The proverbial Filipino American Dream has been expanded, to also become the Filipino Canadian Dream.

The Philippines is the third largest source country of immigrants coming to Canada in recent years, behind China and India, the 2005 figures released by Immigration and Citizenship Canada showed. It is not, therefore, surprising that at the Canadian Embassy in Makati City, the daily mill of people is nothing unusual.

The Filipinos' continuous search for a better station in life, or what could just be another affliction of the cultural plague of 'colonial mentality' and brain drain, has found a new destination. The proverbial Filipino American Dream has been expanded, to also become the Filipino Canadian Dream.

Take the case of Jesus Pagasa, a bank executive who holds a Master of Business Administration degree. "For my family, immigrating to Canada meant a whole lot of things. It represents and embodies new opportunities and basically a better future of our kids," he said.

And with thoughts and expectations like these, Filipinos wanting to migrate to Canada flock in record numbers. As a result, the Canadian embassy in the Philippines reported backlogs on processing applications.

Canada seeks to attract immigrants who can quickly adapt to life in Canada and contribute to the economic, social and cultural prosperity. This is the reason why Canada ensures that immigrants meet the National Skills Challenge.

The Skills Challenge is tied to the role of immigration in meeting Canada's human resources challenges. A study conducted by the Canadian Labour and Business Centre showed - that Canada's labor force growth is expected to remain below 1 percent over the next three decades; the Canadian workforce is aging and the near retirement population is growing; the unprecedented international competition among business establishments will continue; and within Canadian sectors, the issues of recruitment, retention and knowledge transfer will therefore be a major concern. It is based on these premises and circumstances that make Skills Challenge a national priority.

Skills challenge is ensuring that Canada' standard of living and future opportunities for economic success and prosperity are not jeopardized by a lack of needed skills, or limited by the inability of individuals to put skills to use. It's about individual Canadians being equipped with the right skills, and having the resources and capacities to expand and update skills on an on-going basis. On the same spectrum, it is deemed important that the recruitment of immigrants meet these requirements.

As outlined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, there are three basic categories of immigrants reflecting the main goals of Canada's immigration system: the Economic class, Family class and the Refugee class. As in the past, the emphasis is put on economic class immigrants compared to the other two classes.

More than half of immigrants enter Canada through the economic class skilled worker immigration stream. This group includes skilled workers and professionals (and their dependents) who are selected on the basis of their knowledge, skills, and experiences deemed necessary and appropriate for Canada's labor market. It also includes investors, entrepreneurs, and self-employed immigrants.

To qualify as a skilled worker, principal applicants must have work experience in managerial, professional, technical or other skilled occupation as outlined by Canada's National Occupational Classification System. In addition, applicants are evaluated by a point system which takes into consideration level of education, language proficiency, amount of work experience, age and adaptability, and including such factors as spouse's level of education.

The Canada Labour and Business Centre said that among new immigrants arriving yearly, half hold a university degree specializing in a broad range of areas including Science, Engineering, Health Care, Education and Finance and some form of post-secondary education such as a non-university diploma or trade certification. In fact, recent immigrants are more likely to have a post-secondary education majoring in the physical science, engineering and trades than the Canadian-born population.

Given the wide range of education levels and specialties found among Canada's immigrant population, it should not be surprising to expect that immigrants should represent a significant share of employment within all occupational groups. But it is not so.

"My independent- skilled immigrant application was approved in five years. The screening process was rigorous, giving so much importance to my credentials and qualifications. Little did I know that the scrutiny they put into my credentials and qualifications had no bearing and of little value. I still have to face almost insurmountable hurdles and hindrances for my transition and successful re-integration, laments Pagasa.

Immigrants come to Canada with foreign work experience. However, recognizing the value and Canadian equivalency of foreign work experience is a key challenge facing both employers and job seekers. New professional and skilled immigrants often experience difficulties finding jobs commensurate with their skills and education.

A survey conducted by Statistics Canada showed that 70 percent of newcomers said they had encountered problems or barriers in the job finding process. Lack of Canadian work experience, transferability of foreign credentials, lack of official language skills, financing cost to re-qualify, availability of courses and lack of time were the most critical hurdles to employment.

