As Canada continues to recover from COVID-19, there are hundreds of thousands of vacant positions in all sectors across the country that employers are looking to fill.  The Government of Canada recognizes that Immigration has become increasingly more important to fuel the Canadian economy.  Canada’s strong economic growth is outpacing the country’s ability to find and keep workers.

For these reasons, on April 22, 2022, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), announced that Express Entry draws will soon resume and that invitations for candidates to apply for permanent residence will begin in early July 2022.  This includes candidates in the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program and the Canadian Experience Class.

Travel restrictions throughout most of 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 delayed the processing of overseas applications, which led to an increase in the size of the processing inventory. To manage this inventory, IRCC temporarily paused invitations to apply under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program and the Canadian Experience Class.  Minister Fraser announced that when invitations to apply resume in early July 2022, the vast majority of new applications will be processed within the 6-month service standard.

What does this mean?

If you are an existing client of Abrams & Krochak and have been delaying proceeding with your Express Entry Application, now is the perfect time to resume the processing of your Application so that your Express Entry Online Profile can be created and uploaded to the IRCC website prior to draws resuming in July 2022.  If you have any questions pertaining to your file and the status of your Application, please send an e-mail to info@akcanada.com.

If you are not yet a client of Abrams & Krochak but had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada under Express Entry favourably assessed by the firm and wish to proceed with your proposed Canadian Immigration plans, please follow the instructions that were previously provided to you in our “Favourable Eligibility Assessment”.  If you no longer have those instructions, please send an e-mail to askus@akcanada.com and we will be pleased to provide them to you, again.

If you have not had your eligibility to immigrate to Canada under Express Entry assessed by Abrams & Krochak OR you wish to have your eligibility to immigrate to Canada under Express Entry reassessed by the firm, please complete our Express Entry Online Eligibility Assessment Questionnaire at https://www.akcanada.com/assessment1.php.

On Thursday, March 3, 2022, the Government of Canada announced the following:

As part of the Government of Canada’s response to the war in Ukraine, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is introducing new immigration streams for Ukrainians who want to come to Canada temporarily or permanently.

For Ukrainians who want to come to Canada temporarily, IRCC will create a Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel, available for individuals fleeing Ukraine. There will be no limit to the number of Ukrainians who can apply. This is the fastest, safest, and most efficient way for Ukrainians to come to Canada and eliminates many of the normal visa requirements. All Ukrainian nationals will be able to apply through this new path, and, pending background check and security screening, their stay in Canada could be extended by at least 2 years. IRCC aims to have the extended pathway open for applications in 2 weeks, and, in the interim, encourages Ukrainians to apply through all existing programs, and their Applications will be prioritized.

IRCC will also quickly implement a special family reunification sponsorship pathway for permanent residence for Ukrainians who have immediate and extended family members in Canada. IRCC will develop the details of this program in the coming weeks, including by working with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

All Ukrainians who come to Canada as part of these measures will be eligible to apply for open work permits, making it easier for employers to quickly hire Ukrainian nationals.

This announcement follows an earlier announcement on February 24, 2022, which reads as follows:

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is taking additional steps to support Ukrainians and people residing in Ukraine, and to make it easier and faster for Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their accompanying immediate family members to return to Canada.

As part of the Government of Canada’s response, IRCC has taken the decision to prioritize applications for new and replacement travel documents for Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family members. Over a month ago, IRCC implemented measures to priority process citizenship grant applications for adoption, as well as permanent and temporary residence applications for people with a primary residence in Ukraine who want to reunite or travel with family, study, work, or start a new life in Canada. Ukrainian nationals currently in Canada on a temporary basis can apply to extend their status as a visitor, student or worker.

In addition to prioritizing applications, IRCC is launching a package of new immigration measures, including the following:

• Establishing a dedicated service channel for Ukraine enquiries that will be available for clients both in Canada and abroad at 613-321-4243, with collect calls accepted. In addition, clients can now add the keyword “Ukraine2022” to the IRCC Web form with their enquiry and their email will be prioritized.
• Implementing urgent processing of travel documents, including issuing single-journey travel documents for immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents who do not have valid passports.
• Updating a Web page to provide current information on measures; this page will include content in Ukrainian for ease of reference.
• Ensuring that Ukrainians currently in Canada are able to extend their stay or stay longer in Canada by prioritizing the renewal of work and study permits, and extending a policy that allows individuals to apply for a work permit from within Canada. This policy would allow temporary residents who receive a job offer to remain in Canada and start working while they wait for their work permit application to be processed.

