From Far and Wide Immigration Consultancy

Canada's Express Entry system is undergoing a significant update with the introduction of category-based selection. This new approach aims to enhance the immigration process by providing more tailored pathways for skilled workers to become permanent residents. Express Entry is Canada's flagship program for managing the intake of skilled workers who wish to immigrate and become permanent residents. It operates through a comprehensive ranking system, where eligible candidates are awarded points based on factors such as age, education, language proficiency, and work experience. These points are used to determine an individual's Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score, which ultimately influences their chances of receiving an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residency. Under the new category-based selection system, candidates in the Express Entry pool will be grouped into different categories based on their skills and attributes. These categories are designed to align...

Immigration minister Marc Miller has announced new restrictions for open work permits (OWP) in order to address labour shortages in Canada. Family members of foreign workers and international students in Canada are only eligible to apply for their own work permits in specific situations. Time to look at these options in more detail! Terminology Foreign nationals, who are neither citizens nor permanent residents of Canada, require a valid work permit to legally work in Canada. There are generally two options to obtain a work permit: the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), wherein the Canadian employer applies for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) in order to hire a foreign worker, and the International Mobility Program (IMP), which covers various exemptions that let employers hire a foreign worker without an LMIA. LMIA-based work permits and most LMIA-exempt work permits are employer specific. This means that the foreign national can only work for the employer named on thei...

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) currently refers to occupational codes under the National Occupation Classification of 2016 (NOC 2016) to determine eligibility for temporary and permanent residence programs. The revised NOC 2021 and its TEER structure was implemented in November 2022. The new TEER structure replaced the previous skill type/level classification as follows: NOC 2016 NOC 2021    Skill Type 0      TEER 0 Skill Level A     TEER 1 Skill Level B TEER 2 TEER 3 Skill Level C TEER 4 Skill Level D       TEER 5 This resulted in minor changes for most programs (e.g., the use of new terminology), but more substantive changes are needed for programs with narrower occupational criteria where the current Skill Type/Level groupings are used, including those managed under Express Entry (i.e., Federal Skilled...

The National Occupational Classification (NOC) is Canada’s national system for describing and classifying occupations. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) uses the NOC to determine eligibility in several programs for temporary and permanent residency. The NOC is updated every five years, with major revisions every ten years to ensure it remains reflective of the occupations in the Canadian labour market. The current revision, NOC 2021, involved extensive structural changes which were implemented on November 16, 2022. These adjustments are crucial to IRCC's mandate to support the selection of immigrants. The NOC 2021 Version 1.0 overhauled the "Skill Level" structure by introducing a new categorization representing the degree of Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) required for an occupation. These changes significantly improved how the NOC classification takes into account the distinctions in formal training and educational requireme...