Skilled Worker Intake to be Halved

Canada is reducing by half the number of immigrants allowed under certain classes of its Federal Skilled Immigrants program.

According to new numbers released by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) – the federal department in charge of immigration – starting July 1, only 10,000 people without a job offer in Canada will be approved under the Federal Skilled Worker program. Last year, 20,000 people and their families were allowed.

The 10,000 professionals have to fall into one of the 29 job categories for which the CIC has deemed there is a demand in the country. As a result of the decrease, the maximum number or applications for each category has also be halved to 500.

These changes do not affect those who have a job offer in Canada.