Construction workers received 21 invitations with a minimum score of 90 points.
A draw targeted at healthcare workers saw 30 invitations issued to skilled workers and international graduates, with a minimum score of 85 points.
Lastly, veterinary care workers received ‘less than five’ invitations with a minimum score of 85 points. The total was listed as ‘less than five’ to protect the identity of those invited.
The March 21 draw targeted two different groups of candidates, with March 18 listed as the date of extraction from the Arrima bank.
In the first group, candidates needed a French language speaking ability of level 7 or higher on the Quebec proficiency scale and to have scored at least 596 on the Quebec Expression of Interest points system.
In the second group, candidates also needed a French language speaking ability of level 7 or higher on the Quebec proficiency scale and a job offer outside the Montreal metropolitan area.
Candidates and their spouse or common-law partner can score up to 1,320 points based on human capital and Quebec labour market factors.
What Are the Requirements for Quebec Expression of Interest?
The Quebec Expression of Interest points system involves points in two categories, with some including points for the spouse of common law partner of the principal candidate.
Human capital factors:
French language ability.
French and English combined.
Age.
Work experience.
Education.
Quebec labour market factors:
Work experience in a field with a labour shortage.
Qualifications in one of Quebec’s areas of training.
The CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses says its Pre-Arrival Supports and Services (PASS) program – which helps internationally-educated nurses immigrate to Canada by offering free, pre-arrival services – is booming.
“From January 2016 to the end of the last fiscal year, on March 31, 2023, PASS has served over 1,425 internationally-educated nurses from 90 countries,” notes the organization in its latest annual report.
“In the last fiscal year between April 2022 and March 2023, 205 internationally-educated nurses joined PASS and accessed online resources.”
The PASS program is designed to shorten the time internationally-educated nurses spend from arrival in Canada to professional registration and employment with most of those immigrant nurses coming from the Philippines, India, Nigeria and the United States.
“PASS has continued to increase the wide variety of webinars and information available to members pre-arrival, including two new modules on indigenous health,” notes CARE.
“There is no cost to enroll in PASS but internationally-educated nurses must have proof of graduation from a nursing school and a letter of confirmation proving their permanent residency status from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).”
In addition to this pre-arrival services program, the Toronto-based non-profit organization now also offers its Workplace Integration Program (WIP) to help employers recruit and keep internationally-educated nurses on staff.
“Retention is key to solving the nursing shortage,” says Ruth Wojtiuk, the organization’s professional practice lead.
“Recruitment and successful on-boarding are the first steps in internationally-educated nurse integration but our program also gives employers the tools to fully utilize and deploy internationally-educated nurses so that they stay on the job and contribute to healthcare transformation.”
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions quoted a study that projected Canada’s nursing shortage would reach 117,600 nurses by 2030.
In Ontario alone, the province’s fiscal watchdog projects a shortage of 33,000 nurses by 2028
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The federal government has responded to this labour shortage by encouraging immigration to Canada of internationally-educated nurses and also by putting in place programs to help them integrate into their professional lives in Canada.
In January, Ottawa announced it would invest an extra $86 million into 15 projects across the country to boost the country’s capacity to recognize the foreign credentials of roughly 6,600 internationally-educated health professionals.
“Healthcare workers deliver the care that Canadians need. By bringing in new workers and retaining those who are already there, we can help relieve the labour challenges in our healthcare system,” said Health Minister Mark Holland.
“This federal funding supports our government’s work with provinces, territories, and stakeholders to have more healthcare workers enter Canada’s workforce and to streamline that process.”
Canada Working To Make Foreign Credential Recognition Easier For Nurses
The funded projects aim to:
reduce barriers to foreign credential recognition for internationally-educated healthcare professionals by improving the recognition processes, simplifying steps in credential recognition and offering increased access to practice in the field;
provide internationally-educated healthcare professionals with relevant Canadian work experience in their intended fields, while incorporating wrap-around supports such as childcare and transportation costs, as well as mentoring and coaching, and;
facilitate labour mobility between jurisdictions in Canada for healthcare professionals and internationally-educated healthcare professionals to reduce the systemic and administrative barriers for healthcare professionals who wish to work in other jurisdictions within Canada.
That financial shot in the arm was to provide funding to key occupations like nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, laboratory technicians and respiratory therapists. Through this investment, internationally trained midwives will be able to take their exams virtually, even before they arrive in Canada.
Jim Lai, president of the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry, was thrilled.
