• Rules of immigration to Canadaborder image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
  
  Immigration to Canada steadily increased from 122,708 persons in 2005 to 178,640 in 2009, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, a division within the Canadian government tracking immigration and migration. As a result the government of Canada has created new rules and modified existing rules to organize and accommodate the growing number of persons attempting to immigrate to Canada. Different classes of immigration have also been established to sort between individuals immigrating for business and those for familial reasons.
  
  

Independent Class Immigrant

• Applicants attempting to immigrate to Canada under the "Independent Class" title are laborers that are considered "skilled workers" or "professionals". This means they are entering the country to fulfill a skilled-labor position that cannot be filled by a local worker. According to Canada Immigration Visa, rules for immigration to Canada require applicants to fill out an application called the "point system", which takes answers provided by the individual and assigns numerical values to each answer for the purpose of determining whether the applicant meets the minimum point requirements to immigrate to Canada. The answers on the "point system application" ask questions regarding previous work experience and also familiarity with both the English and French language in order to assess how the laborer will integrate into Canadian working society.
  
  

The Entrepreneur and Self-Employment Class

• The entrepreneur and self-employment class, also known as the business immigration class, includes individuals who want to immigrate to Canada and start their own business. Some of the qualifications for this immigration class are: having the required net assets to start the business; hiring more than one Canadian in that business/business plan; one year managerial experience running a business; and having 300,000 CND in the bank to start/settle in Canada, as stated by Canada Immigration Visa. These rules for this type of immigration help to assure the government that applicants have enough resources to sustain themselves without government aid.
  
  

Family Class

• This Canadian immigration rule applies to persons who want to immigrate to Canada for familial reasons. To qualify for this class of immigration, applicants must be sponsored by a family member with Canadian citizenship. Persons sponsored under this class include: a spouse; one´s mother or father; one´s grandparents; one´s fiancee; an adopted child; or a spouse´s dependent children, as reported by Canada Immigration Visa. If a citizen sponsors more than one family member at a time and the applicants are not dependents, the government will assess each application individually. Applicants might need to attend an interview with the Canadian High Commission to futher assess the eligibility.