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I came to know that there will be new OPS Internship opportunities posted online around July 6.  Please see the information below and Memo to OBTP Participants 6 July 2012

If you are an internationally trained engineer who has, or is eligible for, a provisional licence from Professional Engineers Ontario (if you have passed the Professional Practice Exam and met all other technical and educational requirements for licensing except for the 12-months of Canadian experience) please review program information on the Youth and New Professionals Secretariat web site at http://www.gojobs.gov.on.ca/ITE.asp and consider applying to positions that match your education and experience.

Internship positions will be posted at this site on or about July 6, 2012, and will be posted for a period of three weeks. Internships are 12 to 15 months long, and will provide the experience required to qualify for licensure.

Please contact the below if you are qualified and plan to apply to one of these positions.  If there is a need they would try to host an information session about applying for work in the OPS.

You are qualified if you:

·        Have satisfied PEO’s academic requirements for licensure

   AND

·        Have passed PEO’s Professional Practice Exam PPE

AND

·        The only remaining requirement is 12 months of Canadian experience

Access Centre for Regulated Employment (ACRE)

171 Queens Ave, Suite 320, London ON N6A 5J7

Tel:519.858.2348 | Fax: 519.858.5431 |info@accesscentre.ca

For Internationally Trained Individuals in Southwestern Ontario

www.accesscentre.ca | Join us on Facebook

UPDATE: The opportunities are posted and additional info.

Overview

The OPS Internship Program for Internationally Trained Engineers (ITEs) provides paid work placements of 12 to 15 months in duration. The internship experience is designed to give the relevant Canadian work experience required for licensing by Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), the licensing body for engineers in Ontario, so interns can meet licence requirements and join Ontario’s labour market.

Available positions are posted in the Internship Assignments section below. All 2012 positions are 12 months in duration and have an annual minimum salary of $60,682. Applicants should have, or be eligible for, their provisional licence from PEO. Your application should include your resume and cover letter along with a copy of your provisional licence or letter from PEO stating your eligibility for a provisional licence. The closing date for all positions is July 26, 2012. Please see the relevant job ad for instructions on where to send your application.

Eligibility

Internationally trained engineers who apply for ITE positions must have been screened through Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) to ascertain that they qualify by satisfying technical/educational requirements for licensing except for the 12-months of Canadian experience.  Candidates should provide documentation from PEO with their applications that demonstrate they have:

• Satisfied PEO’s academic and technical requirements for licensing except for the minimum 12 months of verifiable and acceptable engineering experience in a                             Canadian jurisdiction, under the supervision of a professional engineer licensed in the jurisdiction in which the work was undertaken.
• Demonstrated to PEO’s satisfaction at least 36 months of acceptable and verifiable engineering experience.
• Passed PEO’s Professional Practice Examination.

In addition, candidates must:

• Be eligible for work and licensing in Canada.
• Have language skills adequate for the workplace.

To find out more about engineering in Ontario, visit the PEO website.

Internship Assignments

The OPS employs engineers in a range of disciplines, including:

• Chemical
• Civil
• Electrical
• Environmental
• Mechanical

Candidates will be hired for positions that are compatible with their academic discipline, so they may meet PEO’s licence requirements and become licensed engineers at the end of the internship period. Please note that it is the responsibility of the applicant to demonstrate that the engineering experience requirements as outlined in PEO’s Guide to the Required Experience for Licensing as a Professional Engineer in Ontario have been met to the satisfaction of the association.

Job advertisements for positions that have been designated bilingual will be provided in both English and French. Positions that are not designated bilingual are not translated and are displayed in English only on both the English and French versions of the website.

All 2012-2013 positions are 12 to 15 months in duration and have an annual minimum salary of $ 60,682. Applicants should have, or be eligible for, their Provisional Licence from PEO. Your application should include your resume and cover letter along with a copy of your provisional licence or letter from PEO stating your eligibility for a provisional licence. The closing date for all positions is Thursday, July 26, 2012. Applications received after that date will not be accepted. Please see the relevant job add for instructions on where to send your application.

Internationally Trained Engineer Developmental; Provincial Highways Management Division; Highways Standards Branch; Ministry of Transportation; Various Locations (7 positions).

