Last week the Government of Canada released its 2021 – 2023 immigration levels plan. This is an important document that the government releases that describe its immigration targets for the next three years, both in terms of overall immigration numbers, and how many immigrants will be accepted through each of Canada’s immigration programs.

The new levels plan reconfirms Canada’s commitment to encouraging immigration. Canada’s previous levels plan indicated immigration levels increasing slightly each year, and in general remaining in the low 300 thousands per year. The recently announced levels plan anticipates total immigration levels over 400 thousand for each of 2021, 2022 and 2023. The government expects that approximately half those immigrating to Canada will do so under an economic program (including Express Entry and the Provincial Nominee Programs) the remainder will arrive as refugees, or as members of the family class.

On August 18, the Ontario Immigration Bureau announced that a handful provincial nominees for international students would be opened on August 19^th. As the province with the most international students in Canada, the degree of competition for provincial nomination places for international students in Ontario is imaginable.

From the 18th to the morning of the 19th, all Polaris employees were actively involved and finally helped multiple clients successfully grab valuable places in the program.

Today the OINP announced it’s intention to enact regulatory amendments that will alter the application procedure to the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker Stream, the Employer Job Offer: International Student Stream, the Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills Stream, the Master’s Graduate Stream, and the PhD Graduate Stream. The proposed change will introduce an Expression of Interest (EOI) system to these streams. Under the current system applicants apply on a first-come first-served basis to these streams. These programs are now so popular however that it is often very difficult for even well qualified applicants to get a slot to apply. In addition, because it is first-come, first-served a marginally qualified applicant who registers quickly, will be able to apply when a much better qualified, but slower to act applicant will be shut out.

Under the new proposal the OINP will establish a points system, and applicants will register and receive a score based on their qualifications and characteristics. The OINP would then be able to select the highest scoring applicants from all those who have registered and invite them to submit an application. The OINP has not yet released details of the scoring system it will use. This proposal represents a major change to the way the OINP works. The job-offer streams in particular were among the most attractive in Canada for less qualified applicants, since those streams did not compare applicants against each other at any point. This change, if enacted, will bring these streams more into line with programs offered by other provinces, and will change the competition for spaces from a test of speed, to a test of qualification.

Canada faced a lack of labor in many fields during COVID-19 in 2020. At the same time, a lot of people who had travelled to Canada before the international lockdown were stranded in the country for an unknown period of time, unable to return to their own countries.

Based on these two situations, on August 24^th, 2020 the Canadian Immigration Service announced that applicants who are already in the country can apply for a work visa for a specific employer if they have a valid work invitation! In short, if the application is approved, the work permit can be granted while they’re in Canada.

Canadian Work Permit

According to previous regulations, work visas for temporary residents usually need to be applied from outside of Canada. If an applicant who came to Canada as a tourist and submits a work visa application, he had to leave the country to complete the approval procedures.

However, the Canadian government has now adjusted the policy during the COVID-19. Applicants who are in the country and hold a tourist visa can directly apply for a work permit for a specific employer and do not need to re-enter the country after approval.

It is worth noting that these applicants will need an employer and still have to apply for LMIA. What is exempted is only the procedures for exit and re-entry, all other policies have not changed.

Applicants must meet the following conditions:

1. Applicant must be in Canada and have a legal and valid visitor status.
2. Applicant must have arrived in Canada before August 24.
3. He/she holds a job offer.
4. Submit the LMIA specific employer work permit application before March 31, 2021.
5. Comply with other regulations of the Canadian government.

Study in Canada

The Canadian government announced that the length of online classes during the unapproved period will also be included in the graduation work permit (PGWP) time for the study visa applications that are submitted before September 15^th, 2020.

After submitting the study permit application, any time spent studying online outside of Canada during the epidemic will be counted in the PGWP, but it must meet:

• Completion of at least 50% of the courses in Canada.
• Must apply for a study permit before September 15, 2020, and start or have started professional courses in the spring, summer or autumn of 2020.
• The time spent studying online outside of Canada before December 31, 2020 will not be deducted from the evaluation time of the graduation work permit.

Canadian universities are preparing to usher in a different back-to-school season. All colleges and universities have invested in resources, training and digital infrastructure to ensure that students get a participatory and high-quality online learning experience.