“The Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry is thrilled to receive this support from the federal government to fund the development and testing of a new program to speed up the qualification and licensing of dentists trained elsewhere in the world so they can practice in Canada,” said Lai.
“With the government’s recent introduction of the new Canadian Dental Care Plan, and its policy of increasing immigration into Canada, there are plans to both help Canada’s poorest and most marginalized people gain access to dental care and to integrate internationally-trained dentists into Canada’s healthcare workforce.”
Canada has recorded its highest annual population growth rate since 1957, so that it now has 40,769,890 inhabitants – an increase of 1,271,872 people compared with January 1, 2023.
The vast majority of that 3.2% population growth rate stemmed from temporary immigration in 2023, without which (relying solely on permanent immigration and natural increase) the growth rate would have been roughly three times less (+1.2%) than its current level.
International migration (temporary and permanent immigration) led to the majority (97.6%) of Canadian population growth, while the rest (2.4%) came from natural increase. This also corresponded with a 0.6% quarterly change.
StatsCan collaborates closely with IRCC and other federal departments to estimate the number of non-permanent residents (NPRs) living in Canada.
Last year, 471,771 permanent immigrants came to Canada, a number which fell within range of the immigration department’s levels targets.
Permanent immigration was up compared with a year earlier in every province and territory other than Nova Scotia and Quebec.
A further 804,901 non-permanent residents (NPRs) joined Canada’s population in the same year. This was the second year that temporary immigration caused a rise in population growth and the third year in a row with a net rise in NPRs.
Most of them were NPRs working as workers in response to federal, provincial, and territorial labour market needs of 2023, followed by international students. Just more than 1 in 10 NPRs were asylum claimants (with or without work or study permits).
Every province and territory except Newfoundland and Labrador saw a year-on-year increase in the net number of NPRs in 2023.
It is estimated that 2,661,784 NPRs were in Canada on January 1, 2024. Among them, 2,332,886 were permit holders and their family members living with them, and 328,898 were asylum claimants (with or without work or study permits).
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The fourth quarter of 2023, from October 1 to December 31, was underlined with a strong population growth of 241,494 people (+0.6%). During this time, Canada welcomed 100,472 PRs, with provinces reporting higher year-over-year immigration levels.
This was the highest growth rate in a fourth quarter since 1956 (0.7%).
Quebec experienced a decrease in new immigrants by about half, from 16,188 in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 8,627 in the fourth quarter of 2023.
From October 1, 2023, to January 1, 2024, the number of NPRs increased by 150,347, which was a rise for the eighth quarter in a row.
Several Express Entry draws have taken place this year that have seen candidates Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores below 400 receive invitations.
Thousands of candidates have profiles in the Canada Express Entry Pool with lower scores and although it is certainly more difficult to get an Invitation to Apply with a CRS score below 400, it is not impossible.
The most recent snapshot provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, dated March 11, 2024, reveals that of the total pool size of 211,220 candidates, 83,635 scored between 301 and 400 CRS points. How can these candidates immigrate to Canada?
With Canada Express Entry now in its ninth year of selecting and inviting new economic immigration candidates, the draws so far in 2024 have a settled look.
Minimum Comprehensive Ranking System scores of 450 or above have been recorded in six out of 11 draws, while the ITA numbers have peaked at a whopping 7,000.
The minimum CRS required to receive an invitation from IRCC changes in every Express Entry draw and can be influenced by the type of draw (general, program-specific, category-based, French-language proficiency).
As of March 11, there have been 11 federal Express Entry draws in 2024. Of those, six draws have been general, and have issued invitations based on CRS higher than 500. The lowest score was 525, while the highest was 546.
The remaining five draws were category-based, and generally saw lower CRS requirements. One of the French proficiency draws, for example, issued 2,500 ITAs based on a minimum CRS of 336. Even the highest CRS of these draws was less than 500, at 437.
Another draw in the French-language category issued 7,000 ITAs with a CRS of 365.
The category-based selection draws were introduced in May of last year for IRCC to target specific candidates in the EE pool with certain in-demand skills or features.
The categories are:
Healthcare occupations
STEM occupations
Trades occupations
Transport occupations
Agriculture and agri-food occupations
French-language proficiency candidates
PNP numbers also reflect a similar pattern, with provincial programs related to the EE system consistently showcasing CRS numbers below 400.
Ontario’s Express Entry Human Capital Priorities Stream, for example, had a CRS score range of 379-430 for February 6, 2024, which targeted healthcare occupations and issued 2,086 invitations.
