Revision as of 14:32, 16 December 2020

Migration from India to Canada

2000-13: High immigration--followed by tight restrictions

Canada follows US, makes work visa difficult

Effective July, employers in Canada will have to pay $275 as processing fee for each application that they file to bring in a foreign worker.

Shilpa Phadnis, TNN | Aug 13, 2013

The Times of India The Times of India

BANGALORE: The decade 2003-2012 has seen a phenomenal increase in the number of Indians working in Canada, the highest amongst any single nationality.

Like the US, Canada too is tightening its temporary foreign worker program (TFWP) that allows foreign nationals to work in Canada for short periods. The effort, as Rakesh Prabhu, partner-immigration practice in ALMT Legal, says, is to improve employment opportunities for its locals.

Employers have to fill a new questionnaire that tries to figure out whether a firm is seeking to replace existing Canadian workers. Employers must advertise for the position locally three months before the application for bringing a foreign worker is filed, and the advertisement must run for four weeks compared to two weeks previously.

The latest restrictions follow a decision in April to end a provision that allowed employers to pay foreign workers as much as 15% less than the average Canadian wage for a job.

Sajan Poovayya, managing partner in law firm Poovayya & Co, said the changes would have an impact on the Indian workforce movement to Canada. "Companies in India will find it harder to use this route to ship personnel on temporary IT assignments. There will be cost over runs and time delays in sending workforce to that country. The Canadian government's decision to insist on employers who rely on temporary foreign workers to have a firm plan in place to transition to a Canadian workforce over time, will make the whole programme unattractive to Indian technology players," he said.

Canada's move comes shortly after the backlash that followed when the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) outsourced its IT services to iGate, which then replaced RBC's IT employees with foreign workers. It also comes after a ten-year period (2003 to 2012) that saw the number of Indian workers in Canada grow a whopping 730%, making them the fastest-growing foreign worker community in that country. The number of Indian foreign workers rose from 2,686 in 2003 to 22,281 in 2012, said a report by Canada Facts and Figures 2012. The French were a distant second with a growth of 332% to 18,961 workers, followed by Filipinos, who grew 280% to 23,683.

2016-18: sharp increase

Lubna Kably, July 9, 2019: The Times of India

2016-18: The 3 countries from which the largest number of people were granted permanent residency in Canada
From: Lubna Kably, July 9, 2019: The Times of India

Interest among the Indian diaspora (including those based in the US) in acquiring permanent residency in Canada continues unabated. During 2018, over 39,500 Indian citizens obtained permanent residency in Canada under the express entry system.

According to recently released statistics, in 2018 Canada admitted more than 92,000 new permanent entry residents through its express entry system, which is a rise of 41% over the previous year. Permanent residency is akin to a green card in the US.

America’s policies may be pushing more Indians to choose Canada

Interestingly, China, which occupied second rank during 2017, slipped to third rank with only about 5,800 Chinese obtaining permanent residency in 2018. Nigeria occupied second slot. The number of invites issued to Chinese citizens showed negative growth. TOI in its earlier editions has covered how the challenges faced by Indians working in the US, such as delays or denials of H-1B visa extensions, green-card backlogs, or even the proposed plan to revoke the right of H-1B spouses to work, is resulting in a migration flow to neighbouring Canada. Those based in India are also increasingly looking at Canada for employment or permanent settlement. The Global Talent Stream, which recently transited from being a pilot to a permanent scheme, enables Canadian companies to bring on board expats with a STEM background within just two weeks. This is expected to increase the flow of Indian employees to Canada. TOI in its edition of April 10 had stated that many of these GTS workers are expected to later opt for permanent residency.

Express entry is a system used by the Canadian government to manage applications from skilled and qualified workers for permanent residence through three economic immigration programmes. Under the express entry programme, candidates complete an online profile and are then placed in the express entry pool and ranked relative to each other based on their comprehensive ranking system (CRS) scores. CRS considers existence of a job offer, age, education, work experience, English and French proficiency. Those who clear the cutoff mark (the maximum is 1,200) are sent “invitations to apply” for permanent residency.

