The main changes we've made through the action plan for faster immigration relate to foreign skilled workers, which is to say that we are trying to align more closely the intake in that program with our labour market needs. We did so through a series of consultations with stakeholders, the provinces, cultural communities, and others, to identify occupations that are in need across the country. Those are the 38 categories that we published under the ministerial instructions. It's a result of those changes that we've now been able to turn the corner on the skilled foreign worker inventory, reducing it from 600,000 to 515,000. As I said, I anticipate further reduction before the end of this year, which is very important.
I'm also very excited that we will be providing a decision within six to 12 months to the applicants under that program who have entered the inventory since February of last year. So they're no longer going to have to wait four to six years, in some places, to get a decision. They'll be able to get one between six to 12 months.
I've been getting very positive comments from stakeholders on how the action plan is working. This is really important. Highly skilled immigrants from developing countries are able to get a decision and go to a country like New Zealand or Australia within six to 12 months. We were telling them to wait over four years. We were simply losing the opportunity to attract many of the most talented people.
This puts us back in the game, to attract those highly skilled and educated people, and I think that's a very positive development in the long run for our economy.