Immigration, Citizenship, and Culture Blog

Let’s welcome a new wave of young Irish to Montreal!
By Stephen Fogarty • March 17, 2013

By Stephen Fogarty A new wave of talented young citizens of Ireland aged 18 to 35 will be coming to Canada starting in April and May under the latest incarnation of the Working Holiday Program (WHP) through the International Experience Canada initiative between Canada and Éire, the Republic of Ireland. The quota of places available to Irish nationals for Canada jumped by 1,000 up to 6,350 for 2013.  Even with this increase, demand was extremely high.  The WHP opened on-line at 3:30 P.M. Dublin time on January 29th, and less than 36 hours later, the quota was met.   On February 1st, Canadian officials announced that they would permit an over-subscription to allow for possible cancellations and refusals among the pool of applicants, but the demand continued to be so high that no new applications were permitted starting February 4th.  This situation contrasts sharply with the 2012 program which took until May 28th to fill the then 5,350 places. Read More

Renewing your Canadian Work Permit? Procrastination & new Immigration procedures don’t mix
By Stephen Fogarty • March 13, 2012

Sometimes reforms can lead to new problems.  In the past year the federal government has taken measures to protect foreign workers bound for or already in Canada, and the integrity of our immigration system, by implementing more detailed screening of employers.  This is aimed at rooting out fake job offers and reducing exploitation of such employees.  The government has also speeded up the Work Permit renewal process.  These are worthy achievements.  Unfortunately, in practical terms they are like oil and water.  They don’t mix together, and a whole new crop of problems has arisen due to the interplay of the two. Read More

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