• Job Ad – Kingston (3 positions)
• Job Ad – North Bay (2 positions)
• Job Ad – St. Catharines (2 positions)
• Job Specification – all positions

Project Engineer Intern; Operations Division; Environmental Approvals Branch; Ministry of the Environment; Toronto (5 positions).

• Job Ad – Air (1 position)
• Job Specification – Air

• Job Ad – Noise (2 positions)
• Job Specification – Noise

• Job Ad – Waste (1 position)
• Job Specification – Waste

• Job Ad – Wastewater (1 position)
• Job Specification – Wastewater

Project Engineer Intern; Operations Division; Environmental Approvals Access and Service Integration Branch; Ministry of the Environment, Toronto (1 position).

• Job Ad – Registration Application Assessment Unit (1 position)
• Job Specification – Registration Application Assessment Unit

Project Engineer Intern – Occupational Health and Safety; Operations Division, Occupational Health and Safety Branch; Ministry of Labour; Toronto (2 positions)

• Job Ad – Occupational Health and Safety (2 positions)
• Job Specification – Occupational Health and Safety

Additional Information

To learn more about becoming a licensed engineer in Ontario, please contact Professional Engineers Ontario.

For additional information about the OPS Internship Program for Internationally Trained Engineers contact us by e-mail at ITIproposals@ontario.ca or by post at:

Youth and New Professionals Secretariat, ITE Program

99 Wellesley St. West, Whitney block, 5th Floor, Room 5320

Toronto, ON M7A 1W4

Good luck!

Indira Prabhakaran.

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Much to the dissappointment of a lot of folks waiting to apply under the Federal Skilled Worker category, CIC has finally chopped down the options to apply for Permanent Residence under that category.

Only 2 category of FSW applications will be accepted by CIO for processing for ALL applications received on or after July 1 2012.

Category 1

You have an offer of arranged employment in Canada. The employment offer should:

• be in writing,
• be indeterminate in duration, and
• meet the arranged employment described  in this guide.

Category 2

You are an international student currently enrolled in a doctoral (PhD) program, delivered by a recognized post-secondary educational institution located in Canada, and:

• have completed at least two years towards the completion of your PhD,
• are in good academic standing, and
• are not a recipient of a Government of Canada award requiring you to return to your home country to apply your knowledge and skills,

OR

you have completed a PhD program from a recognized post-secondary educational institution located in Canada no more than 12 months before your application is received by the Centralized Intake Office (CIO) and:

• you have not received a Government of Canada award that requires you to return to your home country to apply your knowledge and skills; or
• if you were a recipient of such an award, you have satisfied the terms/conditions of the award.

While this is bad news for those who were planning to apply this year, it could be good news for all those in the endless wait for processing of their applications already submitted.

Indira Prabhakaran.

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Sweeping changes proposed in a new immigration bill would give new powers to the minister of immigration, including the ability to deny entry to visitors for public policy reasons and to override the rules to let otherwise inadmissible people come to Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney tabled legislation in the House Wednesday that would make it easier for the government to deport refugees, permanent residents and visitors for “serious criminality,” crimes where the punishment is six months or more in jail.

Kenney is selling the bill based on the changes proposed to allow automatic deportation for any non-Canadian sentenced to more than six months in jail.

“I think you can call them dangerous, you can call them serious, we don’t want them in Canada anymore, and that’s the bottom line,” Kenney told Chris Hall on CBC News Network’s Power & Politics.

“If you are a foreign national and you want the privilege of staying in Canada, don’t commit a serious crime.… I don’t think that’s too much to ask people.”

But there’s far more to the bill, including a measure that would allow the immigration minister to decide who can enter the country. One measure would give him the power to deny someone entry or temporary resident status for up to three years on the basis of public policy considerations.

Another measure would let him override the rules to allow entry to someone the minister wants to be allowed in. The example provided in a background document is for a head of state who satisfies the minister that the visit isn’t contrary to the national interest but who would otherwise not be allowed in.

“Sometimes we have foreigners who do not have a criminal conviction and are therefore not strictly inadmissible to Canada under our current law, but who, for example, may have a long track record of promoting violence or hatred against vulnerable groups,” Kenney said, giving the example of an imam who calls for the execution of gays and lesbians, justifies domestic abuse and makes anti-Semitic remarks.

