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

Our client had been admitted to Canada as a visitor but granted only a short length of stay here. To make the most of the trip, and particularly with the disruption to international travel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic the client needed to extend their stay in Canada.

The application for a visitor record was submitted before the first period of stay had expired; the application was submitted in March of this year. Delay was encountered during the processing of the application, mostly because of the pandemic.

As part of the processing of the application the client was originally required to provide biometrics. Normally this is not a challenge for an applicant located in Canada, because biometrics can be given at Service Canada locations. In the current period of uncertainty we first had to secure an extension of the time to provide biometrics from IRCC, and then later, when all biometric collection facilities had ceased to operate due to COVID-19 we simply had to wait.

It is important to realize that because we made the application in a correct and timely fashion at the outset, none of these delays caused any prejudice for the client. Because their application was submitted while their visitor status was still valid the client benefited from implied status. Implied status means that the client was considered to keep their valid visitor status while the application is being processed and decided. The application took much longer than normal because of COVID-19, but the because of implied status the client had valid status in Canada throughout the entire time.

In mid-July IRCC recognized that it was unable to process many applications, because it was waiting for biometric information that applicants were unable to provide, since all the biometric collection facilities were closed due to COVID-19. IRCC decided to institute an exception to the biometric requirement for temporary residence applications to allow processing to move forward. The client benefitted from this decision and IRCC finished processing the application.

Because of the delay in processing, and the rule regarding implied status a visitor who originally entered the country in early February, and was given only a one-month duration of stay at that time, has made one application for a visitor record, and is now authorized to remain in Canada until mid-November. Needless to say, this was a very positive outcome for the client.