“The top countries of citizenship based on the people admitted to Canada generally mirrors those of invited candidates. Nearly half of all people admitted in 2018 had Indian citizenship,” stated Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Canada’s immigration division, in its recently released express entry report. In 2018, 41,675 invites (or 46% of the total) were sent to those holding Indian citizenship. In 2017, of the 86,022 total invites, 36,308, or 42%, were issued to Indians. Express entry draws are held periodically. The most recent was on June 21, which had a CRS cutoff threshold of 462 points and will result in 3,350 candidates being invited to take up permanent residency. Overall, Canada’s multi-year immigration levels plan is committed to welcoming more permanent residents (including those on humanitarian grounds) over three years. It has set a target of 3.30 lakh for 2019 and 3.40 lakh for 2020.

Jan-June 2017: Indians have more work visas than Chinese

Indians beat Chinese in race for Canada work visas, Aug 18 2017: The Times of India

Indians and Chinese in Canada, 2015-June 2017; Indians beat Chinese in race for Canada work visas, Aug 18 2017: The Times of India

Canada attracts more Indians than Chinese, be it for work or acquiring citizenship. Contrast this with its neighbour US, where the Chinese comparatively lead the migration trends on parameters such as acquiring green cards. However, the inflow of students to Canada from China is much higher.

Statistics for the first six months ending June 30, 2017, show that 13,670 Indians obtained work visas under Canada's international mobility programme as opposed to just 8,680 Chinese. Typically , firms can sponsor skilled workers under this programme and a labour market impact assessment is not required.

The trend was similar under the temporary foreign worker programme (a restrictive visa which requires labour market impact assessment and requires that first preference be given to local Canadians). Under it, 2,190 Indians obtained work visas as compared to 635 from China.These statistics, for the first half of the current calendar year, released by the department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), do not deviate from trends in the preceding years.

Attractiveness of the international mobility programme peaked for Indians in 2016, with 30,850 Indians having obtained such work visas, a rise of nearly 50% over the previous year.

The number of Chinese students is slightly higher, standing at 25,315 during the first half of 2017 as opposed to 20,845 from India.

While half-yearly figures of new permanent residents have not been released, Philippines and India continue to occupy the top two slots in 2016. Nearly 13% of the 2.96 lakh new permanent residents in 2016 were from India.Syria ranked third in 2016, with an influx of refugees.

From June, Canada has ushered in the Global Talent Stream Program (GTSP). It offers fast track processing of applications in two weeks and exemptions from labour market impact assessments. Companies seeking to sponsor highly qualified foreign work ers can opt for GTSP which covers ten occupations primarily in computer, electrical and IT. But GTSP applies only for short trips. Managerial or professional workers can visit Canada on short term assignments of 15 days in a six month period or 30 days in a year.

As reported by TOI earlier, the time period is too short for IT assignments at client sites. However, according to an immigration expert, this is likely to prop up the statistics for the second half of 2017.

Chinese dominate the migration landscape in US when it comes to permanent residence or green cards. According to International Migration Outlook ­ 2017, released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the inflow from China during 2015 was 74.6 thousand as opposed to 64. 1 thousand from India.

2018: 50% increase

Lubna Kably, 50% jump in Indians taking Canadian citizenship in 2018, December 26, 2018: The Times of India

No. of citizenships granted by Canada to Indians and others in 2017, 2018
From: Lubna Kably, 50% jump in Indians taking Canadian citizenship in 2018, December 26, 2018: The Times of India

Indians living in Canada are taking their immigration journey a step forward, with several thousands opting for Canadian citizenship, after having lived in the country for the specified duration as permanent residents.

Responding to a request from TOI, Canadian authorities shared some statistics. During the 10-month period ending October 2018, nearly 15,000 Indians obtained citizenship. If compared with 2017, it’s a steep rise of 50%.

