Despite the pandemic's obstacles, the Canadian government planned to attract 401,000 new immigrants, the biggest number since Canada became a country in 1867. In a recent news statement outlining the actions it is taking to enhance application processing, the government emphasised that Canada had surpassed its objective and landed around 405,000 immigrants last year. While the verdict benefited many immigrants, it also harmed countless others. Here are some ideas for getting the immigration system back on track. The Canadian government set an ambitious immigration target for 2021.
Congratulations to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Attaining this goal in such a challenging operational environment is remarkable. Despite the fact that the pandemic continues to pose obstacles for applicants and the immigration department, IRCC has managed to defy all odds and enrol a record number of new permanent residents. Congratulations are also in order for the numerous new permanent residents who will be able to pursue their dreams and goals in Canada. Permanent residents who benefited from exceptional actions and policies during the epidemic, such as IRCC lowering Express Entry score standards and launching an immigration programme for vital workers and foreign graduates in 2021, are among those eligible.
IRCC is evidently pleased with its accomplishment, as seen by a press statement published just before Christmas. On the other hand, IRCC has acknowledged that its choice to target 401,000 landings in 2021 has had a detrimental impact. Unfortunately, these repercussions might have been averted if the Canadian government had selected a more sustainable immigration programme last year.
The goal of raising the immigration objective was to boost the population, labour force, and economic growth while simultaneously reuniting families and assisting refugees. Given that 60% of new immigrants are economic, it is reasonable to assume that Canada's primary immigration goal is economic in nature.
Nonetheless, last year, the Canadian government's aim compromised its own purpose of helping the economy through immigration. It made the decision to prioritise the transfer of more persons from within Canada to permanent residency. Prior to the pandemic, around 30% of new economic class permanent residents came from inside Canada, while 70% came from outside. Last year, this was reversed, with 70% of new economic class landings coming from inside Canada and 30% coming from outside.
Get a Free Express Entry Assessment
The restricted influx of new immigrants from overseas is one of the first consequences of this choice, contributing to a weaker population, labour force, and economic growth. As a result, Canada's population growth is the slowest it has been since 1915/16. Prior to the pandemic, Canada's population was rising at a pace of more than 1% per year, the highest among highly industrialised countries. Immigrants accounted for over 80% of yearly population increase in Canada.
Last year's decrease in the percentage of new economic class immigrants arriving from overseas harmed the labour market. Immigrants made up 80% or more of Canada's new employees every year. Due to a lack of immigrant immigration, Canada now has the largest employment vacancy rate in its history, with roughly 1 million jobs now vacant.
Pursuit of the goal has also resulted in a reduction in IRCC's selection requirements. For example, when it introduced Express Entry in 2015, IRCC said that the new Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) was a scientific method of choosing individuals who were best positioned to thrive in the labour market.
Prior to the pandemic, a candidate had to have a CRS score of roughly 470 in order to be asked to apply for permanent residency. Last year, however, IRCC reduced the score to as low as 75 in order to include more in-Canada candidates in its 401,000 admissions objectives. In other words, the Canadian government believed that meeting this objective was more essential than using its own evidence-based standards to assess an Express Entry candidate's eligibility to prosper in our economy.
This is not to argue that those with lower CRS scores can't contribute to Canada. On the contrary, immigrants from all socioeconomic origins have made overwhelmingly good contributions throughout history. This comment, however, is intended to highlight a gap in the Canadian government's immigration policy.
It remains to be seen how people who obtained permanent residency through Express Entry with a lower CRS score fare in the labour market. They'll probably do well, but IRCC and Statistics Canada data shows that candidates with higher human capital earn more and have better overall labour market results. If this is correct, IRCC will have foregone the option to choose higher-potential immigration candidates in exchange for shattering Canada's yearly admissions record.
IRCC admits that the concentration on the objective has exacerbated backlogs. The department currently has a 1.8-million-person backlog, up from 1.5 million in July 2021. This is because IRCC prioritised processing applications from within Canada, whereas existing and new applications were given less attention because they would not contribute against the 401,000 admissions objectives. Unfortunately, this is causing a vicious circle to form.
