#COVID-19 Immigration Effects: January 2022 Update

2022/03/26 Leave a comment

This presentation provides the latest operational data on permanent and temporary immigration to Canada, broken down by major programs and countries, along with citizenship and visitor visas.

The government’s focus remains largely on Permanent Residents and “feeder groups” such as international students and other temporary residents.

While minimal progress has been made on reducing backlogs, operational levels have largely recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

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A ‘troubling narrative’ has been revealed within Canada’s system to help abused migrant workers

2022/03/25 Leave a comment

Unfortunately, small sample size (30) from British Columbia, but one that largely confirms other accounts:

Being charged an illegal recruitment fee wasn’t an abuse, because the temporary foreign worker had made the payment “voluntarily,” wrote an immigration officer.

Neither was it an abuse when another migrant worker was terminated after complaining about a work condition, nor when an alleged victim of workplace abuse failed to first lodge an official complaint against the boss with employment standards enforcement authorities.

These are some of the examples cited in a study released Wednesday examining the barriers faced by vulnerable migrant workers in accessing a federal program meant to protect those who have experienced abuse or who are at risk of abuse at work.

“The written reasons for decisions reveal a troubling narrative with respect to the lack of understanding of the unique vulnerabilities and complex legal issues faced by workers and the difficulty that workers have in accessing justice,” said researcher and study co-author Amanda Aziz, a staff lawyer of British Columbia’s Migrant Workers Centre.

“The written decisions showed a great deal of inconsistency and confusion around what an immigration officer considers and what constitutes abuse.”

Launched in June 2019, the Vulnerable Worker Open Work Permit program lets abused migrant workers apply for an open work permit, so they could leave an abusive, exploitative or dangerous workplace.

According to the study, 2,481 applications were made under the special program up to July 31, 2021. Of those, 2,345 were processed and 57.1 per cent were granted.

Researchers reviewed immigration officers’ written reasons for decisions for 30 separate worker applications submitted in British Columbia under the special program. The workers came from 12 different countries and the majority were employed in agriculture, in-home care work, or restaurant and food service.

Almost all of the 30 applicants reported financial abuse, including unpaid wages, unpaid overtime and excessive work hours, payment of a wage less than the wage listed on their employment contract, and the payment of recruitment fees.

Seventy per cent said they suffered psychological abuse, including verbal insults, threats and discriminatory comments, while 30 per cent experienced physical abuse. Three reported sexual abuse by their employer; two said they were forced to perform sexual acts; and one was coerced to send pictures of a sexual nature by text to the employer.

Although 21 of the 30 applications were approved at first instance — and four more after appeals, the report found immigration officials took a very narrow view of what constituted a financial abuse and that psychological abuse was accepted only in cases where significant evidence was presented.

While cases involving unpaid overtime and excessive work hours or unpaid wages were often recognized as a form of financial abuse by an officer, the collection of recruitment fees in order to secure employment — an outlawed practice in Canada — was not.

Kishorkumar Ahir was hired by a family in Vancouver as an in-home caregiver for an elderly man in 2018 after paying $7,000 to an immigration consultant to secure him a job. He said he was later reassigned to work as a labourer at the employer’s tire shops even though his work permit restricted him to working as caregiver only.

The 46-year-old worker from India said he had no choice and complied with the employer’s request. Although he was found to have paid the recruitment fee, an officer in refusing his open-work-permit application concluded that he had “willingly paid the fee” and there was “no indication that he was coerced into paying the fee.”

“Worst of all, the information I shared in my application about the work my first employer required me to do … was shared with the Canada Border Services Agency,” said Ahir, who was subsequently accused by the federal agency of breaking the rules by working outside his caregiving job.

“I have recently been issued a removal order because of not telling immigration about this work before I applied for my first work permit.”

The report identified other fairness issues with the process: workers interviewed by immigration officials for their application can’t be accompanied by legal counsel and must provide their own interpreters, who cannot be friends or relatives.