Links to some of the school policies during the epidemic are below:

University of Manitoba: http://umanitoba.ca/coronavirus

The University of Winnipeg: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/covid-19/index.html

Manitoba Institute of Trades & Technology (MITT):

https://mitt.ca/291/blogs/updates-from-mitt-regarding-covid-19-coronavirus

Red River College: https://www.rrc.ca/coronavirus/

The Canadian government has made adjustments in both work and study situation in Canada to provide help and support for people.

Learn more about studying, working and immigrating to Canada by contacting Polaris Strategy. We are always guiding you in the right direction!

info@polariss.ca

Earlier today the province of Quebec announced that it would be implementing a program to offer permanent residence in Canada to refugee claimants who have worked in medical support occupations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today the federal ministry responsible for immigration, IRCC, has announced the launch of a very similar program that applies to the rest of Canada.

Like the Quebec program the federal pathway is designed to allow refugee claimants in Canada who have been doing crucial work, and caring for vulnerable Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic to gain permanent status in Canada, regardless of the strength or weakness of their refugee claim.

The requirements of the program, as they have been announced so far are as follows:

• Have claimed asylum before March 13, 2020
• Were issued a work permit after they made a claim for asylum
• Have worked in the health-care sector, in health institutions (for example, hospitals, long-term care homes, home care through an organization or agency, assisted living facilities)
• Have worked in a designated occupation for no less than 120 hours between March 13, 2020 and August 14, 2020. The designated occupations that are included in this special measure are orderlies, nurses, nurses’ aides and patient service associates, assistant orderlies and certain home support workers.
• Demonstrate 6 months of experience in the designated occupation before being granted permanent residence. Applicants will have until August 31, 2021 to acquire this experience.
• Meet existing admissibility requirements, including those related to criminality, security and health

The program announced by the government of Quebec is open to applicants who are refugee claimants – either those whose claim is still being adjudicated, or those who have been refused. The applicant must be working in one of the following occupations:

• Nursing co–ordinators and nursing supervisors (NOC code 3011)
• Registered nurses (NOC code 3012)
• Licensed practical nurses (NOC code 3233)
• Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates (NOC code 3413)
• Home support workers (NOC code 4412 related to direct personal care)

Neither the federal nor Quebec programs offer a pathway for individual to come to Canada to do this work in exchange for permanent residence; in either program eligibility is limited to those who are already refugee claimants. The programs are backward looking, and in a way, is a reward for those doing difficult and dangerous work at a time when Canada badly needed people to do that work.

With the announcement of the federal program and Quebec program today there is now a pathway to permanent residence for qualifying asylum seekers no mater where in Canada they live and work.

Federal Court of Canada strikes down US ‘Safe Third Country’ agreement – US treatment of refugees returned from Canada violates their rights under Canadian law

There has been a significant recent court decision in Canadian refugee law. In the case of the Canadian Council for Refugees v. Canada (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship), 2020 FC 770 the Federal court has found that the safe third country agreement between Canada and the United States is unconstitutional.

Federal Court of Canada strikes down US ‘Safe Third Country’ agreement – US treatment of refugees returned from Canada violates their rights under Canadian law

There has been a significant recent court decision in Canadian refugee law. In the case of the Canadian Council for Refugees v. Canada (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship), 2020 FC 770 the Federal court has found that the safe third country agreement between Canada and the United States is unconstitutional.

Under the agreement, a refugee claimant is normally required to make their refugee claim in whatever country they arrive in first. If a claimant arrives in Canada from the US at a land border crossing, they will be ineligible to make a refugee claim and will be sent back to the US.

This agreement has been controversial since it came into force in 2004, but in recent years it has come under ever greater criticism in Canada. Since the election of 2016 public policy in the US has become increasingly hostile to immigration, and in particular, very hostile to those attempting to immigrate by irregular means. This has resulted in an ever-increasing difference between the way refugees and asylum seekers are treated in Canada, and how they are treated in the United States.

This criticism might be entirely academic – the US is, after all, a different country, and we in Canada do not get to tell them how to treat refugees – except for the safe third country agreement. When someone comes to a Canadian land border with the US and tries to make a refugee claim they are interviewed by an officer to determine whether their claim is blocked by the safe third country agreement. If the person is not able to make a claim in Canada due to the agreement Canadian officials will return them to the US and hand the person over to US authorities. The US authorities then typically place the person in a detention facility. These detention facilities are no different than jails, and there are documented cases of refugees being placed in solitary confinement and being held without bail or access to counsel.

