Last week review for Canada Immigration

The previous week has been busy for Canadian immigration. In addition to six new immigration programs announced for international graduates, essential workers, and Francophones for permanent residency, two express entry draws and several provincial draws were held in the same week.

6 new immigration programs

Essential workers, graduate international students, and Francophones may be eligible to become permanent residents of Canada through one of six new immigration programs launched in May.

Three of the new programs will accept up to 90,000 permanent residence applications. Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will accept:

• 40,000 international students who have done their education from a Canadian educational institution;
• 30,000 temporary workers in other selected essential occupations;
• 20,000 applications from temporary workers in health care;

The other three programs are intended for French-speaking candidates. These programs do not have an admission limit. The new policies apply to workers in 40 health professions as well as 95 other essential jobs.

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The six new streams start accepting applications on May 6, 2021, and will continue until November 5, 2021.

IELTS and CELPIP websites hang and start working again

Two English test providers have seen their websites collapse due to a sudden surge in demand. IELTS and CELPIP experienced technical difficulties on April 15, 2021, just a day after Canada announced that six new immigration programs will begin accepting applications on May 9, 2021.

The urgency of applicants maybe because there is an admission ceiling for three of the six immigration programs (the other three are intended for Francophones).

Applicants for Canadian immigration must submit their language test results as part of their application. Workers need a CLB of 4 in Canada and graduates need a CLB of 5.

However, essential workers, international graduate students, and other applicants who wish to benefit from the new immigration programs can now register for a language test. The IELTS and CELPIP websites are back online.

IRCC organized two Express Entry draws for PNP and CEC applicants

IRCC held two Express Entry draws last week.

The program-specific express entry draw held on April 14, invites express entry candidates with a provincial nomination to apply for PR Visa. Applicants needed a score of 753 in the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). This may seem like a high requirement. However, PNP applicants receive an additional 600 CRS points. This meant that applicants only needed a baseline CRS score of 153.

The second draw, held on April 16, invited 6,000 applicants from the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). These applicants were to have a CRS score of only 417. It was the second-largest express entry draw in history.

Canada has now invited a total of 55,390 immigrant applicants to apply for permanent residence so far this year. At the same time last year, Canada invited 30,400 applicants.

Ontario PNP Tech draws

Ontario PNP invites 528 express entry candidates to apply for a provincial nomination for Canada PR Visa on April 13. Applicants had to have a technology background to receive an invitation.

Applicants were invited under the Province's Express Entry Human Capital Priorities Stream. They must have a profile in the federal Express Entry system of Canada and have a score between 456 and 467 on the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). They were required to have work experience in an eligible occupation.

BC PNP holds the largest provincial draws

British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) invites 452 immigrants in four provincial draws on April 13.

Invitations were sent out through Skills Immigration (SI) and Express Entry B.C. (EEBC) under the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP). Applicants who received an invitation came from the Skilled Worker, International Graduates, and Entry-Level and Semi-Skilled subcategories of the SI and EEBC streams.

The minimum points required in this provincial draw to get an invitation were between 79 and 95 points. A total of 420 immigrant applicants were invited to this draw. Another 21 applicants received invitations as part of another draw that specifically targeted Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers (NOC 0621) and Food Service Managers (NOC 0631).

The remaining 11 applicants were invited through the entrepreneur immigration streams.

Prince Edward Island PNP invites immigrants through the latest provincial draw

Prince Edward Island invited a total of 156 immigrant applicants through the Prince Edward Island Provincial Nominee Program (PEI PNP). Of the 156 invitations, 140 went to Express Entry and Labor Impact applicants. 16 other invitations were sent to Business Impact candidates with a minimum score of 75.

PNPs like this allow Canadian provinces and territories to invite immigrant candidates to apply for a provincial nomination for permanent residence. These potential immigrants generally meet the needs of the province's labor market.