Immigration News
- The things you should prepare while waiting for the Express Entry Draw Many people have been wondering why there hasn't been an Express Entry lottery for a while, since the last one was held on October 26, 2023. One of the main reasons for the delay was a technical glitch, which we are hopeful will be resolved soon and normal immigration selection will resume. Express Entry selections are sometimes delayed due to circumstances, and I often recommend that applicants to immigration programs have a meaningful waiting period, because while there's nothing you can do about your selection except wait for an invitation, there are things you can do to speed up the process or increase your chances of success. In this column, we'll take a look at how best to spend your waiting period after submitting your Express Entry profile. Applicants who create a profile in the Express Entry pool will receive invitations based on their Composite Ranking System (CRS) score, starting with the highest scores. Of course, with the introduction of category-based selection and the like, where separate groups are created and invitations are sent for some occupations and French language skills, there are advantages to being selected even with relatively low scores, but since the default selection method is to send invitations in exact order from highest to lowest score, the higher the score, the better. Therefore, improving your score is a way to increase your chances of being selected, even if you're still applying. Therefore, we recommend that you do everything you can to improve your score, even if it's just a little bit, to speed up the process of receiving an invitation. At the same time, if you already have a high score and think you have a good chance of receiving an Invitation to Apply (ITA), it's a good idea to start preparing the required documents you'll need to submit once you receive your invitation. Based on this, here are four things you can do to further increase your chances of receiving a green card while waiting for the Express Entry lottery. First, we recommend managing your Express Entry profile. If you don't receive an invitation letter right away, your profile information may change. They may have changed jobs, gotten married, etc., so it's important to keep their profile up to date by updating it in a timely manner. Once a profile is submitted to Express Entry, it's the applicant's responsibility to maintain the accuracy of that profile information, so it's imperative that they change any information that has changed periodically to ensure that their actual profile is credible. Second, don't forget to work to improve your CRS rating. Express Entry will always evaluate your updated profile if you're not selected for an invitation, so taking steps to improve your score will put you in a much better position to receive an invitation. For example, if you have a higher score in English than you already have, you may be able to get a higher score than you already have. Also, learning French will not only give you extra points, but if you score a CLB 7, you will be eligible for the category-based selection French lottery. This may make it easier to get an invitation letter with a lower score. Another option is to get a certificate in one of the professions that qualify for the Express Entry Certificate of Qualification (COQ), which can earn you an additional 50 points based on your language skills. Third, while you're waiting for your Express Entry invitation, you may want to consider getting a job in Canada. Express Entry selection is not always predictable due to technical issues or other pathways, so you may want to get a work permit and work in Canada to gain experience in the meantime. A work permit through LMIA gives you legal status in Canada and gives you access to health care and free education for your children, among other benefits. In some cases, you may be able to get permanent residency through the PNP or other pathways faster than Express Entry while you work. Fourth, make sure you have the required documents ready to go. If you receive an invitation letter, you will need to complete your paperwork quickly afterward. You'll have 60 days to submit a complete application, including all of the required documents, such as valid certified language proficiency scores and criminal background checks, which can take some time to prepare, so it's a good idea to have them ready. Even after you create your Express Entry profile, you'll need to keep it updated to make sure it's always up to date, and we recommend doing everything you can to increase your chances of being selected, which you can't be sure when. That's because there's no guarantee that you'll get a green card, so it's much more likely that you'll do everything you can. 2023-11-22 Read more >
- [Q&A] 2024-2026 Immigration Level Plans Since the announcement of the 2024-2026 Immigration Level Plan on November 1, we've received a lot of questions from people wondering what the future holds for Canada's immigration program. Rather than answering each question individually, we thought it would be easier and faster to collect and share some of the best ones, so in this column, we'll try to break down some of the questions and make them easier to understand. Q: Can you summarize the features of the 2024-2026 immigration level plan in a nutshell? The newly released immigration level plan is focused on stabilizing the implementation of existing immigration programs. There are no significant increases or decreases in numbers compared to the previous plan, so it's hard to say much has changed. Q: How is this different from previous immigration level plans? A: Well, of course, there's nothing that's changed from the previous immigration level plan. Express Entry and the PNP plan have been maintained, but we've seen a slight decrease in Economic Pilots and the Atlantic Immigration Program, and we've seen a slight increase in spousal immigration. On top of that, the French-speaking pathway has been increasing every year since it was introduced, with a target of 36,000 in 2026. Q: Why do you think you've seen this trend? The current immigration target is 500,000 per year, so we're already at the right level. I think the government of Canada has decided that there needs to be some pacing, because if you increase the number of people rapidly, you run the risk of creating unforeseen imbalances in the supply and demand of social services, such as housing and healthcare. Q: So why did the immigration target increase? First of all, Canada is now focusing more on the influx