AKCanada

Today, Wednesday, November 1, 2023, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (“IRCC”), tabled the 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan.  According to the government, the plan is “tailored to support economic growth while balancing with the pressures in areas like housing, healthcare and infrastructure. It charts a responsible course for sustainable and stable population growth”.

Canada will maintain its target of 485,000 permanent residents for 2024 and 500,000 in 2025. Starting in 2026, the government will stabilize permanent resident levels at 500,000, allowing time for successful integration, while continuing to augment Canada’s labour market.

Highlights of the 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan include:

  • A continued long-term focus on economic growth, with over 60% of permanent resident admissions dedicated to the economic class by 2025.
  • New Francophone immigration targets to support and strengthen Francophone communities outside of Quebec.
  • Integrating housing, health care and infrastructure planning, along with other important services, into Canada’s immigration levels planning, in close collaboration with provinces, territories and municipalities.
  • Creating a Chief International Talent Officer position to more effectively align immigration programs and pathways with the labour market, including industry and sector strategies.
  • Making the IRCC website more user-friendly, so that applicants can easily find the information they need.

Starting today, Sunday, July 16, 2023, Canada will offer open work permits to any individuals in the United States on an H-1B Specialty Occupations visa.  Canada’s strategy is to lure away highly-educated foreign nationals in the United States who are frustrated by the U.S. immigration process.  In essence, Canada is capitalizing on a growing sense from international students and professionals that settling permanently in the United States is too slow and difficult.

The new recruitment strategy, which Canada unveiled at a North American technology conference held in Toronto last month, is designed to appeal to out-of-work foreign tech-sector workers in the U.S. whose immigration status is now in jeopardy after a recent series of layoffs.

The new open work permit would allow H-1B Specialty Occupations visa holders to move to Canada without a job and look for one once they arrive. The types of foreign nationals who would qualify for the program, Canadian experts say, could also quickly become permanent residents under the country’s merit-based points immigration system.

Without the fast-track program, they would either need to apply for entry under the regular Canadian process or get a Canadian employer to obtain a work permit for them.

The program will last for either one year or until the cap of 10,000 applicants has been reached. This cap is on principal applicants and does not include family members.

If you are an H-1B Specialty Occupations visa holder and are interested in applying for a Canadian open work permit, please send an e-mail to info@akcanada.com to obtain more information about the program and Abrams & Krochak’s related services and legal fees.

Today, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced that category-based selection for Express Entry will begin, today, with 500 Express Entry candidates with backgrounds in Health Care occupations to be invited to apply for Permanent Residence and 1,500 on July 5, 2023.  Also, on July 5, 2023, the Government of Canada will be inviting candidates with STEM expertise – including data scientists, software developers and programmers, mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries, and electrical and electronics engineers – with a view to help Canada’s science and technology sector, by bringing in the skilled talent that businesses need to drive innovation and achieve their growth potential.

To be eligible for Category-Based Selection, an applicant must

  • have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
  • meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

The full list of Health Care occupations appears below:

Audiologists and speech language pathologists
Chiropractors
Dentists
Dieticians and nutritionists
Education counsellors
General practitioners and family physicians
Instructors of persons with disabilities
Kinesiologists and other professional occupation in therapy and assessment
Licensed practical nurses
Massage therapists
Medical laboratory assistants and related technical occupations
Medical laboratory technologists
Medical radiation technologists
Medical sonographers
Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
Nurse practitioners
Nursing co-ordinators and supervisors
Occupational therapists
Optometrists
Other assisting occupations in support of health services
Other practitioners of natural healing
Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating
Other technical occupations in therapy and assessment
Paramedical occupations
Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants
Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals
Physiotherapists
Psychologists
Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine
Specialists in surgery
Therapists in counselling and related specialized therapies
Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and acupuncturists
Veterinarians

 

The full list of STEM occupations appears below:

Architects
Architecture and science managers
Business systems specialists
Civil Engineers
Computer and information systems managers
Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers)
Computer systems developers and programmers
Cybersecurity specialists
Data scientists
Database analysts and data administrators
Electrical and electronics engineers
Engineering managers
Industrial and manufacturing engineers
Information systems specialists
Land surveyors
Landscape Architects
Mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries
Metallurgical and materials engineers
Natural and applied science policy researchers, consultants and program officers
Software developers and programmers
Software engineers and designers
Urban and land use planners
Web designers
Web developers and programmers

