New measures to address Canada's labor shortage.

Canada continues its post-pandemic recovery, with employers actively seeking to fill hundreds of thousands of vacant positions across all sectors nationwide. Immigration is more important than ever to boost the Canadian economy, as strong economic growth is now outpacing Canada's ability to find and retain workers. Canada is a leading destination for global talent. Canada needs to ensure that businesses and employers have access to the skilled workers they need to thrive and succeed.

Today, Sean Fraser, Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that Express Entry draws will soon resume and invitations to applicants for permanent residency will begin in early July.

Travel restrictions throughout most of 2020 and 2021 delayed the processing of overseas applications, leading to an increase in the backlog. To manage this backlog, Canada temporarily suspended invitations to apply under the federal skilled worker streams, including Canadian work experience, federal skilled worker, and federal skilled worker. Invitations to apply will resume in early July, and the majority of new applications will be processed within the 6-month service standard.

As a result of the suspension, the number of federal skilled worker applications has been cut by more than half, falling from approximately 111,900 in September 2021 to just 48,000 in March 2022. This backlog is expected to continue to decrease in July 2022, leading to Canada returning to the service standards everyone has come to expect.

Minister Fraser also announced today a new interim policy that will give recent international graduates whose temporary residency status has expired the opportunity to stay in Canada longer, so they can continue to gain work experience and have a better chance of qualifying for permanent residency. Beginning in the summer of 2022, international alumni currently in Canada with post-graduation work permits expiring between January and December 2022 will be eligible for an additional work permit extension of up to 18 months . Canada is working on a simplified, expedited process for this, and details will be provided in the coming weeks.

These talented and highly skilled international graduates play a vital role in addressing the country's labor shortage, and those whose post-graduation work permits are expiring have integrated well into the Canadian labor market and are working in key industries across the country. Tens of thousands successfully transition to permanent residency each year, including over 157,000 former students who became permanent residents in 2021, with over 88,000 of them transitioning directly from post-graduation work permits to permanent residency.

This additional open work permit will allow applicants to continue contributing to the Canadian economy, helping to address our labor shortages while gaining valuable work experience and preparing their Express Entry profile.

To help bring more skilled workers to Canada more quickly, Canada doubled the number of permanent residency decisions made in the first quarter of 2022, compared with the same period in 2021. From January 1, 2022 to March 31, 2022, Canada made over 156,000 final decisions on permanent residency applications, and through these efforts, Canada welcomed over 113,000 new permanent residents in the first quarter of 2022.

Canada also processed more than 100,000 work permit applications in the first quarter of 2022, nearly double the number processed in the same period of 2021.

Through another temporary public policy implemented in August 2020, foreign nationals in Canada as visitors were able to apply for employer-specific work permits without having to leave Canada. Recognizing that those with visitor status in Canada might also wish to stay and find meaningful employment, this temporary public policy was extended until February 28, 2023.

Finally, the Minister announced new measures for those who applied for permanent residency through the temporary residency to permanent residency pathway last year. A time-limited pathway was introduced in 2021 to invite more individuals who had worked in Canada to apply for permanent residency. Although closed to new applications since November 2021, processing of applications will continue for some time.

Effective this summer, the policy changes announced today include:

• Applicants will no longer be required to remain in Canada while their application is being processed.
• Those applying for open work permits while awaiting completion of their permanent residency applications will be able to receive work permits valid until the end of 2024. This will ensure that all permanent residency applications are completed before applicants need to apply to extend their temporary status again.
• To support family reunification, immediate family members residing outside Canada and included in the permanent residency application will be eligible for an open work permit.

These measures support the government’s broader efforts to ensure Canadian employers have the workforce they need while addressing Canada’s labor shortage and build on recent announcements by Minister Qualtrough regarding Roadmap for Temporary Foreign Workforce (TFW) Solutions .

“With the economy growing faster than employers can hire new workers, Canada needs to explore all options to ensure we have the skills and workforce needed to fuel our growth. Immigration will be crucial in easing our labor shortages, and measures aimed at addressing urgent needs across all sectors nationwide will provide more opportunities for recent graduates and other applicants to build their lives in Canada and continue to contribute to our short-term recovery and long-term prosperity.”

Mr. Sean Fraser, Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

• Express Entry is Canada's leading application management system for those seeking permanent residency through the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, Work Experience in Canada, and as part of the Provincial Nominee Program. Through Express Entry, applicants are ranked, and periodically, those with the highest rankings are invited to apply for permanent residency.

• Approximately 95,000 post-graduation work permits will expire between January 31 and December 31, 2022. While many former students whose work permits have expired have moved on to permanent residency, applied for permanent residency, or successfully obtained another type of work permit, it is estimated that around 50,000 applicants could benefit from this temporary measure.