Live, Study and Work in Canada (2024)

05/09/2021

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05/09/2021

CANADA ELECTION 2021

An overview of key issues for immigrant voters

ANALYSIS: The September 20 election is arguably one of the most important in Canadian history.

Canada is holding an election on September 20.

On September 20, Canadian citizens will have the opportunity to vote in a new government.

Immigrants are eligible for Canadian citizenship if they have resided in Canada for 1,095 days within the five years before applying for citizenship. Canada has one of the highest citizenship uptake rates in the world with around 85 per cent of immigrants becoming Canadians.

According to Statistics Canada, the level of immigrant voter turnout is comparable to that of Canadian-born voters. In 2019, 78 per cent of Canadian-born citizens told Statistics Canada that they voted. In comparison, 75 per cent of citizens who immigrated to Canada over 10 years ago voted. This figure stood at 72 per cent of citizens who immigrated to Canada within 10 years of the 2019 election.

This year’s election is arguably one of the most important in Canadian history. Canada continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. Although Canada is in a stronger position than many of its global peers due to its high rate of vaccinations and the tremendous monetary and fiscal measures it has taken to keep the economy functioning, it is still dealing with a significant number of pandemic-related challenges that will affect the country for decades to come.

There are several major policy issues that will affect Canadian voters more broadly and immigrants in particular that the new government will need to address. For instance, affordable housing is a hot topic during this year’s campaign and is an issue that impacts many, whether they are born in Canada or have immigrated here. Immigrant voters have the opportunity to study the affordable housing policies put forward by the federal parties and then make an informed decision on September 20.

The new government will also need to tackle issues that affect immigrants more specifically, such as:

Economic policy:
Immigrants come to Canada to pursue a better life including economic opportunity. While Canada is in better economic shape amid the pandemic than most countries, its labour force is yet to recover, and immigrant workers have been among those most negatively affected by the pandemic.

Travel rules:
Although Canada’s travel rules have been eased, they continue to significantly impact immigrants in a number of ways. Citizens are awaiting the arrival of family members who have had their trips to Canada delayed due to pandemic-related travel restrictions. While restrictions have been lifted, there remain ongoing delays for exempt travellers.

Application processing:
Related to the previous point, the pandemic has caused a significant backlog in applications to be processed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The new government’s approach to tackling the backlog will have a major impact on immigrant voters, namely those awaiting the arrival of loved ones, be it through economic, family, or refugee class pathways.

Canadian citizenship:
The current government previously campaigned they would remove citizenship fees altogether but have been unable to fulfil the promise amid the pandemic. The new government will hence need to make a decision on whether to go ahead with this promise, or potentially reduce fees, freeze them, or increase them.

Parents and Grandparents Program:
The PGP remains under heavy scrutiny due to the many challenges successive Canadian governments have had over the years. The PGP garners tremendous interest among Canada’s immigrants, but also causes tremendous stress due to the limited number of sponsorship spots that are made available each year. A new government will hence need to decide the most appropriate way to manage the PGP in light of the ongoing significant demand for it.

The above is merely a snapshot of the key issues that will directly impact immigrants in the aftermath of the election. Given the importance of the election to immigrants it will be worth monitoring what the voter turnout among naturalized Canadians will look like on September 20. Statistics Canada data shows the turnout of immigrant voters has improved significantly over the last decade which is a good sign that immigrants will continue to make their voices heard this year.

Discover if You’re Eligible for Canadian Immigration send us a message today.

© CIC News All Rights Reserved.

04/07/2019

This time we are leaking Canadian immigrant jobs with most applications in the 1st half of 2019 from January to June. Many of our clients made it through because it is very important to apply within jobs with lesser applicants. In our next post we will reveal jobs with less applications per post. Don't miss out! Message us if you have any questions.

25/03/2019

Canada opened this temporary program on March 4 to in-home temporary foreign worker caregivers who came to work in Canada under the Caring for Children or Caring for People with High Medical Needs pilot programs after November 30, 2014.

The pathway will remain open until June 4, 2019.

Find out today if you are eligible for any of Canada’s current caregiver immigration programs!

25/03/2019

Canada announces open work permits for approved Interim Pathway for Caregivers applicants.

Applicants approved for permanent residence under Canada’s Interim Pathway for Caregivers can also apply for a Canadian open work permit.

Under an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) program delivery update issued March 21, Interim Pathway for Caregivers candidates can submit an open work permit application along with their application for permanent residence.

IRCC says processing of the open work permit application will only begin once candidates pass IRCC’s eligibility test for the pathway.