Even if an abused worker is successful in obtaining an open-work permit, it is typically issued for 12 months only. During that time, the worker must find a new employer to sponsor an employer-restricted work permit in order to stay here, which exposes them to further abuse due to their reliance on an employer to keep their status.

“This system makes migrant workers uniquely vulnerable to abuse and fearful of speaking out about any abuse they face in their workplace for fear of losing their job,” Aziz said.

Source: A ‘troubling narrative’ has been revealed within Canada’s system to help abused migrant workers

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New Leger Poll says 30% of young new Canadians could leave in the next two years

2022/03/25 Leave a comment

Interesting data, worth looking at the detailed breakdowns by age, education, income etc and significant concerns particularly among the younger and university cohorts.

Data on the number of immigrants who actually emigrate is imperfect but this 2018 Statistics Canada study, Measuring Emigration in Canada: Review of Available Data Sources and Methods, provides estimates for all Canadians, not just immigrants, ranging from 150,000 (using tax data, likely the best indicator) to 450,000.

The Annual Demographic Estimates: Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2021, however, indicates about 37,000 in 2019-20.

Earlier studies by Statistics Canada indicate that recent immigrants, young adults and more highly educated individuals are more likely to emigrate.

Given that our selection criteria are biased towards the younger and more highly educated, a certain amount of “churn” is to be expected:

A new national survey conducted by Leger on behalf of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) — Canada’s leading citizenship organization and the world’s foremost voice on citizenship and inclusion — challenges some cherished Canadian assumptions about immigration and citizenship.

“Canada is a nation of immigrants — and one of the stories we tell ourselves is that we are welcoming to new immigrants, wherever they may be from,” says ICC CEO Daniel Bernhard. “But while this may be generally true, new survey data points to the fact that many new Canadians are having a crisis of confidence in Canada — and that should be ringing alarm bells all over Ottawa.”

Survey findings include:

  • 30% of 18–34-year-old new Canadians and 23% of university-educated new Canadians say they are likely to move to another country in the next two years.
  • While most Canadians and new immigrant Canadians alike believe that Canada provides immigrants with a good quality of life, Canadians have a much more positive outlook on Canada’s immigration policy compared to new Canadian immigrants.
  • New Canadian immigrants are more likely to believe that Canadians don’t understand the challenges that immigrants face and feel the rising cost of living will make immigrants less likely to stay in Canada.
  • Immigrants with university degrees tend to have less favourable opinions on matters related to fair job opportunity and pay than other immigrants.
  • Among those who would not recommend Canada as a place to live, current leadership and the high cost of living were the top two reasons

The full survey data is available here.

“The data suggest that younger, highly skilled immigrants in particular are starting to fall between the cracks,” said Dave Scholz, Executive Vice-President at Leger. “We need to continue working hard to ensure that we are welcoming newcomers with the resources they need to succeed, and that we continue to be a country that provides opportunity.”

Source: New Leger Poll says 30% of young new Canadians could leave in the next two years

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Daphne Bramham: Canada’s broken system punishes high-skilled immigrants [credential recognition of dentists]

2022/03/24 Leave a comment

Dentist case study and related recognition data:
Early last Friday, Mariam Tariq, a couple of friends in Toronto and her mother in Pakistan were ready at their computers waiting for the moment that registration opened to get her seat to write the first of three National Dental Examining Board of Canada exams in August.
Tariq managed to get a place on the waiting list. So, she’ll have to keep studying hard … just in case.By August, the 32-year-old will have been in Vancouver for more than two years and has moved only a tiny step closer to becoming a licensed dentist.

It took 14 months before her academic credentials were accepted, although the NDEB says the average processing time once all the documents are received is 20 weeks.

Then, Tariq joined the throng of close to 1,700 who each year sign up for the “equivalency process,” which entails a total of three exams, including a clinical one. Currently, there are over 10,000 people at various stages of the process.

It’s anathema to how Canada’s immigration system should work.