As country of birth, India figured in the second-highest number of applications from those claiming Canadian citizenship. The Philippines topped this list by a slender lead: 15,600-odd Filipinos became citizens of Canada during this 10-month period, but this was a marginal increase of 11% compared to the traffic from the Philippines for the entire 12 months of 2017.

In all, 1.39 lakh permanent residents became Canadian citizens in the 10 months ended October 30; of this, the share of Indians was nearly 11%. These are preliminary figures and final statistics are estimated to be much higher. But it is still unlikely to cross the record high of 2015 when the highest number of Indians—28,000-odd—opted for Canadian citizenship, following which there was a year-on-year decline, with interest picking up again sharply in 2018.

“Since October 2017, it has become easier to qualify to apply for Canadian citizenship. In particular, the period a permanent resident must be physically present in Canada before applying for citizenship has reduced. As compared to a 4-year residency requirement out of 6 years, now a permanent resident needs to be physically present in Canada for 3 out of 5 years,” explains Ontario-based Talha Mohani, immigration law specialist and managing director at Migration Bureau Corp.

In one yr, Canada received 2.4L applications for citizenship

Unlike a permanent residency (which is akin to a green card in US), a citizenship grants more benefits, such as greater mobility, eligibility to work in the government sector, and obtaining the right to vote.

David Nachman, managing attorney at NPZ Law Group, points out an important facet of mobility, “A Canadian passport (citizenship) also facilitates individuals to apply for a Trade National (TN) visa to enter and work in the US.” While this is similar to the H-1B work visa it is not subject to the annual cap and is easier to obtain. India has emerged as the top source country for permanent residents. During 2017, 51,000-odd Indians were admitted as permanent residents. These statistics were tabled in the annual report (2018) on immigration submitted to the Canadian Parliament.

According to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the federal department which facilitates arrival of immigrants to Canada, an estimated 1.53 lakh people would have obtained Canadian citizenship by October 2018—being a year from the date the new relaxed norms for citizenship came into effect. This estimate is an increase of 40% compared to the 1.08 lakh people who obtained citizenship in the same period the year before, adds the IRCC in an official release.

IRCC adds after the changes in the regulation, during the nine-month period from October 2017 to June 2018, it received 2.42 lakh applications for citizenship, over double the previous corresponding period. Despite this, the processing time continued to be within 12 months.

There are also many individuals who have not yet obtained Canadian citizenship, who commute daily from Canada to US for work. Hari (last name withheld) has a Canadian Permanent Residency, and currently works in the US on an H-1B visa. Hari describes his daily commute between Windsor area in Canada and the US border town of Detroit as easy. “The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa, and my daily commute is not regarded as my having abandoned permanent residence in Canada. I will however, have to prove that I returned to Canada each day and cross-border tax implications have to be dealt with.”

2020

Lubna Kably, Desis got 47% of invites for Canadian residency in 2019, June 28, 2020: The Times of India

Indian citizens bagged 40,275 invites to apply for permanent residence in Canada, under the ‘Express Entry’ route. This is 47% of the total invites (85,300) which were issued to Express Entry candidates during 2019 by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. A fair share of these Indians includes those already working in Canada or migrating from the US — owing to the Trump administration’s increasing protectionist immigration regime.

As per a newly released report, the overall 2019 figure of 85,300 is a slight decline from the 89,800 invitations issued in 2018. Likewise, the number of invites to Indians declined by 3.36% from the previous year’s figure of 41,678.

Express Entry is a system used by the Canada government to manage applications from skilled and qualified workers, for permanent residence through three economic immigration programmes — Federal Skilled Worker Class, Canadian Experience Class and the Federal Skilled Trades Class. It is a point-based system.

Politics and PIOs

2015: Liberal win in Canada

The Times of India, Oct 21 2015

Ikhhlaq Aujla

 Liberals sweep Canada polls with Punjabi help

A painful chapter in the history of Punjabi migration is the Komagata Maru episode when a shipload of Punjabis was stopped from landing in Canada in 1914 and sent back from Vancouver.Harsh immigration laws had ensured that only 24 of the 376 people on board disembarked.As the rest returned to the Calcutta port, the British fired at them, killing 19. A little over 100 years later, exactly 19 Canadians of In dian origin were elected to the Canadian parliament.