of younger people, which is important to increase the absolute number of immigrants, but can actually have an impact on improving the labor force. So if you look at the different immigration programs, you can see that we have increased the number of Express Entry, which is age-dependent, but we have reduced the number of rural and small town-based immigrants, and we have increased the number of spouses, but we have reduced the number of parents and grandparents. In addition, policy initiatives such as dramatically increasing the number of working holidays and making other Canadian Experience programs more accessible indicate a greater emphasis on attracting a younger workforce. Targeting the growth of French-speakers is also a good indication of how Canada's immigration policy operates. The results of the Express Entry category, which actively targets French-speaking applicants, and the new French-speaking pathway, are all indicative of immigration policies aimed at increasing the number of French-speakers in Canada. Q: So is there anything we can do to help with our permanent residency applications? A: It seems to be true that younger people have an advantage overall, not only through the immigration level plan, but also by looking at the current selection results and the operation of the program. If you look at things like the age-restricted working holiday and Express Entry, where we're trying to get a lot of people into Canada, you can see that there's an advantage to being younger, and it's also very helpful to be able to study in Canada and have a career here. Given the benefits of having a Canadian work or education background for Express Entry, as well as for applying through the PNP, it's clear that studying and gaining experience in Canada is the most effective way to go right now. Q: Is PNP making any announcements and what are your thoughts on its future? First of all, although the federal and provincial immigration programs are interrelated, they are run by different entities and operate in different ways, so it's important to think of them separately. Of course, the federal government sets the provincial immigration thresholds and allocates them to the provincial governments, so there are targets set within that, so it's not completely different because they still need federal approval at the end of the day, but those detailed targets or announcements of plans will be made separately by the provincial governments. Q: What is your outlook on provincial immigration in BC? It's hard to comment on Provincial Nominee Immigration off the top of the current announcement, but to keep it simple, I think Targeted Draw will play a more prominent role going forward. Right now, the General Selection itself is scoring very high, whereas the Early Childhood Teacher and Health sectors are still in the 60s, and they're announcing frequently, so I don't think it's going to change for at least the next two years. Also, in the Early Childhood Teacher sector, they've increased the government subsidy from $4 to $6 per hour, so there's a lot of improvement in the working environment and so on. I also think this is one of the reasons why trying to immigrate to BC through that sector is now a favorite. Q: What about the Express Entry immigration scores still being too high and the delayed announcements? A: The immigration backlog is something that the Canadian government has been trying to improve, and they've consistently said that the reason it's happening is that they have a lot of applications, but they don't have enough people to process them, so they've hired more immigration officers to try to improve that, and they're also trying to computerize and streamline a lot of the immigration applications and processing. We're trying to improve the webpage, the online system, and so on, so we're hopeful that we'll see some concrete results in the near future on that difficulty. 2023-11-15 Read more >
- 2024-2026 Canada Immigration Level Plan Finally, on November 1, 2023, Citizenship and Immigration Canada released its plan for immigration levels for 2024-2026. Every year, Canada sets new immigrant intake targets for each of its three-year immigration programs. This is how they plan and operate their immigration programs, and it helps them to predict the direction of their immigration policy. Therefore, it's important for those who are preparing to immigrate to Canada to analyze the immigration level plan every year. If you look closely at the announcement, you won't notice any major changes from the previous levels. Therefore, it seems that the direction of the immigration program will be pretty much the same as it is now, but there are small changes that can be found within it, so let's take a look at them. Basically, the immigration level plan for 2024-2026 is similar to what was announced last year. We had a target of 500,000 new immigrants for 2025, and we're planning for the same number for 2026, so we expect that level to continue. The overall immigration plan for 2024 through 2026 looks like this We've been increasing the number of new immigrants each year - 485,000 in 2024, 500,000 in 2025, and 500,000 in 2026 - and we're going to keep it at the same level for two years in a row. The same is true for most programs, including Express Entry and PNP, which both have the same projections for 2026 as they did for 2025. In contrast, pilot programs such as the Agribusiness Pilot and Caregiver have lowered their targets by relatively small amounts. Spousal, partner, and child sponsorship and parent and grandparent sponsorship have also been announced to remain at the same levels, so there are no major changes across the immigration programs, but the most significant change is in the projected immigration levels for French-speakers. The plan is to gradually increase the number of permanent residency approvals for French-speakers to 26,100 in 2024, 31,500 in 2025, and 36,000 in 2026, which is intended to accommodate more French-speaking immigrants from outside of Quebec, but only for applicants who intend to live outside of Quebec. The new immigration level plan was planned in the same vein as An Immigration System for Canada's Future, which was released by Immigration Minister Marc Miller on October 31, the day before the plan was announced, so it's worth looking at that to better understand the intent of the immigration level plan. The future plan is centered around strengthening Canada's immigration system for potential immigrants, ensuring that immigration policies continue to contribute to Canada's economic growth, laying out pathways