On April 14, 2021, the Canadian Immigration Minister announced that Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is creating a new pathway for permanent residency (PR) for 90,000 essential workers, international graduates and French speakers who are currently in Canada.
Streams
Following are the three eligible streams:
- Temporary foreign workers in 40 health-related occupations with an intake cap of 20,000 applications;
- Temporary foreign workers in 95 other selected essential occupations with an intake cap of 30,000 applications; and
- International students who graduated from a Canadian institution with an intake cap of 40,000 applications.
To promote Canada's official languages and demonstrate the vitality of Francophone communities across Canada, French-language speakers outside Quebec will be eligible to apply through the streams, but will be exempt from the quotas.
Requirements
Temporary Foreign Workers
Temporary foreign workers in select health care and other selected essential occupations will be required to meet the following criteria:
- Have at least one year of Canadian work experience in an eligible occupation in the three years preceding the date of the application;
- Be currently employed in Canada in any occupation at the time of the application;
- Reside in Canada with valid temporary resident status (or be eligible to restore their status) and be physically present in Canada at the time the application is received and when the application is approved;
- Intend to reside outside the province of Quebec; and
- Demonstrate English or French language proficiency equal to or higher than Canadian Language Benchmark of Level 4 (CLB 4).
The occupations for temporary foreign workers are focused on a broad range of health-related occupations and essential occupations. Essential occupations include the following:
- sales support occupations
- certain industrial, electrical and construction trades
- other installers, repairers and servicers
- transport and heavy equipment operation and related maintenance occupations
- trade helpers, construction labourers and related occupations
- harvesting, landscaping and natural resources labourers
- mail and message distribution occupations
- retail salesperson
- cleaners
- agriculture and horticulture workers
- other workers in fishing and trapping and hunting occupations Machine operators and related workers in food, beverage and associated products processing
- managers in agriculture
- managers in horticulture
- French and French Immersion Secondary school teachers (language of instruction must be French)
- French and French Immersion Elementary school and kindergarten teachers (language of instruction must be French)
- home child care providers
- elementary and secondary school teacher assistants
- retail butchers
- airline ticket and service agents
- ground and water transport ticket agents, cargo service representatives and related clerks
- security guards and related security service occupations
- customer services representatives - financial institutions
- other customer and information services representatives
- agricultural service contractors, farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers
- contractors and supervisors, landscaping, grounds maintenance and horticulture services
- labourers in food and beverage processing
- labourers in fish and seafood processing
Further details on the policy can be found on the Government of Canada's website.
International Students
Candidates must meet the following criteria to be eligible under the international student stream:
- Have completed, prior to the date the application is received and no earlier than January 2017, a program of study from a Designated Learning Institute (DLI) in Canada;
- Have been granted an eligible credential following completion of a program of study from a DLI;
- Be currently employed in Canada at the time of the application;
- Reside in Canada with valid temporary resident status (or be eligible to restore their status) and be physically present in Canada at the time the application is received and when the application is approved;
- Intend to reside outside the province of Quebec; and
- Demonstrate English or French language proficiency equal to or higher than Canadian Language Benchmark of Level 5 (CLB 5).
Further details on the international student stream can be found here.
Timing
The new pathways is effective as of May 6, 2021 and will accept applications until the earlier of November 5, 2021 or the program quota is reached.
It is expected the new pathway to PR will result in approximately 400,000 new foreign nationals making Canada their permanent and promoting long-term economic growth in Canada.
Gowling WLG Focus
This new pathway opens up eligibility for some candidates who might not have otherwise been eligible for PR status in Canada. For example, some of the essential occupations are below skill level B, which is the normal cut off for CEC applicants. The language requirement threshold is also lower than under Express Entry, so some candidates who may have been held back by low language test results may now have a potential path to PR status in Canada.
We anticipate further details about the new PR pathways to be released in the next few weeks prior to May 6, 2021. We also anticipate the quotas for the streams being reached quickly. As such, eligible candidates should take steps to complete their language test as soon as possible if they do not already have valid language test results for PR purposes. Candidates should also be prepared to submit their applications as soon as possible on or after May 6, 2021.
For any questions about temporary or permanent immigration options for Canada, including this new PR pathway, the Gowling WLG Immigration Group would be pleased to assist. Find out more about our Group.
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