International students have expanded immigration opportunities in Canada
As Russian Toronto notes, Canada had previously announced plans to accept a record number of immigrants over the next three years (1.2 million people), and hot on the heels of that, decided to expand opportunities for obtaining permanent resident status for those already in the country. Accordingly, the creation of new programs is aimed precisely at solving this problem.
A total quota of 90,000 immigration visas per year has been allocated for these programs. Actually, these are three programs, but more on that later. First, let's talk about what is known.
Programs
Under the first program, they plan to accept 20,000 applicants from among temporary workers employed in the medical field, namely in hospitals and long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and homes for the disabled. The applicant must have a specific occupation (40 such occupations in total) and at least 1 year of work experience in Canada.
Under the second program, they plan to accept 30,000 applicants from among temporary workers with occupations that are considered essential (95 such occupations in total) and who have at least 1 year of work experience in Canada.
Finally, the third program, for which a quota of 40,000 immigration visas has been allocated, is aimed at international students who have completed their studies in Canada within the last 4 years. An additional requirement is the need to reside outside the province of Quebec.
Applications for these programs are scheduled to be accepted from May 6, 2021 to November 5, 2021, or until the quota for the number of applications received is filled.
Whether applications will be accepted under these programs next year is not yet known, but it can be assumed with a high degree of confidence that they will. At a minimum, this applies to the program for international students studying in Canada.
Program for students
Recall that until now, international students could immigrate through the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program provided they found a job in Canada and obtained at least 1 year of work experience.
Alternative immigration paths included provincial programs, which also required finding an employer in the chosen province.
The new program removes these requirements – under it, having a diploma from a Canadian college or university is sufficient to be able to apply for immigration. That is, they are essentially introducing a new program fully oriented toward graduates of Canadian educational institutions.
This, of course, significantly simplifies the immigration process and makes studying in Canada even more attractive. Given that there are far more international students studying in Canada than the allocated quotas, we can assume an increase in quotas next year. Apparently, this program will become the most widespread and most popular.
Programs for Francophones
About the other three programs, it is only known that they are aimed exclusively at French speakers and have unlimited quotas. This means that applications can be submitted at any time, and if the applicant meets the requirements, they can expect to receive an immigration visa.
Since nothing more is known about these programs, it can be assumed that they are the same three streams described above, but in a French-language version. That is, the same temporary workers in medical and essential occupations who speak French, and international students who have graduated from a Canadian college or university and also have the required level of French proficiency.
It is also quite possible, and even most likely, that all this primarily concerns the province of Quebec – both temporary workers working in that province and students studying at Quebec colleges and universities. At least, this explains why no explanations were given for the three programs for Francophones.
Overall, the new programs are in line with Canada's previous immigration strategy – to accept primarily applicants already in Canada who have either gained work experience in Canada or obtained a local education.