民系统,来应对本省劳动力需求的变化。

Ley还表示:“我们持着谨慎乐观的态度,认为“特快通道”计划对于新省是一个大好的机会,因此我们也非常努力地推广这项计划。”

更多关于“特快通道”计划的信息,请拨打902-424-5230,咨询新省入境处办公室。Ley最后告诉我们:“近期,我们一直都在与不同的企业探讨这项计划。我们的目标是把这个计划有效地推广到就业市场。” (完)

Nova Scotia Scholars is a program launching at Mount Saint Vincent University this year and is one of several initiatives geared towards encouraging immigration to the province.

“I’ve thought a lot about what we can do at the Mount to encourage students to stay,” says Paula Barry Mercer, director of the International Education Centre at MSVU.  Barry Mercer has worked with international students for almost 10 years and says she’s recruiting international students who are graduating in the next year who want to stay in the province.

“We’re going to provide them with everything they need, including a language testing preparation course, individualized career counselling, career preparation, immigration counselling, provide them with a mentor through our alumni, and hopefully set them up to become permanent residents of Nova Scotia,” says Barry Mercer.

MSVU has 644 international students enrolled and has seen a growing annual trend of about five-to-10 percent every year for the past five years.

However, she says according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) statistics, only about three percent of international student graduates stay in Nova Scotia.

Working with the MSVU career planning office and the co-op office, Barry Mercer says the Nova Scotia Scholars program will help find the right opportunities to help about 15 students.  “Individualized career counselling is important because they need to think deeply about what they’re moving on to… to help them identify their best skills.”

Barry Mercer is also co-owner of Inspired Immigration, a consultancy business opened in April with Caroline Lodge, formerly with ISIS.

“We’re trying to be very Nova Scotia-focused and helping the province retain people who are in the province,” says Barry Mercer.  She says she hopes to see the number of Canadian Experience Class landings grow and says the immigration system is changing quickly in Canada and becoming increasingly complicated.  “It’s a very confusing system and people do need help to navigate the system.”

Inspired Immigration assists applicants both locally and overseas with resumes, language testing and job opportunity identification.  “One client is highly skilled and is applying from abroad under Express Entry.  We hope to be able to retain him in the province. He has family here … but he may end up in Alberta,” says Barry Mercer.

Express Entry system

Express Entry is a federal electronic system being launched by CIC in January 2015, which will help reduce wait times for applicants for permanent residence in certain economic programs, from several years, to as little as about eight months.

“Express entry will only focus on economic immigration.  In January, the Federal Skilled Worker, Federal Skilled Trades, Canadian Experience Class and parts of the provincial nominee program will be able to submit applications through express entry … the criteria is the same, but it’s a different intake process,” says Suzanne Ley, Director of Strategic Policy and External Relations with Nova Scotia Office of Immigration.  Ley says through the nominee program, they’ll have the opportunity to nominate people through express entry.

Barry Mercer says a concern with a similar program launched in Australia in 2012, was lack of awareness by businesses and organizations.  She says in Nova Scotia, the role of the province is to be be ambassadors of the program and encourage business sector awareness ahead of the January launch.

“Really, we see this as a big opportunity and we really want to capitalize on it as much as possible to bring more immigrants to Nova Scotia,” says Ley.

The Nova Scotia Office of Immigration began outreach sessions with CIC in May and says Nova Scotia showed three times the turnout of other provinces.  “More than 70 businesses, employers and organizations came to learn about express entry and how they could use that to fill their labour market needs,” says Ley enthusiastically.  She said participants from the IT sector, manufacturers and companies like Irving were all interested in learning about the system.  “We want to be the hardest working small jurisdiction in order to make express entry work for our part of the country.”

Further information sessions took place in August around the province to industries like business, software engineers, engineers, certified trades, financial analysts and medical professionals.

“If applying as a skilled worker from abroad, the wait time at many embassies is three-to-four years,” says Barry Mercer. She says express entry uses an online portal through the jobbank website, where skilled applicants can enter their information into the system.  “People with a job offer or nominees by the province will go to the top of the list.”

Upon selection, she says selected applicants will have 60 days to submit an application for permanent residency and CIC has committed to processing accurately completed applications within six months for 80 per cent of applicants.

For international students applying under the work experience class, Barry Mercer says the provincial nominee program has been relatively fast at about eight months and she hopes recent changes will help bridge the labour shortage.

But it’s a matter of catching graduates before they find work elsewhere.  In Alberta, provincial nominee program allows for immediate application without 12 months work experience. “You have a job offer, you have the means to immigrate immediately … it’s hard for us to compete,” says Barry Mercer.

Ley says the overall retention rate of keeping people in the province once they’ve landed is upwards of 70 per cent.  While express entry is one way of looking at ways of attracting immigrants to Nova Scotia, she says they are looking at several other streams and adapting the system to meet the changing labour needs of the province.

“We’re cautiously optimistic it’ll be a good opportunity for Nova Scotia, which is why we’re working so hard,” says Ley.

Businesses wanting more information on the program should call Nova Scotia Office of Immigration at 902-424-5230.  “We talk to businesses all the time and it’s one of our goals going forward to talk to more,” says Ley. (End)

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Halifax's English-Mandarin newspaper catered to Maritime Canadian and Chinese residents as well as business and leisure Chinese visitors to Maritime Canada. Dakai Maritimes publishes 4 times a year in Halifax Regional Municipality.

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