U.S. Extends Closure of Land Border With Canada Until October 21

Colin Singer
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U.S. Extends Closure of Land Border With Canada Until October 21

Canada immigration news: The U.S. has once again extended its closure of the land border with Canada as part of measures to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Despite Canada having opened up to fully vaccinated Americans since the beginning of August, U.S. land borders with both Canada and Mexico will remain closed until October 21.

The borders were closed in March 2020 as coronavirus spread throughout the continent.

While land borders remain closed, the U.S. has eased restrictions on air travel as of November for fully vaccinated foreigners.

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Under the relaxed rules, air travellers to the U.S. will need proof of full vaccination and a negative test within 72 hours of boarding.

The move represents a move to an individual-based approach and away from a country-based approach, which the White House described as ‘a stronger system’.

It means countries like the U.K., China and India will no longer have targeted travel restrictions.

Meanwhile, the new rules will also see unvaccinated Americans require a test one day before travelling to or leaving the country. Furthermore, vaccinated travellers will be exempt from quarantine.

The decision to extend the land border closure come despite calls from American officials to allow Canadians to cross into the U.S.

All fully-vaccinated Americans have been allowed to travel to Canada since August 9, provided the have a negative test in the last 72 hours, are resident in the U.S. and had their second COVID-19 shot at least two weeks before. All details must be uploaded on the ArriveCAN app.

Meanwhile, as of September 7, Canada started allowing in all fully vaccinated international travellers with a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their flight. Again, details must upload to ArriveCAN.

Canadian immigration officials are telling anyone who applied for a visitor visa before September 7 to re-apply if their situation has changed and they are coming for one of 10 reasons.

Those reasons include coming to Canada:

  • to be reunited with an immediate family member who is a Canadian citizen, a person registered under Canada’s Indian Act or a permanent resident of Canada;
  • to be reunited with an immediate family member who is in Canada temporarily;
  • to be reunited with an extended family member who is a Canadian citizen, a person registered under Canada’s Indian Act or a permanent resident of Canada;
  • to visit for business (meeting, special event, training);
  • to attend an end-of-life ceremony or a funeral;
  • to be present during the final moments of the life of a loved one;
  • to provide care to a critically ill person;
  • to join a vessel as a marine crew member;
  • to assume a posting as a diplomat or to travel as an accompanying immediate family member of a diplomat arriving on posting who will also be accredited in Canada, or;
  • to handle the affairs of a victim of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752.

COVID-19 Creates Major Worker Shortage in Canadian Ski Towns

Colin Singer
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COVID-19 Creates Major Worker Shortage in Canadian Ski Towns

Canada immigration news: The number of job vacancies in western Canada’s ski towns is soaring as the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions prevent many of the foreign nationals who usually work there from travelling.

That’s an opportunity for young people looking for a working holiday through International Experience Canada (IEC) and economic migrants.

“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” Michel Dufresne, director of the Job Resource Centre in Banff and Canmore, reportedly said. 

“Everyone has pitched up wages, but it doesn’t matter what you pay; there’s nobody to take the job.”

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Five years ago, as many as 2,500 foreign workers used to find jobs in Alberta’s Bow Valley for the seasonal work. They comprised up to a third of the local hospitality sector’s workforce.

Immigrants Who Can Travel Finding a Job-Hunter’s Paradise

Most of them, though, were laid off when COVID-19 led to lockdowns in March last year. Many of these workers returned home to the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Many of them can’t come back due to travel restrictions in their home countries. Australians, for example, are not yet allowed to leave their country for non-essential travel.

“We have a very low inventory of job-seekers at this point,” Dufresne reportedly said. “High volume of job postings for everything in hospitality. This year is worse because we don’t have the foreigners, we don’t have the eastern Canadian. We don’t have the out-of-area traffic we used to get.”

The surge in available jobs in Alberta’s hospitality sector now presents an opportunity for those foreign nationals who can travel to Canada and more easily than ever find employment which can lead to permanent residency in the country. 

There are many pathways for workers to get jobs and live in Canada, including the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).

As vaccination rates rise and the Canadian economy recovers, the country is seeing huge job growth and opportunities for new Canadians and temporary foreign workers and new opportunities for those who want to immigrate to Canada.

Canadian Companies In Full-Scale Hiring Mode

“Employment rose by 90,000, up 0.5 percent, in August, the third consecutive monthly increase,” reported Statistics Canada. “Employment is within 156,000 jobs, down only 0.8 percent, of its February 2020 level, the closest since the onset of the pandemic.”

Even more encouraging is that the new jobs are primarily full-time, not part-time. In August, Canada added 69,000 full-time jobs, up 0.4 percent.

The sectors showing the most growth were the hotels, motels, and restaurants where there is currently a massive labour shortage in Canada.

The latest figures also show that immigrants who arrived in Canada within the last five years are enjoying better employment prospects since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with their employment rate hitting 70.4 percent last month.

That’s 6.1 percentage points higher than in the same month in 2019, before the start of the pandemic.

