Author Archives: ami

UK PM-Rishi Sunak announced new visa rules for international students and workers.

Following pressure from Tory MPs, the British government, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, unveiled a series of measures on visa rules to significantly cut back on immigration. According to the UK Home Office, the move would affect about 300,000 people who would lose their eligibility to enter the country as a result of the new measures, which include a threefold increase in the minimum salary that migrants must earn in a skilled job.

The following are the main policies that Sunak’s government has announced:

  1. Dependent Restrictions: As part of the strategy to reduce migration, the government intends to stop a large number of dependents from entering the UK.
  2. Salary Threshold Increases: The earning threshold for British citizens and overseas workers who sponsor family members will increase by almost 50%, from £26,200 to £38,700, and by a similar amount for the former group.
  3. Health and Care Visa Tightening: The government is cracking down on cut-price labor, eliminating the 20% salary discount for shortage occupations and introducing an Immigration Salary List, which will be reviewed by the Migration Advisory Committee to align with increased salary thresholds. Overseas care workers will no longer be allowed to bring dependents to the UK, and care providers can only sponsor migrant workers involved in activities regulated by the Care Quality Commission.
  4. Crackdown on Cut-Price Labor: The government will introduce an Immigration wage List, which will be evaluated by the Migration Advisory Committee to align with rising wage thresholds, and remove the 20% salary discount for shortage occupations.
  5. Student Dependant Restrictions: In response to the growing number of students entering the UK with dependents, measures have already been put in place. These measures are anticipated to have a substantial effect on net migration, with 153,000 visas being awarded to dependents of sponsored students in the fiscal year ending in September 2023.

List of health-related occupations that got an invitation to the Express Entry: Human Capital Priorities stream

On November 30, 2023, we issued targeted notifications of interest to potential candidates who may qualify for Ontario’s Express Entry Human Capital Priorities stream.

Health occupations
Candidates only received a notification if they had a comprehensive ranking system (CRS) score of 404-430 and work experience in the following national occupational classification (NOC) codes.

Your work experience in one of the following NOCs must be listed as your primary NOC in your Express Entry profile:

NOC 30010 – Managers in health care
NOC 31100 – Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine
NOC 31101 – Specialists in surgery
NOC 31102 – General practitioners and family physicians
NOC 31103 – Veterinarians
NOC 31110 – Dentists
NOC 31111 – Optometrists
NOC 31112 – Audiologists and speech-language pathologists
NOC 31120 – Pharmacists
NOC 31121 – Dietitians and nutritionists
NOC 31201 – Chiropractors
NOC 31202 – Physiotherapists
NOC 31203 – Occupational therapists
NOC 31204 – Kinesiologists and other professional occupations in therapy and assessment
NOC 31209 – Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating
NOC 31300 – Nursing coordinators and supervisors
NOC 31301 – Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
NOC 31302 – Nurse practitioners
NOC 31303 – Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals
NOC 32100 – Opticians
NOC 32101 – Licensed practical nurses
NOC 32102 – Paramedical occupations
NOC 32103 – Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
NOC 32104 – Animal health technologists and veterinary technicians
NOC 32109 – Other technical occupations in therapy and assessment
NOC 32110 – Denturists
NOC 32111 – Dental hygienists and dental therapists
NOC 32112 – Dental technologists and technicians
NOC 32120 – Medical laboratory technologists
NOC 32121 – Medical radiation technologists
NOC 32122 – Medical sonographers
NOC 32123 – Cardiology technologists and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists
NOC 32124 – Pharmacy technicians
NOC 32129 – Other medical technologists and technicians
NOC 32200 – Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and acupuncturists
NOC 32201 – Massage therapists
NOC 32209 – Other practitioners of natural healing
NOC 33100 – Dental assistants and dental laboratory assistants
NOC 33101 – Medical laboratory assistants and related technical occupations
NOC 33102 – Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
NOC 33103 – Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants
NOC 33109 – Other assisting occupations in support of health services

In the latest PNP draws of Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia, 1052, 268, and 185 invitations were sent for PR.

Ontario PNP Draw (OINP):

This Ontario Provincial Nominee Program – PNP draw for Express Entry candidates comes out after more than two months. The last one was on September 26, 2023. On November 30, the new OINP draw (Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program) Express Entry draw handed out 1,052 invitations to claim provincial nominations.

A healthcare-targeted draw on October 26 invited 3,600 with a CRS score of 431 or above; given that candidates above 430 may receive direct invitations from IRCC, OINP used that draw as a reference and invited candidates below that.

Today’s Express Entry profiles with experience in one of 42 healthcare-related occupations are considered under the Human Capital Priorities Stream (HCP) in the OINP draw. Profiles with a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score between 404 and 430 will receive or have already received an invitation to accept provincial nominations from Ontario.

Manitoba PNP Draw (MPNP):

After a considerable amount of time, a portion of the most recent MPNP draw (Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program) of 2023 took into consideration profiles declaring a Manitoba supporter who is a close relative, is a Canadian permanent resident or citizen, and has been residing in Manitoba for at least one year.

On November 30, 268 permanent residency invitations were sent out under various streams. In this MPNP draw, 50 of the invited candidates had both a job seeker validation code and a valid Express Entry profile.

British Columbia PNP Draw (BCPNP):

The most recent BC PNP draw of 2023, which took place on November 28, 2023, sent out 185 invitations to apply for permanent residency (PR) in both general and targeted draws. In the general BC PNP draw, the cutoff score increased by 1 point from the previous targeted round of invitations.

With the exception of entry-level and semi-skilled streams, 80 invitations were sent out in the general BC PNP draw (which included 35 tech occupations) under all of the BC PNP Skills Immigration streams and Express Entry streams.

Furthermore, British Columbia implemented a new category-based draw, inviting only 27 applicants with experience in 25 construction occupations; the cutoff score was 75.

Additionally, 29 invitations were targeted at profiles in 39 healthcare-related occupations. 49 invitations have been sent specifically to profiles with experience as early childhood educators and assistants (NOC 42202).

A New Humanitarian Pathway to PR for Colombian, Haitian, and Venezuelan Nationals to Canada

Immigration Canada (IRCC) Minister Marc Miller announced on Friday that applications for a new humanitarian pathway to permanent residence are now open for certain citizens of the Americas. This instruction is specifically directed towards migrants who are foreign nationals from Colombia, Haiti, and Venezuela.

In this context, the rise in irregular migration has led to an increase in migrant smuggling, physical insecurity, and exploitation of those who cross through the region in question.

The program’s qualification requirements state that the principal applicant must have one of the following relationships to a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who agrees to support them and their family members as an anchor for a year:

  1. child(regardless of age)
  2. grandchild
  3. Spouse
  4. Parents
  5. Grandparents
  6. Siblings

Pre-arrival services, such as an employment skills assessment and a referral to a settlement service provider organization in their community, are provided to immigrants arriving in Canada through this pathway.

Applications are made through the IRCC portal, and the anchor must sign a statutory declaration attesting to their support for the immigrant.

The USA issued a record 1,40,000 visas to Indian students in FY 2023.

Between October 2022 and September 2023,

The USA Embassy and its consulates in India issued an all-time record of over 140,000 student visas.

“Our embassy and consulates in India issued an all-time record of more than 140,000 student visas,” the US State Department announced on Tuesday.

#usastudentvisa #studyinus

The Department issued more than 600,000 student visas, the highest in any year since FY 2017. International students at U.S. colleges and universities inject up to $38 billion dollars annually into the U.S. economy.