Cebu-based firm eyes OFWs to work, migrate to Canada

A Cebu-based consultancy company will open more outlets abroad next year and target overseas Filipino workers who would want to work and migrate to Canada.

We’re planning to open an office in China, Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Oman next year, said Prisca Niña Mabatid, PinoyCare Visa Center president and chief executive officer, during an interview last Friday.

immigration levels

Mabatid said the company were taking advantage of the recent internal report in Canada suggesting that immigration levels in the second largest country in the world should be increased by six percent every year to reach the 337,000 new permanent residents target by 2018.

“For every outlet, I expected to pour in at least P5 million in investment next year. I see these countries as a potential growth market for our company because there is a large concentration of OFWs in these areas,” said Mabatid.

19 offices

PinoyCare has 15 offices in the country and four offices outside the country. These are in Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Kuwait.

In a report posted in the Canadian Embassy website, an internal government review has suggested to begin raising Canada’s immigration targets by 6 percent starting in 2014.

“At present the Canadian government has been limiting only 250,000 immigrants every year for the last seven years,” said Mabatid.

6% INCREASE

If the six percent increase in new permanent immigrants  would be followed, there would be at least 337,000 new permanent residents in Canada by 2018.

According to the report, an immediate short-term influx of new immigrants is needed to help stabilize Canada’s labor market, which is in need of workers.

“A guiding principle should be that immigration is essentially a means for addressing long-term human resources needs rather than short or medium-term needs,” says the report. It also recommends that ‘no further reductions’ are made to the popular Federal Skilled Worker program.

not considered yet

Recommendations were also made to maintain the current mix of new immigrants, of which 63 percent arrive in Canada through economic categories.

While the report has not been acted upon yet by the Canadian government, Mabatid said she was confident that the report would be favorably considered as the Canadian government was working to grow its economy and this would need a bigger labor force to achieve this growth.

extra immigrants

In an interview July this year, Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines president Julian Payne said Filipinos are considered “extra immigrants” who are  well preferred because of English language fluency and a similar value system with the Canadians being predominantly Catholic.

“Before it was India and China which were  our biggest source of immigrants, now it’s the Philippines with about 500,000 Filipinos now living in Canada,” said Payne.

As of July last year, total population in Canada is estimated to reach 34,482,779. Of that, 258,906 are immigrants.  About 1,020 are Filipino immigrants or 2.4 percent.