To be eligible for an open work permit, an Interim Pathway for Caregivers applicant must:

be in Canada and intend to reside in a province or territory other than Quebec;
be one of the following at the time of application:
authorized to work in Canada with a work permit other than a Live-in Caregiver Program work permit;
authorized to work without a work permit if they have applied for a renewal of a work permit other than a Live-in Caregiver Program work permit; or
eligible for restoration of status, have applied for restoration and have held a work permit other than a Live-in Caregiver Program work permit as their most recent work permit.
be the principal applicant on an application for permanent residence under the Interim Pathway for Caregivers; and
have received a positive eligibility assessment of their paper application for permanent residence, or APR, under the Interim Pathway for Caregivers.
Open work permit for spouses, common-law partners and dependents
Open work permits are also available to family members of eligible Interim Pathway applicants. Family members must be residing in Canada and in status, on implied status or be eligible for restoration of status.

When submitting their application, caregiver applicants and their family members are still required to pay the work permit processing fee of $155

23/02/2019

New report: Ontario nominated 6,850 applicants for Canadian permanent residence
February 22, 2019

Ontario issued 6,850 nominations for Canadian permanent residence in 2018 with nearly half going to candidates in the federal Express Entry system, a new report by the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program shows.

Known as the OINP, the program allows Ontario to nominate a set number of economic immigration candidates each year for Canadian permanent residence.

The OINP is the largest component of the federal Provincial Nominee Program, which works with participating provinces and territories to spread the economic benefits of immigration more evenly across Canada.

The report published February 22 states that the 6,850 nominations that Ontario was allotted in 2018 will translate into 13,571 new immigrants to the province with the addition of accompanying spouses and dependents.

Express Entry nominations
Nearly 50 per cent of the nominations issued in 2018 went to candidates in the Government of Canada’s Express Entry system, which manages the pool of candidates for three of the country’s main federal economic immigration categories.

The OINP has three immigration streams that are aligned with the Express Entry system — Human Capital Priorities, French-Speaking Skilled Worker and Skilled Trades.

The streams allow the OINP to search the Express Entry pool for eligible candidates who meet their eligibility criteria and invite them to apply for a provincial nomination for permanent residence.

The Human Capital Priorities Stream was the most active of the three, issuing 2,190 nominations in 2018 — the most of any OINP immigration pathway.

Another 648 nominations were issued through the Skilled Trades Stream and 387 were issued through the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream.

In order to be considered for any of Ontario’s Express Entry streams, eligible candidates must first submit an Express Entry profile.

Find out if you are eligible today.

27/09/2018

This week, the Canadian government announced the 100th Express Entry draw, inviting 400 candidates from the Federal Skilled Trades program to immigrate to Canada with their families. The Express Entry system has now been in operation for nearly four years. Today we reflect on Express Entry, and how this system has impacted Canadian immigration!

What is Express Entry?

Express Entry is not an immigration program. It is a system used to manage the intake and processing of applications for Canadian immigration. There are three major immigration programs which use the Express Entry system: Federal Skilled Worker (FSW), Canadian Experience Class (CEC), and Federal Skilled Trades (FST). Canadian immigration prioritizes skilled workers, with the vast majority of skilled worker immigrants coming through the Express Entry system.

To find out if you are eligible, simply us for a free online assessment, which automatically assesses candidates for Express Entry!

Why was Express Entry introduced?

Prior to the introduction of Express Entry, Canada used a first-come, first-served system for processing skilled worker applications for immigration. This system resulted in slow processing times and major backlogs in applications, with some applicants waiting years for their permanent resident status to be processed. Express Entry was introduced as a way to address these problems and create a more efficient immigration system.

Express Entry uses an electronic system to manage applications. All personal information, documents, and payments are submitted electronically, making the system much more efficient. As well, Express Entry uses a points-based system to accept applications, only inviting the most competitive candidates. Through Express Entry, skilled worker immigrants are selected based on their ability to integrate easily into the Canadian work force, and their applications are processed in a matter of months.

In order to apply through Express Entry, a person must first create an Express Entry profile. This profile acts as an Expression of Interest (EOI) in Canadian immigration. Based on the data in the profile, each candidate is assigned a score, known as their Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score. Then, approximately every two weeks, the Canadian government conducts an Express Entry draw, issuing Invitations to Apply (ITA) to those people with the highest CRS scores.
How has the system performed since it was introduced?

Express Entry has proven to be an incredibly efficient system for managing immigration applications. The system enables the Canadian government to process a high volume of immigration applications from qualified skilled workers. Compared to the previous first-come, first-served model for immigration, Express Entry provides a much faster process as well.
Invitations to Apply (ITAs)

In the history of Express Entry, 213,102 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) have been issued. This number has increased in each year of the program, with only 31,000 ITAs issued in 2015 compared to 86,000 ITAs issued last year in 2017. That number might be surpassed this year, as well, with 62,500 ITAs having already been issued in 2018.

Bear in mind that an ITA is issued to the principal applicant on an Express Entry file. This principal applicant is able to include their spouse and dependent children on their immigration application, so a single ITA can result in multiple approvals for Canadian permanent residence.
Comprehensive Ranking System Score (CRS Score)

The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score is an important factor in determining a person’s success or failure in Express Entry. If a person’s CRS score is far below the cut-off, they often need to find secure either a Provincial Nomination or a Canadian job offer in order to be selected for an ITA.