The backlog will continue to stymie the admission of economic class immigrants from overseas, delaying labour force and economic growth even more. Furthermore, the processes of family reunion and refugee resettlement will be slowed.
As previously stated, IRCC and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser issued a statement on January 31 to conduct some damage control by admitting the magnitude of the backlog and explaining the efforts being taken to restore processing times to IRCC's service standards. This is a welcome move, but the government should do more in the meantime to get the immigration system back on track.
It would be advantageous for IRCC to share its plan for addressing backlogs to the public. Applicants have the right to know where they stand and when decisions on their files will be made. Rather than the present practice of leaving applicants in the dark for most of the process, it would be preferable for IRCC to be clear and honest about the real amount of time it takes to complete a certain application stream.
IRCC must also maintain a high level of processing capacity throughout the year. Its processing capacity declined precipitously in the aftermath of the epidemic, which was understandable. However, it was not until June 2021 that it began to process permanent residency applications considerably faster, finally managing to finalise over 500,000 in total last year.
Maintaining this pace, according to IRCC, will allow it to exhaust its entire permanent resident inventory by the end of this year. IRCC should maintain this pace beyond 2022 to ensure that all applicants' files are handled in a timely manner.
For a variety of reasons, IRCC should immediately restart Express Entry invitations to Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates. First and foremost, Express Entry is critical to Canada's economic recovery and the alleviation of present labour shortages. Second, given its current Express Entry inventory, IRCC should be able to reduce processing times for new Express Entry applications by the second half of the year, and thus issuing Invitations to Apply (ITA) now would not put the department under significant additional pressure because they will be in a better position to process such applications on time once they are submitted (applicants have up to 60 days from when they receive an ITA to submit a completed permanent residence application).
Third, the basis for delaying FSWP invites (travel limitations) no longer exists since Canada eliminated travel restrictions on all COPR holders in June 2021. Finally, it is also worth mentioning that IRCC has been processing work permits, study permit, and temporary resident visa applications from persons living overseas for the past year; therefore, the slow speed of FSWP application processing makes no sense.
Fourth, restarting draws would aid in restoring Canada's global competitiveness. Fourth, because of the hiatus in FSWP draws during the last year, worldwide talent has begun to investigate other possibilities for immigration. Fifth, a prolonged halt in draws will cause thousands of CEC applicants to lose their status in Canada, and the failure of IRCC to find a solution will compel such persons to leave the country.
This leads to a third suggestion: IRCC should implement another temporary public policy to make it simpler for people in Canada who want to remain as permanent residents to extend their temporary status. For example, it might provide a one-time work permit extension to all CEC applicants living in Canada who the halt has impacted in Express Entry invites since September 2021.
Last year, IRCC provided a one-time 18-month work permit extension to Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) holders in order to give them additional time to secure permanent residency. Among the benefits of this method is that it would provide Canadian companies with ongoing access to such work permit holders, reducing the labour market risks of tens of thousands of workers being forced to leave Canada due to their work permit status expiration.
The Canadian government cannot change the past, but it can think imaginatively about how to address the harmful repercussions of their pursuit of over 400,000 immigration arrivals in 2021. Coming up with excellent solutions will benefit everyone and is just another reason to applaud IRCC.
With this, we can only hope for the best in this year. With the passage of time, it will become clearer how the Canadian government has changed its methods while trying to reduce or mitigate these repercussions.
