Immigration

WORK PERMIT – UPDATE:

As of November 21, 2015, CIC no longer accepts the IMM5802 Offer of Employment to a Foreign National Exempt from the Labour Market Impact Assessment form. If your employer has given you a completed copy of this form, you must ask your employer to resubmit the offer of employment online through the Employer Portal.

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Bill C-35, An Act to Amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act came into force on June 30, 2011 and paralegals who are licensed by the Law Society are now eligible to provide certain legal services in the field of immigration law. Paralegals who are licensed by the Law Society can appear before the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) to represent a client or clients in an IRB hearing, and can provide legal services to clients for matters relating to an IRB hearing. 

Changes to the International Student Program

New rules to reduce the potential for fraud or misuse of the program, protect Canada’s international reputation for high-quality education and improve the services available to genuine students came into force on June 1, 2014. The new rules:

• Limit the issuance of study permits to applicants who will be studying at a designated learning institution (DLI), including institutions that are designated by provinces and territories on the basis of meeting minimum standards;
• Require students to actively pursue their studies while in Canada; and
• Allow full-time international students enrolled at designated institutions in certain programs to work part-time off campus and full-time during scheduled school breaks without a work permit.

Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP)

Effective August 27, 2015, the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) will not be accepting new applications under anyAINP Streams or Categories until January 27, 2016. This temporary pause will help the AINP assess existing applications in the queue and prevent the queue from growing further.

Applications postmarked after August 27, 2015 will be returned. Complete AINP applications postmarked on or before August 27, 2015 will be accepted for processing. AINP staff will continue to assess applications already in the queue. Visit the AINP processing and inventory page for regular updates on application processing and inventory status.