Canada promises high-skilled professionals and tradespeople from around the world a fast-track to a bright future here. But on arrival, they’re ensnared in a web of national and regional accreditation and licensing bodies.

It can take up to five years or more to qualify and some simply give up and move on to something or somewhere else.Tariq had been a lecturer in pediatric dentistry at the government-run Ayub College in Abbottabad and presented papers at international dental conventions including in the U.S.

She came here on the fast-track-to-permanent-residency under Canada’s Express Entry program that favours people whose skills are badly needed.

In January 2020, she sent credentials from Pakistan to the NDEB for verification and signed up for online coaching for the first exam — the assessment of fundamental knowledge or AFK.

“I thought it would take a year or a year-and-a-half (to get licensed),” Tariq told me. “But I’ve found out that it usually takes more like three-to-five years.”

She arrived here in July 2020. It wasn’t until March 2021 that her credentials were accepted. But the AFK exam is given only twice a year in August and February. And Tariq had missed the window to register for the August sitting.In November 2021, she wasn’t fast enough to grab a precious seat for February 2022.

COVID-19 restrictions are partly to blame for the bottleneck. The NDEB expects to be able to increase testing capacity later this year.

Aside from the scarcity of seats, the full-day exams are gruelling as they must be to protect patient safety. Over the past five years, the pass rate for the multiple-choice AFK has ranged from 32 to 49 per cent. For the other two exams, the pass rate runs from the mid-30s to the mid-60s.

And if that’s not pressure enough, NDEB has a three-strikes’ rule. Fail three times and you’re banned from ever trying again.With such high stakes, many foreign-trained dentists pay fees of up to $5,000 to what Tariq described as “coaching academies” in addition to the NDEB fees that start at $1,000 for the AFK and go up from there.

There are thousands currently in this unenviable cycle of what Tariq described as “work, earn money to study, study and pay for the next exam.”

Having run through the money she had saved to come to Canada, she has at least found work at dental clinics, albeit as an accounts receivable clerk, a receptionist and now as a chair-side assistant — “I have a lot of friends who are working at Tim Hortons, Walmart.”

Tariq is pragmatically taking courses to qualify as a dental assistant. The pay will be better than what she’s earning now, which means Tariq will be less reliant on her dentist/mother for help paying for the NDEB examsShe’s also fortunate to be in the first cohort of a free coaching program offered by the immigrant settlement society, SUCCESS.

Its CEO, Queenie Choo, has first-hand experience with the credentialing hoops. Trained as a nurse in Britain and having worked on a transplant team and in acute care, she said it was humiliating to have to prove her ability to do injections by sticking a needle in an orange.

“We want to attract talent through immigration, but we have not created an environment where they are able to practise,” she said. “We definitely need a system that is seamless with less barriers including financial help for the required exams.”

Among the many criticisms of Canada’s accreditation system is that only credentials from institutions in the white, English-speaking world are deemed good enough.

“I don’t know if it’s a subtle form of racism,” Choo said. “But we need to look at systemic racism that it may be creating.”

What might that look like? A lot like what’s happening now

By neglect or design, the expensive and fragmented credentialing system is creating an underclass. Instead of working dentists, doctors and nurses, foreign-trained professionals end up as assistants, associates and aides.

In the past 20 years, Statistics Canada found that the number of immigrants who become Canadian citizens has dropped by more than 20 percentage points.

There are multiple reasons why. But this is surely one of them.

Source: Daphne Bramham: Canada’s broken system punishes high-skilled immigrants

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#COVID-19: Comparing provinces with other countries 23 March Update, Vaccinations in African countries

2022/03/24 Leave a comment

Numbers from China continue to climb with infections up 59 percent and deaths up 21 percent. New omicron variant showing up in increased infections in some countries.

Vaccinations: Some minor shifts but convergence among provinces and countries. Canadians fully vaccinated 82.7 percent, compared to Japan 79.6 percent, UK 73.8 percent and USA 66.1 percent.

Immigration source countries: China fully vaccinated 88.7 percent, India 60.1 percent, Nigeria 4.5 percent, Pakistan 47 percent, Philippines 60.3 percent.