“We have no legal tool to keep him out right now because he hasn’t committed a crime in, say, Saudi Arabia. He might be committing hate crimes in Canada,” Kenney said.

“We would use it sparingly, probably only a handful of cases a year, really for those folks for which there is no other legal grounds to keep them out of the country.”

The proposed law would also take away humanitarian and compassionate grounds as factors in appealing a decision that someone is inadmissible to Canada and would mean the public safety minister would be able to consider only national security and public safety in deciding whether someone can become Canadian.

A spokesman for Kenney said there are 2,747 people with convictions appealing to the Immigration Appeal Division to be able to stay in Canada.

Other proposed changes under the act include:

A rule that would deny an appeal to those with foreign convictions for crimes that would carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in Canada.

A rule that would deny entry to Canada to those with a family member inadmissible for security and human rights reasons or organized crime connections, even if that family member isn’t travelling with them.

A five-year inadmissibility period for lying on immigration applications.

Mandatory CSIS interviews if requested.

Reporting conditions for those under deportation orders.

Automatic inadmissibility for non-Canadians and permanent residents for acts of espionage or acts against Canada’s interests.

Kenney suggested one of the reasons for the changes is that judges sometimes sentence people to two years less a day to allow them to keep their immigration appeals. The current law allows an appeal for those sentenced to less than two years.

“If you commit a serious crime in Canada, we are going to send you packing as quickly as we can,” Kenney said.

In their election campaign platform last year, the Conservatives promised to streamline deportations of “foreign criminals” from Canada.

“It often takes years to deport even dangerous foreign criminals from Canada. In some cases, foreign criminals and terrorists here have evaded removal from Canada for over a decade as they exploit endless appeals and loopholes. Canadians expect that foreign criminals will get due process before being removed, but not an endless abuse of our generosity,” campaign literature said.

Immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman criticized the decision to remove the right of appeal for people sentenced to more than six months in prison.

“[The change] means that there will be no review of all of the circumstances and how the deportation order might affect children or spouses, family, etc.,” Waldman said in an email to CBC News. “It means deportation regardless of how long the person is in Canada.”

“The whole point of the appeal and review [process] was to ensure that people who have committed minor offences and who have lived all their life here or who have children who will be affected, that these matters get considered so that there is a balancing done before the person is deported.”

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae said Wednesday the government is trying to “change the channel” by introducing legislation a day before the House is expected to adjourn for the summer.

“The [Prime Minister's Office] is troubled,” Rae told reporters on Parliament Hill.

“Every time they get into trouble with their agenda, they say let’s go back to law and order.… We’ll be studying it carefully but I think we have to understand the political game that’s being played here. You don’t bring in legislation at the very end of June with a view that this is something that you’re going to get done. It’s a view that you want to get some publicity and you want to get a headline.”

The legislation is the latest in a series of changes to Canada’s immigration and refugee system, including:

Bill C-31, which targets human smuggling and gives the immigration minister sole authority to decide which groups of refugee claimants are “mass arrivals.” The bill has passed the House of Commons and is being considered by the Senate.

Amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act contained in the omnibus budget bill, which passed the House this week, that will wipe out a backlog of 280,000 applications under the Federal Skilled Worker Program. Applications made before 2008 would be deleted and the application fee refunded.

A new policy that comes into effect June 30 will cut back on the services offered to refugees under the Interim Federal Health Program, which gives temporary health-care coverage to approximately 128,000 refugees.

A decision by Kenney last year to freeze applications from foreign parents and grandparents to join their children in Canada, while raising the annual number of applicants allowed in to the country, in a bid to clear a backlog of 180,000 applications. He also introduced a new “super-visa” that allows family members to visit Canada for up to 10 years provided they have a minimum annual income and arrange their own health insurance.

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Hi All

I know.. I know.. I received and am still receiving tons of messages, emails, comments about what the hell screwed this blog up recently.. I’m not sure yet, but I managed to do something and fixed it for now. There are some inconsistencies with the pictures but all the posts are up for now. I will do the patch work in a couple of days for the pictures and links.

Sorry I did not respond to the emails and messages regarding the screwed blog . I was stuck with some other stuff and so did not find enough time . I will try to be regular as much as I can.

Thanks for your love and patience .

Indira Prabhakaran.

