Six New Immigration Services Launched in Canada For Foreign Graduates, Skilled Workers, & French Speakers

This May, six new paths to permanent residency will open up for essential jobs, foreign student graduates, and French speakers in Canada.

Marco Mendicino, Canada’s immigration minister, confirmed the new initiatives on April 14. Three of the new programmes would enable 90,000 new immigrants to obtain permanent residency status this year. The other three French-speaking immigrant sources would not have an intake limit.

Temporary staff in hospitals and long-term care homes, as well as those on the frontlines of other critical industries, as well as foreign student graduates from Canadian educational institutions, will be eligible for the new schemes.

On May 6, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will begin accepting applications for the three streams mentioned below:

• 20,000 applications for contract health-care jobs
• 30,000 applications for temporary jobs in other important occupations have been sent.
• 40,000 foreign students who have graduated from a Canadian educational institution have applied.

The streams will be open until November 5, 2021, or until they reach their maximum capacity. Staff in 40 healthcare sectors, as well as 95 other important positions in a variety of industries, such as caregiving and food processing and distribution, are covered by these new government policies.

Staff must have at least one year of work experience in a healthcare career or another pre-approved necessary occupation in Canada to be qualified. International graduates must have completed a qualifying post-secondary programme in Canada during the last four years, and no earlier than January 2017.

To apply, graduates and staff must be fluent in one of Canada’s official languages, meet general admissibility criteria, and be present in Canada, approved to work, and employed at the time of their application. They must also live in a province other than Quebec in Canada.

In a press release, Mendicino said, “These new measures will help those with temporary status prepare their future in Canada, play a key role in our economic recovery, and help us rebuild better.” “Our message to them is straightforward: your position can be transient, but your efforts are permanent—and we want you to stay.”

The immigration minister had been hinting at the idea of facilitating immigration for temporary residents since the fall, after announcing the highest immigration targets Canada has ever seen. Mendicino said the move would be necessary in order to bounce back from a year of reduced immigration. Canada did not admit enough immigrants in 2020, and as a result, population growth fell to WWI levels.

Canada plans to accept 1.2 million new immigrants over the next three years. Approximately 401,000 people are expected to become permanent residents in Canada by 2021, but coronavirus-related travel restrictions remain in place, preventing many people from doing so.

Canada’s immigration system already strives to make it easier for people who are already in the country to make the transition to permanent residency. Many of Canada’s over 100 different economic class systems give extra points to those who have lived in Canada or are designed to make such transfers easier. This is primarily due to research conducted by Statistics Canada, which shows that pre-landing Canadian experience aids entry into the labour market. Furthermore, fostering such transfers has been critical to Canada’s efforts to promote a more diverse immigration distribution across the country.

This is partially due to research conducted by Statistics Canada, which found that pre-landing Canadian experience facilitates entry into the labour market. Furthermore, easing such transfers has been critical to Canada’s efforts to promote a more diverse immigration delivery.

Domestic candidates are targeted for Express Entry draws

One of the ways Canada has been moving toward the 2021 goal is by welcoming a large number of immigrants who are staying in Canada after a pandemic to apply for permanent residence. Since the beginning of the year, Canada has held Express Entry draws every two weeks, focusing solely on applicants who are qualifying for the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) or have previously been nominated by a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). Express Entry is the most common way for low-income immigrants to enter Canada, accounting for nearly a quarter of all newcomer admissions per year.

Canada invited every CEC-eligible nominee from the Express Entry pool, a total of 27,332 people, on February 13th. Since the launch of Express Entry in January 2015, this was by far the biggest and most historic draw. IRCC had only ever invited 5,000 Express Entry candidates at a time prior to this draw.

The justification for the draw, according to the immigration department, was to assist more immigration applicants who were working in Canada to remain in Canada. Around 90% of CEC candidates are already in Canada, which means they will not be affected by travel restrictions and will likely have less difficulties gathering all of their documents than international applicants.

There are also options for Canada to meet its target of 401,000 newcomers

To meet its 401,000 immigration goals this year, Canada is depending on other economic class sources to move those already in the country to permanent residence. Programs like the Atlantic Immigration Pilot and other federal streams, in addition to the aforementioned Express Entry system and PNP, would enable more people to obtain permanent residency this year.

IRCC and the province of Quebec have already shown that they are not afraid to come up with new ways to help people stay in Canada long after the pandemic is over. Over the last year, so-called “Guardian Angels” have captured the hearts and minds of Canadians. There are asylum seekers who have been helping to fight the pandemic on the front lines of Canada’s health-care system.

As a token of gratitude for their contributions to Canada during the pandemic, both IRCC and Quebec started accepting permanent residence applications from such individuals in December 2020.

Immigrants from the family class are also helping Canada meet its 401,000 goal. Immigrants in the family class are excluded from Canada’s travel restrictions and can enter the country to complete their permanent residence applications. They account for more than a quarter of the newcomer admissions sought under Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan.

Why are high levels of immigration said to be essential for economic recovery?

Long before the pandemic, Canadians turned to immigrants to help them deal with their demographic problems, which are exacerbated by an ageing population and a low fertility rate.

The fertility rate in Canada has been below the replacement level of 2.1 babies per woman since 1971. Between 1946 and 1965, the baby boomer generation had more than three children per woman, and this time of low fertility followed.

This decade, Canada’s 9 million baby boomers will hit retirement age. Canada would not be able to maintain a stable economy unless new jobs are brought in to fill the holes in the labour market.

Furthermore, the younger generation may be burdened with the responsibility of caring for an outnumbering older generation, and the older generation will not receive sufficient treatment as a result.

As a result, Canada has been pursuing increased immigration to sustain the population and labour force growth needed to maintain its high standard of living.

Despite the fact that it is still early, Canada appears to be on track to meet its 401,000 newcomer target this year, due in part to its efforts to make permanent residence transfers easier for those who have already arrived. According to IRCC reports, nearly 50,000 new permanent residents have arrived in Canada in the first two months of 2021.