Trendline Charts:

Infections: Limited signs of new omicron variant yet in Canada, with Atlantic Canada infection rates not yet slowing town.

Deaths: No major changes.

Vaccinations: No major relative changes, with Japan ahead of New York and Alberta.

Weekly

Infections: Italy ahead of California.

Deaths: No relative change.

Informative analysis in The Economist:

It is little over a year since the first doses of life-saving vaccines were delivered to Africa under the Covid-19 vaccines Global Access Facility (covax), a scheme aimed at helping poorer countries get inoculated. Yet what should have been a celebration of the region’s fastest-ever vaccine rollout—with 400m doses jabbed into waiting arms—was instead marred by disappointment at how much more could have been achieved.

Listen to this story.

Instead of complaining about not getting vaccines, some countries are now protesting that they are being drowned in a deluge of the stuff and are unable to use it all. Last month Africa cdc appealed to donors to stagger the supply of their shots. “We have not asked them to pause the donations, but to co-ordinate with us so that the new donations arrive in a way so that countries can use them,” said John Nkengasong, the director of Africa cdc.

Increased deliveries are exposing logistical defects in distribution within countries, while weak health-care systems have been unable to jab doses into arms as fast as they get them. Across Africa as a whole just 62% of delivered vaccines have been administered and 29 countries have used less than half of their supplies, says the who. Among the worst laggards are the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has used 15% of its consignments and jabbed less than 2% of its eligible population, and Burundi, which has used less than 2%.

Also hidden in the averages are big gaps in vaccination rates between cities and the countryside. Although continent-wide data are not available, Githinji Gitahi, the chief executive officer of Amref Health Africa, an ngo, says this trend is clear across many countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. In Kenya 51% of adults in Nairobi, the capital, had been fully vaccinated by March 16th. But in Mandera county, a poor semi-arid region next to the border with Somalia, only 10% had been fully jabbed.

Part of the reason is logistical. Freezers for storing vaccines are in short supply. But this should be surmountable. Take Uganda. By November just 14% of its eligible population had received their first dose. But in a push supported by donors including the American government, it bumped that rate up to 47% in just six weeks. In Ivory Coast, where many people were nervous about the jab, the government bumped up the vaccination rate from 22% to 36% in the month of December by running radio campaigns to allay people’s fears. These speedy successes suggest that in many places the biggest shortage is not of freezers or nurses, but of zeal on the part of the authorities to go out and get injecting. 

Source: Africa has plenty of covid doses, but it lags in jabs

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Hundreds march downtown calling for end to racial discrimination in Canada’s immigration system

2022/03/23 Leave a comment

More from the Migrant Rights Network:

Hundreds of people marched through downtown Toronto Sunday calling for an end to racial discrimination in Canada’s immigration system.

The demonstration organized by The Migrant Rights Network gathered near Toronto’s City Hall before taking their message to the streets, briefly blocking some downtown intersections.

The group called on the federal government to grant citizenship to an estimated 1.6 million migrant and undocumented workers in Canada.

Syed Hussan, executive director of the of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said migrant and undocumented workers are afraid to assert their rights and speak out about the exploitation they may face on the job.

“You can be made homeless because you live in employer-provided housing, you can be kicked out of the country, you’re not allowed to get another job,” Hussan said.

“To have a fair society, everyone must have equal rights. The only way to have equal rights, is if every resident in the country has the same citizenship rights and immigration status.”

Tina Kusbiantoro came to Canada from Indonesia more than three years ago and says not being able to secure permanent residency has been challenging.

“We have no equal rights and then we’re separated from our families a long time … we cannot access the health care and we don’t vote,” Kusbiantoro said.

A woman who identified herself only as Jane tells CTV News Toronto she feels ignored and disappointed in the immigration system.

Jane has been working as a personal support worker since arriving from Uganda.

“We have been working hard through the pandemic to ensure that we give services to vulnerable people who cannot help themselves,” Jane said.