IRCC will issue open work permits to Ukrainian visitors, workers and students who are currently in Canada and cannot go home, so they can stay longer if they wish. IRCC will waive fees, retroactive to February 22, 2022, for certain travel and immigration documents, such as Canadian passports, permanent resident travel documents, proofs of citizenship, visitor visas, and work and study permits. Further details will be made available in the coming weeks as these measures launch.

IRCC has also taken steps to increase operational readiness in the region, including relocating staff, moving additional supplies and equipment, such as mobile biometric collection kits, in anticipation of an increased volume of requests, and adjusting operations in offices across their global network to ensure service continuity for Ukraine. Online options are available for most applications.

If Abrams & Krochak can assist you or your loved ones with any of the aforementioned Applications, please let us know by e-mail at askus@akcanada.com and we will send you full details regarding our fees and services.

Today, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, tabled the 2022‒2024 Immigration Levels Plan.  The Plan aims to help the Canadian economy recover by fueling post-pandemic growth.

In 2021, Canada welcomed more than 405,000 new permanent residents—the most immigrants in a single year in Canada’s history. Despite having regained many of the jobs lost during the pandemic, there are still hundreds of thousands of positions in all sectors waiting to be filled. Immigration already accounts for almost 100% of labour force growth, and with 5 million Canadians set to retire by the end of this decade, the economic need for increased Immigration has never been higher.

To ensure Canada has the workers it needs to fill critical labour market gaps and support a strong economy into the future, the 2022–2024 Immigration Levels Plan aims to continue welcoming immigrants at a rate of about 1% of Canada’s population, including 431,645 permanent residents in 2022, 447,055 in 2023, and 451,000 in 2024.  Nearly 60% of new immigrants to Canada will be in the Economic Class (i.e. skilled workers, skilled tradespeople, provincial nominees, business immigrants).

To support these increased levels, the Government of Canada plans to modernize Canada’s Immigration system and reduce inventories to create predictable processing times for Immigration Applications.

[REPRODUCED FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS]

Ontario is set to introduce legislation that would make it easier for immigrants to get licensed to work in professions that match their areas of expertise.

Labour Minister Monte McNaughton says the proposed legislation would, if passed, prevent many regulatory bodies from requiring immigrants to have Canadian work experience to get licensed.

It would also standardize English-language testing requirements and ensure licensing applications are processed faster.

McNaughton says the changes would help remove barriers immigrants often face when trying to work in their professions.

“It really is an injustice when you think of only 25 per cent of immigrants in Ontario work actually in jobs and professions that they were trained for,” he said in an interview.

“It’s all about improving their lives, ensuring that they get bigger paychecks and more worker protections.”

McNaughton says Ontario is facing a labour shortage as some 293,000 jobs are unfilled across the province.

The proposed legislation would apply to licensing bodies governing engineers, architects, teachers, accountants and social workers, among other. But it would not affect those regulating medical professions, including those that licence doctors and nurses.

The legislation would also help internationally trained workers in 23 trades, including electricians, plumbers and hoisting engineers.

Licensing bodies would still be able to apply for exemptions that could require Canadian work experience, but that would need government approval, McNaughton said.

“They have to make a health and safety case, which would come to the minister for approval,” he said, noting that he hoped to see the changes brought by the legislation take effect in two years.

The director of engineering training projects at ACCES Employment, an organization that help newcomers find suitable jobs in Ontario, said removing the Canadian work experience requirement would help immigrant engineers get licensed and hired a lot faster.

Gabriela Tavaru said immigrant engineers cannot work in their profession before they get their professional license, regardless of how many years of experience they had before they came to Ontario.

“Starting a job, performance evaluation, the whole system, it’s new. So it’s a little bit too difficult for any immigrant and especially for regulated professionals like engineers to navigate this process and get a job,” she said.

She said a maximum of four years of international experience is recognized by the licensing body for engineers in Ontario, but a minimum of one year of Canadian work experience in the field is also required. Immigrant engineers have to work for a year under the supervision of a licensed Canadian engineer to gain that experience.

“This is the problem: you cannot get a job to get your license,” she said. “They cannot be engineers. They cannot sign contracts. They cannot be called engineer, but they can work, for example, as estimators, project managers, field coordinators.”