This is the highest ever representation of MPs with Indian roots in the House of Commons in Canada. As many as 17 are of Punjabi ori gin. In 2011, only eight Indianorigin MPs were elected to the House of Commons, all of whom were Punjabis.

The result was historic in more ways than one for Canada as the Justin Trudeau-led Liberals ended nearly 10 years of Conservative party rule. Fifteen or 8.15% of his 184 MPs are Punjabis. IndianCanadians make up over 3% of Canada's population of about 35 million.

The role of Punjabis is important as it helped the Liberals get past the 170-mark needed for a simple majority .

Among sitting MPs, Con servative Deepak Obhrai from Calgary Forest Lawn in Alberta was the only Punjabi-origin candidate to retain his seat.The losers included multiculturalism minister Tim Uppal, who lost to Amarjit Sohi of the Liberals by a mere 80 votes.

Sohi was arrested in 1988 in Bihar under TADA for alleged links with Naxals and released in 1990 on court orders. This victory is about in clusion, cohesiveness, where we build strong communities,“ Amarjit Sohi of the Liberals told a daily .“Canada is where someone like me can come from somewhere else, build a new life, raise my family and contribute back so immensely.“

“I have a strong record both as a representative of the constituency as well as working in government, and in the opposition, over the years I have been in Parliament,“ Deepak Obhrai, who won a seventh term, told the Calgary Sun. Compared to the 24 candidates of Punjabi-origin in the previous general elections in 2011, this time 43 were in the fray, including one independent. There were 11 constituencies where at least two of the candidates put up by the Liberals, Conservatives or NDP were of Punjabi origin.

In the 2011 polls, there wasn't a single Punjabi-origin candidate of the Liberal party who made it to parliament.From just 36 in 2011, Liberals have 184 MPs in a house of 338 this time.

Four PIOs Inducted As Cabinet Ministers

Harjit Sajjan and Navdeep Bains

The Times of India, Nov 05 2015

Sikh named Canada defence minister

Harjit Sajjan among four PIOs inducted as Cabinet ministers by PM Justin Trudeau

The Punjabi community in Canada made history on Wednesday when two turbaned Sikhs, among four Indian Canadians, were sworn in as cabinet ministers, as Justin Trudeau took oath as the country's 23rd Prime Minister. While 42-year-old Harjit Sajjan was appointed defence minister, 38-year-old Navdeep Bains got the portfolio of innovation, science and economic development in the 30-member Cabinet.

Another Sikh, Amarjeet Sohi, who is not turbaned, has been sworn in as minister for infrastructure. A former bus driver, Sohi was jailed in 1988 for two years in Bihar and accused of being a terrorist. Sohi told the Edmonton Journal that he was beaten and tortured. He recounted that he was held without charges or trial for almost two years.

A young Sikh woman, Bar dish Jhagger, who is a firsttime MP , has been sworn in as minister for small business and tourism. Trudeau, 43, kicked off his slimmed-down Cabinet

Navdeep Bains, who played a key role in Trudeau's election as the Liberal Party leader in 2013, has been awarded with the important cabinet berth. Bains, who became MP for the third time last month by winning from MississaugaBrampton, previously served as parliamentary secretary to the prime minister in 2005 when he was MP from 2004 till 2011 when he lost. Considered very suave, Bains has been a distinguished visiting professor at Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto till now.

2020: 8 Indian-origin candidates win assembly polls

Neel Kamal, October 26, 2020: The Times of India

8 Indian-origin candidates win Canada assembly polls Eight Indian-origin candidates won elections of the British Columbia legislative assembly in Canada on Sunday, improving their tally from seven in the 2017 polls of the province. All eight winners, including three women, belong to New Democratic Party, which has secured an absolute majority with 55 seats in the 87-member House. There were 22 candidates of Punjab origin in the fray from 15 assembly segments — 11 from NDP, nine from Liberal Party of Canada and two from Vision Vancouver.