“Being denied…it’s a kind of racism. I feel so bad, I feel so betrayed.”

Migrant rights activists were joined by a group from Community Solidarity Toronto, who rallied Sunday to take a stand against racism and what they see as the growth of Canada’s far right.

Source: Hundreds march downtown calling for end to racial discrimination in Canada’s immigration system

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It’s not just Ukrainians looking to come to Canada. A flood of disgusted Russians are asking too

2022/03/22 Leave a comment

Of note. Will be interesting to see if there is a surge in web interest and applications from Russia, with a likely brain drain from Russia:

Shortly after the Kremlin invaded, Toronto immigration lawyer Lev Abramovich offered free legal advice for displaced Ukrainians seeking temporary shelter in Canada. He got tons of requests for assistance, many of them from a less-expected avenue: Russia.

Through Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and email, inquiries began pouring in from Ukrainians, yes, but also from Russians looking to escape Russia and come to Canada — some say they are disgusted by President Vladimir Putin’s ruthless aggression while others are deeply concerned about the collapsing economy and future of the country under an increasingly authoritative regime.

“This war was shocking for many Russians. I’ve seen the measures announced by the government with respect to the criminalization of speech and measures designed to stop independent thinking and stop independent reporting. Really, they’re draconian laws designed to quell unrest,” said Abramovich, who is of Russian descent and speaks the language.

“And then the sanctions started being introduced. A segment of the population, which is sort of younger and educated, realize that Russia is increasingly getting close to sort of North Korea and the level of isolation. There’s fear. There’s anxiety.”

Immigration lawyers are reporting a surge of interests among Russians about coming to Canada as students, foreign workers or permanent residents. Some lawyers representing already pending immigration applicants, meanwhile, are concerned about how their files would be affected by Canada and Russia’s now-strained relationship.

Polina Elizarova, another Toronto immigration lawyer whose firm has been helping Ukrainians navigate the immigration system, said she has received dozens of inquiries so far from Russians in Russia as well as those now abroad in Armenia, Turkey, Georgia and Mexico, where they don’t require visas and can stay temporarily.

Most inquirers are looking for fast-track options, which is not easy because applicants are all subject to biometrics, language test and background checks.

So far, Ottawa has not followed some European countries such as Greece, Iceland and Latvia by ceasing to accept visa applications from Russians or even revoking their residency permits, said Elizarova. However, Canadian visa processing takes time and there are plenty of logistical obstacles, given the limited flights out of Russia as well as the economic sanctions that have made e-payments and transfers of funds to simply hire an immigration lawyer here impossible.

“The situation in Russia is changing very fast. The economy is collapsing. People who have savings in Russian currency are losing money every day,” said Elizarova, who is Russian but whose husband is Ukrainian.

In recent years, Canada has not received a lot of permanent residents from Russia — about 2,200 a year between 2015 and 2019, before the pandemic — because the economy there was improving steadily.

Now, with Russian banks being banned from international money and security transfers through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications system, many global companies including Mastercard and Visa, have suspended and withdrawn from operations in Russia.

“Three months ago, there were McDonald’s in Russia and whatever franchises and all the big businesses and consulting firms had people there. Three months later, things are closing up,” said Toronto immigration lawyer David Garson, who has also received a rising number of inquiries from Russians about coming to Canada.

“People are upset about the morality of the situation and as well, the long-term effect on their country, on their reputation and their ability to function. They now have come from a country that is, at this point, an outlier in world opinion. Your future may not be great.”

Garson agrees with his colleagues that there just isn’t a fast way out for the Russians, who need to get a visa to visit any western country, even public opponents of the Russian invasion, who could make a refugee claim on the grounds that they’re persecuted for their political opinions or if they refused to serve in the military and participate in the war.

“Not only do Russian nationals need a visa, they need biometrics and background checks. I’m assuming the background checks will be very closely monitored now,” Garson said. 

“Canada is going to be extremely careful with regard to processing and the background checks will be enhanced for Russia.”

