Proposed Guidelines for Canadian Federal Skilled Workers

It was a big disappointment for everyone who was waiting for Canada to re-open its immigrant applications last July when they announced that they had postponed it to January 2013. Aside from this change of date, they also announced new changes were forthcoming.

Here's the list of changes in FSW:

1. Language Proficiency -  minimum language proficiency while maximizing the points

2. Age - points will be lowered to accommodate younger immigrants

3. Work Experience - increased points for Canadian work experience and lowered points for Foreign work experience

4. Employment Offers - will be simplified to fill up vacancies

5. Spousal Language Ability - spouses with language proficiency exam results will be given additional points

Taking On IELTS

We all know that foreign educated nurses or any job seeker hoping to work in another country needs to take a series of exams. Passing these exams are proof that an individual is worthy and capable of working in the country where he’s applying.

One of the exams that should be passed is the IELTs. It is short for International English Language Testing System. The IELTS is a standardized exam that tests English proficiency. For a short history, it was established in 1989 by the joint management of the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, the British Council and IDP Education Australia.

There are two versions of the IELTS, the Academic and the General Training Version.

The Academic Version is for students who want to enroll in a university and also for professionals in the health care industry. The General Training Version, on the other hand, is for those who want to undertake non-academic training or work experience. This is also used for immigration purposes.

The difference between the two Versions is that the reading and writing skills of the Academic Version is considerably more difficult than in the General Training Version. This is because of the differences in the intellectual and academic level of the applicants of the exams.

Australian, British, Canadian, Irish, New Zealand and South African academic institutions all recognize IELTS. There are also about 2,000 institutions in the United States that also recognizes IELTS.

The IELTS report has a two year validity.