PM of Canada appoints new Minister of Immigration
Today, Marc Miller became the new Immigration Minister of Canada replacing Sean Fraser as announced in cabinet shuffle by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Honourable Marc Miller, who was born and educated in Montréal, was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Surs in October 2015.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau re-elected and designated him Minister of Indigenous Services in 2019.
Marc was appointed Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations in 2021, following his reelection in 2021.
He has worked tirelessly to increase federal investments in affordable housing, public transit, and the Canada Child Benefit on behalf of Montréal’s middle-class families.
prior to entering politics:
Before entering politics, Marc specialized in mergers and acquisitions as a lawyer with international experience in Montréal, Stockholm, and New York City.
Marc has participated in a number of charitable and pro bono legal endeavours and written articles on constitutional and human rights law.
He served as an infantryman in the Canadian Armed Forces previously. Minister Miller holds a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the Université de Montréal.
He also graduated with degrees in Common law and civil law from McGill University.
As a member of Parliament, Minister Miller made history in 2017 when he delivered a speech in the House of Commons exclusively in Mohawk, marking the first time since Confederation that the language was spoken in either the House of Commons or the Senate.
He is an ardent supporter of Indigenous peoples’ rights. Marc continues to work diligently each and every day to represent the families, employees, and businesses of Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Surs in Ottawa.
Good news! IRCC announces longer stay on Super Visa!
Canadian citizens and permanent residents are able to reunite with their parents and grandparents in Canada for extended periods of time through Canada’s Super Visa program. Canada’s Super Visa is a multiple-entry visa that is valid for up to 10 years. It allows parents and grandparents to stay in Canada for 2 years at a time.
Today, IRCC announced enhancements to Canada’s Super Visa program. These changes will make it easier for Canadians to reunite with their parents and grandparents in Canada and allow Super Visa holders to stay longer.
These changes, which will take effect on July 4, 2022, will
- Increase the length of stay for super visa holders to 5 years per entry into Canada
- Super visa holders also have the option to request to extend their stay while in Canada for up to 2 years at the time.
- Allow the Minister of IRCC to designate international medical insurance companies to provide coverage to Super Visa applicants in the future
- Currently, only Canadian insurance providers can provide the necessary medical insurance coverage required for Super Visa applicants. Information on any designated health insurance companies located outside of Canada will be communicated on the IRCC’s website at a later date.
source：IRCC news release
Exciting! IRCC will resume FSWP and CEC invitations in July
On April 22, IRCC announced a series of new measures to address the labour shortage in Canada. One of the most talked about is the announcement that Express Entry draws will soon resume and that invitations will begin in early July.
IRCC indicates that, as a result of the temporary suspension federal high-skilled streams, the federal highly skilled processing inventory has been reduced by more than half, from approximately 111,900 people in September 2021 to just 48,000 people in March 2022. By July 2022, this inventory will be further reduced.
The number of permanent residence decisions made doubled in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. From January 1 to March 31, 2022, IRCC has made more than 156,000 final decisions on permanent residence applications, and Canada welcomed more than 113,000 new permanent residents in the first quarter of 2022.
IRCC also processed more than 100,000 work permit applications in the first quarter of 2022, nearly double the number processed during the same period in 2021.
Through another temporary public policy implemented in August 2020, foreign nationals in Canada as visitors have been able to apply for an employer-specific work permit without having to leave Canada. this temporary public policy has been extended to February 28, 2023.
The new measures are as follows:
- Express Entry invitations to the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), Federal Skilled Worker (FSWP), and Federal Skilled Trades (FSTP) will resume in early July.
- The vast majority of new EE applications will be processed within 6 months. Current EE processing times range from 7 months to 20 months.
- A new temporary policy for international students. Starting in summer 2022, former international students who are in Canada and hold a graduate work permit expiring between January 2022 and December 2022 will qualify for an additional open work permit for up to 18 months. Details of the policy will be available in the weeks ahead.
- new measures for those who applied for permanent residence through the temporary resident to permanent resident pathway last year. The limited-time pathway was launched in 2021. While it closed to new applications since November 2021, the processing of applications will continue for some time. The new changes include:
- Applicants will no longer be required to remain in Canada while their application is being processed.
- Applicants who apply for an open work permit while waiting for their permanent residence application to be finalized will be able to obtain an open work permit valid until the end of 2024.
- To support family reunification, immediate family members outside of Canada who were included in the principal applicant’s application for permanent residence will be eligible for their own open work permit.
These new measures will all take effect this summer.
Source: IRCC news release
Increase in permanent residence fees effective April 30, 2022
On April 30, 2022, IRCC is increasing fees for all permanent residence applications. This includes economic, permit holder, family and humanitarian classes.
The differences between the current and new permanent residency fees are as follows：
source: IRCC notices
Canada Welcomes More Than 108,000 Permanent Residents in Early 2022
The IRCC surpassed its goal to make 147,000 final decisions on permanent residence in the first quarter of 2022, doubling the number of final decisions made in the same period in 2021. Through these efforts, Canada has welcomed more than 108,000 new permanent residents so far this year.
In addition, Canada has exceeded its citizenship goals for 2021–2022, with more than 210,000 new Canadian citizens.
Supported by the additional funding of $85 million, the IRCC is continuing its efforts to reduce the inventory of applications that accumulated during the pandemic. This funding builds on work already completed to reduce wait times, such as hiring new processing staff, digitizing applications, and relocating work among IRCC offices around the world.
