Major announcements coming in from the Canadian Immigration department

Express Entry invitations to resume soon, Open Work permit to PGWP holder

A favourable announcement made by Canada’s immigration minister; Sean Fraser has caught many people’s eyes. By early July, there is the opening up of express entry invitations to FSWP and CEC candidates. The news was extremely welcomed alongside the open work permit extension to PGWP holders. The tenure is extended for another 18 months.

Express entry was one of the main options available for economic class immigrants. This is a system which includes three major programs Canadian Experience Class (CEC), Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP). It also successfully manages the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). It is based on a Comprehensive Ranking system score that the candidates are selected.

With the pandemic and Worldwide shutdowns, the Country of Canada did face a lot of backlogs in the immigration process. This led to the IRCC not inviting any more candidates since September 2021. The usual process is IRCC inviting candidates with high scores and conducting a draw to select the same.

But with Coronavirus and pandemic restrictions, the lack of FSWP and CEC invitations drastically affected the country with a labour shortage. Keeping this in mind, express Entry invitations to FSWP, CEC, and FSTP candidates are resuming from early July. Also, the Canadian Immigration services have mentioned the processing of express entry applications within a six-month service standard. This news is sure a welcoming stand for every candidate waiting for Canadian immigration.

Another wave of positive news from the country is the extension of the Post-Graduation Work permit to an additional 18 months. It was announced that 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. With this new open work permit, approximately 50,000 PGWP holders will get benefitted.

Between January and July of 2021, IRCC made an exception to its PGWP policy by offering a one-time open work permit of 18-months in duration. The purpose of this was to give PGWP holders more time to get the required work experience to be eligible for permanent residence if their Canadian employment prospects were negatively impacted by the pandemic. With this temporary pandemic induced policy shift has in fact reduced the flow of foreign skilled immigrants and created quite a change in the Canadian labour market.

With the new Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024, Express Entry landings are set to increase over the next two years with IRCC seeking to welcome more than 110,000 newcomers through Express Entry by 2024. All those applicants who apply for an open work permit while they wait for their permanent residence application to be processed would now be able to get work permits that are valid until the end of 2024. This is to ensure that the permanent residence applications are finalized well ahead of time. As a means to support family and reunion, immediate family members are posed eligible for open work permits. 

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