On October 31, 2018, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced the new multi-year immigration levels plan for 2019-2021.

The new plan will see the number of permanent residents that Canada welcomes annually grow to 330,800 in 2019, 341,000 in 2020 and 350,000—nearing 1 percent of Canada’s population—in 2021.

According to Minister Hussen, this new immigration plan will benefit all Canadians because immigrants contribute to Canada’s economic growth and help keep Canada competitive in a global economy. With this in mind, the majority of the increase in 2021 will be allotted to those wishing to enter Canada under the Express Entry System.

According to the plan, Canada will see the number of immigrants admitted under the Express Entry System increase as follows:

2018: 72,700-78,200
2019: 76,000-86,000
2020: 81,000-88,000
2021: 84,000-91,000

If you are considering immigrating to Canada under the Express Entry System and you meet the eligibility requirements of the Federal Skilled Worker Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Class or the Canadian Experience Class, now would be an excellent time for you to enter the Express Entry Pool of Candidates so that you can be one of the first applicants to benefit from possible lower CRS drawing scores and an increased number of Express Entry candidates invited to apply for Permanent Residence in Canada.

If you have already had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada favourably assessed by Abrams & Krochak and wish to proceed with your proposed Canadian Immigration plans, please follow the instructions that were sent to you, via e-mail, in Mr. Abrams’ favourable eligibility assessment or send an e-mail to askus@akcanada.com for further information/instructions.

If you have not yet had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada assessed by Abrams & Krochak but wish us to do so, please complete our Online Eligibility Assessment Questionnaire at https://www.akcanada.com/assessment1.php and we will assess your eligibility to immigrate to Canada under Express Entry, free of charge, and send you our assessment within one (1) business day.

Today, Monday, August 20, 2018, the Government of Canada announced that it will be eliminating the lottery system for reuniting immigrant families and reverting back to a first-come, first-served system in 2019.

The federal government announced it will admit up to 20,500 parents and grandparents under its reunification program in 2019, and 21,000 in 2020.

To reach those targets, Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada will accept 20,000 parent and grandparent reunification applications next year, up from 17,000 this year and 10,000 in 2016.

But “instead of randomly selecting the sponsors to apply, we will invite them to submit an application to sponsor their parents and grandparents based on the order in which we receive their interest to sponsor forms,” reads a press release.

If you are interested in having your eligibility to sponsor your parent(s) and/or grandparent(s) assessed by our firm, please visit https://www.akcanada.com/assessment4.php

If you are already a client of Abrams & Krochak who has retained our services to sponsor your parent(s) and/or grandparent(s) and you have questions regarding this development, please send an e-mail to info@akcanada.com.

Today, June 26, 2018, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that, effective immediately, the amount of time Express Entry applicants have to submit an Application for Permanent Residence (post receiving an Invitation to Apply) will change from 90 to 60 days. When Express Entry first came into effect and up until November 2016, applicants also had only 60 days to file.

How does this change affect applicants currently in the Express Entry Pool of Candidates? If you were invited to apply before June 26, 2018, you still have 90 days to complete your Application. If you are invited to apply on or after June 26, 2018 you will have 60 days to complete your application.

IRCC’s rationale for going back to the original timeframe of 60 days to apply is that it reflects the intended design of Express Entry as a process leading to expedited results.

On April 16, 2018, The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced changes to the medical inadmissibility provision of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The changes will loosen the rules than deem some prospective immigrants inadmissible on medical grounds.

The Minister said the medical inadmissibility policy, which has been in place for more than 40 years, is “way out of date” and not in line with Canadian values or government policies of inclusion.

Under the revised policy, applicants will not be denied permanent residence if they or any of their children have developmental delays, special education requirements, or a hearing or visual impairment. The anticipated health-care cost threshold — the sum a prospective immigrant cannot exceed in annual health care costs in order to be admissible — will increase to about $20,000 a year, about three times the previous threshold.

The upcoming policy changes (the removal of certain social services, such as special education, and an increase in the cost threshold) address the issue of inclusion, as they would mean that most people with disabilities would no longer be inadmissible.

By tripling the cost threshold, many applicants, particularly those with conditions that primarily require publicly funded prescription drugs (for example, HIV), would likely become admissible because the cost of most of these medications, particularly the generic brands, would not typically exceed the new cost threshold.

Amending the definition of social services will bring the policy in line with Canadian values on supporting the participation of persons with disabilities in society, while continuing to protect publicly funded health and social services. This would also benefit applicants with intellectual disabilities, applicants with hearing or visual impairments, and others.

To improve client service and enhance transparency, a number of measures will be implemented. These include the following:

• centralization of medical inadmissibility applications to one office in Canada for greater consistency and efficiency in decision-making
• plain-language review and revamp of departmental procedures and products to facilitate the application process and ensure clear communication with clients
• ongoing training of decision makers and medical officers to support these changes