本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛OTTAWA — The federal government has put a cap of 20,000 on the number of visa applications it will accept from skilled immigrants over the next 12 months and also has reduced the number of occupations under which foreign workers can apply

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says the changes, which are effective immediately, were needed to avoid creating new backlogs and processing times under the foreign worker program.

The applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis, and only 1,000 applications for each of the 29 designated occupations will be accepted. The caps, to last until June 30, 2011, do not apply to foreign workers with a job offer in hand.

In revamping the system, the government cut nine occupations from the original list of 38. It removed 20 occupations from the original list, kept 18 and added 11 new ones.

Financial managers, university professors, mining engineers and occupational therapists are among those cut from the list, while architects, dentists, pharmacists and social workers are among the occupations added to the list.
The government also tightened its language requirements, saying applicants must submit proof from a designated independent tester that they are proficient in one of Canada's two official languages. Under the old rules, applicants had the option of proving their language ability in a written submission.

The government says the backlog of skilled worker applicants has dropped to 380,000 from 640,000 since the acceptance process was streamlined to 38 occupations in 2008.

Although the majority of applications now are being processed in less than year, Kenney said, the number of applicants in the first quarter of this year exceeded the Immigration Department's ability to process them in a timely fashion, pointing to the need to further refine the system.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net