There is good news for foreign-trained engineers who wish to immigrate to Canada with Ontario as their province of intended destination.  They will no longer be required to have Canadian work experience to become licensed in Ontario.  The province is adopting a new law to remove the barriers keeping skilled immigrants from working in their former professions.

On Tuesday, May 23, 2023, Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) became the first professional regulatory body to remove the requirement from their application criteria.  By doing so, PEO has made it easier for foreign-trained engineers to earn professional designations in Ontario and enter the workforce as licensed engineers quicker.  There are roughly 7,000 vacant engineering positions in Ontario that need to be filled.

Despite the removal of the Canadian experience requirement, licensing applicants to the engineering profession are still required to have 48-months of professional experience in engineering and pass a national professional practice exam that includes ethics, professional practice, engineering, law and professional liability.

In 2022, Canada welcomed more than 431,000 new permanent residents.  This marked the largest annual increase in Canadian Immigration history, as the Government of Canada seeks to ease the country’s labour shortages.

Canada has set a target of 465,000 new permanent residents in 2023 and plans to raise that target to 500,000 in 2025.

Immigration accounts for nearly all of Canada’s labour-force growth and about 75% of the nation’s population growth.  During the 2021 Census, nearly one in four people counted were a landed immigrant or permanent resident of Canada (or had been at one time).  Among the Group of Seven economies, Canada has the largest proportion of immigrants.

By 2036, immigrants will represent almost a third of Canada’s population.

On Wednesday, November 16, 2022, The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), announced the implementation of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021 for Immigration programs managed under the Express Entry system.

The NOC is the national reference for occupations in Canada. It provides a systematic classification structure that categorizes the entire range of occupational activity in Canada. IRCC uses the NOC to determine and assess the occupational eligibility criteria under its temporary and permanent residency programs.

With the implementation of the 2021 NOC, foreign nationals with work experience in the following sixteen (16) occupations are now eligible to apply through Express Entry:

• payroll administrators
• dental assistants and dental laboratory assistants
• nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
• pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants
• elementary and secondary school teacher assistants
• sheriffs and bailiffs
• correctional service officers
• by-law enforcement and other regulatory officers
• estheticians, electrologists and related occupations
• residential and commercial installers and servicers
• pest controllers and fumigators
• other repairers and servicers
• transport truck drivers
• bus drivers, subway operators and other transit operators
• heavy equipment operators
• aircraft assemblers and aircraft assembly inspectors

By making these occupations eligible under Express Entry, the Government of Canada is working to welcome newcomers who bring the skills the Canadian economy needs to help address acute labour shortages across the country.

If you have work experience in any of these occupations and would like to have your eligibility to immigrate to Canada assessed or reassessed by Abrams & Krochak, please visit https://www.akcanada.com/assessment1.php and you will receive your eligibility assessment, via e-mail, within one (1) business day.

The Government of Canada is planning a massive increase in the number of immigrants entering Canada, with a goal of seeing 500,000 people arrive each year by 2025.

Today, Tuesday, November 1, 2022, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, released Canada’s 2023–2025 Immigration Levels Plan. The plan puts an emphasis on increasing the number immigrants who will be admitted to Canada based on their work skills or experience over the next three years.  The ultimate goal is to help Canadian businesses find workers and to attract the skills required in key sectors—including health care, skilled trades, manufacturing and technology.

The Government of Canada is setting targets in the new levels plan of 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025. The plan has a long-term focus on economic growth, with just over 60% of admissions in the economic class by 2025.  The number of economic immigrants to be admitted to Canada from 2023 to 2025 is projected to be as follows:

2023:   266,210
2023:   281,135
2024:   301,250

The plan comes on the heels of a report from Statistics Canada that a record 23 per cent of people in Canada are landed immigrants or permanent residents.