Canada has been badly hit by pandemic mainly from March to December 2020, the country saw a massive reduction in immigration. To overcome this issue, Canada has taken many steps to get back to normal standards.
Canada has set the target of 108,500 candidates through express entry this year. On the other hand, the total number of immigrants to be accepted in 2021 is 401,000. To get onto this path, Canada has so far issued 21st draws of Express Entry including PNP and CEC categories this year.
Canadian immigration minister along with IRCC has surprised everyone during the first 4 months of 2021 where many difficult and outstanding decisions have been made. Some are as follows:
- Continuous draws of Express Entry
- Regulars invitations from Provinces
- 6th draw of Express Entry on 13 February with the biggest number of candidates invited in a single draw 27,332 with the least ever CRS score cut of 75
- The new public policy of Permanent residency for 90,000 candidates who are temporary workers in Canada in the health and care sector and other essential workers (you may read here complete details)
- The second big express entry draw with an invitation to 6,000 candidates (CEC) in the 13th draw of 2021
Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia were the safe zones during the virus and the main reason was CEC admissions as the immigrants are concentrated in these areas.
Canadian Express Class (CEC) and Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) are the only classes that were being considered throughout the pandemic. Those who have 1 year of working experience in Canada can apply under Canadian Express Class (CEC) while PNP offers immigration to Canadian permanent residence to Canadian specific territory.
These programs are working functionally since the start of 2021 under Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) because these were least changed among the disruptions made due to Covid-19.
The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) were among those which became functional during the second half of the pandemic, taking the immigration process nearly back to normal.
Although it is the second-largest category of immigration in Canada, the Refugee and Family Class admissions were the ones which received the most downfall about 72 percent in this whole situation. But by the end of 2020, the numbers of admissions in this class made up to the previous mark by certain steps taken by the government such as increasing the staff by 66 percent and digitalizing the paperwork.
As for 2021, the Conference Board is prioritizing those admissions from Express Entry who have Canadian work experience and the statistics show a 10 percent increase in this ratio since 2019.
As the number of temporary workers started declining, the government took an immaculate step by allowing the temporary workers to work after 10 days of applying instead of a huge gap of 10 weeks. All they have to do is submit their application to IRCC which will be reviewed and if selected, they will be notified by email so that they can give the joining after 10 days. This saved the graph of temporary workers unemployment to fall heavily and stabilized it at 8 percent.
What are the steps to overcome the pandemic loss?
According to Conference Board, the immigration process has increased Canada’s GDP by 44 percent. To maintain this percentage amidst Covid-19, the following steps were taken:
- To provide more ground for newcomers by offering jobs and settlement services.
- To make changes in the policy according to the economic benefits of the immigrants.
- To continue stressing on regional immigration to accommodate immigrants which have surpassed most effects of the virus.
- The final step is to boost the family class admissions as it brought only welfare to the country’s economy.