March 3, 2013

Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing. - Warren Buffett

We have informed you last week about the change in date of release of the official list of designated educational assessment agencies but that was just based on the twitter message of the Immigration Minister. Yesterday, Citizenship and Immigration Canada made an official announement about it.

With new criteria for the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) set to take effect in May, many prospective immigrants may already be preparing to apply.
However, future FSWP applicants should be aware that CIC expects to announce three important elements of the FSWP in April that will have an impact on the application process, including:
  • a cap on the number of applications that will be accepted in the first year;
  • a new list of priority occupations; and
  • the organizations that will be designated to conduct educational assessments.
Applicants who prepare their application before this information is announced do so at their own risk. Applications that do not meet the criteria that will be announced in April will not be processed.
If your job classification is classified as NOC 0, A or B, your occuption may be included in the list.  At this point, no one can tell what the list would be and how many applications will be accepted per job classification.  You have two options here:

  1. Wait for the list before you make any prepartion, or
  2. Prepare now and be ready to file if and when your occupation is included.

If you are serious about your plan to live and work in Canada, you should get ready.  There's a risk and cost considerations, of course.  But risk comes only from not knowing what you're doing.