Immigration News

Will Canada be able to house all the immigrants it hopes to welcome by 2025?

Housing is a major part of leading a comfortable life. Canada is facing a crucial challenge with developing enough housing for immigrants, especially with rising immigration targets through 2025.

On the flip side of Canada’s need for immigrants, however, is the concern that Canada may not be able to support the delivery of some of the most basic needs that an influx of newcomers would have. Namely, there is concern among many that Canada will struggle to provide adequate housing for the many immigrants that it aims to welcome between now and 2025. Additionally, immigrants themselves are similarly concerned about Canada’s ability to sustain them if they make the life-altering decision to start a new life in this country.

Immigrants and Canadians alike are worried that this country will not be able to handle the housing needs of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants Canada seeks to welcome in a few short years.

Concern regarding this issue has been persistent for some time now, typified by stories such as that of Palestinian refugee Aziza Abu Sirdana. In early November 2022, Abu Sirdana’s desperation for someone to acknowledge her housing struggle reached a boiling point during a meeting involving the federal government.

After seven months of living in a refugee hostel west of Toronto, Abu Sirdana stabbed himself in front of a government official from (IRCC) hoping to get IRCC’s attention. In an interview with CTV News, Abu Sirdana questioned, rhetorically, “if you [the government] know that there’s no suitable place for me to stay why did you accept me to come [to Canada]?”

Expired PGWP holders will now be able to apply for a new open work permit.

Due to a pause in invitations to Express Entry CEC candidates between September 2021 and July 2022, thousands of Post Graduation Work Permit ( PGWP) holders have seen their work permit status expire. In the absence of CEC invitations, they were unable to apply for a Bridging Open Work Permit while waiting for IRCC to process their permanent residence application. Yesterday IRCC announced special measures that will enable expired PGWP holders to extend their Open Work Permit status by an additional 18 months. This measure aims to help these candidates transition to permanent residence and will allow them to continue working while they wait.

Express Entry: Canada invites 2,000 immigration candidatesITAs issued to candidates with a minimum CRS score of 533.

Canada has invited 2,000 candidates to apply for permanent residency in the latest Express Entry draw held on August 3, 2022. Express Entry is one of Canada’s most prominent immigration pathways for skilled newcomers.

Invitations were issued to candidates who had Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores of at least 533. There was no program specified for this draw which means that candidates from the Canadian Express Class(CEC) and Federal Skilled Program(FSWP) were eligible to be invited.

The minimum CRS requirement for this draw was nine points lower than the previous draw that occurred on July 20. Additionally, 250 more candidates received invitations in this draw compared to the previous draw, when 1,750 candidates received an Invitation to Apply(ITA).

Since all-program draws resumed on July 6, 5,250 Express Entry candidates have received ITAs. Immigration Refugee & Citizenship Canada(IRCC) had paused these draws for over 18 months, and only invited candidates eligible for permanent residence under the CEC or the Provincial Nominee Program(PNP).

• Canada plan to invite 55900 permanent residents through Express Entry in 2022 and this number will dramatically increase to 111,500 by the end of 2024.

IRCC to resume FSWP and CEC invitations in July; and offer open work permit to PGWP holders

April 24, 2022, CIC news

Canada’s immigration minister Sean Fraser has just announced Express Entry invitations to FSWP and CEC candidates will resume by “early July.”

Minister Sean Fraser made several other major announcements, such as that  IRCC will be offering an open work permit extension of up to 18 months to PGWP holders.

Express Entry: The federal government proposes to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) to provide the immigration minister with the authority to use Ministerial Instructions to help select candidates who best meet Canada’s labour market needs. There are no further details yet available by the federal government on what changes it has in mind.

A summary of today’s major announcements

• Express Entry invitations to FSWP, CEC, and FSTP candidates will resume in early July.

• The vast majority of new Express Entry applications will be processed within the six-month service standard. According to IRCC, Express Entry processing times range from seven months to in excess of 20 months.

• Those with an expiring PGWP between January and December 2022 will qualify for an additional open work permit of up to 18 months beginning this summer. IRCC is working on a simplified process and will provide further details “in the weeks ahead.” IRCC notes about 95,000 PGWPs will expire in 2022, and it estimates as many as 50,000 PGWP holders could benefit from this new open work permit.

• Applicants will no longer be required to remain in Canada throughout the entire time their application is being processed.

• Applicants who also apply for an open work permit while they wait for their permanent residence application to be processed will be able to get work permits that are valid until the end of 2024. This will ensure all permanent residence applications will be finalized before applicants need to apply to extend their temporary status again.

• To support family reunification, the immediate family members included in a principal applicant’s permanent residence application who are outside of Canada will be eligible to get their own open work permit.

Before the pandemic, IRCC would invite the highest-scoring candidates to apply for immigration. Usually, these draws did not select candidates based on their program of eligibility.

Earlier in the pandemic, IRCC focused on inviting CEC candidates to achieve its goal to admit a record-high number of immigrants in a single year amid travel restrictions. CEC candidates are oftentimes already in Canada, and therefore were not subject to the travel restrictions Canada had in place between 2020-2021. This focus enabled Canada to land over 400000 last year, the highest newcomer total in its history.

The lack of FSWP and CEC invitations comes at a time when Canada is dealing with historic labour shortages. Unemployment is at a low record and job vacancies are near record highs.

