Express Entry

The Canadian provinces of Quebec and Saskatchewan both revealed changes to the business streams of their immigration programs in recent weeks.

Quebec Immigration recently announced that it intends to cap the intake of new applications in the Immigrant Investor, Self-Employed Worker and Entrepreneur programs in an attempt to reduce processing times. The Skilled Worker program will also be divided into two groups, one of which will have a cap. The decision is still pending approval by the National Assembly of Quebec and would be retroactive from March 21, 2012. The proposed caps are as follows:

From August 16-22, 2016, the Ministère will receive 5,000 selection certificate applications under the Regular Skilled Worker Program. Starting at 8:30 a.m. (Montréal time), applicants who wish to access Mon projet Québec will be automatically directed to a virtual waiting room that will allow them to keep their place in line. Their position in line and the number of people waiting ahead of them will be displayed on screen.

The president of the province’s largest trade union says the government, workers and unions themselves need to do more to fight racism and discrimination against immigrants in the workplace.

May 22, 2019 – Quebec has tabled a draft regulation to establish a mandatory licence system aimed at personnel placement agencies and recruitment agencies for Temporary Foreign Workers(TFWs).

Quebec’s Immigration Ministry has released its updated list of occupations that are exempt from the Labour Market Impact Assessment advertising requirement.

Here is a look at Canada's most recent provincial immigration draws.

Two Canadian provinces released their Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draw results this past week, and Quebec held a recent draw through Arrima.

Quebec unveiled plans today for a new Expression of Interest system modelled on the federal Express Entry system. The new Expression of Interest (Déclaration d’intérêt) system will manage candidate profiles for the Quebec Skilled Worker Program (QSWP).

A Temporary Resident Visa or visitor visa (TRV) is an official document placed in your passport that demonstrates to Canadian authorities that you have met the requirements for admission into Canada as a visitor, student or worker. Canada requires citizens of certain countries to obtain a TRV before they can enter Canada.

Employment rate among immigrants aged 25 to 54 hit 71 per cent last year

Candidates in the Express Entry pool with tied scores under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) are now ranked according to the precise date and time they submitted their profiles. This new approach is one of various recent changes to the CRS introduced by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on June 6, 2017.

On January 4, 2017, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issued 2,902 (ITA) Invitation to apply for permanent immigration to Canada to applicants in Express Entry Selection pool. This is the largest ever draw since the Express entry was launched in January, 2015.

John McCallum, Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, has stated that his department plans to speed up processing times for family class immigration, economic immigrants and refugee claimants by applying the lessons learned from bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada over a short period time of only 3 months.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has invited 2,991 candidates in the Express Entry pool to apply for permanent residence in the second draw which has taken place in the month of August.

The Express Entry New Brunswick Labour Market Stream has temporarily reopened to Expressions of Interest from skilled workers with work experience in software engineering and nine other occupation categories. In an update published January 30, the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program (NBPNP) reported that the stream is opening to those with work experience in one of the 10 following priority occupations:

Category B of the Nova Scotia Demand: Express Entry immigration stream briefly reopened on Saturday, Dec. 9.

UPDATE: Masters Graduate Stream has now closed, PhD Graduate Stream remains open to applicants The Canadian province of Ontario reopened its Masters Graduate Stream and PhD Graduate Stream on January 29.

The Quebec investor program (QIIP), a Canadian immigration program that allows international investors to obtain Canadian permanent residence by investing CAD $800,000 risk-free, will reopen in less than two months.

Immigration Minister John McCallum does not reject the idea of having an ombudsman office outright.

On March 1, 2017, 3,884 invitation were issued to candidates in the pool for the Express Entry immigration selection system with a point score of 434 or above. For the third time in a row, the number of CRS points a candidate requires to receive an ITA has dropped to a level never before seen since the introduction of the Express Entry immigration selection system in January, 2015. This draw also represents the highest number of ITAs ever issued in a single draw, and brings 2017's total number of ITAs issued to over 20,000.