The Canadian government has announced a pilot scheme to centralise the intake of applications for Canadian skilled migration.

$109 million has been pledged by the government in order to implement the changes, which will see 30 newly-trained staff working alongside experienced staff in a new office located in Sydney, Nova Scotia. The centre will provide a faster service for the processing of Canadian skilled visa applications, which it will begin in October.

Immigration Minister, Diane Finley said: “In order to get the people we need to this country, we need to process applications faster. This pilot is one of several measures we are taking to help reduce wait times overall. By centralizing the intake of federal skilled worker applications, we are alleviating some of the workload in our overseas visa offices. This allows visa officers to focus more on processing applications.”

In addition to the establishment of the new processing centre, Canadian immigration officials have been working to reduce the waiting time of applications to be processed. Measures to address such problems include sending staff to areas where processing backlogs are currently unmanageable.