In an effort to reduce application processing times while providing meaningful, timely and transparent information to clients. Today, the Minister also announced new updates to the IRCC’s online processing time tool to provide clients with a more accurate estimate of how long it will take to process their applications. Most permanent residence and citizenship services will now use dynamic processing times. It will post updated calculations on a weekly basis, based on the data from the previous 6 months. Dynamic processing times are also in place for temporary residency services based on the data from the last 8 or 16 weeks.
Source: IRCC news release
Latest updates on Canada travel restrictions
Effective April 1, 2022 at 12:01 AM EDT, fully vaccinated travellers will no longer need to provide a pre-entry COVID-19 test result to enter Canada by air, land or water.
Fully vaccinated travellers seeking to arrive in Canada before April 1, 2022, must still have a valid pre-entry test.
And, fully vaccinated travelers who are selected for mandatory random testing may be required to take a COVID-19 molecular testing upon arrival. Travelers selected for mandatory random testing are not required to quarantine while awaiting test results.
For travellers who are not fully vaccinated, the pre-arrival testing requirements remain the same. You must continue to provide a negative COVID test result before to arrival in Canada and submit the test result in ArriveCAN within 72 hours before boarding.
Unless otherwise exempt, all travellers 5 years of age or older who do not qualify as fully vaccinated must continue to provide proof of an accepted pre-entry COVID-19 test result.
All travellers continue to be required to submit their mandatory information in ArriveCAN before their arrival in Canada. Travellers who do not complete their ArriveCAN submission may have to test on arrival and quarantine for 14 days, regardless of their vaccination status. Travellers taking a cruise or a plane must submit their information in ArriveCAN within 72 hours before boarding.
Source: IRCC News release
Canada launched New Temporary Residency Pathway for Ukrainians
Today IRCC announced the launch of the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel (CUAET). The CUAET is a special, accelerated temporary residence pathway for Ukrainians
With the CUAET, Ukrainians and their immediate family members of any nationality can stay in Canada as temporary residents for up to 3 years. Applicants who are overseas need to apply online for a Canadian visitor visa and provide their biometrics (fingerprints and photo). Applicants can apply for a 3-year open work permit at the same time as their visa application. Under this special program, many of the regular requirements associated with a normal visitor visa or work permit are waived. Elementary and high school students can register and begin school immediately upon arrival in Canada, and anyone looking to study at the post-secondary level can apply for a study permit once arrive in Canada.
Applicants without a valid passport can still apply and IRCC will issue one-way travel documents on a case-by-case basis where appropriate.
Ukrainian workers, students and visitors and their family members who are already in Canada also benefit from these measures. They can apply for a three-year extension of their visitor status or work permit, apply for a new work or study permit, or extend their existing permit. IRCC will waive all application fees.
To reduce the burden on applicants, IRCC will waive all application fees for these programs.
The Government of Canada is also calling on employers who wish to support Ukrainians to register these offers of employment on the Job Bank’s Jobs for Ukraine webpage. The Job Bank will then work with local organizations and employers to help them connect with Ukrainians seeking work in their communities.
Ukrainians and their family members are exempt from Canada’s COVID-19 vaccination entry requirements. However, they must still meet all other public health travel requirements, such as quarantine and testing. With limited exceptions, all travelers to Canada, including anyone arriving under the CUAET, must also use ArriveCAN.
Source: IRCC News Releases
BCPNP latest draw- Targeted invitations
The BCPNP conducted its latest round of draw on March 14, 2020, under the Skilled immigration Invitations, the first targeted draw since the BCPNP announced its priority targeted invitation policy on 2022-03-10.
- Skilled Worker, International Graduate category: targeted Tech occupations
- Skilled Worker, International Graduate category: targeted Childcare: Early childhood educators (NOC 4214)
- Skilled Worker, International Graduate, Entry Level and Semi-Skilled category: targeted Healthcare listed occupations
- Entry Level and Semi-Skilled category: targeted Healthcare: Health care assistants (NOC 3413)
The invitation scores from 63 to 85 points. A total of approximately 176 people were invited.
Express Entry: Invites 1047 in latest PNP draw
On March 2, 2022, the latest PNP-only Express Entry draw invited 1047 applicants to apply Permanent Residence.
IRCC still only invited the provincial nomination PNP candidates in the latest invitation round. The invitation minimum score was 761 points.
There is no exact information or time on when the other draws (skilled workers) will resume, the Minister said that the draw for skilled workers will resume in the “near future”.
Express Entry draws for skilled workers will resume in “near term”
In a live broadcast on Feb. 16 on the Canadian Club of Toronto’s website, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser replied that the draws would resume “in the near term” and said that he was looking at ways to make the Express Entry system more flexible.
While the immigration minister said no definite time on when CEC draws would resume, but he suggested that it would resume “in the near future” and that Express Entry would start to look more normal in the coming years.
Fraser also said he is looking to add more flexibility to the Express Entry system. He suggested that Express Entry could be used to respond to short-term needs, including welcoming people into smaller communities, industries with high demand. Fraser had hinted that occupations-specific express entry draws for could be a possibility in the future.
Expanding pathways to permanent residence for international students and temporary foreign workers through the Express entry is one of the priorities Fraser has listed in his minister’s mandate letter. His mandate also includes ensuring that immigrants better support small and medium-sized communities by expanding the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot and advancing the Municipal Nominee Program. Since taking office in the fall, Fraser has turned the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program into a permanent program, one of the other items on the list.
Sources: CIC News