Today, Wednesday, May 31, 2023, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that Canada is introducing category-based rounds of invitations for Express Entry.  The Government will invite candidates who are eligible for a specific category established by the Minister to meet an identified economic goal. Candidates will be invited to apply for permanent residence based on criteria such as

  • ability to communicate in a specific official language
  • work experience in a specific Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) category of the National Occupational Classification (NOC)
  • education

Category-based selection will allow Canada to issue invitations to apply to prospective permanent residents with specific skills, training or language ability and will add to general and program-specific rounds by inviting top-ranking candidates who can help Canada meet specific economic goals.  Further details on the timing of invitations for individual categories and how to apply will be announced in the coming weeks and the chosen categories will be announced in advance.


Categories chosen for 2023

For 2023, the Government of Canada chose these categories:

  1. French-language proficiency
  2. Healthcare occupations
  3. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations
  4. Trade occupations
  5. Transport occupations
  6. Agriculture and agri-food occupations

Who is eligible

To be eligible for an invitation through a category-based round, the applicant must meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round.

When the Government holds a category-based round of invitations, they will

  • rank candidates in the pool who meet the category requirements and
  • invite top-ranking candidates to apply for permanent residence


A.  Eligibility for the French-language proficiency category

To be eligible, you must

  • have French-language test results that show a minimum score of 7 in all 4 language abilities on the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens
  • meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

B.  Eligibility for the healthcare occupations category

To be eligible, you must

  • have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
  • meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

Audiologists and speech language pathologists
Chiropractors
Dentists
Dieticians and nutritionists
Education counsellors
General practitioners and family physicians
Instructors of persons with disabilities
Kinesiologists and other professional occupation in therapy and assessment
Licensed practical nurses
Massage therapists
Medical laboratory assistants and related technical occupations
Medical laboratory technologists
Medical radiation technologists
Medical sonographers
Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
Nurse practitioners
Nursing co-ordinators and supervisors
Occupational therapists
Optometrists
Other assisting occupations in support of health services
Other practitioners of natural healing
Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating
Other technical occupations in therapy and assessment
Paramedical occupations
Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants
Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals
Physiotherapists
Psychologists
Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine
Specialists in surgery
Therapists in counselling and related specialized therapies
Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and acupuncturists
Veterinarians


C.  Eligibility for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations category

To be eligible, you must

  • have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
  • meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

Architects
Architecture and science managers
Business systems specialists
Civil Engineers
Computer and information systems managers
Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers)
Computer systems developers and programmers
Cybersecurity specialists
Data scientists
Database analysts and data administrators
Electrical and electronics engineers
Engineering managers
Industrial and manufacturing engineers
Information systems specialists
Land surveyors
Landscape Architects
Mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries
Metallurgical and materials engineers
Natural and applied science policy researchers, consultants and program officers
Software developers and programmers
Software engineers and designers
Urban and land use planners
Web designers
Web developers and programmers


D.  Eligibility for the trade occupations category

To be eligible, you must

  • have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
  • meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

Residential and commercial installers and servicers
Elevator constructors and mechanics
Machine fitters
Heating, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics
Construction millwrights and industrial mechanics
Carpenters
Plumbers
Electricians (except industrial and power system)
Welders and related machine operators
Contractors and supervisors, other construction trades, installers, repairers and servicers


E.  Eligibility for the transport occupations category

To be eligible, you must

  • have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
  • meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

Aircraft assemblers and aircraft assembly inspectors
Transport truck drivers
Railway traffic controllers and marine traffic regulators
Engineer officers, water transport
Deck officers, water transport
Air traffic controllers and related occupations
Air pilots, flight engineers and flying instructors
Aircraft mechanics and aircraft inspectors
Railway carmen/women
Managers in transportation


F.  Eligibility for the agriculture and agri-food occupations category

To be eligible, you must

  • have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
  • meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

Contractors and supervisors, landscaping, grounds maintenance and horticulture services
Agricultural service contractors and farm supervisors
Butchers- retail and wholesale