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Canadian human resources specialists are eager to bring German skilled workers to Canada. They say that many skilled German workers are also interested in migrating to Canada.
According to personnel director Dan Newell, many are looking for a new life in Canada. He recently visited Germany on an eight-day fact-finding trip to recruit skilled workers. He says he found that labour from other parts of Europe is putting skilled German workers out of work.
Newell and others like him want to fast track the process of getting immigrant workers to Northern Ontario to deal with the growing skilled trades shortage. Newell says many of the applicants he spoke to in Germany are under the age of 35, have solid credentials and likely would have Canadian jobs waiting for them.
In April, Canadian federal Immigration Minister Joe Volpe announced his department intends to do more to help immigrants get settled in Canada.
The Canadian Maritime provinces in particular are pushing to attract skilled migrants to the East Coast, especially wealthy ones.
Nova Scotia has several new provincial nominee programs designed to attract businesspeople and skilled immigrants. The province has even appointed its own immigration minister. In Nova Scotia, the federal point system determining eligibility is waived, and immigrants are granted landed status within a year or less.
Through regular channels, applicants can wait an average of three years and have to meet strict criteria about their background, education and ties to the country.
Nova Scotia wants to attract 3,700 immigrants a year by the end of the decade to address their declining birth rate and to provide economic opportunities.