NDP’s Raj Chouhan won from Burnaby-Edmunds segment after defeating another Punjabi, Tript Atwal of Liberal Party. Olympian Ravi Kahlon of NDP retained his seat from Delta North. Belonging to a village in Bathinda, NDP’s Jagrup Singh retained his seat from Surrey-Fleetwood by defeating Punjab-origin candidate Garry Thind of Liberal Party. Party colleague, Jinny Sims retained her seat from Surrey-Panorama by defeating Gulzar Cheema of Liberal Party.

NDP’s Rachna Singh retained her seat from Surrey-Green Timbers by defeating Punjabi candidate Dilraj Atwal of Liberal Party. NDP’s Harry Bains also retained his seat from Surrey-Newton by defeating Punjabi Paul Boparai of Liberal Party. NDP’s Aman Singh defeated Jas Johal of Liberal party from Richmond-Queensborough. IANS reported that he became the first turbaned Sikh MLA in British Columbia. NDP’s Nikki Sharma won from Vancouver-Hastings.

Share of PIOs in Canada's population

2015: Punjabi is 3rd language in Canada House

The Times of India, Nov 03 2015

Punjabi now third-most spoken language in Canada's parliament

Justin Trudeau, son of a Canadian leader follows his own path to powerCanada politician mistakes Bank of England governor for actorTrudeau's Liberals win Canada election: TV projectionsThree Sikhs sworn in as cabinet ministers in CanadaCanada withdraws from US-led coalition against Isis TORONTO: Four years after Punjabi became Canada's third most common language, it has now attained the same status in the country's new Parliament, after English and French, following the election of 20 Punjabi-speaking candidates to the House of Commons.

Twenty-three Members of Parliament of South Asian-origin were elected to the House of Commons, Parliament of Canada, in the October 19 parliamentary elections.

Three of them, Chandra Arya - born and raised in India, Gary Anandasangaree - a Tamil, and Maryam Monsef - of Afghan origin, do not speak Punjabi, The Hill Times Online reported.

Of the 20 who speak Punjabi, 18 are Liberals and two are Conservatives. Among the newly-elected Punjabi-speaking MPs, 14 are males and six are females. Ontario elected 12, British Columbia four, Alberta three and one is from Quebec.

Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau is scheduled to unveil his Cabinet this week and some of these Liberal MPs are expected to be included in the front bench.

"The voice of the Indo-Canadian community will now be very well represented in the Parliament. In the overall aspect of it, the South Asian community won," MP Deepak Obhrai of Conservative Party said.

In an interview with the paper, Navdeep Bains, a Liberal MP, said although 20 Punjabi-speaking MPs have been elected, these MPs represent all constituents regardless of their party affiliation or ethnic origin.

"It speaks to our commitment to diversity and allowing individual [MPs] to play an important role in our political institutions. The main issue to understand is that we have a very clear mandate to execute our platform and we also have a responsibility to represent our constituents, which are very diverse," Bains said.

Iqra Khalid, the Liberal MP who was born in Pakistan, said the diversity of the newly-elected House reflects the true make-up of Canada.

According to Statistics Canada's 2011 National Household Survey, 430,705 Canadians identified Punjabi as their mother tongue, making it the third most common language after English and French.

The 430,705 native Punjabi speakers make up about 1.3 per cent of Canada's population. The 20 Punjabi-speaking MPs represent almost six per cent of the House of Commons.

Students

Number of Indian students, 2004, 2015

Lubna Kably, Canada's new residency points plan to aid Indians, Nov 21 2016 : The Times of India

Number of Chinese, Indian and French students studying in Canada, 2015

According to Canadian government statistics published by the Canadian Magazine of Immigration, the number of foreign students in Canada has more than doubled over the past decade from 1.72 lakh in 2004 to 3.56 lakh as at the end of 2015. India was the second largest source country , since 2012. The number of Indian students rose by 630% from just 6,675 in 2004 to 48,914 in 2015, constituting 13.7% of the total foreign student population. Engineering, including IT, business management, pharmacy related courses and hospitality management are generally top choices for Indian students wishing to study in Canada.