The EE Skilled Trades stream issued 2,583 invitations with a CRS range of 350-424. The EE profile submission date was March 1, 2023 to March 1, 2024.
For the profiles in the pool with scores between 401 and 450, improving their CRS score by a few points could make all the difference. Improving language test results, boosting work experience or adding a spouse or common-law partner as a secondary applicant are all good ways to tip the balance.
But for those with scores below 400, just adding a few points to their score is not enough. What can these candidates do to receive the coveted Invitation to Apply?
Language Skills
Statistics Canada’s recent study on the economic outcomes of skilled immigrants based on language skills found that more than any other factor, language was the largest predictor of successful economic integration.
A candidate without an accompanying spouse can get a maximum score of 160 for language ability, which can be determined through one of these tests:
IELTS General Training
CELPIP General Test
Pearson Test of English (PTE) Core
TEF Canada: Test d’evaluation de francais
TCF Canada: Test de connaissance due francais
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Job Offer
Candidates should also aim at securing a job offer, which can be achieved by conducting a comprehensive job search that is linked to visiting Canada. As a candidate is preparing for a potentially life-changing move, visiting the country is always advisable. Aside from offering an insight into what life in Canada will be like, the chances of landing a job are significantly greater if a candidate is available to meet face-to-face with employers or attend employment fairs in Canada.
Education
Without a spouse or common-law partner, the level of education one has can grant them a maximum 150 points (if they have a PhD). Those with a master’s/professional degree can get 135 points, and those with a bachelor’s can get 120 points.
Moreover, international students completing recognized degrees and diplomas in Canada are awarded extra points under Express Entry.
To score Canadian education points, the candidate must have:
Studied in Canada at a Canadian educational institution.
Been enrolled in full-time study or training for at least eight months.
Been physically present in Canada for at least eight months.
Age
It is suggested, also, that candidates consider applying to an EE program apply at a younger age (before their 40s).
Those entering the pool between 20 and 29 (with a spouse/common law partner) will get 110 points. After 30, the points fall to 95, and continue to fall till a candidate turns 40.
Provincial Nomination Programs
The Canadian government is placing increasing importance on provincial nomination programs to attract economic immigrants who meet specific provincial labour market needs, and EE candidates with a provincial nomination automatically get 600 CRS points.
This is good news for immigration candidates to Canada who do not meet the requirements of federal economic class programs. Expanded provincial thresholds mean more chances of securing a coveted provincial nomination and a guaranteed ITA under Express Entry.
Canada’s Provincial Nomination Programs
Ontario
Alberta
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland
Nova Scotia
Saskatchewan
Prince Edward Island
Hire an Employment Professional
Strongly consider hiring an employment professional. This can help improve your digital resume, provide you with an extensive database of potential hiring employers across Canada and share other pointers that will increase your chances. Applicants need to learn how to stand out from others in the pool and maximize their chances. Visit Skilled Worker and SkilledWorker for more information.
Are you a candidate with skills and qualifications in one of Canada’s 82 jobs for occupation-specific Express Entry draws? We want to help you move to Canada. Please submit your CV here.
A growing number of family medicine residencies are going unfilled in Ontario despite the province nominating a record number of healthcare workers through its Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) last year.
In the first match-up this year of medical school graduates with residency placements, 108 spots remained unfilled out of 560 in Ontario, reports Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS).
That’s up from 103 unfilled spots during the comparable matchup last year.
The growing paucity of family physicians comes in the wake of the OINP nominating a record number of internationally-educated healthcare workers for immigration to Canada last year, more than 2,000 of them.
Last year, roughly 12 per cent of all OINP nominations were made to healthcare workers.
registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses;
dentists, and;
nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates.
“Demand for the OINP continues to be strong with the OINP issuing its largest number of nominations in its history in 2023,” noted the OINP website.
“In 2023, the province’s nomination allocation from the federal government was 16,500 nominations. The OINP met its full 2023 nomination allocation in December.”
Even though 2.3 million Ontarians lack access to a family doctor, many medical school graduates are taking a pass on the opportunity to practice family medicine in the province.
“What this tells us is that medical students are not applying to family medicine,” Dr. David Barber, chair of Ontario Medical Association’s section on family practice, reportedly told CBC News.
“It’s because during medical school the students work with family doctors and train under family doctors. They see how stressful it is, how underfunded it is and how unhappy that the family doctors are.”
