Importance of Cavity-free Canadians

Teeth

The demand for Canadians to have healthier teeth and gums is triggering the federal government to rethink its recognition of foreign dentists’ credentials.  Just announced, a new process will comprehensively assess dentists trained in non-accredited dental schools in efforts to identify qualified candidates immediately eligible to take the national exams for practicing in Canada.

Previously, most of these overseas dentists would require extra training to meet Canadian standards of dental education before being permitted to write the qualifying exams.  Introducing this program will fast-track many perfectly qualified dentists towards resuming their career in Canada.

Candy lovers and chocoholics can all applaud.

-Leticia Siu, Articled Student

What you need to know about where we’ve come from

The other day I received a phone call from a lady who was inquiring about our immigration firm, our lawyers, and consultants. Since it was a family sponsorship case I immediately reccomended Vivien Lee who specializes in sponsorship cases. She then proceeded to ask, “how old is she?” At first I was a little shocked. I even thought the question to be a little rude. “Excuse me,” I replied. I thought I heard wrong. In western culture, it is often thought of as impolite to inquire about a person’s age. Instead she said to me “Well, a person age tells a lot about how much expertise they have in their field.” To a certain extent I agree with that assumption. I replied that Vivien had been practicing immigration law for over twenty years. “Okay, good,” she replied.

Sometimes it’s important to know where a person has been before you can trust them. And you can’t really trust a company to handle your immigration case unless you know where we’ve come from. So here’s the story of our firm in a nutshell:

Lowe and Company was founded by lawyer Jeffrey Lowe, who started his practice not in immigration law, but in corporate and real estate law. During a vacation to hong Kong one year he was confronted by the devastation of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Because people had lost all faith in their government, they longed to escape to a place like Canada where it seemed that all problems would dissappear for them. At  first Jeffrey was hesitant to get into this field because there was a stereotype of immigration consultants as being unscrupulous and corrupt money mongers who didn’t care at all about their clients. It was then that his good friend and mentor convinced him that if he didn’t do it, “the Chinese people would be thrown to the wolves.” When he returned home to Canada, Jeffrey started Lowe & Company.

The team we have here has been helping a diverse group of people from many different countries find new homes in Canada for over 20 years. It’s important to all of us that you are taken care of, that your voice is heard, and that you get where you want to go. So send us an email or give us a call and we’ll tell you how we’re different.

info@CanadaVisaLaw.com

1-604-875-9338

twitter @LoweNCompany

Senior Consultant Vivien Lee to visit Singapore

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Image by Robbie's Photo Art via Flickr

 

Senior Consultant Vivien Lee will be in Singapore from September 27 to October 2, 2010. To book a consultation with her, please visit CanadaVisaLaw.com or email info@canadavisalaw.com.

There are many opportunities in Canada for skilled workers from Singapore. Some in demand occupations include but are not limited to: nurses, medical practitioners, cooks, psychologists, electricians, dentists, and architects.

Don’t miss this great opportunity to explore a life in Canada.

Canada speeds up foreign credential recognition for medical doctors

Image via Wikipedia

It will soon be a little easier for foreign medical doctors to obtain their licenses in Canada. Because of the shortage of medical doctors in this country, the Medical council of Canada will soon receive more than 2.8 million dollars to help foreign trained physicians practice in Canada.

While 2.8 million may seem like a lot, it is nothing compared to the $50 million that the government has invested to improve foreign credential recognition. Although it may seem that it is only now that Canada is realizing it’s shortage of skilled medical personnel, a lot of money has been invested since 2006 to ensure that foreign doctors have an easier time obtaining work in Canada. It is definitely a project that is important to both Canadian citizens and the government alike.

The Foreign Credentials Referral Office was created in 2007 with an initial investment of $37.2 million to be distributed over five years. This was increased by $7.5 million in Budget 2009 and subsequently by $6 million in 2010–2011. 

“Canadians with loved ones who are sick or injured want foreign-trained medical doctors in the emergency room or the doctor’s office doing what they do best,” said Minister Kenney. “This investment is part of the federal government’s overall action plan to work with the provinces and territories to ensure that licensing bodies put in place better programs to recognize foreign credentials.”

The Medical Council of Canada will soon be implementing a system whereby foreign doctors can apply electronically to have their credentials recognized.

“Once the application for medical registration launches in 2012, the process to apply for a medical licence will become much easier,” said Dr. Trevor Theman, Vice-President of the Medical Council of Canada’s Executive Board. “Physicians will only have to submit a pre‑populated electronic application and provide access to authenticated credentials.”

