The good news is finally out as in July, the IRCC will begin FSWP and CEC draw system (invitations). The announcement was made by Canada’s immigration minister, Sean Fraser. Minister Sean Fraser. He also further confirmed that Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) applicants will be eligible for an open work permit renewal of up to 18 months from Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
A great number of new Express Entry applications will be approved within six months of their submission. According to the IRCC, Express Entry approval timeframes currently range from seven to more than twenty months.
IRCC emphasized inviting CEC applicants before the pandemic. This invitation was for meeting its aim of releasing a record-high number of immigrants in one year without travel limitations. Because CEC applicants are frequently already in Canada, they were not bound to the travel limitations imposed by Canada between 2020 and 2021. The year before, Canada welcomed almost 405,000 legal residents, the biggest number in the history of this state.
IRCC has also emphasized recruiting PNP aspirants to assist provincial immigration targets during the outbreak.
Long delays in the immigration system have occurred, These were due to a particular combination of this change in Express Entry policy and pandemic-related issues specifically Express Entry. As an outcome, IRCC has not welcomed FSWP or CEC applicants since December 2020 and September 2021, respectively.
The absence of offers to the FSWP and CEC happened at a time when Canada is experiencing a severe unemployment problem. Unemployment is at an all-time lower, while job openings are at all-time peaks.
Likewise, IRCC is aiming for 55,000 permanent residents through Express Entry in 2022, which is roughly half of its 2021 goal. The temporary drop in Express Entry goals is to allow the government to draw up its Temporary to Permanent Residence (TR2PR) scheme and focus on other issues. Through the TR2PR initiative, IRCC welcomed up to 90,000 overseas students and crucial workers to settle permanently between May and November 2021.
Express Entry admissions are expected to grow over the next two years, according to the Immigration Levels Program 2022-2024, with IRCC hoping to accommodate more than 110,000 immigrants through Express Entry by 2024.
The Express Entry list has been shortened by more than 50%, from roughly 112,000 persons in September 2021 to 48,000 people in March 2022, according to the IRCC. In the first half of 2022, it also increased the number of legal resident preferences issued in contrast to the same time in 2021. From January 1st and March 31st, 2022, the IRCC approved 156,000 permanent residency applications. Furthermore, in the first quarter of 2022, IRCC completed over 100,000 work permit applications, as opposed to 58,000 in the same period the previous year.