James Metcalfe – Pace Immigration: As a result of my post on the new selection criteria for Federal Skilled Workers, I have received a large number of emails from prospective applicants inquiring about their chances.
The key to a successful application will be whether your occupation is on the list published by the Ministry of Immigration. Unfortunately, I cannot predict the occupations that will be on that list. However, I can say without fear of contradiction that the most important selection criteria will be your ability in the English or French languages.
If you have not already done so, book and take an IELTS or TEF test now. If you wait until the list of occupations is released, it will probably be too late. The occupational categories will fill up faster than it will take to perform a language test and get your results back.
It does not matter if you have a PhD from a world renowned university in England, France or the United States. You will have to take a test with no exceptions. Be warned!