TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Canada offer permanent resident status (permanent resident) about 90,000 students and foreign workers for plumbing, cleaning and other blue collar jobs.
This permanent resident vacancy to meet annual immigration targets has helped fuel economic growth in recent years.
A permanent resident is someone who has obtained permanent resident status by immigrating to Canada, but who is not a Canadian citizen and is a citizen of another country, according to the Canadian government website.
The Canadian government offers almost the same social security as Canadian citizens, such as health insurance, education, the right to work, obtains Canadian legal protection and can apply for Canadian citizenship. Permanent residents are not allowed to vote in elections, run for political office, or work in high-level security services.
Canada has welcomed 70,000 new permanent residents so far this year, according to official government figures.
But this figure is proportionately well below the 401,000 target set by the government for 2021. Three-quarters of the 70,000 permanent residents already live in Canada.
This goal was elusive after the Canadian border was closed due to Covid-19. The government is therefore focusing on the pool of immigrants already within its borders.
Expression of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the LGBT or Gay Pride parade in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on June 23, 2019. REUTERS / Chris Helgren
The program announced Wednesday invites 20,000 health workers, 40,000 international students and 30,000 “essential” workers from other sectors to apply for a permanent residence permit.
“It has been a very difficult year,” said Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino, “it highlighted the enormous contribution of temporary newcomers already in Canada.”
Last year, Canada added just 184,370 new permanent residents, the least since 1998 and well below its target of 341,000.
As part of the government’s economic growth strategy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seeks to add about 1% of the country’s roughly 38 million people each year.
Mendicino called out this year’s residency invitation to create a faster route to permanent resident status, and for jobs that aren’t in the professional or high-tech fields that Canada typically targets.
Dozens of eligible jobs currently considered “essential” range from plumbers and cleaners to farm workers and butchers.
Mendicino said jobs considered essential are the same as jobs sometimes labeled by low-skilled people.
“From caring for the elderly to preparing meals, we now have a better appreciation of the many skills and talents and support that temporary workers provide in our economy,” Mendicino said, Globalnews reported.
On May 6, the Immigration Department will begin accepting up to 50,000 applications from healthcare workers and other essential workers and 40,000 applications from international students graduating from Canadian institutions.
“The pandemic has helped recognize the importance of the work of these people,” said Jamie Chai Yun Liew, professor of immigration law at the University of Ottawa.
Goldy Hyder, president of the Canadian Business Council, said the new program will strengthen Canada’s economic recovery by ensuring that everyone who wants to participate in the workforce has the capacity to do so.
“Immigrants have long played an important role in supporting the high standard of living of Canadians and in building vibrant communities,” he said.
Hyder said restrictions related to Covid-19 have hit Canada’s immigration system, drastically reducing the number of newcomers entering the country.
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REUTERS | GOVERNMENT OF CANADA | GLOBALNEWS
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