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Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA) is now accepting applications for the 2012 – 2014 PAIE Program for Internationally Trained Engineers and Geoscientists!
 
 PAIE is an innovative, employer-led training program that connects highly skilled Internationally Trained Engineers and Geoscientists with professional employment opportunities that help to fulfill the Canadian experience required for a professional license as a P.Eng. or P.Geo.

PAIE is developed by TRCA in collaboration with Professional Engineers Ontario, the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario, and Ryerson University.
 
Over 90% of PAIE graduates are working in their professional field, earning an average of $55,000 in their first year on the job!

Participation in the PAIE Program provides you with:
• Over 250 hours of targeted professional training valued at $20,000 per person that includes Technical Report Writing, Project Management, Canadian Legislation & Regulations, Current Industry Practices, Technical Software (ArcGIS, OTTHYMO, HEC-RAS, MS Project), Career Development Coaching, Field Excursions, etc.
• Access to paid, professional employment opportunities in TRCA’s vast employer network for P.Eng. or P.Geo. licensure
APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED ON AN ON-GOING BASIS UNTIL MONDAY MAY 31, 2012!
To apply and learn more visit www.trca.on.ca/paie. Please email cderiggs@trca.on.ca to register for one of their upcoming Information Sessions.

Indira Prabhakaran.

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Ottawa, March 30, 2012 — To create a fast and flexible immigration system that creates jobs and promotes Canada’s long term prosperity, the Government of Canada will eliminate the backlog in the main federal economic immigration program.

“The Federal Skilled Worker Program backlog is a major roadblock to Canada’s ability to respond to rapidly changing labour market needs,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. “Having to process applications that are as many as eight years out of date reduces our ability to focus on new applicants with skills and talents that our economy needs today.”

As announced in Economic Action Plan 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is planning to refund fees and return stale applications from nearly all those applicants who applied under the dated criteria in existence before February 27, 2008.

CIC is transforming its suite of economic immigration programs to create a just-in-time system that recruits people with the right skills to meet Canada’s labour market needs, fast tracks their immigration, and gets them working in a period of months, not years. Eliminating the longstanding backlog of FSW applications will allow the Department to focus resources on facilitating the arrival of skilled immigrants who apply under the current eligibility criteria.

Under proposed legislation, CIC will close the files of FSW applicants who applied before February 27, 2008, and for whom an immigration officer has not made a decision based on selection criteria by March 29, 2012. This is expected to affect around 280,000 applicants, including their dependants. CIC will begin the process of returning the full amount of fees paid to the Department by these affected FSW applicants. For those who have passed the selection criteria stage – approximately 20,000 people – CIC will continue processing their applications until they are approved for entry into Canada or not.

Over the last decade, the number of FSW applications received has greatly exceeded the space available within the Immigration Levels Plan each year, resulting in long processing times and an increasing inventory. Under the 2008 Action Plan for Faster Immigration, CIC began to limit intake to priority occupations. The Department added caps to the number of new applications in 2010. As a result of these efforts, CIC has reduced the pre-2008 backlog by more than 50 percent, and the overall FSW inventory by over 25 percent. However, without further action, some FSW applicants might have to wait until 2017 for a decision.

“It’s unreasonable to keep applicants waiting for another five years,” said Minister Kenney. “It’s also a far cry from the nimble and responsive immigration system Canada needs to remain a destination of choice.”

This is quite depressing for those friends who have been waiting patiently for years and years with hope . They are moving in the right direction to reduce the backlogs, but at the cost of so many ‘would-have been Canadians’. I hope most of those unfortunate friends, who are still interested in immigrating, are eligible to reapply under current and future streams.

Indira Prabhakaran.

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Sorry Readers, Time to take my stand now!

I have quoted the same stuff so many times on posts and comments about the timelines and the repeated questions. I seriously think this blog is getting distracted from its original goal. The goal of this blog is to form a community and share experiences of us moving to a new place. Yes, we are making new friends here and sharing our experiences to help each other. But what is the use of the same questions and answers repeated over and over again everyday? The time I take to answer those queries could be used to share more new information rather than typing the same answers over and over again. So, I have decided NOT TO answer the queries that are targeting the below stuff.

