CANADIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

Saskatchewan immigration minister expects to welcome 10,000 international migrants

Tuesday, 9 June 2009

Saskatchewan's immigration minister is convinced the province will welcome as many as 10,000 international migrants in the next 12 to 18 months.

Rob Norris, who is also minister of advanced education, employment and labour, bases his forecast on the target set for the Saskatchewan immigrant nominee program, which fast-tracks applications from immigrants needed in the labour market. In 2008, the province's target was 2,800 nominations. The program exceeded that target, bringing in 2,914 nominees and 7,500 people.

New arrivals have settled across the province, added Norris, stimulating economic activity in places ranging from Saskatoon and Regina to Moose Jaw and Swift Current. Immigrants from 112 countries have settled in 160 communities, with 70 per cent of them going to the two major cities.

"I have every expectation that once again we are going to meet that target," Norris said in an interview Tuesday. They are bringing new ideas, new knowledge and new networks to Saskatchewan and they're helping to reinvigorate our communities, he added.

The province's new nominee target this year is 3,400, which would bring in about 10,000 people, since most nominees arrive here with families.

Norris said the government will bring forward a new immigration strategy this month based on consultations around the province in the last half of 2008. The new strategy is, in part, intended to ensure new Saskatchewan residents have confidence in the system. The government will provide an avenue for asking questions and offer more education services, always recognizing the cultural components to immigration. They are trained in a wide variety of jobs. Most nominees are welders, physicians, professors, post-secondary teaching assistants and long-haul truck drivers.

Another improvement to the nominee program is a 24 per cent reduction in the time it takes to process applications, now down to 5.2 months. Applications are also up, by about 53 per cent.

"We've seen sustained interest," said Norris. "I have every expectation we're going to meet this goal."

There are eight categories in the nominee program, many of them -- particularly the skilled-worker stream -- employer-driven. There are also student, family and entrepreneur categories. The entrepreneur program was for years an "underdeveloped" part of the nominee program, said Norris, but has since picked up. In the last fiscal year, 109 entrepreneurial nominees were accepted, a 118 per cent increase from the year before.

Entrepreneurial nominees come to Saskatchewan with high net worth, of $250,000 or more, and engage in business activities, said Roberta Cross, director of the entrepreneur unit of the ministry. For example these entrepreneurs can be encouraged to purchase businesses from retiring Saskatchewan people, many of whom do not have succession plans.

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