In the long run, as a result of the country’s military aggression in Ukraine, he expects more skilled Russians will look to leave — a brain drain.

“It depends on how the war goes and if Russia is going to be governed in a different manner or if there’s peace made, then we have a tendency, as time goes on, to be forgetful and forgiving,” he said. “But if this continues and is expanded, it will be an issue.”

Just last week, Abramovich had a successful Russian businesswoman in his office for consultation and the woman here on a visitor visa was exploring her options to stay in Canada.

“They’re living in an increasingly authoritarian system with a very stagnant economy. I think the brain drain could be quite significant. And ultimately, how many people leave will depend on their ability to actually get a visa,” said Abramovich, whose immigration inquiries from Russian nationals have seen a tenfold increase the last couple of weeks.

“Many Russians have suffered as a result of this war, as a result of Putin’s actions. There’s a lot of animosity toward Russia and some of which translates to ordinary Russians. People who do not support this regime are trapped.”

Source: It’s not just Ukrainians looking to come to Canada. A flood of disgusted Russians are asking too

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Ukrainians fleeing war can stay in Canada for three years, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says

2022/03/19 Leave a comment

Including for some of the messaging and commentary:

The federal government has extended the amount of time Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia can stay in Canada through a streamlined visa program.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser had previously said Ukrainians would be allowed to stay for two years. But in announcing the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel on Thursday, he said Ukrainians and their immediate family members of any nationality will be able to stay in Canada for three years.

“The stay was increased from two years to three, to give Ukrainian nationals the flexibility to stay longer, should they choose to do so,” Aidan Strickland, a spokesperson for the Immigration Minister, said in a statement.

Under the visa program, Ukrainians can leave and return to Canada any time while their visa is valid, Ms. Strickland said.

Overseas applicants will have to apply online for a Canadian visitor visa and provide their biometric data – which includes fingerprints and a photo.

Ukrainian workers, students and visitors, as well as their family members already in Canada, can either apply to extend their visitor status or work permit for three years, apply for a new work or study permit, or extend their existing permit.

All application fees are being waived.

On the shift to three years, Ihor Michalchyshyn, executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said in a statement, “We view it positively.”

But Mr. Michalchyshyn said there’s a need for additional funding and support to make the transition to Canada work.

“Our community is committed to working with the government to welcome and support these Ukrainians,” he said.

The UN refugee agency says three million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion.

This week, Canada’s border agency said 3,368 Ukrainians have arrived in Canada in that time.

Meanwhile, the federal government is under pressure to lower barriers for Ukrainians coming to Canada via such measures as lifting visa requirements and co-ordinating a special airlift from the region.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not ruled out the airlift option. “If there is sufficient demand that requires us to do more like sending airlifts, we will look at that,” Mr. Trudeau said during a news conference this week.

Earlier this month, Mr. Fraser said the government has looked at waiving visa requirements, but decided against the option because it would take 12 to 14 weeks to make the change.

Conservative MP Jasraj Singh Hallan, the party’s opposition critic, said he was happy for the people of Ukraine that the minister was able to deliver on his timeline announcing the launch of a new temporary resident pathway.

“However, I continue to share the frustration I hear from far too many immigrants facing our broken immigration system’s endless backlogs, red tape and inflexibility; including Afghan refugees who are still waiting on previous special immigration programs promised by this government to fast track them into Canada,” Mr. Hallan said in a statement.

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the extension of the program to three years is a positive development.

“I would welcome that change so that people would have a longer time to contemplate their plans, and whether or not they want to stay in Canada or return to Ukraine when the conflict is over,” Ms. Kwan said in an interview.

However, Ms. Kwan said she is concerned that the government still requires people to go through a visa process, with the challenge of securing access to sites to provide their biometric data.

She said visa-free travel would be the best approach for the government to pursue because it would allow Ukrainians to fly to Canada without going through this process.

Ms. Kwan noted that, for example, Ireland implemented visa-free travel for Ukrainians within a few days.

