Trends in Canadian immigration

Courtsey: The Globe and Mail

“For years, China has dominated. This is about to change and there will be a dramatic shift in cultural taste,” said Richard Kurland, a Vancouver immigration lawyer who obtained the data under the federal Access to Information Act. “There is also a lower cost to the Canadian taxpayer, as Indian immigrants usually speak English already and can hit the ground running.”

The numbers:

In June of 2006, just 19,826 immigrant applications were processed at Canada's mission in Beijing , compared with 37,124 in July of 2004. The number of applicants from Hong Kong is also “in free fall,” decreasing to 32,752 in June of this year from 47,260 in July of 2004.

In contrast, 132,693 immigrant applications were processed at Canada's mission in New Delhi in June of 2006 (20 per cent of the global total), compared with 88,383 in July of 2004 (16 per cent of the total).

These numbers include economic immigrants (skilled workers and entrepreneurs), refugees and people being sponsored by family members in Canada.

And more...

For the past several years, China has been among the top five source countries, if not the top, for immigration to Canada.

In 2005, 42,291 of the 262,236 immigrants who arrived here were from China, more than from any other country, while 33,000 were from India, in second place. However, these statistics are based on applications filed more than five years ago. “There is no doubt Indians are set to surpass Chinese,” said Mr. Kurland, the Vancouver lawyer.