The claimed underfunding of healthcare services in Ontario is currently being addressed in negotiations for a new physician services agreement since the current contract that covers how physicians are paid n Ontario is set to expire at the end of March.
Ontario In Negotiations For New Physician Services Agreement
In a statement, Health Minister Sylvia Jones noted the province has expanded medical school spots and boosted the number of interdisciplinary primary care teams by 78.
Last year, Ottawa lifted some of the restrictions faced by internationally-educated physicians when it comes to moving to Canada and living and working here.
Under the Temporary Public Policy to Facilitate the Issuance of Permanent Resident Visas for Physicians Providing Publicly-Funded Medical Services in Canada, which Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) put in place on Apr. 25 last year, the exemptions impact the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSW) and how points are earned through the Express Entry’s Comprehensive Ranking System for Canadian work experience and arranged employment.
“These measures will enable more foreign national physicians to qualify for federal economic permanent residence programs managed by Express Entry and to qualify for more points in the Express Entry system, increasing their chances of receiving an invitation to apply for permanent residence,” the IRCC noted on its website.
Many physicians working in Canada are self-employed and so their work experience has until now not been recognized as eligible under the CEC. Physicians coming to Canada also often do not receive job offers for a full year, making those job offers until now ineligible under the FSW.
The temporary policy put into effect late last year attempted to remove these restrictions for internationally-trained physicians coming to work in Canada.
“With these exemptions, qualifying physicians … have a greater likelihood of meeting the eligibility requirements of the FSW and CEC and entering the Express Entry pool,” noted then-Immigration Minister Sean Fraser in amendments to his ministerial instructions.
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“Additionally, with relevant and complementary changes to the Express Entry ministerial instructions, foreign national physicians … have an increased chance of receiving an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence.”
Ottawa’s move to encourage more international physicians to immigrate to Canada came in the wake of a report by the Royal Bank of Canada stating the physician shortage in Canada was already at a crisis level and is only going to get worse unless the country could attract more internationally-trained physicians through federal and provincial immigration programs.
“Canada is estimated to be short nearly 44,000 physicians, including over 30,000 family doctors and general practitioners, before the end of the decade,” reported RBC in its Proof Point: Canada Needs More Doctors—And Fast report.
“Though 2,400 family physician positions were advertised on government websites by the end of 2021, just 1,496 family doctors exited residency training that year.”
In Canada, family physicians, National Occupational Classification 2021 (NOC) code 31102, earn a median annual income of $233,726 but that varies wildly based on the where in the country the physician is practicing and how many years of experience he or she has, the federal job-hunting and career-planning Job Bank website reveals.
Prospects For Family Physicians Very Good Throughout Canada
Job Bank describes the prospects for physicians and specialists as “very good”, its highest ranking, throughout the country through to the end of 2031.
“For general practitioners and family physicians, over the period 2022 – 2031, new job openings (arising from expansion demand and replacement demand) are expected to total 48,900 , while 29,400 new job seekers (arising from school leavers, immigration and mobility) are expected to be available to fill them,” notes the job-hunting and career-planning website.
In addition to the CEC and FSW, physicians can immigrate to Canada through the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) if they meet particular regional labour market needs and intend to settle in that province or territory. Provinces can recruit candidates from the Express Entry pool or they can nominate individuals under their non-Express Entry paper-based streams.
Across the country, there are PNP streams specifically aimed at helping physicians immigrate to Canada, including:
the Saskatchewan Health Professionals stream;
Nova Scotia’s Physician stream and Labour Market Priorities for Physician stream, and;
British Columbia’s Health Authority stream.
But before a physician can practice in Canada, he or she needs to have his or her qualifications recognized.
The national organization that sets standards for physicians, including immigrating physicians, is the Ottawa-based Medical Council of Canada (MCC). It does not confer or issue licences to physicians. That responsibility belongs to the provincial and territorial medical regulatory authorities.
Instead, the MCC’s role is to grant a qualification in medicine known as the Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada (LMCC) to medical graduates who:
have passed the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE) Part I and Part 2, or an acceptable clinical assessment deemed comparable to the MCCQE Part II, and;
have satisfactorily completed at least 12 months of acceptable postgraduate training or an acceptable equivalent.
With a LMCC document in hand, physicians intending to practice in Canada then have to enroll in the Canadian Medical Register to meet the Canadian Standard, a set of academic qualifications that makes an applicant eligible for full licensing in every Canadian province and territory.