to help businesses, and considering ways to help communities thrive. Specifically, Canada's Future Immigration System addresses seven key issues. First, it aims to be more adaptable and responsive - we're currently facing a humanitarian crisis internationally, so we're going to adjust our immigration system to be able to adapt more quickly and respond fairly. Second, we're going to improve our international student programs - this was announced prior to this announcement - we're going to put in place changes to protect international students and stop fraudulent activity against them. We will improve immigration checks on admissions to higher education institutions and introduce a framework for institutions to expedite admissions for those who meet the right criteria. Third, it will integrate issues related to housing and housing services with immigration-level planning to ensure a comprehensive response; fourth, it will establish an advisory body with immigrant participation to improve effectiveness; fifth, it will create the position of Chief International Talent Officer; sixth, it will create a user-friendly website; and finally, it will support francophone minority communities to help grow or maintain the francophone population in Canada. The current plan for immigration levels for 2024-2026 is designed to implement these announcements. It is also a testament to the effectiveness of the existing immigration plan, which was introduced in response to the pandemic experience and the rapidly changing situation with threats to international stability. There will now be a greater inclination to stabilize the current immigration system. The desire to fill Canada's labour shortage will remain the same, and we expect to see a focus on implementing immigration programs through intergovernmental cooperation while ensuring that the system remains safe, secure, and accurate. 2023-11-08 Read more >
- B.C. speeds up immigration of skilled workers with Fair Credentialing Act Canada has been doing a lot to address its labor shortage. There are a number of direct measures in place, such as planning immigration levels by increasing the annual immigration quota, and prioritizing immigrants in high-need occupations through targeted draws. This is especially true at the provincial level. For example, BC's Targeted Draw, which sends invitations to immigrant candidates in occupations that are in demand in the province, is a provincial prioritization approach. There are also a number of other ways to fill the province's workforce needs, such as allowing rural communities to apply for permanent residency. The province is also introducing a new Fair Credentialing Act, which will accelerate the flow of credentialed professionals into the province starting in 2024. The provincial government has already moved forward with a scheme to make it easier for internationally trained doctors and nurses to start practicing in 2022. And last Monday, October 23, 2023, the provincial government announced at a press conference that it will introduce legislation to add 29 more professions, including social workers and engineers, to make it easier for them to work through a simplified professional certification system. The existing policy required internationally recognized professionals to jump through a number of hoops to have their expertise recognized again in Canada, most notably a "Catch-22" that required them to have worked in Canada before their foreign credentials could be recognized, requiring a longer and more costly process to meet the requirements. The provincial government announced the introduction of the new legislation with the goal of removing this constraint, which in turn delays labour market recruitment and negatively impacts the development of BC's and Canada's economic markets, which are closely tied to the quality of life for BC residents. Premier David Eby stated that the province is currently experiencing a shortage of skilled workers, among other things, which is why they are taking steps to get more people to work, with a particular focus on filling hard-to-fill jobs. He also stated that this is a way to ensure that BC residents get the services they need. The resulting legislation will streamline the certification process for 29 occupations that are vetted by 19 different regulatory bodies. It also noted that the passage of the Fair Credentialing Act will eliminate restrictive requirements, eliminating inefficiencies such as internationally trained professionals having to take language tests twice. This will make it easier for internationally educated professionals such as engineers, social workers, early childhood teachers, paramedics, teachers, and biologists to start working in BC. The new Fair Credentialing Act focuses on fairness, efficiency, transparency, and accountability. If passed, the legislation will enable regulators to remove barriers to international certification for 29 professions and make it easier and faster for qualified professionals to get their expertise validated in Canada, no matter where they were educated. The legislation will also set limits on maximum processing times to prevent people from taking longer than necessary to get their credentials recognized, and will make credentialing information available online to increase transparency and accessibility of information. Over the next 10 years, B.C. is expected to add approximately 387,000 newcomers to its labor force. That's about 38 percent of the available jobs, which gives you an idea of the importance of the new workforce to the province's labour market. Helping newcomers and foreign workers quickly become established in the province's labour market will play a big role in the province's economic development. If the legislation, which is currently being pushed by the provincial government, is fully passed, a new superintendent will be appointed who will be responsible for promoting fair credential recognition, and the legislation will come into effect in the summer of 2024. The appointed superintendent will encourage implementation of the new legislation and monitor the performance of regulators to ensure the system is in compliance with the new legislation. In addition to the implementation of the legislation, the provincial government will also help those coming to BC to have their credentials recognized more quickly, regardless of where they were educated. The hope is that this will help new immigrants or foreign workers find jobs faster and have a better chance of success. 2023-11-01 Read more >
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