Source: Ukrainians fleeing war can stay in Canada for three years, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says

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IRCC continues to evaluate Express Entry options, but will resume FSWP and CEC invitations in 2022

2022/03/19 Leave a comment

Useful and good analysis of memo and strategy. Backlog in citizenship processing will likely be much longer, looking at most recent operational numbers.

Remarkably short turn-around time for an ATIP request – less than two months:

CIC News obtained the memo today via an access to information request to IRCC.The memo was submitted to IRCC’s Deputy Minister on January 21, 2022. The Deputy Minister is the most senior non-political official in each Canadian government department. Unlike the Minister, who is an elected official tasked with carrying out the government’s political agenda, the Deputy Minister is responsible for providing the government with technocratic advice.

Key components of the memo include:

  • Invitation to apply rounds for Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class, and Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) candidates will resume later in 2022.
  • IRCC will extend its temporary pause on invitations to FSWP, CEC, and FSTP candidates until March 31st, while continuing Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) invitations.
  • The continued pause will allow IRCC to address its inventory backlogs. The full length of the pause will need to be determined by IRCC’s evolving priorities.
  • IRCC will return to the Deputy Minister in March with a plan on the future of Express Entry invitations to determine what timeline and volume will align with the Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024 and processing time objectives.
  • IRCC acknowledges candidates in the Express Entry pool, including those holding work permits due to expire, will continue to face uncertainty in the short term.
  • The backlog growth of Express Entry applications is due to the pandemic and IRCC focusing on landing in-Canada candidates to achieve its 401,000 immigration target in 2021. The backlog has caused IRCC’s average application processing times to exceed its 6 month service standard for Express Entry.
  • IRCC would need to reduce the Express Entry backlog by more than half in order to achieve the 6 month service standard for new applicants.

It is important to note the IRCC website continues to tell applicants the processing standard for Express Entry is 6 months.

How we got here

Up until this year, Express Entry was the main way Canada welcomed economic class immigrants. Prior to the pandemic, IRCC typically held biweekly Express Entry draws inviting the highest-scoring candidates, irrespective of their eligibility program, to apply for permanent residence. Most invitations went to FSWP and CEC candidates, while only about one per cent went to FSTP candidates. IRCC aimed to process the permanent residence applications within 6 months.

At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, IRCC initially held draws where it only invited CEC and PNP candidates. The rationale was that in light of COVID-19 disruptions including Canada’s travel restrictions, IRCC felt it made sense to invite CEC candidates since they were mostly likely to be able to transition to permanent residence given they mostly lived in Canada. PNP draws occurred to help support the labour market needs of provinces and territories across the country. Later in the year, IRCC also invited FSWP candidates in its Express Entry draws.

However IRCC then stopped inviting FSWP candidates in January 2021, and issued large numbers of invitations to CEC candidates. We learned later the rationale for this change was because IRCC wanted to transition as many in-Canada immigration applicants as possible to permanent residence to achieve its ambitious 401,000 immigration goal for 2021. CEC candidates comprised one-third of the 405,000 immigrants Canada landed last year.

IRCC also implemented a Temporary to Permanent Residence (“TR2PR”) program between May and November of last year to allow more international graduates and essential workers living in Canada to apply for permanent residence. This was meant as another way to support its levels goal for 2021.

The focus on CEC candidates and the launch of the TR2PR program caused IRCC’s backlogs to swell, and has seen the department fall behind its service standard of processing Express Entry applications within 6 months. This resulted in IRCC also pausing invitations to CEC candidates in September 2021.

Last month, IRCC announced its new Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024, which will reduce Express Entry admissions in 2022 and 2023 so the department can process all TR2PR program applications over these 2 years. This will relegate Express Entry to the second leading economic class admissions pathway after the PNP. In 2024, IRCC aims to return Express Entry to the leading economic class pathway by targeting over 110,000 immigrant admissions.