The Federal Court determined that section 7, of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms – most particularly the right to be free of unjust imprisonment was violated by the CBSA practice of returning claimants ineligible because of the safe third country agreement to US authorities, who then imprison them – often under deplorable conditions. Because it is Canadian officials returning the refugees to the US, the refugees are able to gain the protection of Canadian law. The effect of the Court’s decision – to invalidate the US as a safe third country – will take effect in six months’ time unless the Federal Government elects to appeal this decision to the Federal Court of Appeal.

Today IRCC announced a change to its interpretation of the work ‘Parent’ as it is used in the Citizenship Act. The Citizenship Act provides that a person is entitled to Canadian citizenship, no matter where in the world they were born if they have a Canadian parent.

What does it mean to have a Canadian parent?

1. In the past IRCC understood a Canadian parent to be a biological parent of the child.
2. In other words, if one of the child’s biological parents was a Canadian citizen the child would be entitled to Canadian citizenship.
3. This entitlement would exist no matter where in the world the child was born and would exist for the child whether they ever actually claimed that citizenship or not.

What was the change?

1. IRCC will now interpret having a Canadian parent as having a legal parent at birth who is a Canadian citizen – even if the legal parent at birth is not biologically related to the child.
2. This means that Canadian legal parents will no longer need to sponsor children in this situation for Canadian Permanent Residence.

What is the difference between sponsoring your child, and the new rule?

Under the old system, non-biological parents would have needed to sponsor their child, rather than have them considered a citizen from birth.

1. Sponsorship is a lengthier process – the child may have to wait longer for status.
2. The sponsor must be present in Canada – if they are living outside of the country sponsorship would not be possible
3. A sponsor might be disqualified for some other reason (not having anything to do with the child)
4. Sponsorship results in the child obtaining permanent residency – they would need to apply for citizenship later

On June 3^rd, 2020 Ontario conducted a draw in its express entry linked Human Capital Priorities stream. In keeping with past practice, it has invited candidates with experience in certain occupations only. Unusually for the OINP they have issued invitations to two different groups of applicants in this draw – those with 1 year or more of Canadian work experience, and those with one year or more of foreign work experience.

Of interest are the different CRS score ranges for these two groups. 167 workers with experience in Canada were invited, and the lowest invited score was 358 – this is a very low score for success in the express entry system. 532 workers with only foreign experience were invited and the lowest invited score was 471 – this is a very high score to achieve.

These results clearly indicate the change in the Federal express entry pool since the outbreak of COVID-19. The Federal government has ceased conducting draws for those without Canadian experience or provincial nomination and has been making up its invitation target by accepting more – and therefore lower-scoring – candidates with Canadian experience. As a result, the CRS score required for those with Canadian experience is very low, and we can see that in the Ontario draw here. By contrast, the pool of high-scoring applicants without Canadian experience just keeps growing, since none of these candidates are being selected in federal draws – and even in a provincial nominee program draw like this one a very high score is needed for selection.

Program and when is it planning to reopen it? Read all about it here:

The Quebec Immigrant Investor Program (‘QIIP’) is an immigration pathway unique in Canada. It is the last remaining immigration program that permits applicants to qualify for immigration on the basis of making a passive investment.

The vast majority of immigration pathways that allow applicants to qualify by making an investment do so in the context of the applicant starting or acquiring an active business, and in addition to the investment the applicants are expected to actually operate and manage the business, they are investing in.

Here’s how it has been affecting EE process and more…

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused tremendous disruption in societies worldwide, and Canada is no exception. In the area of Canadian immigration, measures have been taken to deal with COVID-19, and this has caused real uncertainty for applicants and practitioners.

One area that may appear to have been less seriously affected by the pandemic, is the express entry system. In this category, immigration officials continue to hold draws and continue to process applications, so it might seem that not very much has changed. Is this still what we see when we take a more detailed look at the numbers?

Throughout 2019 and the early part of 2020 the express entry system was both stable and predictable. General draws were held regularly, and the points threshold required for selection stayed fairly stable, in the 460s – 470s. In spite of the predictability of these results they were not fully satisfying, because the points requirement was quite high – 460 CRS points is a difficult bar for many applicants to clear.

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic this period of stability has ended. Draws are still being held regularly, but their structure has changed. More importantly, at least at first glance, the points requirement has started to go down.   Does this mean that fewer people are creating profiles in the system? Does this mean that this is the time for applicants who couldn’t qualify before to seize an opportunity? It’s not that simple, but to understand exactly what is happening requires a more detailed look at the structure of the draws and the numbers.