The coronavirus is yet to so far from leaving us in peace, and Canadian immigration is also not going to escape this reality.
The mutant variants are compelling the Canadian government to update their travel restrictions/guidelines every now and then. The pandemic has also resulted in creating a huge backlog for the immigration department, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). They have shifted their focus from overseas applicants to the ones already residing locally.
Despite all the obstacles, Canadian immigration has remained to be abiding by its objectives:
– stabilizing the economy,
– bringing families together, and
– supporting folks who have humanitarian needs.
The country has increased its targets and has set a huge goal for the upcoming years. As mentioned earlier, COVID has been a big influence on maple country’s rules and regulation shifts. The country is entering the third calendar year, where they are operating along with updated restrictions on the basis of the recent situation in the outbreak.
Having said that, let’s see what one can expect out of Canadian immigration in the coming months.
Two Immigration Plans (2022-24 and 2023-25)
The country is likely to announce two immigration level goals/plans in the coming days. The plans will fundamentally aid in the country’s new targets and decide which streams will be utilized.
At present, the land of snow is hoping to onboard 411,000 new immigrants this year and another 421,000 in the next one. These numbers may be updated once IRCC announces its new plan.
The first announcement/plan is expected to come on 10th February. Fraser, the immigration minister, will set the Immigration levels to plan for 2022-24 the same day. Usually, this announcement happens during autumn but has been delayed due to last year’s electoral activities. The second announcement will be made on 1st November, provided there are no election disruptions.
The numbers are likely to rise for new immigrants as there is a huge labour shortage in maple country. There is also a huge backlog of overseas applicants, along with a commitment from the government to help resettle refugees from Afghanistan. The immigration ministry is positive about the increase, provided they get a similar response from business owners and employers in the country.
Express Entry
Even after having a record-breaking 2021, Express Entry is all set to witness an even good year in 2022. The program conducted draws in 2021 only to invite Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) applicants for permanent residency (PR). This was an exceptional move by IRCC because (FSWP) gets the highest invites in such draws usually. However, applicants for FSWP were excluded completely in 2021. They have a share of over 85% in the current pool. The reason behind this exception was that CEC applicants were already residing locally. That helped in the easy transition to PR and helped achieve their immigration targets for the year. On the contrary, FSWP applicants stayed overseas, and their landing procedure was likely to be disrupted by any sudden change in travel policies due to COVID. About including PNP applicants helped meet the labour market needs of various provinces.
Resumption of FSWP invitations
There has not been any officials’ indication as to when Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) applicants will get the invite from IRCC. The department wants to decrease its backlog by half before they consider inviting FSWP applicants again. This was indicated in their memo that they released in September last year. At the current pace, the department should be able to cut its backlog by 50% in early 2022.
Reformations in Express Entry
The government has given many indications that there are going to be some reformations in Express Entry. In last year’s budget, it was proposed that the minister should have the authority to invite specific labour market requirements to meet applicants when there is a shortage. However, no more information was made public afterwards on this matter. The Prime Minister had advised Fraser to allow new immigrants like students and temp workers under Express Entry. This was announced in the mandate letter published by Fraser last year.
What more to expect?
- TEER System: By the fall of this year, IRCC and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) will use the new Training, Education, Experience, and Responsibilities (TEER) system for occupational classification. This is a major change from NOC, so the applicants should make a note of it. Stakeholders will be notified in advance so that they can make amends as per their requirements.
- Backlogs: The backlog has increased to 1.8 million. The prime minister has asked to increase the efficiency of processing so that this can be cleared as soon as they can.
- Application for Canadian citizenship: The government has promised to make the application free of cost for this in 2019. However, all such intents were disrupted by the COVID. Now they are making arrangements for the same as well as they are providing citizenship applicant and their family members an option to apply online as well.
- Reliable system for employers: Canada has been talking about setting up a Trusted Employer system for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). This is one of the priorities, as mentioned in the mandate letter. TFWP applicants will be hired more quickly when employers enroll in this system.
- Help for refugees: The country is trying its best to help resettle the refugees from Afghanistan.
- PGP 2022: The immigration department has not provided much information on this yet. However, we know that they are aiming to onboard 23,500 newcomers under the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) in 2022.
- Travel guidelines: Just like 2021, no one can guess and assume the future guidelines in Canada, as it is directly influenced by the situation of COVID cases. As of now, the upcoming update is that every traveller has to be completely inoculated before coming to Canada. Also, there is a list of authorized vaccines to select from.
