Canada opens up immigration to foreign PhD students

[pampango]

Source: CBC

Canada will start accepting some PhD students to boost the country's science, technology and math sectors, the government said Wednesday. ... (Gary) Goodyear (minister of state for science and technology) made the announcement at the same press conference where the government was focusing on the success of the Canadian experience class, which is aimed at skilled temporary foreign workers and international students who want to stay in Canada.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who Wednesday welcomed the 10,000th permanent resident to enter Canada through the program, said Canada used to send people who wanted to become citizens back to their country of origin to have them start on the seven-year waitlist.

Before the program, "we would say excellent. You now have a degree or a diploma that will be recognized by a Canadian employer, you have some work experience in Canada, you have perfected your English or French language skills … now please leave the country and if you want to immigrate, get in the back of a seven-year-long queue," Kenney said. "That didn’t make any sense at all. Because these are folks who are pre-integrated, they are set for success."

Last year, Canada admitted 280,681 permanent residents, an 11.3 percent increase from 2009 and the highest level in 50 years, the report says. Nearly 67 per cent of total admissions came as economic immigrants.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/11/02/pol-jason-kenney-immigration-targets.html

[Katashi_itto]

1. Hmm this could be a great option when the U.S. starts to really financially implode.

[No Elephants]

12. When the US STARTS to really financially implode? That ship has sailed.

[peace frog]

2. Is there an age limit?

I know folks struggling to find work in IT who would be willing to study for a PhD in Canada, but they are 40-50-60 years old.

[Katashi_itto]

3. Good point. But with advanced degrees there is usually alot more latitude

[SomeGuyInEagan]

5. Thinking the same thing ...

I'm lucky enough to still have a job, but Canada's always been tempting for a number of reasons (and just a hop over the border from Minn-e-sooooota).

[iverglas]

7. yes, there is

Not to study, but to qualify for immigration. It isn't so much an age limit as the fact that applicants lose points after a certian age.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.asp

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/skilled.asp

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/index.asp

the big "am I eligible?" button in the middle.

Hmm, I just filled it out pretending to be a specialist physician from the US with good French as a second language and aged 50-53, and two years of education and a year of work in Canada, and it liked me.

So it's worth considering, but would need a lot more looking into.

(former immigration lawyer but years out of the loop at this point)

[DonCoquixote]

4. Watch out Canucks

This will turn and bite you as Asia will flood your departments with Ph'ds.

[iverglas]

6. that's pretty ignorant on so many levels

Do you have the least clue about anything relevant?

For starters, Canada has twice the proportion of foreign-born residents that the US has, roughly 20% vs 10%.

2006 census

http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/as-sa/97-557/index-eng.cfm

Immigration: Driver of population growth

Proportion of foreign-born highest in 75 years
Proportion of Canada's foreign-born population second to Australia

Immigrants came from many countries

Most recent immigrants still came from Asia, but their share remained stable
Slight increase in share of newcomers from Central and South America, the Caribbean and Africa

http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/as-sa/97-557/p4-eng.cfm

... As a result of the changing immigrant source countries, the proportion of the foreign-born population who were born in Asia and the Middle East (40.8%) surpassed the proportion born in Europe (36.8%) for the first time in 2006.

... The People's Republic of China was again the leading source country of newcomers to Canada. Fully 14% of recent immigrants who arrived between 2001 and 2006 came from the People's Republic of China.

The People's Republic of China was followed by India, representing 11.6% of new immigrants, the Philippines (7%) and Pakistan (5.2%) — the same order as in 2001. These four Asian countries alone accounted for 37.8% of all newcomers in 2006.

In total, there were six of the top 10 source countries for recent immigrants in Asia and the Middle East. The other two were South Korea, which accounted for 3.2% of newcomers, and Iran, which accounted for 2.5%.

[pampango]

9. There seems to be an American (even some liberals) fear of Asian (or Hispanic) "hordes" that

are just outside our gates and have to be kept at bay or else.

Immigration support by Canadians at all-time high. Multiculturalism embraced.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/10/20/pol-immigration-study.html

Support for immigration in Canada is at an all-time high, suggests a new study that tracked attitudes about newcomers to the country over the last 40 years. Not only has support for immigration stayed high, but it's surged in the past six years, at a time when such support has dropped in the U.S. and Europe.

The study by the Institute for Research on Public Policy found that Canadians think favourably of immigration despite recessions, terrorism and a changing political landscape over the years. In 2004, EKOS found 63 per cent of Canadians supported current or higher levels of immigration and by 2010, after a sharp recession, that number jumped to 67 per cent. The report also noted that Canadians in poorer parts of the country are the most likely to support immigration.

The attitude is unique in western countries and stems from two strong Canadian beliefs.

"On the economic side people believe that immigration is a boon to the economy ... On the cultural side, we have this policy called multiculturalism that sort of became part of the Canadian identity and one of the points of pride distinguishing Canada from the U.S.," study author Jeffrey Reitz told the CBC's Louise Elliott.

Canada not only has 4 times the immigration rate compared to the US and double the percentage of foreign-born residents, but Canadians remain supportive of immigration and multiculturalism. It is great to see support for these increase even in tough economic times.

[CHIMO]

8. Perhaps

You will help me out.

What is a Phd?

Are they human?

[pampango]

10. Are PhD's human? Yes, but they can be divided into a human "them" vs. a human "us",

if you work at it. ;)

[astral]

11. I may be stating the obvious, but

our country is not so open to immigration as Canada because our infrastructure is going BYE-BYE. And of course we are not trying to select who gets the express-lane passport into the country by screening for PhD students.

The way things are going I wonder how many people who come HERE would rather go THERE if only they could.