The Ministerial Instructions 6 (MI6) for the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) issued the sixth set of Ministerial Instructions (MIs) i.e. MI6 on January 02, 2013. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) issued these Ministerial Instructions (MIs) to coincide with the coming into force of the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) on the same date.
These Ministerial Instructions (MIs) specify that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will process a maximum of 3,000 applications under this program each year. However, the officers would do this as long as the applications meet certain criteria. The authorities also specified that within the overall cap, a total of 43 occupations would be eligible for processing under the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), in accordance with the provisions specified in MI6. Of these 43 occupations, the authorities did not place any sub-caps on 26. However, it limited the cap on 17 occupations to 100 applications each. In addition, the instructions specified that Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) applicants would need to meet the prescribed minimum language thresholds to be eligible for processing too.
Readers would need to visit the website of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for obtaining the full text of MI6.
The Ministerial Instructions 8 (MI8) for Federal Skilled Workers (FSW)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) issued the eighth set of Ministerial Instructions (MIs) i.e. MI8 on May 04, 2013. These Ministerial Instructions (MIs) enabled Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to lift the general pause placed on the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP). These instructions re-established an eligible occupations stream. It specified an overall cap of 5,000 new applications for this stream. In addition, it specified sub-caps of 300 applications for each of the 24 eligible occupations.
It is worth highlighting that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) issued these Ministerial Instructions (MIs) to coincide with the coming into force of the modernised Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP). The modernised Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) also included specifications concerning:
- The new minimum language requirements and,
- The mandatory educational credential assessments of foreign educational credentials
MI8 also reset the cap for PhD applicants under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP). As such, it specified a cap of 1,000 new applications each year for this eligibility stream. Moreover, it specified a cap of 3,000 new applications each year for the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP). These caps were applicable from May 04, 2013 to April 30, 2014. Lastly, these Ministerial Instructions (MIs) renewed the temporary pauses applicable on the:
- Federal Entrepreneur Program and,
- Immigrant Investor Program (IIP)
Readers would need to visit the website of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for obtaining the full text of MI8.
The Ministerial Instructions 9 (MI9) for Parents and Grandparents
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) issued the ninth set of Ministerial Instructions (MIs) i.e. MI9 on June 15, 2013. These Ministerial Instructions (MIs) enabled Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to manage the processing of new applications for sponsorship of parents and grandparents as members of the family class.
These Ministerial Instructions (MIs) contain the following two measures:
- They place a temporary pause on the acceptance of new applications for sponsorship of parents and grandparents that would remain in place till January 01, 2014 to align with the expected coming into force of various program changes
- It is worth mentioning that this temporary pause had been in place since November 05, 2011 and was due to expire in November 2013
- They establish that with effect from January 02, 2014, the authorities would accept a maximum of 5,000 new complete applications for the sponsorship of parents and grandparents for processing each year
- It is worth mentioning that this limit will remain in place until the authorities issue a new Ministerial Instruction (MI) in the future because it is necessary to support the continued reduction of the current backlog of applications
Readers would need to visit the website of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for obtaining the full text of MI9.
The Ministerial Instructions 10 (MI10) for the Canadian Experience Class (CEC)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) issued the tenth set of Ministerial Instructions (MIs) i.e. MI10 on November 09, 2013. These Ministerial Instructions (MIs) enabled Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to manage the intake of new applications in the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).
According to the provisions specified in these instructions, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) would accept a maximum of 12,000 new Canadian Experience Class (CEC) applications from November 09, 2013 to October 31, 2014.
The Ministerial Instructions (MIs) also placed a further sub-cap of 200 applications each on most National Occupational Classification (NOC) skill level B occupations. In addition, the instructions specified that applicants would no longer be able to use work experience in six National Occupational Classification (NOC) skill level B occupations to qualify for the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). These occupations comprised:
- Cooks – National Occupational Classification (NOC) Code: 6322
- Food Service Supervisors – National Occupational Classification (NOC) Code:6311
- Administrative Officers – National Occupational Classification (NOC) Code: 1221
- Administrative Assistants – National Occupational Classification (NOC) Code: 1241
- Accounting Technicians and Bookkeepers – National Occupational Classification (NOC) Code: 1311 and,
- Retail Sales Supervisors – National Occupational Classification (NOC) Code: 6211
It is worth highlighting that the instructions did not place any sub-caps on the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 0 and A occupations. However, the instructions specified that the overall cap of 12,000 applications would apply on these occupations.
Readers would need to visit the website of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for obtaining the full text of MI10.
The Ministerial Instructions 11 (MI11) for Work Permits
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) issued the eleventh set of Ministerial Instructions (MIs) i.e. MI11 on December 31, 2013. These Ministerial Instructions (MIs) enabled Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to direct immigration officers to suspend the processing of work permit applications from certain foreign nationals. However, these directives applied only in cases where Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) had suspended the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) associated with the work permit application for these foreign nationals. In addition, a second Ministerial Instruction (MI) that identified the situation when an officer could consider revoking a work permit also came into force.
Readers would need to visit the website of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for obtaining the full text of MI11.
The Ministerial Instructions 12 (MI12) for Federal Skilled Workers (FSW), Federal Skilled Trades (FST) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) issued the twelfth set of Ministerial Instructions (MIs) i.e. MI12 on May 01, 2014. These Ministerial Instructions (MIs) enabled Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to reset the caps for the following programs:
- The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP)
- The Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) and,
- The Canadian Experience Class (CEC)
These Ministerial Instructions (MIs) established an overall cap of 25,000 new applications. They also established sub-caps of 1,000 applications in each of the 50 eligible occupations. Both these specifications were applicable to applications submitted under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) eligible occupations stream. These instructions also reset the cap for PhD applicants under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) to 500 new applications each year.
In addition, these instructions established a cap of 5,000 new applications each year, with sub-caps of 100 for each of the 90 eligible skilled trades. This provision applied to applications made under the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).
With regards to the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program, the Ministerial Instructions (MIs) reset the cap at 8,000 new applications each year. In addition, they maintained the existing National Occupation Classification (NOC) B occupational sub-caps and six ineligible occupations.
Furthermore, these Ministerial Instructions (MIs) renewed the ongoing pauses on the following programs as well:
- The Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) and,
- The Federal Entrepreneur Program (FEP)
Readers would need to visit the website of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for obtaining the full text of MI12.