RBC Rewards Visa Gold – A Rewards Card

Royal Bank’s RBC Rewards Visa Gold Card is yet another credit card with fringe benefits.

RBC Rewards Visa Gold Card’s key features:

No annual fee

You get a point for every two dollars spent. This does not apply for cash advances, fees or on returns.

According to the bank, you can shop anywhere, without having to go to the stores in their list.

You can claim/redeem points at participating restaurants.

Protection from fraudulent claims, provided you can prove you took ‘reasonable caution’ in protecting your card.

Points can be redeemed for Esso points (3000 RBC points=5000 Esso points)

You have to have a minimum annual income of $35,000 to apply for this card.

There are 3000 bonus points if you sign up by September 30, 2009, but this is valid only if you do it online or send in the application form you may have received by mail.

Ontario’s Record on Integrating Skilled Immigrants

Audiologists and speech-language pathologists. These are two professions that have the most number of foreign trained personnel in Canada’s Ontario province.

The province’s independent Fairness Commissioner’s latest report says more than a third of the almost 3,200 professionals in this sector were trained abroad.

The report tracks the performance of the 34 regulated professions and how they are dealing with, among other issues, assisting skilled immigrants integrate into the Canadian workforce.

The 34 professions regulated in the province are: architects, audiologists and speech-language pathologists, chiropodists, chiropractors, dental hygienists, dental surgeons, dental technologists, denturists, dietitians, early childhood educators, engineering technicians and technologists, engineers, foresters, general accountants, professional geoscientists, land surveyors, lawyers, management accountants, massage therapists, medical lab technologists, medical radiation technologists, midwives, nurses, occupational therapists, opticians, optometrists, pharmacists, physicians and surgeons, physiotherapists, psychologists, respiratory therapists, social workers, teachers and veterinarians.

All in all, just about one in seven of the more than 700,000 professionals working in these sectors were trained abroad.

While pharmacists and audiologists-speech language pathologists professions have a high percentage of internationally trained professionals, Opticians and foresters come at the bottom of the table, with just one percent.

Some professions – surveyors, lawyers, midwives and paralegals – did not submit any data.

A quarter of the provinces engineers and 27 percent of the doctors and surgeons were foreign trained.

One interesting facet of Canada’s changing demographics is also very evident in this study. More and more professionals are coming to Canada not from other Anglo-Saxon countries such as Australia, the US, UK or even South Africa, but from countries such as India, Pakistan and the Philippines.

For example, of the top ten professions in the province, the US is the top source for five (teachers, lawyers, management accountants, chartered accountants and social workers) and India comes second with three (physicians and surgeons, engineering technologists and technicians and general accountants). China is the top source for engineers while the Philippines sends most of the nurses.

To view or download the report, go to the Ontario Fairness Commissioner’s site.

Canada Introduces New Permanent Resident (PR) Card

Canada has introduced new, high-tech identity cards for its permanent residents.

The federal minister for citizenship and immigration, Jason Kenney, said the new cards, which were rolled out beginning August 24, contain security features that comply with international standards for travel documents. However, the PR card, as it is more known, is not a replacement for the traditional passport, but they can be used to re-enter Canada.

The new cards contain fine line patterns and micro lettering that cannot be copied. Besides, the owner’s personal details and photograph will be recorded on a bar code that can be read only by Canadian officials possessing the necessary equipment.

The minister says the government has to keep up with technological advances, which also mean smugglers and others copying PR cards.

Those receiving their permanent residence after August 24th will automatically receive the new card while for those currently possessing one, new cards will be issued once they apply for new ones after the expiration of the current card.

The current ones are valid until they expire.

Canada introduced the PR cards in 2002.

MBNA Smart Cash Card — A Free Card That Gives Something Back

Do you want to have a credit card for which you do not have to pay any monthly/annual fee but from which you can actually earn some bucks through cash-back programs (these are like the rewards points – the difference being the credit is accrued in real dollar terms, not just points)?

Well, MBNA’s Smart Cash Card in Canada is one of these.

For whatever reason, this is not advertised. May be the company does not want to overtly promote it. I am not sure about the reports that it is offered only to those who already have an MBNA Master Card.

But the Smart Card comes with the following:

For the first six months:

5% cash-back on groceries and gas for the first $600.00. Thereafter 3%.

1% cash-back on everything else.

After the six months:

3% cash-back on groceries and gas for the first $600.00. Thereafter 1%.

1% cash-back on everything else.

As well, if you already have another MBNA card, you could ask them to reduce your credit limit in that, and transfer the amount you asked to be reduced in the first card as the credit limit for the Smart Card. It will help maintain your credit rating.

MBNA toll free number is: 1-800-347-6262

Their website: mbna.ca

Immigrants More Affected By Recession

Canada, like most other countries, is going through a recession. And as jobs are being cut across the board, among those first to be affected are those with immigrant background, particularly those who are considered ‘new immigrants’.

Recent studies have given proof to this. A report that appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper says that in general, immigrants tend to lose jobs more easily than Canadian-born workers. And within the immigrants group, those who came to Canada recently can lose jobs faster than those who are more established.

The newspaper and Statistics Canada analysed unemployed data during two, three-month periods – ending June 2008 and June 2009. They found out that while unemployment among Canadian-born workers rose by 1.6 percent, it rose by three percent for established immigrants and 5.7 percent for recent immigrants.

And worse still, studies have found that even when the recession is over and the economy is bouncing back, immigrants find it difficult to find jobs that fit their experiences and qualifications.