Tags: economy, express entry, fswp, immigration levels plan, IRCC, labour market, PNP, sean fraser, CICTimes, Canadaimmigrationnews2022
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 02 Feb, 2021 | 03:26 AM] 581
By Eva Olsen [Published 11 Feb, 2021 | 07:00 AM] 1687
By Eva Olsen [Published 12 Feb, 2021 | 04:00 AM] 708
By Joseph Parker [Published 18 Feb, 2021 | 06:00 AM] 534
By Eva Olsen [Published 19 Feb, 2021 | 07:00 AM] 563
By Eva Olsen [Published 24 Feb, 2021 | 05:00 AM] 820
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 09 Mar, 2021 | 04:14 AM] 763
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 18 Mar, 2021 | 06:55 AM] 879
By Eva Olsen [Published 01 Apr, 2021 | 04:24 AM] 543
By Joseph Parker [Published 13 Apr, 2021 | 04:55 AM] 568
By Eva Olsen [Published 14 Apr, 2021 | 04:58 AM] 639
By Joseph Parker [Published 15 Apr, 2021 | 05:10 AM] 950
By Eva Olsen [Published 19 Apr, 2021 | 04:10 AM] 639
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 21 Apr, 2021 | 05:25 AM] 802
By Eva Olsen [Published 21 Apr, 2021 | 05:25 AM] 1028
By Joseph Parker [Published 20 Apr, 2021 | 04:54 AM] 882
By Eva Olsen [Published 23 Apr, 2021 | 04:21 AM] 631
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 03 May, 2021 | 04:53 AM] 848
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 05 May, 2021 | 05:04 AM] 831
By Eva Olsen [Published 05 May, 2021 | 05:30 AM] 860
By Joseph Parker [Published 06 May, 2021 | 04:34 AM] 1133
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 14 May, 2021 | 04:14 AM] 590
By Eva Olsen [Published 14 May, 2021 | 04:34 AM] 780
By Joseph Parker [Published 21 May, 2021 | 04:50 AM] 944
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 22 May, 2021 | 04:02 AM] 861
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 27 May, 2021 | 04:36 AM] 939
By Eva Olsen [Published 03 Jun, 2021 | 04:42 AM] 895
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 08 Jun, 2021 | 05:29 AM] 655
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 09 Jun, 2021 | 05:41 AM] 586
By Joseph Parker [Published 10 Jun, 2021 | 05:39 AM] 590
By Eva Olsen [Published 11 Jun, 2021 | 03:55 AM] 910
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 19 Jun, 2021 | 04:54 AM] 770
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 22 Jun, 2021 | 04:08 AM] 560
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 26 Jun, 2021 | 05:40 AM] 577
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 06 Jul, 2021 | 04:41 AM] 820
By Eva Olsen [Published 19 Jul, 2021 | 05:28 AM] 538
By Joseph Parker [Published 20 Jul, 2021 | 04:16 AM] 775
By Eva Olsen [Published 21 Jul, 2021 | 04:37 AM] 676
By Joseph Parker [Published 28 Jul, 2021 | 04:39 AM] 643
By Joseph Parker [Published 02 Aug, 2021 | 04:29 AM] 1044
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 11 Aug, 2021 | 05:23 AM] 567
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 16 Aug, 2021 | 05:13 AM] 1153
By Joseph Parker [Published 17 Aug, 2021 | 05:45 AM] 916
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 23 Aug, 2021 | 04:26 AM] 914
By Eva Olsen [Published 08 Sep, 2021 | 04:25 AM] 880
By Eva Olsen [Published 10 Sep, 2021 | 04:23 AM] 619
By Joseph Parker [Published 14 Sep, 2021 | 05:40 AM] 774
By Joseph Parker [Published 21 Sep, 2021 | 05:35 AM] 843
By Eva Olsen [Published 23 Sep, 2021 | 04:28 AM] 642
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 24 Sep, 2021 | 04:40 AM] 845
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 02 Oct, 2021 | 04:24 PM] 1019
