Fall & the Christmas holiday time are the busiest seasons for Canadian immigration developments by IRCC. While there are a lot of moving parts to the immigration system, there are still some developments to watch for as the year comes to an end.
These include potential changes in Canada’s immigration policy priorities & permanent residence levels, & updates to the grandparents & parents, foreign students, & work permit programs.
Ministerial Mandate Letter – What Is It?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau might issue a new Ministerial Mandate letter in the upcoming months. Mandate letters act as instructions to ministers from the Prime Minister on the Canadian government’s targets for their term. In simpler terms, the letter to the immigration minister of Canada shapes the nation’s immigration policy & helps determine how IRCC acts moving forward.
In addition, the Prime Minister might choose to issue new mandate letters following a cabinet shuffle, like the one that happened this summer when Marc Miller became the new immigration minister of Canada. However, there is no obligation for the Prime Minister to issue a letter at all. He might just pick up where Sean Fraser left off!
The final mandate letter requested that the minister must continue to welcome newcomers under the Immigration Levels Plan. This is to help reunite families & strengthen Canada’s economic growth & recovery after the pandemic.
Immigration Levels Plan 2024 – 25
Apart from the Canadian immigration developments taking place, IRCC is required to release its Immigration Levels Plan by November 1.
The plan outlines the aim for the number of permanent inhabitant admissions. It further breaks it down to the class of immigration & finally the program. For instance, 2023-25 demonstrates that by the end of 2025, Canada will admit over 500,000 new permanent inhabitants per year. Out of this, 301,250 applicants will be of economic class & 114,000 applicants will be from Express Entry.
It is not known if IRCC will reduce, increase, or maintain the 2025 objective when it releases the immigration levels plans for 2024-2026 this year. Marc Miller asserted that he doesn’t see the targets decreasing at all!
Office Of The Auditor General Report On Processing Immigration Applicants
The OAG, i.e., Office of the Auditor General is charged with reviewing the internal workings of the Canadian government & seeking areas that need improvement, along with identifying successes.
It is expected that by the end of the year, the OAG will release an audit to determine if IRCC has processed the PR applications as efficiently & promptly as possible in order to ensure that the department is meeting its objective to support the economy of Canada, reunite families, & assist humanitarian class applicants. The audit is not expected to cover the processing of non-permanent resident applications.
Express Entry
One of the top & integral Canadian immigration developments occurred in Express Entry this year. In May, IRCC introduced six new categories/ classifications for category-based selection Express Entry draws. In these draws, a particular applicant attribute is a key consideration instead of a high CRS score.
One category/ classification is for strong French-language abilities & the remaining five target individuals with work experience in one of these sectors:
- Healthcare
- STEM Professions
- Trade
- Transport
- Agriculture/ Agri-Food
According to a recent report by Globe & Mail, IRCC is planning to lay heavy emphasis on applicants with STEM work experience. It is said that between 28% & 31% of invitations which are issued via Express Entry are expected to go to individuals with STEM occupations, like Software developers, data scientists, etc.
Still, all-program draws, which include applicants from the CEC, FSTP, & FSWP, have made up the majority of ITAs over the summer with no indication. However, this will change!
Parents & Grandparents Program
Another development is seen in the Parents & Grandparents program. IRCC invites grandparents as well as parents of Canadian citizens & permanent inhabitants to apply for family class sponsorship annually. In recent years, IRCC has announced details of the program in the fall.
Last year, sponsors were only chosen to apply if they were selected via lottery. In addition, IRCC considered sponsors who had applied between October 13, 2020, & November 3, 2020, in order to help clear a significant backlog of applications that accumulated throughout the pandemic.
Moreover, in 2022, IRCC invited 23,100 PGP participants. The present Immigration Levels Plan represents a target of 28,500 new permanent residents admission via PGP for 2023, rising to 36,000 by the end of 2025.
International Students
Marc Miller asserts that Canada is on track to welcome over 900,000 foreign students this year. In order to help support them, IRCC & Global Affairs Canada are presently conducting a review of Canada’s International Student Program.
As the year progresses, more details will be released regarding the Trusted Institutions Framework. It is a two-tier model for study permit issuance to strengthen the integrity of ISP.
According to reports by ICEF, DLIs that meet the IRCC criteria for Trusted Institutions could benefit from faster study permit processing for admitted foreign students.
More details on the Framework will become known in the fall. This will likely also be details regarding other IRCC measures to strengthen the integrity of ISPs.
Finally, on December 31, the IRCC policy to allow specific students to work full-time is set to expire. IRCC has said that it will reevaluate the policy & decide on the next steps.
Tech Talent Strategy
On June 27, IRCC announced a new Tech Talent Strategy to attract more newcomers in tech professions. IRCC says it will launch an Innovation Stream under IMP this year to help Canada’s employers recruit foreign professionals without an LMIA.
Under the Innovation Stream, IRCC will issue employer-specific work permits for up to five years to professionals who have employment offers at a company recognized by the government as a contributor to Canada’s economic goals. It is unique because it will also issue an open work permit to professionals in selected, in-demand professions.
In addition, IRCC has also committed to becoming a more attractive destination for digital nomads. Moreover, it will release more details surrounding a dedicated pathway for these professionals. Presently, digital nomads don’t require a work permit as they might arrive in a TRV & stay in the country for up to six months.