The Immigration Advisory Council released its report earlier this month in February, 2023. There are approximately 70 recommendations that were listed in this report.
Many of the recommendations have been suggested to the government for many years. For instance, the need for more approvals of provincial nominees, and the following one involving foreign credential recognition:
“Explore offering a pre-arrival foreign credential assessment service in collaboration with regulatory bodies and professional associations to ensure an applicant has the right experience and academic credentials to work in Manitoba. The majority (79 per cent) of people who answered the survey are in favour of offering pre-arrival foreign credential recognition with professional and regulatory bodies before immigrants land in Manitoba.” This one about foreign credential recognition has been discussed for the last 25 years. The need for action and implementation of this suggestion/recommendation is long overdue. But it is hard to police the regulatory bodies who by and large like to beat to their own drum. We have a lot of foreign educated skilled workers who are nurses and doctors, but getting the regulatory bodies to implement licensing is a very challenging goal to administer.
The IAC put forward three recommendation areas:
- Improve recruitment in terms of efficiency and breadth of efforts to attract applicants by collaborating with community and business in Manitoba.
- Streamline the MPNP through collaboration with the federal government and aligning the program to the evolving labour needs within the province.
- Enhance settlement services so more immigrants choose to stay in Manitoba, to the benefit of businesses, the economy and our communities.
The above 3 recommendations have long been discussed with the MB PNP office. The recommendations are of course in the best interests of Manitobans. The real question is the political will of the government in power to put words into action.
The issue with work permits and the public policy in regards to post graduate work permit program. The issue of late is how the public policy announced last year and offers continued employment to workers up to MAY, 2023 be allowed to work if that same person did not file a new extension of their work permit before DEC. 31/22. It is the opinion of the writer that for the applicant to be able to continue working, that person must, of necessity, have applied to extend and or renew their work permit before Dec. 31/22. If they did not, it may not be possible for that foreign worker to continue working within the public policy announced last year. There is a conflict between government policy and the law and statutes that govern this area of the immigration process. It is more likely than not, that if the applicant did not file a new work permit application and try to restore their status prior to midnite on Dec. 31/22 then that person probably is not eligible to take advantage of the public policy in place till May, 2023.
David H. Davis is the founder and owner of Davis Immigration Law Office. He and his team can be reached by email at: david@daviddavislaw.com on the web at www.daviddavislaw.com or by phone at 204-956-2336 extension 208. David has over 33 years of legal experience in Canadian immigration legal matters.