By Eva Olsen [Published 05 Oct, 2021 | 04:32 AM] 1083
By Joseph Parker [Published 06 Oct, 2021 | 04:48 AM] 1068
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 06 Oct, 2021 | 05:45 AM] 1131
By Joseph Parker [Published 12 Oct, 2021 | 04:26 AM] 829
By Eva Olsen [Published 14 Oct, 2021 | 05:45 AM] 955
By Joseph Parker [Published 18 Oct, 2021 | 04:45 AM] 634
By Joseph Parker [Published 19 Oct, 2021 | 05:55 AM] 813
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 20 Oct, 2021 | 04:45 AM] 1527
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 21 Oct, 2021 | 04:47 AM] 784
By Eva Olsen [Published 21 Oct, 2021 | 05:03 AM] 3187
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 01 Nov, 2021 | 04:41 AM] 15558
By Joseph Parker [Published 10 Nov, 2021 | 05:42 AM] 694
By Eva Olsen [Published 23 Nov, 2021 | 05:08 AM] 634
By Joseph Parker [Published 26 Nov, 2021 | 04:35 AM] 1584
By Joseph Parker [Published 30 Nov, 2021 | 04:55 AM] 929
By Eva Olsen [Published 01 Dec, 2021 | 05:02 AM] 741
By Joseph Parker [Published 02 Dec, 2021 | 04:55 AM] 1134
By Eva Olsen [Published 03 Dec, 2021 | 05:17 AM] 1349
By Joseph Parker [Published 06 Dec, 2021 | 05:22 AM] 825
By Eva Olsen [Published 13 Dec, 2021 | 04:32 AM] 1026
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 15 Dec, 2021 | 04:38 AM] 5605
By Eva Olsen [Published 15 Dec, 2021 | 05:47 AM] 727
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 16 Dec, 2021 | 05:42 AM] 921
By Eva Olsen [Published 17 Dec, 2021 | 04:32 AM] 691
By Joseph Parker [Published 22 Dec, 2021 | 05:11 AM] 964
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 27 Dec, 2021 | 04:52 AM] 755
By Eva Olsen [Published 27 Dec, 2021 | 05:38 AM] 788
By Eva Olsen [Published 29 Dec, 2021 | 05:43 AM] 3256
By Joseph Parker [Published 29 Dec, 2021 | 04:28 AM] 690
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 30 Dec, 2021 | 03:58 AM] 1193
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 03 Jan, 2022 | 05:26 AM] 701
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 05 Jan, 2022 | 03:05 AM] 1447
By Eva Olsen [Published 05 Jan, 2022 | 06:22 AM] 875
By Eva Olsen [Published 07 Jan, 2022 | 04:53 AM] 1091
By Joseph Parker [Published 07 Jan, 2022 | 05:36 AM] 5041
By Joseph Parker [Published 10 Jan, 2022 | 05:32 AM] 1050
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 17 Jan, 2022 | 05:11 AM] 1173
By Eva Olsen [Published 19 Jan, 2022 | 04:03 AM] 2351
By Eva Olsen [Published 24 Jan, 2022 | 04:43 AM] 1035
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 25 Jan, 2022 | 05:17 AM] 1212
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 26 Jan, 2022 | 05:21 AM] 1781
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 27 Jan, 2022 | 05:07 AM] 2101
By Eva Olsen [Published 31 Jan, 2022 | 04:41 AM] 1281
By Joseph Parker [Published 01 Feb, 2022 | 04:32 AM] 1553
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 02 Feb, 2022 | 04:42 AM] 1341
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 04 Feb, 2022 | 05:15 AM] 1301
By Eva Olsen [Published 05 Feb, 2022 | 04:23 AM] 7883
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 07 Feb, 2022 | 04:51 AM] 869
By Eva Olsen [Published 07 Feb, 2022 | 05:11 AM] 899
By Joseph Parker [Published 08 Feb, 2022 | 05:46 AM] 1084
By Eva Olsen [Published 11 Feb, 2022 | 05:24 AM] 1287
By Joseph Parker [Published 14 Feb, 2022 | 04:55 AM] 1098
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 16 Feb, 2022 | 04:50 AM] 1139
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 17 Feb, 2022 | 05:12 AM] 1942
