Starting today, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will randomly invite potential sponsors who submitted an interest to sponsor form in 2020 to apply for the 2024 intake.

IRCC intends to send 35,700 invitations over the course of approximately 2 weeks. Their stated goal is to accept up to 20,500 complete applications.

If one receives an Invitation to Apply, the complete application must be submitted to IRCC by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Friday, August 2, 2024 and there will be no exceptions.

If you are an existing client of Abrams & Krochak who submitted an interest to sponsor form in 2020 and have not received an Invitation to Apply, to date, please do not contact our office to request an update. Should we receive communication from IRCC that you received an Invitation to Apply for the 2024 intake, we will notify you immediately by e-mail. If your e-mail address and/or contact information has/have changed since 2020, please contact our office by e-mail to notify us of the change(s).

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) has updated the table that shows how much money you need to settle in Canada if you are applying in either the Federal Skilled Worker or Federal Skilled Trades Programs.  IRCC updates these numbers every year, based on 50% of the low income cut-off totals.  The changes take effect on May 28, 2024.  If you already have an Express Entry Online Profile, you may need to update your settlement fund numbers in your profile to remain eligible to apply.  The update must be done no later than May 27, 2024.

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, if an individual wishes to apply for Permanent Residence in Canada under Express Entry, the following settlement fund requirements will apply:

On April 30, 2024, fees for all permanent residence applications are increasing as part of a routine update. According to the Government of Canada, these fees increase every 2 years to enable the government to manage growing program and service delivery costs and to keep up with inflation.

Today, Monday, April 29, 2024, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”), announced several changes to Canada’s federal business programs to help reduce processing times and the application backlog. These changes take effect on April 30, 2024.

To improve the Start-Up Visa Program, IRCC will encourage designated venture capital firms, angel investor groups and business incubators to focus on the most promising proposals by

• capping the number of permanent residence applications IRCC will accept for processing each year to those associated with no more than 10 start-ups per designated organization
• providing priority processing for entrepreneurs whose start-up is supported by Canadian capital or by a business incubator that is a member of Canada’s Tech Network, including applications in the inventory and new applications as they are submitted

In addition, Minister Miller announced a full pause on application intake for the Self­-Employed Persons Program to focus on processing applications from the inventory, starting April 30, 2024 through the end of 2026. The Self-Employed Persons Program provides a pathway to permanent residence for people with notable experience in art, culture, recreation or sports and who will contribute to Canada’s cultural vitality. Due to the high number of applications submitted for this program, processing times have increased substantially. While the pause is in place, IRCC will continue finalizing applications from the backlog while assessing options for reforming the program and ensuring its integrity.

By restricting application intake through the end of 2026, and through planned increases in admissions for the federal business category as tabled in the 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan, IRCC hopes to be able to reduce the backlog and bring down wait times while continuing to welcome entrepreneurial newcomers needed to continue to grow Canada’s economy.