Immigration minister Sean Fraser has announced new immigration benefits for international students in Canada along with the resumption of its Express Entry draws to fill a million job vacancies in the country.
The Express Entry draws will resume from July this year for Federal Skilled Worker (FSW), Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and Federal Skilled Trades (FST) candidates.
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Under the new rules, the vast majority of new applications for Express Entry will be processed within a six-month period. Currently, Express Entry applications are being processed between seven to 20 months.
Additionally, in a bid to help 50,000 post-graduate work permit (PGWP) holders, the Canadian government has announced a new open work permit for international students whose PGWP will be expiring between January and December 2022. This additional open work permit will remain valid for up to 18 months and is set to begin from Summer 2022.
IRCC also highlighted that as many as 95,000 PGWPs will expire in 2022. It stated that a simplified, expeditious process is being explored, details of which will be shared in the next few weeks.
For applicants who apply for a Canadian open work permit while waiting for their permanent residence application to be processed, permits valid until 2024 will be granted. This will make sure that all PR applications are finalised before applicants need to extend their temporary status.
Now, PR applicants will no longer have to be in Canada while their application is being processed.
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In 2020, Canada issued 50,841 permanent residence invites to Indian citizens under the Express Entry route.
Further, In 2021, Canada made history by admitting 405,000 new immigrants. Out of these, around 100,000 Indians became permanent residents of the country.
Source: The Economic Times
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