Filipiniana News – April 2013 RHYME & REASON On 1 July 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) temporarily stopped accepting applications for permanent residence under the Federal Skilled Worker category unless the applicant has a validated arranged employment offer from a Canadian employer, is enrolled in good standing in a PhD program for the last two years or graduated from a PhD program within the last 12 months from a Canadian university. Many have been waiting for CIC to announce when the Federal Skilled Worker Program will be reopened and to see what the new program will look like. Recent announcements from CIC have given us a general idea of the changes, which are expected to include the following: · Language points will be given the biggest weight among all the selection factors for up to a maximum of 28 points (or 24 points for the first official language and 4 points for the sec...