International immigration down in BC for the first time in 10 years
Posted June 3, 2015 3:54 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – For the first time in 10 years fewer people are immigrating to BC, that’s according to new numbers. In the fourth quarter of last year, immigration dropped by more than 3,000 people and that comes after a net increase of nearly 19,000 in the previous quarter.
One immigration lawyer says it’s due to the changes for temporary foreign workers.
Immigration technically means a person who comes here to live permanently, but Lawyer Richard Kurland says these BC stats also include Temporary Foreign Workers and that’s why we’re seeing such a dip.
“The first year of impact was last year and that meant hundreds of thousands of foreign workers across Canada and tens of thousands right here in British Columbia seeing the welcome mat pulled out from under them. They had to go home,” he explains.
Kurland predicts the numbers will continue to drop into next year.
“Because it’s like a chicken and a python. There were so many people with temporary status here in BC that artificially pumped up were the numbers of foreigners or new immigrants to the province. When you close the door on foreign workers, no surprise to see that the total number of foreign workers plus permanent residents descends.”
