The Federal Skilled Worker Program ‘FSWP’ program aims to make an intended selection on the ability and competencies of the immigrant population. Each of the application is measured against a grid of 100 points on various accounts with 67 as the minimum on pass marks. The Federal skilled worker applications are assessed based on an applicant’s ability on education, age, official language, work experience, employment, financial independence and adaptability in Canada. Canada is also one of the few nations that place a points-based assessment of an applicant’s ability.
Ability on official language: The immigration policy at Canada believes that Language is the most critical of all the factors in achieving better rates of employment. The applicant’s are therefore tested for their deftness with English or French. The points- based assessment allocates a maximum of 28 points on this criterion. One can easily see that 28% of the total marks can be achieved just by being good at the official language.
Ability on ‘age’: The recent amendments with the immigration policy show that immigrants of a younger age group integrate into the economy at a higher rate and also remain productive for a longer period of time. The CIC ‘Citizenship and Immigration Canada’ have therefore revised the grid on age criteria and now award a maximum of 12 points to all the applicants under the age of 35. The points taper down as the age reaches the next bracket of 35 to 46 and no points allocated to applicants beyond the age of 46.
Ability on Education: Earlier the points on Education were awarded on the basis of the applicant’s credentials on education at their home country and the number of years invested in obtaining the education. The CIC however emphasizes on having a comparative assessment of the applicant’s education against the education credentials of Canada. CIC goes on to award a maximum of 25 points on the applicant’s education credentials.
Ability on professional expertise (work experience): CIC makes it clear that foreign work experience might not always call for a good assessment of the application. The immigration office has therefore reduced the total points from 21 to 15 on this criterion and has increased the years of experience required to get full points.
Arranged employment: The Federal Skilled Workers Program has been observed to show better results with immigrants who had a valid job offer in Canada and could earn a 79% higher remuneration as compared to immigrants without an arranged employment in Canada. Any application with an arranged employment has therefore been allocated a maximum of 10 points. However the applicant needs to also have an assessment done of the arranged employment for the Labour Market Opinion issued by the Human Resource Department, Canada.
Adaptability: Adaptability is one more aspect of the ability index that reflects the ability of the immigrant in being able to adapt himself to the changing market dynamics or labour market demands.
