Canadian PR Card Renewals Get Easier

The Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Department has made applying to renew your Permanent Resident Card (PR Card) a little easier. Permanent residents who are applying to renew a Permanent Resident Card that is about to expire no longer have the inconvenience of sending in their current card with their renewal application. They can hang on to their current card and exchange it when they pick up the new one. This way, you can still use a valid card to travel while you wait for a new one. If your PR Card has already expired, it should be submitted with the renewal application.

As well, applicants for a either a new or replacement PR card no longer need to get the signature of a guarantor or sign a statutory declaration instead of a guarantor. Citizenship and Immigration will use an applicant's passport, driver's license, or employment and educational information to confirm residence and identity.

All Canadian permanent residents, including children, coming back to Canada by commercial vehicle - plane, boat, train or bus - must have a Permanent Resident Card to prove their permanent resident status. The cards are issued for five years, or occasionally for only one year. When your card expires you must apply for a new Permanent Resident Card.

If you are a permanent resident and plan to travel outside Canada, you should check the expiry date on your Permanent Resident Card. Be sure to allow enough time for your application for a new card to be processed, and apply at least two months before you plan to leave the country.

International students can now work with out Restrictions:

The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, announced positive changes to work permits for international students who graduate from eligible programs at certain Canadian postsecondary institutions.

Effectively immediately, international students would be able to obtain an open work permit under the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program, with NO restrictions on the type of employment and NO requirement for a job offer.  Also, the duration of the work permit has been extended to three years across the country.  Previously, the program only allowed international students to work for one or two years, depending on the location (Toronto, Montreal of Vancouver).

The Post-Graduation Work Permit Program allows students who have graduated from a Canadian college, university or institute to gain valuable Canadian work experience.  Preliminary 2007 data indicate that 63,673 international students came to Canada that year, representing a 4.6 percent increase over the previous year.

To be eligible for the program, international students:

• Must have studied full-time for the eight months preceding the completion of their program of studies and have graduated from:
  
  a public post-secondary institution, such as a college, university or CEGEP (in Quebec); or
  
  a private post-secondary institution that operates under the same rules and regulations as public institutions, and that receives at least 50 percent of its financing for its overall operations from government grants (currently, only private college-level educational institutions in Quebec qualify); or
  
  a Canadian private institution authorized by provincial or territorial statute to confer degrees.
  
  
• Must apply for a work permit within 90 days of receiving written confirmation (for example, a transcript or an official letter) from the institution that they have met the requirements of the academic program.
• Must have completed and passed the program of study and received a notification that they are eligible to obtain their degree, diploma or certificate.
• Must have a valid study permit when they apply for the work permit.

Note that if the student's program of study is less than two years but at least eight months, the student would be eligible for a post-graduate work permit. However, the validity period of the work permit must not be longer than the period of study of the graduate at the particular post-secondary institution in Canada.

Contributed by Nancy Mendes - Certified Canadian Immigration Consultant 

Website : www.visatube.com
Email: nancymendes@sympatico.ca