Number of Indian and Chinese students, 2017

Lubna Kably, Canada speeds up student visa process for Indians, June 27, 2018: The Times of India

Indian (and Chinese) students in Canada in 2017
From: Lubna Kably, Canada speeds up student visa process for Indians, June 27, 2018: The Times of India

HIGHLIGHTS

The number of Indian students opting for studies in Canada is on the rise

The new program cuts down the processing time for study permits (which are student visas) to within 45 days as opposed to within 60 days will be helpful.

Canada has introduced a faster and simpler visa processing mechanism for students from India and three other countries. The number of Indian students opting for studies in Canada is on the rise + and this new program which cuts down the processing time for study permits (which are student visas) to within 45 days as opposed to within 60 days will be helpful.

Students from India, China, Vietnam and Philippines who demonstrate upfront that they have the requisite financial resources and language skills to succeed academically in Canada are eligible to opt for the newly introduced ‘Student Direct Stream’ (SDS) program.

The erstwhile Student Partners Program (SPP) that entailed less visa documentation and quicker processing was more narrow in scope and available only to students applying to 40 odd participating Canadian colleges. On the other hand, the SDS program, introduced in early June, is available to students opting for post-secondary courses (ie: college education) at all designated learning institutes, according to a statement issued by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), which is the Canadian government’s immigration division.

This announcement almost coincides with the UK’s government decision to exclude Indian students from easier visa norms. Given the growing protectionism in UK and USA, the number of Indian students opting for Canada is steadily growing. Indian students obtained 83,410 study permits during 2017, a rise of 58% over the previous year.

Earlier, including during 2015 and 2016, Chinese students were the largest class of international students to be allotted the study permits. India topped this list in 2017, with its students garnering 26% of the total study permits issued in that year, with China following closely behind. The trend of Indian students being the largest class of international students is is more pronounced during the period January to April 2018, with 29,000 odd Indian students obtaining the study permits as opposed to 16,925 from China. These statistics are based on an analysis done by TOI, of the open data available on the Canadian government’s website (see table).

According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education, a non-profit agency in the educational domain, there were 4.95 lakh international students studying in Canada at the end of 2017, a rise of 20%. In an email reply to TOI, a spokesperson from the IRCC said that top source countries for international students, who were present in Canada as of December 3, 2017, were China (with 1.40 lakh students), India (with 1.24 lakh students) and Republic of Korea (with 23,050 students).

Ontario-based Talha Mohani, immigration law specialist and managing director at Migration Bureau Corp, explains the nitty-gritty of the SDS program “A study permit application is assessed in terms of eligibility and admissibility, which include finance, language and medical. Under the SDS program several of these criteria are to be satisfied upfront. The student must pay the first semester tuition fee, in addition to buying a guaranteed investment certificate of Canadian $ 10,000. A minimum score of 6 for English in the International English Language Testing System is also required. The applicant also has to submit a copy of the upfront medical exam confirmation document. Given that some key criteria are met upfront when the application is made, enables the IRCC to reduce the time required to verify and complete the assessment process.”

“Canadian education and work experience (internship experience counts) are extremely valuable when it comes to job prospects in Canada,” cites a job facilitator. Cynthia Murphy, interim India regional manager at Canadian Immigrant Integration Program, says, “Canadian college students including international students usually complete a work placement (internship) as part of their study course. This enables them to connect with future employers.”

According to IRCC, “The SDS complements the express entry system as these students will be well placed to continue on the path to permanent residence and Canadian citizenship after completing their studies in Canada, if they wish to.”The express entry program for permanent residency in Canada is point based and a Canadian education helps garner extra points. Mohani explains that an applicant can get 15 extra points for a post secondary education program in Canada which is of a one to two year duration and 30 points if it is of a duration of three years or more. While official data is not available on the most popular courses that Indian students opt for, industry watchers say that business management, civil engineering, software engineering, medicine, and hospitality are some of the popular courses.