New immigration stream opens door to lower-skilled workers
Halifax, May 31, 2019 – The Nova Scotia government is taking action on CFIB recommendations to address ongoing labour shortages for small- and medium-size businesses.
Minister of Immigration, the Hon. Lena Metlege Diab announced yesterday the creation of the Occupations in Demand immigration pilot and changes to existing entrepreneur streams. The new stream will be a three year pilot targeting specific labour shortages, starting with continuing care assistants and truck drivers.
“While not as comprehensive as we would have liked, this new pilot demonstrates the government is aware of the need for lower-skilled workers to be given more opportunities to live and work in Nova Scotia,” said Jordi Morgan, Atlantic vice-president for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). “The department says it will be looking at other skills in the future and we would encourage the government to open up those opportunities sooner rather than later.”
In addition to the pilot, Nova Scotia’s two entrepreneur immigration streams, Entrepreneur Stream and International Graduate Entrepreneur, are also being updated. Existing business owners are now eligible under the entrepreneur stream and can now include operating expenses towards the required minimum investment.
The ownership requirements for international graduates looking to start a business will change from 100 per cent to 33 per cent, provide more opportunity for collaboration with other entrepreneurs and give recent international graduates more flexibility within the system.
For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
CFIB at 506-855-2526 or msns@cfib.ca
About CFIB
CFIB is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 110,000 members across every sector and region with 5,200 members in Nova Scotia. Learn more at cfib.ca.