Canadian Immigration Minister Joe Volpe announced on Monday in Brampton, Canada, that changes to Canada's immigration rules that will make it easier for parents to reunite with their immigrant children and for college students to work part time.

The changes, which go into effect this week, are expected to reduce dramatically the backlog of citizenship applications and halve the waiting period for applicants, who current face waits of up to two years for a decision.

The Immigration Department currently has about 100,000 family reunification applications on file. It seeks to triple the number of applications processed per year, from the current 6,000 to about 18,000 in 2005 and in 2006.

The government will allow waiting parents and grandparents to use five-year multiple-entry visas to visit their families in Canada while their applications are pending.

Under the new rules, applicants over the age of 55 who meet the residency requirements will no longer have to take the language and knowledge tests required for citizenship, Volpe said.

Foreign students, who were previously permitted to work only on campus while attending school in Canada, will be able to look for off-campus employment.

"International students who choose to stay in Canada after they graduate greatly contribute to our labor market," said Volpe.

He also announced incentives for foreign students to work outside of large urban centers. International students have been allowed to work in the country for a maximum of one year after graduation. Now, if they take jobs outside the cities of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, they will be permitted to stay for up to two years.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2005)