Canada visa policy to fast track doctors

Mr Kenney's announcement comes on the heels of several other announcements made to Canada visa policy including allowing states and provinces to handpick skilled workers depending on their own labour shortages and giving preference to young migrants with sufficient English or French language skills.

Now Mr Kenney wants to give utmost preference to doctors and engineers to the head of the queue.

"We believe newcomers are key to our future prosperity," said Mr Kenney. "It's critical our immigration system responds to current and future shortages and across the spectrum of the labour market."

Mr Kenney has pledged in recent weeks to bring Canadian immigration under greater control and complaining about the number of under qualified migrants being forced into low paid or menial jobs.

"Too many newcomers find themselves unemployed or underemployed, including medical professionals stuck in survival jobs."

Mr Kenney's biggest change so far was the return of almost 300,000 visa applications made before February 2008, fully refunded and with a request to reapply. The immigration minister said this move would reduce the bureaucratic backlog and allow much needed foreign skilled workers to reach Canada quicker.

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The Canadian Visa Bureau is an independent migration consultancy specialising in helping people make their application to the Canadian Embassy.