1. What is the application process and what is the next step? – The answer is in the process page of the blog and you can search this blog with your keywords and see for yourself, how my previous answers to fellow queries relate to your situation. Search form is on the top right corner of this blog.

2. When will I get my medicals, how long will it take to go to In Process in ECAS etc.,? – The answer for this is already discussed in the timelines and note to readers posts.

3. How long will it take for the visas to be stamped? When will our passports be returned? Why are they taking so long to send the passports back? - The answer is 15 days to 6 months or even more and this is already discussed on too many occasions here.

4. Other queries that appear to be repetitive on this blog will not be answered. This applies to the emails I receive as well. So, if your query disappears and goes unanswered for a while, that means the answer was very much discussed on this blog already.

5. Of course, if the queries are not about the above stuff, it will be answered as soon as I can .

I hope you understand my decision. Thank you all for your extended support all these days and I do look forward for your love and support in the future.

Together we can achieve More!

Indira Prabhakaran.

Continue reading »]]> News Release – Minister Kenney proposes to assess foreign education credentials before skilled workers arrive.

Ottawa, March 28, 2012 – Canada is proposing a major change to how foreign skilled workers’ education credentials are assessed, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today.

The proposed new requirement would mean that applicants wanting to immigrate as Federal Skilled Workers would have their foreign education credentials assessed and verified by designated organizations before they arrive in Canada.

“Our Government is building an immigration system that is focused on economic growth and ensuring that all Canadians, including immigrants, are able to contribute to their maximum capacity,” said Jason Kenney.  “By having their foreign education credentials assessed before their arrival to Canada, foreign skilled workers will have a better sense of how their credentials fit into the Canadian labour market and will be able to contribute their full skill set to the economy more quickly. This proposal is part of a broader package of transformational changes that will make Canada’s immigration policies work better for the Canadian economy.”

A pre-arrival assessment would let applicants know how their education credentials compare to Canadian credentials and it will give immigrants a sense of how Canadian employers are likely to value their education. This will also screen out people without proper education levels and is an important step in helping to address the problem of immigrants arriving and not being able to work in their field.

The assessment of international educational credentials would not mean that Federal Skilled Workers would automatically find employment in Canada commensurate with their skills nor would it guarantee that they would become licensed to practice in a regulated occupation. Applicants who intend to work in a regulated profession would likely need to have their qualifications assessed in greater depth for purposes of licensure by a regulatory body specific to their profession and intended province of work.

“Internationally trained workers make an important contribution to Canada’s job market and the economy,” added Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. “That’s why our Government is working in partnership to improve foreign credential recognition so that skilled newcomers can put their knowledge and skills to work sooner.”

Minister Kenney also used the occasion to release the 2011 Government of Canada Progress Report on Foreign Credential Recognition, Strengthening Canada’s Economy. The annual report, led by the Foreign Credentials Referral Office, highlights achievements made by Citizenship and Immigration Canada , Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, and Health Canada to help foreign trained individuals integrate into the Canadian workforce.

Highlights of the report include:

• expansion of the Canadian Immigration Integration Program (CIIP), which is designed and managed by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. CIIP currently offers pre-arrival orientation sessions in up to 25 countries, based on demand;
• an innovative assessment and bridging program to help internationally educated nurses meet regulatory requirements for licensure across Canada; and
• the launch of the International Qualifications Network Website for stakeholders to share information and best practices in credential assessment.

To read the Government of Canada 2011 Progress Report on Foreign Credential Recognition, Strengthening Canada’s Economy, go to: http://www.credentials.gc.ca/fcro/progress-report2011.asp

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Foreign-educated accountants seeking a Canadian qualification get free, self-assessment tool.

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Friends,

I have been saying this for a while now, that there are no options but to wait or re-apply for Pre June 2010 applicants. Most recent timelines suggest CIC takes more than 3 years to process the Pre June applications that were submitted as fast track applications under the 38 occupations list. Some of you have asked me about an appeal about the CIC processes etc., Few others have told me about their unfair rejections and application returns etc., Here is a link to one such lawsuit option for those of you to take it to the next level.

www.unfaircic.com

Here’s the link to a news article that I came across regarding this topic.

PS: Using this lawsuit option should be at the readers’ discretion. As usual, my suggestion is to re-apply for PR under the new streams for immigration.

Thanks,

Indira Prabhakaran.