By Joseph Parker [Published 19 Feb, 2022 | 05:33 AM] 1498
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 25 Feb, 2022 | 05:39 AM] 1303
By Joseph Parker [Published 01 Mar, 2022 | 04:53 AM] 1128
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 02 Mar, 2022 | 04:23 AM] 1415
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 04 Mar, 2022 | 05:03 AM] 1233
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 05 Mar, 2022 | 05:41 AM] 1397
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 11 Mar, 2022 | 05:45 AM] 1351
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 14 Mar, 2022 | 04:17 AM] 1396
By Joseph Parker [Published 15 Mar, 2022 | 04:14 AM] 2263
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 16 Mar, 2022 | 04:10 AM] 1473
By Eva Olsen [Published 22 Mar, 2022 | 10:25 AM] 1090
By Eva Olsen [Published 22 Mar, 2022 | 06:32 AM] 1076
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 28 Mar, 2022 | 05:21 AM] 933
By Eva Olsen [Published 04 Apr, 2022 | 05:10 AM] 1635
By Eva Olsen [Published 05 Apr, 2022 | 05:44 AM] 2052
By Joseph Parker [Published 06 Apr, 2022 | 05:57 AM] 1307
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 07 Apr, 2022 | 05:07 AM] 1070
By Eva Olsen [Published 08 Apr, 2022 | 05:33 AM] 967
By Eva Olsen [Published 13 Apr, 2022 | 03:34 PM] 13414
By Joseph Parker [Published 18 Apr, 2022 | 05:28 AM] 731
By Eva Olsen [Published 21 Apr, 2022 | 05:43 AM] 874
By Eva Olsen [Published 23 Apr, 2022 | 11:53 AM] 1674
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 30 Apr, 2022 | 05:12 AM] 592
By Joseph Parker [Published 02 May, 2022 | 05:10 AM] 1017
By Joseph Parker [Published 06 May, 2022 | 05:32 AM] 1083
By Joseph Parker [Published 20 May, 2022 | 05:00 AM] 989
By Eva Olsen [Published 30 May, 2022 | 05:36 AM] 792
By Joseph Parker [Published 31 May, 2022 | 05:04 AM] 887
By Eva Olsen [Published 02 Jun, 2022 | 05:00 AM] 1152
By Eva Olsen [Published 08 Jun, 2022 | 05:20 AM] 791
By Eva Olsen [Published 14 Jun, 2022 | 04:51 AM] 724
By Joseph Parker [Published 21 Jun, 2022 | 06:11 AM] 1291
By Joseph Parker [Published 27 Jun, 2022 | 10:02 AM] 1093
By Eva Olsen [Published 14 Jul, 2022 | 03:02 PM] 709
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 19 Jul, 2022 | 04:44 AM] 806
By Joseph Parker [Published 02 Aug, 2022 | 10:12 AM] 671
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 10 Aug, 2022 | 08:10 AM] 755
By Eva Olsen [Published 27 Sep, 2022 | 07:18 AM] 828
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 28 Sep, 2022 | 05:34 AM] 417
By Eva Olsen [Published 03 Oct, 2022 | 07:12 AM] 667
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 07 Oct, 2022 | 08:05 AM] 774
By Eva Olsen [Published 13 Oct, 2022 | 11:38 AM] 943
By Joseph Parker [Published 19 Oct, 2022 | 08:10 AM] 720
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 02 Nov, 2022 | 06:35 AM] 1661
By Joseph Parker [Published 16 Nov, 2022 | 08:20 AM] 1395
By Joseph Parker [Published 28 Nov, 2022 | 03:55 AM] 440
By Scarlett Wilson [Published 03 Dec, 2022 | 06:15 AM] 441
By Joseph Parker [Published 06 Dec, 2022 | 08:36 AM] 301
By Joseph Parker [Published 29 Dec, 2022 | 04:26 PM] 500
By Joseph Parker [Published 04 Jan, 2023 | 06:20 AM] 470
By Eva Olsen [Published 10 Jan, 2023 | 06:28 AM] 416
By Eva Olsen [Published 20 Jan, 2023 | 06:48 AM] 6662
By Joseph Parker [Published 25 Jan, 2023 | 04:21 AM] 461
Stay up to date with the latest news
Comments
We welcome your feedback
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *