We are committed to welcoming newcomers to Canada. That's what we're here to celebrate today – not just permanent residents, but all newcomers to Canada, from tourists, from people visiting family, to business visitors, students, temporary workers, and students on working holidays.
It's a very exciting story for Canadian immigration, the sustained growth and the popularity of our programs in all of those areas. Thanks to all of our guests for being here with us. We'll tell you more about Emma, Anita and Frank shortly, but thanks to you for being here.
It's great to be in this building, a part of Toronto, to reflect on how a new system, a new watershed in Canadian immigration, is bringing results for our country already. This is the building and, right next door is Union Station, through which I'm sure millions of immigrants have come. They used to come by ship to Halifax and Quebec City. Now they come by air to Pearson or other airports.
They pass through this part of Toronto, which is such a pole of attraction for immigrants around the world in one way or another. I tend to pass through because of the GO Train but, throughout our nation's history, we've welcomed millions of immigrants. Since the early 1960's, I think, we've welcomed 10 million immigrants to this country. From the earliest settlers to our newest citizens, immigrants have contributed hugely to Canada's success.
In fact they are the story of our country's success. Immigration has shaped the Canada we know today and it will continue to play a crucial role in our country's future, ensuring our economic future, ensuring that the diversity of which we are so proud continues to deepen and broaden.
As with other countries with aging populations and low birth rates, we know that Canada will have to rely increasingly on immigration to meet our economic and labour market needs, to ensure the jobs, growth and long term prosperity of the future. In order to meet the demands of Canada's growing economy, since 2006 we have welcomed an annual average of more than a quarter million immigrants.
This is the highest sustained level of immigration in our country's history and there's no question in anyone's mind that Canada needs skilled immigrants. But we must also ensure that the skilled workers we select have the right education and experience for our labour market, so they can begin working in Canada soon after they arrive. That's what newcomers want. That's certainly what employers want. That is increasingly what all Canadians recognize needs to be the case.
There is no question that our country needs skilled immigrants. But we must also ensure that the skilled workers we select have the right education and experience for our labour market, so that they can begin working in Canada soon after they arrive.
As we continue to admit high numbers of economic immigrants, our government has also been focused on how we can better meet labour market needs through immigration.
We've made a number of changes, especially in the last five or six years, to bring more speed and flexibility to our immigration system, to ensure our policies and programs are better aligned with Canada's current and future economic needs.
In fact, under my predecessor Jason Kenney and over the past two years that I've been in this post, we have reformed every one of our economic immigration programs in one way or another, to make sure they fit the bill and meet the needs of the Canadian economy today. A crucial part of these changes came to fruition this past January when we launched our new Express Entry system.
Express Entry is a new approach to managing and processing applications in our existing economic immigration programs. Let's be clear about that. Express Entry, as these newcomers know, is not a new program. They're benefiting from programs that existed long before January 2015. It's a new way of delivering those programs and it's a tremendous improvement on the old immigration system.
Under the old system, applicants often waited in a queue for many years. I think we've all been in taxi cabs or in workplaces in Canada where people told us of their immigration to Canada. Some people waited up to 8, 9, 10 years as all of that time was required to process many applications to completion and we had to process every application we received – no matter where it came from and no matter what the skill and experience level of those applying.
With Express Entry, we can better make our evolving economic needs with immigration since we can more efficiently and effectively select immigrants who have the right skills and experience that we need right now. That's because, under Express Entry, we invite the candidates who score highest under our points systems to apply for permanent residence.
Over the course of a calendar year we are already issuing invitations to apply at regular intervals and the frequency and number of those invited under Express Entry will, of course, correspond to our annual levels plan which we announce in the fall each year as well as our processing capacity.
We have to have the capacity to process applications rapidly in the numbers that we plan for every year and, of course, that capacity is spread out among the different immigration programs: the Federal Skilled Worker Program; Canadian Experience Class and the Federal Skilled Trades Program. In 2015 we expect to issue 15 to 25 rounds of invitations. To date, we've had 6 invitation rounds and over 6,800 candidates have been invited to apply for permanent residence in Canada.
This means we're well on track to meet our economic immigration targets for 2015. Another important key feature of Express Entry is that, instead of waiting many years before coming to Canada, we now welcome the majority of successful applicants within just six months. I think what you'll hear from today's successful applicants is that the process can go even faster than that.
That's why we're here, to welcome those first permanent residents to Canada who have arrived here under Express Entry. They are literally the first to have submitted their applications, seen those applications processed to completion and were approved.
They created their profiles in January. They submitted their applications not long after receiving their invitations, and their applications were processed in record time.
Today I'm joined by our very first permanent resident ever admitted under our new immigration system, Emma Hughes. Let's have a round of applause for Emma Hughes.
Emma is a successful candidate from Ireland who applied under our Federal Skilled Worker Program. She now works as an application scientist for EcoSynthetix in Burlington, a very interesting company active in the clean tech sector. The head of the company is here with us.
I'm also joined by Frank Zhao and Anita Zheng. Let's have a round of applause for them.
They are also from among some of our very first permanent residents under Express Entry. They both applied under the Canadian Experience Class. Frank first came to Canada from China as an international student in 2003. He graduated from Mohawk College in Hamilton, in business accounting in 2010/ And, today, Frank is gainfully employed at Wing On New Group Canada in Markham, as an accountant.
Anita also came to Canada from China, in her case Shanghai, as an international student in 2012. She graduated from Humber College in supply chain management and, today, Anita is a dispatch logistician at DMA Logistics in Mississauga. Both Frank and Anita were international students, which demonstrates how Express Entry is a great pathway to permanent residence for international students looking to stay in Canada permanently.
Let's be clear. This has been one of the fastest-growing pathways for immigration to Canada. We have seen the number of international students in this country more or less double in the past decade. With the creation of Canadian Experience Class in 2008 there is a dedicated pathway for those who stay on to work for at least one year after their studies to become permanent residents. We're expecting over 20,000 immigrants under that program alone, in 2014. Express Entry is wide open to those like Frank and Anita who choose to take it.
Each of these candidates became permanent residents in just a few short months after they submitted their application, which is quite a remarkable achievement.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to give my colleagues at Citizenship and Immigration a round of applause for the fact that these three candidates submitted their applications and received a positive decision, received the authorization to come to Canada in less than two months. That is truly remarkable and deserves to be recognized, as such.
We do recognize that immigration happens for the benefit of Canada in a competitive, global environment. Talented young people like Emma, Frank and Anita have choices. If there was a country with a strong job market in their field that did immigration faster, that did immigration better than Canada, they might have considered that. They may have had family or career reasons to think of Canada first but, if there was a better and faster way to go somewhere else, no doubt many of those who choose Canada would be going in those directions.
I'm proud to say that Express Entry, with the results we're demonstrating today, is the largest-scale, fastest most effective online pathway for economic immigration, certainly that Canada has ever had and that, I think, any country has at the moment in the world today. That's good for the Canadian economy. It's certainly good for newcomers. It's certainly good for the employers that are looking to attract global talent. We're proud to be celebrating the results today.
As you can see, these three individuals have different skills and professional backgrounds. These are just a handful of the professional profiles and backgrounds that are already present in the Express Entry pool and among those invited to apply for approval to come to Canada. Among some of the other professions of permanent residents we've approved under Express Entry are professors, IT specialists in the technology world from A to Z, physicians, engineers, more accountants, Frank, like yourself.
Essentially, our new Express Entry system will enable us to better select immigrants based on the skills and attributes that Canada's economy currently needs and those who have the greatest potential to succeed.
Express Entry is here to underpin the long-term viability of our immigration system which, of course, is itself driven by the prosperity, by the strength of the Canadian economy.
I want to thank Emma, Frank and Anita for being here today, to congratulate them on their success and wish them well with their new lives. I'm thrilled that you're on a permanent path to staying in Canada. I know that your contributions to our economy and communities are welcomed by all Canadians. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for being here and I'll be back to answer your questions.