The minimum CRS score cut-off has dropped significantly since the inception of the program. In 2015, the average cut-off was 538 points and in 2016 it was 491 points. While in 2017, the score dropped to an historic low of 413 points, the average score last year was 443 points. This year, the CRS score has been more stable than ever before, with the majority of draws placing the cut-off in the 440s.
Processing Times

One of the big successes of Express Entry can be seen in the processing times for the Express Entry aligned programs. During the first two years of the program processing times were a bit slower, as government officials cleared the backlog of previously existing applications and became used to the new system. However, in 2017, applicants in FSW and CEC saw 80% of applications processed in less than 4 months. FST and PNP applicants had 80% of their applications processed in 6 months or less.

To find out if you are eligible for Express Entry immigration, simply message us for an online assessment! A member of the our Team will review your eligibility and will contact you to discuss your options.

GET A FREE ASSESSMENT TODAY

05/08/2018

Historical Look at Asylum Claims in Canada
Infographic of asylum claims in Canada

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05/08/2018

[Latest] Majority of Canadians see asylum seeker situation as ‘crisis,’ says new poll Those who call it a 'crisis' overestimate number that have crossed Canada's border by irregular means

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Two-thirds of Canadians believe the current influx of asylum seekers into Canada is a “crisis” and that could have political repercussions for Canada’s Liberal government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, says a new poll by the Angus Reid Institute.

Since January 2017, roughly 30,000 people have claimed asylum in Canada by crossing its border with the United States between official ports of entry. The vast majority of these so-called “irregular” crossings have occurred in Quebec.

The number of crossings dropped significantly in June, but the poll reflects public opinion between July 25 and 30.

The Angus Reid Institute poll found that 65 per cent of Canadians believe there are “too many” people claiming asylum by irregular means for authorities and service providers to handle.

Nearly half of those polled, however, put the number at more than 50,000 and nearly one-third of Canadians estimated 75,000 or more had crossed the border by an irregular route.

“Those who overestimate the number of irregular crossers tend to be more likely to see the issue as a crisis, while those who underestimate it are much less concerned,” the Angus Reid Institute observed.

These views on the asylum seeker situation are spread across Canada’s political spectrum, the poll says, and are shared by more than half of Canadians who voted for the federal Liberal or New Democratic parties in the last election.

Of Canadians who voted for the Conservative Party of Canada, 84 per cent believe there are too many people claiming asylum and that Canada is “too generous” toward them.
‘Crisis’ narrative criticized

The jump in irregular crossings at Canada’s U.S. border coincided with the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration has moved to strip protected status from citizens of Haiti and other countries and ban travelers from a handful of Muslim-majority countries, among other hard-line immigration policies. This dynamic was replaced this year by a surge in asylum claims from Nigerians.

The Conservative Party of Canada has been the most outspoken on the situation, accusing the ruling Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of mismanagement and downplaying what the situation, which the Consevatives have long labelled a “crisis.”

The Canadian government has avoided such language and Trudeau has been joined by human rights leaders in accusing the Conservatives of playing a “dangerous game.”

“[Conservatives] are using the politics of fear and division to pit Canadians against each other,” Trudeau said in late July.

His comment came on the heels of an op-ed penned by Canada’s representative to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Jean-Nicholas Beuze, who wrote that “it is wrong and irresponsible to instill fears about refugees in Canada.”

“Today’s refugee crisis is not here — but in countries neighbouring conflicts in Africa or the Middle-East,” he wrote. “The least we can do when we see how these countries proudly and courageously welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees is not to cry wolf here.”
Political crisis

The Angus Reid poll suggests, however, that the Conservative narrative is winning out and that could have repercussions in the next federal election, which is expected next year.

“Asylum seekers and border security are areas of vulnerability for the Liberal Party — and a potential effective wedge issue for the Conservative Party in next year’s anticipated election,” the Angus Reid Institute says.

The polls’ findings suggest that 48 per cent of Canadians “including sizeable segments of past left-leaning voters” trust Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer on the asylum seeker file over Trudeau and other federal party leaders. Among those who voted Liberal in 2015, for example, 30 per cent favoured Scheer’s leadership on the issue.

Canadians “are paying a great deal of attention to this issue,” which scored higher on the institute’s awareness index than any other topic, the poll found.

The Liberal government recently appointed former Toronto police chief Bill Blair as Canada’s new Minister for Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction in a bid to appease public concerns.

The Angus Reid Institute found that more than three-quarters of Canadians believe border security is “important” or a “major priority” and half see assisting asylum seekers this same way.

The Angus Reid Institute says this last finding may reflect the fact only 27 per cent of Canadians believe most of those claiming asylum are genuine refugees. Four in 10 Canadians believe the majority are economic migrants.

August 05, 2018 by Stephen Smith

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