With files from the September 1st press release from http://news.gc.ca.

Related Articles

• Doctor drain turns to gain: Physicians move north (nationalpost.com)
• Oxford-trained doctor shut out of B.C. (cbc.ca)

Why being Canadian feels good

This video essay by Stephen Brunt beautifully explains Canadian patriotism.

Changes to the designated country list for medical examinations

Generally, if the duration of a tourist, student or temporary foreign worker’s visit to Canada is for more than 6 months, a medical examination is required prior to arrival if the visitor had resided for 6 or more consecutive months in a designated country in the 1 year prior to arriving in Canada.

With effect from September 1, 2010, the designated country list has been updated and some notable countries removed from the list requiring medical examinations include:-

• Iran
• Mexico
• Saudi Arabia
• Singapore

Please click here for the complete list.

Improvements affecting temporary foreign workers

Minister Kenny. Image via Wikipedia

 

According to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney, “The government is taking action to protect temporary foreign workers, including live-in caregivers, from potential abuse and exploitation . . . After all, they are an essential element of Canada’s economic success.”

“These changes represent an important step. Temporary foreign workers help the Canadian economy by filling labour needs  in sectors where Canadians or permanent residents are not readily available,” said Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. “Our government is taking action to improve the integrity of the program while ensuring that these people are afforded the necessary protections.”

The changes that will be implemented to protect Canada’s foreign workers include:

- A two year ban on employers who exploit worker wages, working conditions, etc

- A more complete and rgorous assesment about the genuiness of the job offer

- Limit of time a foreign worker can remain in Canada before returing home.

Citizen and Immigration Canada admits that the Canada Foreign Worker program is essential to keep the economy afloat and to meet the labout shortages we have. This program is heavily utilized bby small businesses, who without this may not be able to stay running.

These changes are to be implemented in April 2011

With files from the August 18th press release from Citizen and Immigration Canada

Related Articles

• Temporary Foreign Worker program should be scrapped, not reformed (newswire.ca)
• Nannies, foreign workers face new rules (cbc.ca)

Multicultural destination

The government of Canada recently announced its new Multiculturalism Grants and Contributions Program. This project aims to “fund events that promote interaction among cultural and religious communities.”

According to a media release seen yesterday on the CIC website, this announcement was made by Senator Yonah Martin and Dr Alice Wong, Parliamentary secretary for multiculturalism.

“The Government of Canada is acting to help individuals and communities build a strong, integrated society. Through Inter-Action, we will support activities that contribute to a deeper understanding of our shared Canadian values and civic pride,” said Senator Martin.

What this means is that the country is taking even greater steps to support what it sees as a growing immigrant community. The country is looking to attract people from all over the world. If immigrant families in Canada have the support they need to live comfortable lives, more people may think of immigrating here.

Activities eligible for funding through Inter-Action’s Events stream include:

-Community events celebrating the historic contributions of a particular ethnic, cultural or religious group, including events that support such initiatives as Asian Heritage Month and Black History Month;

-Youth events celebrating citizenship, organized by a coalition of ethnic, cultural or faith-based groups within a community;

-Sporting or musical events involving various ethnic, cultural or faith-based communities;

-Interfaith dialogues that bring together local representatives from Canada’s religious groups;

-Public education events that foster intercultural and interfaith understanding, civic memory, civic pride and respect for core democratic values

Canada is making more of an effort to support diversity through these kinds of funding initiatives.

Tom Brokaw explains Canada

In case you don’t know much about us, here is NBC anchor Tom Brokaw explaining this great country to our American neighbours. After watching this, why wouldn’t you want to live here?

Happy Canada day everyone.

Immigrant Investor Requirements Doubled

As we had predicted in our previous posting on April 29th, the Canadian government announced an increase in the requirements for the Federal Investor Immigrant Program today. Previously, foreign businesspeople with a net worth of at least $800,000 CDN could invest $400,000 into a Government Immigration Fund for 5 years and 3 months with no interest, and qualify for immigrant visas for themselves and their families. This amount had not changed since April 1999;  most immigrants would finance their investment with a one time down payment of $120,000.

The new requirements are a net worth of at least $1.6 million CDN, and an investment of $800,000 CDN for 5 years and 3 months.  The government also announced an “Administrative Pause”, indicating that it will no longer accept applications for Investor Immigration until the new Regulations become effective, likely this fall.

There may still be an opportunity for business immigrants to immigrate with the $400,000/$120,000 amounts under the Quebec Investor Immigration Program for the next few months. Parlez vous Francais?