From Far and Wide Immigration Consultancy

A recent  internal IRCC memo   revealed that there won't be any Express Entry invitations for the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSW), Federal Skilled Trades Program (FST) or Canadian Experience Class (CEC) for the first half of 2022, at least. One of the reasons is that IRCC wants to tackle their backlog of applications which doubled amid their strategy to focus on providing permanent residence to candidates in Canada (e.g. the TR to PR pathway). Data from December 2021 revealed a backlog of more than 1.8 million applications in the queue. Currently, only provincial nominees are invited to apply under Express Entry. With FSW and FST on hold since the beginning of the pandemic and the last CEC draw in September 2021, there are now close to 200,000 candidates in the Express Entry pool. These numbers suggest that minimum scores for invitations could rise well above 500 points under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), once invitations restart for the three regular streams. ...

New immigration streams were introduced under the Alberta PNP, now renamed the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP). Existing entrepreneur streams were also renamed. Eligibility criteria did not change for existing programs.  The two new streams, the Rural Renewal Stream and the Rural Entrepreneur Stream, are intended to settle skilled and talented professionals and entrepreneurs in rural Alberta. To be eligible, rural communities with populations under 100,000 must be located outside the Calgary and Edmonton metropolitan areas. The Rural Renewal Stream targets candidates inside or outside of Canada with a job offer from an Alberta employer to work in a designated rural community. Communities with the capacity to attract, recruit and welcome newcomers have to apply to the Government of Alberta for designation. A limited number of communities will be initially selected to participate in this program. A candidate must be endorsed by a designated community and meet all cr...

In response to the situation in Ukraine, IRCC is taking steps to support Ukrainians and make it easier and faster for Canadian citizens, Canadian permanent residents and their immediate family members to return to Canada.  A dedicated Ukraine enquiries phone line was set up for clients in Canada and abroad: 613-321-4243, collect calls accepted. Clients contacting IRCC by WebForm should add the keyword “Ukraine2022” in their enquiry and they will prioritize their requests: https://secure.cic.gc.ca/enquiries-renseignements/canada-case-cas-eng.aspx  IRCC is implementing urgent processing of travel documents for Canadian citizens and permanent residents in Ukraine who do not have valid passports. They are prioritizing renewing work and study permits for Ukrainians currently in Canada, so those who receive a job offer can stay in Canada and start working while they wait for their work permit application to be processed. They are also prioritizing citizenship grant applications for ...

As of April 1, 2022 fully vaccinated travellers will no longer need to provide a pre-entry COVID test.  Travellers arriving in Canada from any country, who qualify as fully vaccinated, will continue to be randomly selected for arrival testing. However, since February 28, 2022 travellers are no longer required to quarantine while awaiting their test result. Futhermore,  Transport Canada’s restriction where international passenger flights can arrive in Canada expired. This means that international flights carrying passengers are  permitted to land at all remaining Canadian  international   airports. Effective April 25, 2022,  all fully vaccinated travellers will no longer be required to provide a quarantine plan upon entry.  At the same time, u nvaccinated or partially vaccinated children aged 5-11 who are accompanied by a fully vaccinated parent will no longer be required to complete a pre-entry COVID-19 test for entry to Canada. Pre-entry tests will st...