The Minister of Immigration’s announcement today has offered much-needed certainty on the CEC and FSWP draws and elaborates on IRCC goals to assist graduates in transitioning into their new employment responsibilities in Canada through the PGWP program.
Announcement Related to FSWP and CEC Draws
The Honorable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, said today that Express Entry draws will resume and that invitations to apply for permanent residence will begin in early July for those who meet the requirements.
Throughout most of 2020 and 2021, travel limitations caused the processing of existing applications to be delayed, increasing the amount of paperwork needed to be processed. As a result, IRCC has temporarily suspended invitations to apply under the federal high-skilled streams, which include the Canadian experience class (CEC), the federal skilled worker class (FSWP), and the federal skilled trades class (FST), in order to manage this inventory. Invitations to apply will be sent out again in early July, and the vast majority of new applications will be reviewed within the 6-month time frame that is currently in effect.
After taking a break from work for a period of time, the federal high-skilled application inventory has been reduced by more than half, from roughly 111,900 workers in September 2021 to only 48,000 persons by March 2022. By July 2022, IRCC will have further decreased their inventory, allowing them to return to the service levels that clients should have expected.
Announcement Related to Post Graduate Work Permit (PGWP)
Also announced today by Minister Fraser is an extension of an existing temporary policy that will allow recent international graduates who have reached the end of their temporary status to continue to work in Canada and have a better chance of qualifying for permanent residency. After graduation and holding a post-graduate work visa that expires between January and December 2022, former international students in Canada will be eligible for an additional open work permit of up to 18 months, beginning in the summer of 2022.
Many thousands make the successful move to permanent residence each year, including more than 157,000 former students who will become permanent residents in 2021, with more than 88,000 of them shifting directly from a post-graduation work permit to permanent residency in the coming year.
In order to continue contributing to the Canadian economy and addressing Canada’s labour needs at the same time, candidates must obtain meaningful work experience and complete their Express Entry profiles to qualify for this additional open work permit.
IRCC has increased the number of permanent residence decisions made in the first quarter of 2022 by double compared to the same time period in 2021 to assist in the rapid recruitment of even more highly trained employees to Canada. The Government of Canada has made over 156,000 final decisions on permanent residence applications between January 1, 2022, and March 31, 2022. Moreover, over 113,000 new permanent residents arrived in Canada in the first quarter of 2022 as a result of these efforts.
Also, in the first quarter of 2022, IRCC has processed more than 100,000 work permit applications, more than double the number of applications processed during the same time period in the preceding year.
Announcement Related to Temporary Work Permits
In accordance with another temporary public policy, which was established in August 2020, foreign citizens who are in Canada as visitors will be permitted to apply for an employer-specific work permit without having to leave the country. This temporary public policy has been extended until February 28, 2023, in recognition of the fact that persons who have visitor status in Canada may choose to stay and find meaningful employment in the country.
New Policy Changes
The following policy changes, which will take effect this summer, were announced today:
- It will no longer be necessary for applicants to reside in Canada while their application is being processed, as previously.
- Applicants who apply for an open work permit while waiting for the finalization of their permanent residency application will be eligible to obtain work permits that will be valid until the end of the year 2024. Applicants will not have to apply to extend their temporary status again because all permanent residence applications will be completed before they are required to apply to extend their temporary status again.
- In order to facilitate family reunification, immediate family members who are currently outside of Canada and who were included in a principal applicant’s permanent residence application will be eligible for their own open work visa under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
These measures illustrate the government’s broader effort to ensure that Canadian employers have the workers they require while also addressing our labour shortage as well as welcoming new immigrants to Canada through resumption of CEC and FSWP draws.
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