Canada will offer more permanent residency opportunities to temporary residents
International students and workers, as well as asylum seekers already in Canada, may soon have more permanent residency options
Canada is considering the idea of offering more permanent residency opportunities to foreign nationals who are already in the country.
After announcing that Canada would accept more than 400,000 immigrants a year over the next three years, Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said the federal government would soon announce these opportunities.
Why these changes are necessary
The immigration minister said it is important for Canada to determine how it can speed up the process of obtaining permanent residency for foreign students, temporary foreign workers and asylum seekers already in the country. This is necessary to alleviate the economic problems Canada currently faces, in part because of the lower immigration levels caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lower immigration to Canada has slowed the growth of the population, workforce, and economy.
The number of both permanent and temporary residents dropped significantly this year. While the number of new temporary residents was 190,000 in the first half of 2019, that number dropped to 18,221 in the first half of 2020. According to government data for August, the number of permanent residents is down 60 percent from last year.
What might the change look like?
The minister did not give an exact description of the new paths to citizenship, but presented several possible options:
- launching new federal pilot programs;
- holding more draws on the Express Entry program;
- changing the complex ranking system (CRS) so that candidates with Canadian experience can receive more points;
- Changes in eligibility criteria for federal programs (e.g., reducing experience requirements for the Canadian Experience Class program);
- Increasing the length of the temporary work permit to give applicants more time to gain the Canadian work experience they need to be eligible to apply for immigration programs, such as Canadian Experience Class.
Exact information will be available after the official communication from the federal government.
