The instruction from immigration minister regarding the immigration priorities does not have any effect on family class sponsorship application and provincial nominee program. Thus, even if your occupation is not included on the immigration priorities, there are still alternative ways to live and work in Canada.
In fact, the instruction from immigration minister will also not affect the work permit application process. This is another area that you may consider if your application is not included on the immigration priorities.
Due to Canada's labor shortage problem, Canada is now open even for temporary workers. Here's a news article featuring the demand for Filipino workers in Canada.
Canadian province needs 12,000 RP skilled workers in next 5 years
By Estrella Torres
Reporter
THE province of Saskatchewan in Canada will need 10,000 to 12,000 Filipino skilled workers to fill in the increasing demands of its labor market in the next five years, says its top official visiting the Philippines.
Rob Norris, minister for labor and immigration of Canada’s Saskatchewan province, said with the increase of business infrastructure in the province, the labor market has a high demand for skilled workers to fill sectors in the services, manufacturing and construction, retail sales and restaurants.
Norris is in the country to meet with officials of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and key government officials to discuss how they could both effectively implement the memorandum of understanding, signed a few years ago, that seeks to facilitate the hiring of skilled Filipino workers for Saskatchewan.
“The labor market needs to relate to the growth that’s under way in Saskatchewan and we anticipate that over the next five years, we are going to need 10,000 to 12,000 people coming into the labor market,” said Norris. “And with some large projects we anticipate coming our way, that [need] will increase.”
Norris spoke at the meeting of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines held Tuesday at the Makati Shangri-La hotel to discuss the prospects of encouraging more Filipino skilled workers to go to Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan is known as the prairie province of Canada, situated between provinces of Alberta and Manitoba with only 1 million population. Norris said 6 percent, or 600,000 of the population, are immigrants that include 1,000 to 2,000 Filipinos.
The Canadian official also said the province of Saskatchewan also encourages immigration of Filipino families and not just hiring of skilled workers.
He said smaller provinces like Saskatchewan offers better compensation, or 15-percent higher salary rate, and high quality of living than in the larger Canadian immigration centers of Montreal, Vancouver and Ontario. He said Ontario is facing a serious economic disruption as “people are getting laid off from its manufacturing industries.”
“We are committed to having a dynamic, diverse and cosmopolitan community and not just simply about [filling up the] labor market needs,” said Norris. “Saskatchewan needs to catch up in attracting people from other Canadian provinces and around the world.” [Business Mirror]
To legally work in Canada, you must have a work permit and a positive labor market opinion (LMO).