CEC candidates tend to be international students who have graduated from a Canadian Designated Learning institution and who go on to obtain a Post-Graduation Work Permit. The PGWP is an open work permit that enables international graduates to get the one-year of Canadian work experience they often need to apply for permanent residence. Generally speaking, you can only get a PGWP once, meaning that if you are not able to submit a permanent residence application while holding the PGWP, you risk losing your work permit status unless you can find another work permit that you are eligible for.

UPDATE: What will Budget 2022 mean for Canadian immigration?

April 6, 2022, CIC news

Canada’s Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland has just unveiled Canada’s first budget since the September 2021 federal election.

The budget outlines the Canadian government’s planned spending and revenue. It is one of the most important announcements made by the federal government each year since it outlines the state of Canada’s economic and fiscal health and what policy priorities the government will focus on.

Budget 2022 outlines a variety of immigration priorities the Canadian government plans to pursue:

Express Entry: The federal government proposes to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) to provide the immigration minister with the authority to use Ministerial Instructions to help select candidates who best meet Canada’s labour market needs. There are no further details yet available by the federal government on what changes it has in mind.

Immigration Levels Plan: To support its efforts to process and settle over 400,000 new permanent residents each year, Canada will commit $2.1 billion over five years and $317.6 million ongoing in new funding.

Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP): The government wants to invest $29.3 million over three years to create a Trusted Employer Model to cut red tape for the TFWP. The Model will be available to repeat employers who meet the highest standards for working and living conditions, protections, and wages in high-demand fields. Further details will be announced in the coming year.

The federal government also wants to invest $48.2 million to create a new streamlined TFWP for agricultural and fish processing employers.

In addition, it wants to commit $64.6 million over three years to increase capacity to process employer applications within established service standards.

Support Services for Immigrants and Visitors to Canada: Budget 2022 proposes to spend $187.3 million over five years and $37.2 million ongoing for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to improve its ability to respond to its increasing number of enquiries and so IRCC can invest in the technology and tools needed to better support its clients.

Canada announces new immigration fees for 2022

April 6, 2022, CIC news

Canada’s fees are oftentimes less expensive than countries with similar immigration systems, such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Canada is increasing fees for all permanent residence applications on April 30.

Canada is increasing fees for all permanent residence applications on April 30.

In 2020, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) increased permanent residence fees to account for inflation for the first time since 2002. At that time, IRCC announced it would increase fees every two years to adjust for inflation. All amounts are in CAD.

On top of these application fees, you may also have to pay the $500 right of permanent residence fee. This can be paid at the same time as the application, or when your application is approved. It is reserved only for people who get approved for permanent residence and is refunded if an immigration application gets declined. However, it must be paid in order for permanent residency status to be activated.

The right of permanent residence fee does not apply to:

• the dependent children of a principal applicant or sponsor,

• sponsorship applications for adopted children,

• sponsorship applications for an orphaned brother, sister, niece, nephew or grandchild, or

• protected persons, including applicants eligible on humanitarian and compassionate grounds and convention refugees.

The fees for permanent resident cards, permanent resident travel documents and certification or replacement immigration documents will not increase.

Express Entry: Canada invites 919 PNP candidates to applyImmigration minister Sean Fraser has hinted at a work permit extension for PGWP holders.

March 30, 2022, CIC news

Canada invited 919 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence on March 30.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) only invited Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates in the new invitation round. To be invited, candidates needed to have a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) of at least 785. The minimum score was relatively high because PNP candidates get an automatic 600 points added to their score when they receive their nomination. Without the nomination, the lowest-scoring candidates would have had 185 base points.

Invited candidates now have 60 days to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

In the previous round of invitations, IRCC invited a total of 924 PNP candidates to apply for Canadian immigration.

Government of Canada will remove pre-entry test requirement for fully vaccinated travellers on April 1

March 17, 2022

Today, the Government of Canada announced that effective April 1, 2022 at 12:01 AM EDT, fully vaccinated travellers will no longer need to provide a pre-entry COVID-19 test result to enter Canada by air, land or water. Fully vaccinated travellers seeking to arrive in Canada before April 1, 2022, must still have a valid pre-entry test.

As a reminder, travellers arriving to Canada from any country, who qualify as fully vaccinated, may need to take a COVID-19 molecular test on arrival if selected for mandatory random testing. Travellers selected for mandatory random testing are not required to quarantine while awaiting their test result.

For partially or unvaccinated travellers who are currently allowed to travel to Canada, pre-entry testing requirements are not changing. Unless otherwise exempt, all travellers 5 years of age or older who do not qualify as fully vaccinated must continue to provide proof of an accepted type of pre-entry COVID-19 test result:

• a valid, negative antigen test, administered or observed by an accredited lab or testing provider, taken outside of Canada no more than one day before their initially scheduled flight departure time or their arrival at the land border or marine port of entry; or

• a valid negative molecular test taken no more than 72 hours before their initially scheduled flight departure time or their arrival at the land border or marine port of entry; or

• a previous positive molecular test taken at least 10 calendar days and no more than 180 calendar days before their initially scheduled flight departure time or their arrival at the land border or marine port of entry. It is important to note that positive antigen test results will not be accepted.

  source: | Ottawa, ON | Public Health Agency of Canada