Announcements:
Throughout Canada, employers are trying to fill hundreds of thousands of vacant positions. Increasing immigration numbers is incredibly important to ensure Canadian employers can continue to find and keep skilled workers.
On April 22, 2022, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, made three major announcements to support the government’s effort to address Canada’s labour shortage.
- Invitations to Apply: In early July 2022, invitations to apply for permanent residence will resume, and most new applications will be processed within the 6-month service standard.
- International Graduates: IRCC will implement a new temporary policy that gives recent international graduates with expiring temporary status the opportunity to stay in Canada longer.
- Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway: There will new measures for those who applied for permanent residence through the temporary resident to permanent resident pathway in 2021.
Expanding on the New Measures:
1) Invitations to Apply:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent travel restrictions throughout 2020 and 2021, the processing of overseas immigration applications was incredibly delayed, leading to a large processing inventory for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to work through.
As a result, IRCC temporarily paused invitations to apply under the federal high-skilled immigration streams. These streams included the Canadian experience class, federal skilled worker class and federal skilled trades class. This pause has cut the processing inventory by more than half, and the inventory will be even further reduced by July 2022. These lower numbers will allow IRCC to process these applications faster.
In early July 2022, invitations to apply for permanent residence will resume.
2) International Graduates:
Beginning this summer, former international students in Canada with a post-graduation work permit expiring in 2022 will qualify for an additional open work permit of up to 18 months. This policy will help address Canada’s labour shortage.
3) Temporary resident to permanent resident pathway:
In 2021, IRCC introduced a limited-time pathway to allow many of those already working in Canada to stay permanently. This pathway closed to new applications in November 2021, but the processing of applications continues.
IRCC’s new announcement includes policy changes to this pathway. Starting this summer:
- Applicants will no longer be required to remain in Canada while their application is being processed;
- Applicants waiting for their permanent residence application to be finalized will be able to apply for open work permits that are valid until the end of 2024, ensuring that they won’t need to apply to extend their temporary status again as their permanent residence applications will be finalized before this; and
- Immediate family members who are outside Canada and who were included in a principal applicant’s permanent residence application will be eligible to receive their own open work permit
Conclusion:
If you are worried about your immigration status, or are interested in applying for permanent residence, it is best to speak to an expert immigration lawyer. At the Law Office of Matthew Jeffery, we are experts in all types of permanent residence matters, from family sponsorship to express entry. Please CONTACT US today to see whether we can assist you with your immigration matters.
