Published by Gareth McConnell Global Visas on May 11th, 2009 in Canadian Immigration
Are you Canadian?
Changes to Canadian immigration rules could mean hundreds of thousands of people around the world might automatically qualify for Canadian citizenship.
Amendments to Canadian Citizenship rules last month automatically grants citizenship to those affected under the old Canadian Citizenship Act, including children whose parents were born in Canada.
From April 17, 2009, Canadian citizenship has been retrospectively restored to people forced to give it up when they moved to another country.
According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), you may be a Canadian Citizen if you:
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Published by Gareth McConnell Global Visas on February 17th, 2009 in Canadian Immigration, Global Immigration
Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney
Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney has spoken out after the leader of a Canadian-Arab organisation called him a ‘professional whore’ for supporting Israel after a recent anti-Israel rally in Toronto.
Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation, which campaigns to fight negative stereotyping of Arabs, made the remarks after Kenney spoke out at the January 10 protests in Toronto where demonstrators screamed for the war to continue so ‘Hezbollah could wipe the state of terrorism off the planet’, waved Hezbollah flags and spat at counter protesters.
Speaking to Sun Media, Kenney announced ‘groups whose leaders say intolerant or hateful things shouldn’t get taxpayer funding’.
“We should not be rewarding those who express views that are contrary to Canada’s best liberal values of tolerance and mutual respect,” said Kenney.
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Published by Gareth McConnell Global Visas on October 22nd, 2008 in Canadian Immigration
Ker-ching!
6 things you need to know to get you there
Canada is one of the most rewarding and dynamic countries in the world. The United Nations voted it into 4th place 2007/08, up two places from the previous year.
Scoring it on health, educational and economic indicators, it beats Australia, Ireland, UK and USA.
There are many avenues to explore to become a Canadian citizen, here we look at the Federal Skilled Worker programme.
Immigration applications are assessed on six factors designed to indicate which applicants are likely to become economically established upon immigration to Canada.
The selection factors are summarized as follows:
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Published by Gareth McConnell Global Visas on October 14th, 2008 in Canadian Immigration, Expats
You got our vote!
Unfair voter registration laws are punishing expat workers in locations like London, New York and Hong Kong.
Simply put, if you’re Canadian and are working abroad more than five years you can’t vote. Those away less than five years can – but you must declare your intention to return to the homeland, and that could cost you dearly in taxes.
Long-term assignments overseas can mean lower taxes than in Canada but the cost of living in places like Hong Kong or London is considerably higher than in Canadian cities.
If you want to vote you run the risk of high taxes and high living costs.
David Armitage, a governor of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong said, “I would like Revenue Canada to come out and say Canadians living abroad can register to vote without having it impact their tax status”.
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Published by Global Visas on June 24th, 2008 in Canadian Immigration
Will you send me to our Canadian branch?
Recently I read an article by Toronto journalist and author, Joe Clark called The Web is like Canada. The article touches on the paradigm and similarities that the web and Canada have to each other. Mr. Clark states: “like the web Canada defines itself by what it is not”.
“Only Canadians could assert themselves by explaining what they aren’t. Even the West and East Germans; the North and South Koreans; the New Zealanders and the Australians; the Scottish, the Welsh, the Irish, the Northern Irish, and the British; or the Walloons and the Flemish – all identifiable in relation to someone else – don’t take definition by negation to such lengths”.
I thought how right Clark is. We hear very little of Canada and when we do hear about them they are either “requesting” (I use the word request and not need for good reasons) for skilled immigrants, or on its picturesque perfection and maybe sometimes if we are lucky we may hear a bit on sporting events.
But generally we hear very little of this diverse country and its inhabitants and yet many desire to move to there. Canada has become almost like a myth, it exist only when you want to get to it but it somehow manages to remain in hibernation until its needed to come out to make some announcement to the world or defend itself from Americans.
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Published by Global Visas on June 10th, 2008 in Canadian Immigration
Parliament of Canada
The highly controversial Canadian immigration proposals were past in the Commons last night, this legislation will now go to the Senate for a final vote.
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