Prospective skilled immigrants to the country cited “lack of work experience in Canada” as a significant barrier to their success after moving from their homelands, a new survey shows.
Other perceived barriers and challenges to career success in Canada included lack of information about jobs and the perceived difficulty of the licensing process in Canada said the survey of 3,181 respondents, which was carried out by World Education Services (WES) thats is designated by Citizenship Immigration Canada (CIC) to provide educational credential assessments.
Ontario remains the most popular Canadian immigration destination, with nearly half of respondents stating that they intend to settle in Canada’s most populated province.
For other destinations, 22 percent selected Alberta as their intended settlement province, 12 percent selected British Columbia, while Manitoba, Quebec, and Saskatchewan attracted 2 percent each.
WES said that Canada’s immigration system is changing so rapidly that public data and evaluation research on recent immigrants to the country are sparse. 
“For many stakeholders, the lack of information makes it difficult to effectively plan, develop, and deliver services, information, and support to skilled immigrants. Timely information on the demographics, motivations, expectations, and needs of immigrants – both before and after they arrive in Canada – can support a more coordinated settlement sector and lead to more successful immigrant outcomes,” WES said in its executive summary of the survey.
Here are some of the key findings of the survey;
• Overall, overseas CIC-ECA applicants surveyed tended to be younger than 2013 skilled workers. Of the CICECA survey respondents, 95% were 25 to 44 years old, and only 3% were 45 and older. By comparison,
approximately 84% of skilled worker principal applicants landing in 2013 were between 25 and 44 years old, with about 13% between 45 and 64 years old.
• Most CIC-ECA survey respondents were citizens of India (33%); the Philippines (16%); China, Nigeria, and Iran (all 6%); and Pakistan (5%).13 However,
CIC-ECA data show that country of birth and citizenship are quite different from country of residence, indicating that these overseas applicants are a mobile group. 
• While almost all survey respondents were located overseas, 10% indicated that they had resided in Canada before, 45% of them as international students and 28% as Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs).
• Of CIC-ECA survey respondents, 73% indicated that they were married or in common-law relationships, while 26% indicated that they were single or divorced. A large percentage of respondents (76%) have dependents, while the remaining 24% said they have none. Of those CIC-ECA applicants surveyed who have dependents, most (68%) said they have between one and three dependents.
• CIC-ECA survey respondents are highly educated. The majority surveyed (52%) said that their highest level of education is a bachelor’s degree, while 42% had a master’s degree and 3% had a doctoral degree. The remaining respondents listed a postdoctoral degree (1%), an associate degree (1%), and a high school diploma (1%) as their highest level of education.
• Many indicated that their field of study is engineering (40%), followed by business and management (22%), health (17%), and math and computer science (13%). The survey data revealed that CIC-ECA applicants have more degree-level qualifications than past skilled worker principal applicants.
• Top professional categories included registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses (6.7%); software engineers and designers (6%); and computer programmers, interactive media developers, information systems analysts, and consultants, with about 5.5% each. Other popular professional categories included financial and investment analysts (5%), civil engineers (4.5%), and university professors and lecturers, physiotherapists, and other categories, at about 4% each. 93% had at least three years of experience in their field. 
• At the time of the survey, 48% of CIC-ECA survey respondents had applied to the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and were awaiting a response. Another 36% were preparing applications, 9% had been accepted, and 2% had been rejected.20 The majority of surveyed clients (62%) applied for the FSWP on their own, 28% used an agent to apply, 8% used a law firm, and 3% on a combination of friends, family, and other consultants for support and advice with the application. Of all the surveyed CIC-ECA applicants, 7% had applied to immigrate to another country besides Canada. Of these respondents, over half (54%) indicated that they applied to Australia, 24% to the United States, 13% to New Zealand, 9% to the United Kingdom, and 9.8% to other countries.
• CIC-ECA survey respondents said that they were motivated to immigrate to Canada largely for a “better standard of living.” Indeed, when asked to identify the three largest migration motivators to come to Canada, 89% of respondents noted that a better standard of living (including safety and comfort) was important, followed by 70% who said they felt that a main motivator is better career and job prospects, and 49% who said they felt that there would be better educational opportunities for themselves and their families. Other migration motivators included better salary (23%), more political stability and freedom (31%), and other reasons related to family reunification, immigration policies in Canada, opportunities for children, and overall culture in Canada (13%).
• Of CIC-ECA-survey respondents, more than nine out of ten were positive about their future prospects in Canada, with 65% indicating that immigration to Canada would have a significant positive impact on their career, and 59% indicating that they expected to find a job in their field within a year. As for length of time needed to find work, 20% said they felt that they would find skilled employment in their field in one to three years; the remaining respondents (18%) said that they were not sure and that they felt it would be three or more years (4%). CIC-ECA survey respondents from India were the most certain that they would be successful within a year, with 77% indicating their expectation of finding skilled employment in that timeframe. Over half (59%) of all CICECA survey respondents indicated that they were likely or very likely to consider a career switch in Canada. In contrast, about 41% said that they were unlikely or very unlikely to consider a career change.