Many of these immigrants would likely have come to Canada under economic immigration programs, including the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, Canadian Experience, Caregiver, Skilled Trade and Skilled Worker programs, which would have greatly increased their employment prospects.

The labour shortage in Canada is now so pronounced that many employers have little choice but to up their compensation packages, offering more in wages and benefits.

Amazon Canada Looking To Hire 15,000 Workers

Jordan Irwin, general manager at High Country Inn in Alberta, reportedly said his hotel has increased wages and is now offering bonuses.

He’s not alone. 

Giant online retailer Amazon Canada is planning to hire 15,000 employees this autumn and is hoping to entice more people to sign up by upping its starting wage for its Canadian employees on the front line to somewhere between $17 and $21.65 per hour.

The company currently starts employees at about $16 an hour, making this a raise of between 6.25 to 35.3 percent on the current base wages.

The new jobs represent an increase of about 60 percent to Amazon Canada’s existing workforce of 25,000, making this a huge vote of confidence by Amazon Canada in the Canadian economy. 

“We have a job for just about everyone,” said Ardine Williams, vice-president of human development, in an interview with Bloomberg.

These new jobs will be warehouse and distribution positions in communities across the country. 

Calling Potential New Immigrants Overseas: 10 Fastest-Growing Jobs in Canada and U.S.

Colin Singer
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0
Calling Potential New Immigrants Overseas: 10 Fastest-Growing Jobs in Canada and U.S.

Canada immigration news: The fields of green energy, healthcare and information technology have plenty of available jobs in Canada and the U.S., offering significant opportunities for those looking to immigrate here.

Here are the Top 10 Fastest-growing Jobs in North America as reported by the Visual Capitalist website using United States Bureau of Labour Statistics figures. 

  1. Wind turbine service technicians.
  2. Nurse practitioners.
  3. Solar photovoltaic installers.
  4. Statisticians.
  5. Physical therapist assistants.
  6. Information security analysts.
  7. Home health and personal care aides.
  8. Medical and health services managers.
  9. Data scientists and mathematical science occupations, all other.
  10. Physician assistants.

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The job trends in Canada are expected to be comparable but all figures reported here are American and salaries expressed in U.S. dollars. 

Global Talent Stream Offers Quick Access To High-Skilled Jobs

In Canada, there are many pathways for highly-skilled tech workers to gain permanent residency, including the Global Talent Stream (GTS) of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) under which Canadian work permits and visa applications are processed within two weeks.

In terms of sheer percentage growth, the fastest-growing job over the next decade in Canada and the United States is expected to be that of the lonely wind turbine service technician. That industry is expected to hire 68.2 percent more such employees over the next decade at a median annual wage of U.S.-$56,230.

Still in the green energy sector, solar panel installers are expected to also be in high demand with this occupation ranked as third-fastest growing. Demand for these workers is projected to soar by 52.1 percent over the coming decade and come with a media salary of U.S.-$46,470.

But a word of caution is warranted here. These are very young industries still and so that fast percentage growth is on a very small existing base of available jobs. There are expected to be only 4,700 new wind turbine technician jobs and 6,100 new solar panel installer jobs created during that period.

The best bet for an immigrant to Canada looking for a domain where jobs will be plentiful is home health and personal care aide. That sector is expected to grow by a relatively modest 32.6 percent, making it the seventh-fastest growing occupation but, in the United States, that means an additional almost 1.3 million jobs over the coming decade.

The downside to these jobs is the salary. Health and personal care aides have the lowest median annual wage at U.S.-$27,080 of any of the other top 10 fastest-growing occupations on the list.

Lots of Jobs In The Canadian Healthcare Sector

In the healthcare sector, though, there are several occupations that combine both a lot of opportunity with excellent salaries. 

In the number two spot on the top 10 fastest-growing jobs list are nurses. These jobs are expected to grow by 52.2 percent over the coming decade with a median annual wage of U.S.-$111,680.

In the eighth spot, medical and health services manager jobs are forecast to grow in number by 32.5 percent and command median annual wages of U.S.-$104,280. Physician assistants, the tenth occupation on the list, are expected to grow in number by 31 percent and offer a media annual wage of U.S.-$115,390. And physical therapy assistants, the fifth-ranked occupation, is expected to grow by 35.4 percent over the coming decade with another 33,200 jobs added in the United States, at a median annual wage of U.S.-$59,770.

Those with a penchant for science and math will be heartened to know there are three job categories on the fastest-growing jobs list.

Demand for statisticians is expected to rise by 35.4 percent, or 14,900 jobs in the United States, with a median annual wage of U.S.-$92,270 in the coming decade. IT analyst jobs are forecast to grow by 33.3 percent, or 47,100 jobs in the United States, at a median annual wage of U.S.-$103,590. 

And the demand for data scientists and all other mathematical science occupations is expected to rise by 31.4 percent, or 19,800 jobs over the coming decade at an average salary of U.S.-$98,230.

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