As noted in the memo, the pause in FSWP and CEC candidates is creating uncertainty for many prospective immigrants. The FSWP was Canada’s main source of skilled worker immigrants between its launch in 1967 and the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, CEC candidates risk losing their status and being forced to leave Canada. IRCC has not provided indication if they will introduce a special measure to allow CEC candidates to extend their temporary status until Express Entry returns to normal.

IRCC has processed 4,000 people in the FSWP backlog in the past 2 weeks, something that took 7 months in 2021

Recent IRCC data obtained by CIC News indicates major progress is being made in tackling Express Entry backlogs. Based on its recent rate of application processing, IRCC could see the Express Entry backlog fall to half by this May. This does not guarantee Express Entry invites to FSWP and CEC candidates will resume by then, but it would represent a milestone IRCC continues to note as one they want to achieve to be able to more strongly consider resuming FSWP and CEC invitations.

IRCC has processed more FSWP applications over the past 2.5 months than it did in all of 2021. In February, it processed the FSWP applications of over 4,300 people, compared to the roughly 600 people it was processing monthly for much of 2021. As of March 15, 2022, there were about 41,300 people in the FSWP inventory, a decrease of 4,000 people over the past two weeks. To put this figure into context, in the past 2 weeks, IRCC achieved what it took it 7 months to do in 2021 (i.e., process 4,000 people in the FSWP backlog).

Its current processing rate suggests it could bring the existing FSWP backlog to an end by the close of 2021, if not sooner.

CEC backlog could reach 0 by this spring

Meanwhile, there are just over 10,000 people left in the CEC backlog. IRCC processed 2,000 people in the CEC backlog over the past two weeks. At its current rate, IRCC could draw down the CEC backlog by the spring.

Minister Sean Fraser: Express Entry draws to resume in the “near term”

While this latest IRCC memo remains coy on when Express Entry will return to normal, there are some positive signs out there for FSWP and CEC candidates. IRCC is planning to resume invites to them this year, it is processing FSWP applications more quickly, and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has gone on the record to say the draws will resume in the “near term.” In the meantime, Express Entry invitations to PNP candidates continue biweekly. Yesterday, IRCC invited 924 PNP candidates to apply for immigration through Express Entry.

Source: IRCC continues to evaluate Express Entry options, but will resume FSWP and CEC invitations in 2022

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Israel: High Court rejects petition, allowing thousands of Ethiopians to immigrate to Israel

2022/03/17 Leave a comment

Of note:

The High Court of Justice has rejected an appeal that prevented the government from bringing over Ethiopians eligible for Israeli citizenship and thousands of Ethiopian refugees will arrive shortly, Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata said Tuesday.

In November, the government approved a plan to let some 9,000 Ethiopians with first-degree relatives in Israel immigrate under the Law of Return. However, this effort was blocked by the right-wing Israeli Immigration Policy Center, which appealed to the High Court of Justice on the grounds that the Ethiopians in question were not themselves Jewish or the direct descendants of Jews.

While the court considered the matter, the government’s plan was not able to proceed.

On Tuesday, the court removed its injunction and rejected the Israeli Immigration Policy Center’s petition.

“These immigrants waited for no reason and were left separated from their families, their parents, their siblings, their children and more. The war in Ethiopia and the coronavirus pandemic made their situation worse and the time has come to bring them home to Israel,” Tamano-Shata said in a statement.

“Soon landing alongside the immigrants from Ukraine will be immigrants from Ethiopia,” she said.

She added: “All Israelis are brothers. As I promised, I will be a minister for everyone. I will fight to bring over Jews from Ukraine alongside immigration from Ethiopia and from anywhere in the Diaspora from which someone wants to immigrate to Israel.”

The decision and the remarks came a day after Tamano-Shata accused her ministerial colleagues of hypocrisy in fighting far harder to bring Ukrainian refugees eligible for citizenship who were fleeing a brutal war to Israel than they did to bring Ethiopians facing similar circumstances.

Source: High Court rejects petition, allowing thousands of Ethiopians to immigrate to Israel

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