Filipiniana New s - Rhyme or Reason 12 December 2008 On 28 November 2008, the much-awaited Ministerial Guidelines for the implementation of the immigration amendments imposed by Bill C-50 were finally issued. The guidelines stated that for permanent resident applications submitted on or after 27 February 2008, only those that fall under any of the following categories will be processed: those whose skills and work experience fall under the “38 high demand occupations such as health, skilled trades, finance and resource extraction” or “ have an offer of arranged employment or have already been living legally in Canada for one year as a temporary foreign worker or international student.” Those applications which do not fall under any of these categories will be returned unprocessed. These changes are meant to address the growing backlog in skilled worker applications which could take up to 6 years to process under the old system. Howev...