Thus, generally, new professional and skilled immigrants to Canada have very high levels of under-employment forcing and opting themselves to take a downward shift from their original professions. Another study by Statistics Canada revealed that 60 percent of new immigrants did not find employment in the same occupational fields they had prior to arriving in Canada.

The majority get employment in the manufacturing sector, retail, hospitality and service industry. The more ambitious demonstrate a keen interest in furthering their training after arrival. Others simply give up, thwarted by credential recognition problems and choose to seek new avenues and jobs to cope up with life in a new country

. A university degree professional immigrant can do a "survival job" for a while; say for instance, a PhD holder driving a taxi, a medical doctor as a nursing attendant, an engineer delivering pizzas, a CPA doing janitorial duties, a nurse being a nanny or a BS Mass Communications graduate flipping burgers and folding clothes. In a way, new professional immigrants are hired to fill up menial jobs and recruited based solely on their high level of mobility and adaptability.

I'm currently busting my butt off working on a measly salary rate doing inventories in a warehouse - it's not exactly something that I am proud and content with, but for the meantime, I need to feed my family and live a simple dignified life hoping and waiting for something better to come my way," Pagasa says.

While finding a job can be a problem for any individual, the employment prospects of new immigrants are often diminished due to difficulties acquiring Canadian recognition for qualification obtained in other countries.

The licensing bodies of various trades and professions may not accept foreign obtained certification, and employers may have difficulty assessing educational credentials or may undervalue foreign work experience.

Gordon Nixon , President and Chief Executive for the Royal Bank recently asserted in a Calgary Herald article this month that it is unfortunate that these difficulties too often result in an under-utilization of immigrant's skills and that there is an immediate need for better utilization of under-employed immigrants already in Canada."

Recent immigrants with bachelor's degrees have under-employment rates that are three times greater than Canadian-born degree holders. The highest ratio occurs among immigrants who possess masters or doctoral degrees. Their unemployment rates are more than 3.5 times higher than Canadian-born graduates with similar level degrees.

Even though the demand for post-secondary credentials appears to be high, recent immigrants with university education have roughly the same rate of unemployment as those who did not complete high school.

"With the same educational attainments, it is unfair to see the disparity in social levels between a non-Canadian born immigrant and a Canadian born citizen, explains Pagasa. Local population and immigrants separated socially because of their perceived educational disparity may create new kinds of problems - one of them will be a socially constructed racism, relative economic decline and the creation of ethnic ghettos, none of which will benefit Canada in the long run.

Apart from issues of equity, health and well being, or social cohesion, Canadians should be concerned about a deepening transition penalty because it constitutes an increasingly protracted under-utilization of labour and skills, which is particularly important in light of growing concerns about skill shortages.

Unlike the United States or the United Kingdom which have implemented and practiced a more liberal approach in recognition, accreditation and acceptance of foreign credentials, Canada is slow in coming up with what they think would really work.

For years Canada has been promoting the Internationally Trained Workers Initiative wherein the government provided millions of funding to create the Foreign Credential Recognition program and even an Action Plan Against Racism that will fight discrimination and stereotyping, including in the workplace.

The program aims to accelerate and expand the assessment and integration of internationally educated professionals. It's all talk and press releases, laments Pagasa. "Out of millions of dollars provided for the funding, only a handful of professional immigrants actually get into the program. The professional immigrants still continue to chart a course through the maze of rules and regulations and red tape," he further says, adding: "The solutions are not coming fast enough. But if this is the sacrifice we have to make to live in Canada, so be it. I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel."

The writer, now a resident of Alberta, Calgary in Canada, is a native of Bago City and studied at Bacolod Tay Tung High School and later at the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos where he earned his MBA degree. He migrated to Canada in 1997, where he did odd jobs until he made a career change. He has now his therapeutic massage business while also working with a sport physiotherapy clinic. He is Married to a Bacoleña, Debbie, a CPA and MBA degree holder.

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