Australia and Canada are both currently undergoing a resources boom. In Australia, there is a strong demand for iron ore & natural gas. In Canada, there is a strong demand for oil and petroluem. The result of these resource booms, means there is a huge shortage in the number of skilled workers for both countries. To futher complicate matters, both countries have very complicated and difficult immigration policies. This has resulted in huge delays for most migrants attempting a simple, skilled worker application. For example in Canada the processing time for the Federal Skilled Workers program can take up to 4 years!