As employers across Canada continue to fill hundreds of thousands of vacant positions and Canada continues to recover from the pandemic, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser emphasized the important role of immigration in Canada’s economy. Minister Fraser announced several new measures to find and keep skilled workers.
New measures include the resumption of Express Entry draws starting July 2022 and to allow post graduation work permit holders to be able to apply for a subsequent PGWP of up to 18 months. Due to the pandemic which lead to the increase in the size of IRCC’s processing inventory. To manage this inventory, IRCC temporarily stopped sending out invitation to apply or ITA’s under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades and Canadian Experience Class since Sept 2021 up to present. With the recent announcement, IRCC will resume sending ITA’s starting July 2022.
Good news to all PGWP holders, whose open work permit will expire between January to December 2022 as they will be able to apply for a subsequent Post Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) of up to 18 months beginning this summer.
New measures include the following below:
- Processing of Express Entry applications within the six-month service standard;
- Extension of the temporary policy allowing those with visitor status in Canada to apply for work permit until Feb 2023;
- The Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway (TR to PR Pathway) introduced last year will continue to be processed for some time;
Starting summer:
- Applicants will no longer be required to remain in Canada while their application is being processed;
- Applicants who apply for an open work permit while waiting for their permanent residence application to be finalized will be able to get work permits valid until the end of 2024. This will ensure that all permanent residence applications will be finalized before applicants will need to apply to extend their temporary status again;
- To support family reunification, immediate family members who are outside Canada and who were included in a principal applicant’s permanent residence application will be eligible for their own open work permit.
IRCC reported that they have doubled the number of permanent residence decisions made in the first quarter of 2022, compared to the same time period in 2021. From January 1, 2022 to March 31, 2022, they have made over 156,000 final decisions on permanent residence applications and, through these efforts, Canada welcomed over 113,000 new permanent residents in the first quarter of 2022.
IRCC further reported that they have processed more than 100,000 work permit applications in the first quarter of 2022, nearly doubling the number processed over the same time period in 2021.
Specific details and eligibility requirements are yet to be announced by IRCC.
Refusal to process work permit applications for caregivers where the LMIA application was received on or after June 18, 2019. Ministerial Instructions (MIs) implemented on June 18,
2019 and revised on April 22, 2022 instruct officers to refuse to process work permit applications received under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) for caregiver occupations in specific circumstances.
The revised MIs
- clarify that the refusal to process work permit applications for the specific occupations (National Occupational Classification 4411 and 4412 – home child care workers and home support workers) includes applications submitted at ports of entry
- prevent foreign nationals currently not authorized to work/study (whether they are physically inside or outside Canada) from obtaining a new caregiver work permit under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program unless they are exempt
It is expected that such applicants should apply through the Home Child Care Provider or Home Support Worker pilots which allow for a clear pathway from temporary to permanent residence.
Refusal to process criteria
Officers must not process applications for new work permits made by foreign nationals under subparagraph 200(1)(c)(iii) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) if all of the criteria under 1 or 2 below are met:
1. For applications submitted at a port of entry on or after April 22, 2022:
- the applicant is making a work permit application on entry to Canada per section 198 of the IRPR
- the applicant intends to engage in work as described under National Occupation Classification (NOC) 4411 (excluding foster parents) and 4412 (excluding housekeepers)
- the applicant is destined to a job location anywhere in Canada
2. For applications submitted before or after entry to Canada:
- the applicant is making a work permit application before entry to Canada per section 197, or after entry to Canada per section 199 of the IRPR
- the applicant is making a new work permit application. They do not currently hold a valid work or study permit or was not, immediately preceding the application, authorized to work without a work permit under section 186 of the IRPR
- Note: business visitors cannot make an application for work permit after entry to Canada
- the applicant intends to engage in work as described under National Occupational Classification code (NOC) 4411 (excluding foster parents) and 4412 (excluding housekeepers)
- the applicant is destined to a job location outside Quebec
- the associated LMIA application was received by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) on or after June 18, 2019
- for work permit applications submitted after entry to Canada, the application was received on or after April 22, 2022
Work permit applications for caregivers submitted that meet the refusal to process criteria should not be processed. The applicant is to be notified of the refusal to process, and the associated work permit processing fee is returned or refunded.
If you have questions regarding the above article, you may contact Marjorie at [email protected]
Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
A word of caution: You should not act or rely on the information provided in this column. It is not a legal advice. To ensure your interests are protected, retain, or formally seek advice from a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) in good standing of CICC. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of RCIC’s.