Family physicians applying for the first time to become licensed to practise medicine in a Canadian jurisdiction may achieve full licensure only if they meet the following:
have a medical degree from a medical school that, at the time the candidate completed the program, was listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools;
are a Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada;
have satisfactorily completed a discipline-appropriate postgraduate training program in allopathic medicine and an evaluation by a recognized authority, and;
have achieved certification from the College of Family Physicians of Canada or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada or the Collège des médecins du Québec.
That is for full licensure to practice anywhere in Canada. Many foreign-trained doctors start their practices with a provisional license.
In Canada, a foreign-trained physician’s credentials may meet the licensure requirements of one province but not another.
MCC Offers Doctors A Credential Verification Service
The MCC offers a credential verification service through a website, PhysiciansApply.ca. This is a comprehensive website where medical students and graduates can create an account.
PhysiciansApply.ca provides a wide range of features and services to help medical students and graduates through the process of becoming practicing physicians in Canada.
Some of those features and services include:
applying for exams including the MCCQE1 and MCCQE2;
medical registration;
sharing credentials with medical regulatory authorities and other organizations, and;
providing an orientation to the communication and cultural challenges facing physicians new to Canada.
As an International Medical Graduate, the first step for a physician intending to practice in Canada is to see if their medical college will be readily acceptable to the licensing body, the medical college, in each province.
It is the physician’s responsibility to check whether his or her medical school is listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools, something that can be done by visiting WDOMS.org.
Once a physician finds his or her college in that online directory, the next step is to check the “Sponsor Note” tab and see if it states “Canada Note”. This means medical degrees obtained from this medical school are acceptable to the provincial and territorial medical regulatory authorities in Canada and therefore acceptable to all medical organizations in Canada.
A challenge for many internationally-educated physicians immigrating to Canada is the paucity of residency spots, a bottleneck in the country’s current healthcare system.
“Investment will be needed to expand the capacity of hospital and university networks, to add educators and assessors, and to increase residency spaces in the Canadian medical system,” notes RBC.
“More residency spaces are also needed to align with the increase in medical school student quotas. And streamlining credential recognition for internationally-trained physicians and international medical graduates will be crucial.”
Despite calls from Ukrainians in Canada for the federal government to extend the Canada-Ukraine Authorization For Emergency Travel (CUAET), Immigration Minister Marc Miller says that’s not in the cards.
In an interview with Canadian Press, the Canadian immigration minister reportedly said an extension of the CUAET is “not something that is actively being considered.”
Miller did not, though, categorically rule out that possibility.
“The operational flexibility needs to be there for what happens in Ukraine,” he reportedly said.
According to surveys, roughly 90 per cent of Ukrainians who came to Canada under the temporary measure launched in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 now want to stay here permanently.
But CUAET does not allow them to do that, offering only the opportunity stay in Canada for up to three years as temporary residents and offering them free open work and study permits.
A Canadian non-profit organization representing Ukrainians, Pathfinders for Ukraine, wants Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to open the door to permanent residency for Ukrainians with a permanent pathway.
“We know that employers have been hesitant to hire, train, and promote Ukrainians, knowing their work permit is set to expire in a year,” Randall Baran-Chong, the organization’s executive director and founder, has reportedly said.
“These war-displaced Ukrainians are de-facto refugees but the program is a temporary measure that doesn’t afford them the benefits and protections of refugee status.”
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Almost a quarter of a million Ukrainians are already here after having come under CUAET and a growing number of them are arriving as the March 31 travel deadline for the program looms.
“We’re seeing definitely more arrivals week over week, because people are trying to come, people are coming before the end of it,” Ihor Michalchyshyn, CEO and executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, reportedly told the National Post.
Between March 17, 2022 and Feb. 27 this year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) received 1,189,320 applications under the CUAET temporary residence program.
But while 960,091 of those applications were approved during that period, only 248,726 Ukrainians, or 25.9 per cent of the total, actually made the move to Canada.
CUAET Is An Insurance Policy For Many War-Besieged Ukrainians
Many Ukrainians have reportedly applied for CUAET as something of an insurance policy should they need it to flee the Ukraine.
Almost three-quarters of a million Ukrainians, exactly 711,365, are still eligible to come to Canada as temporary residents under CUAET before the end of March.
In February alone, Canada welcomed 27,495 Ukrainians through CUAET.
Once the temporary measure was in place, Ottawa also upped its immigration application processing capacity in Europe and sent mobile biometrics kits to Warsaw, Vienna and Bucharest to take the fingerprints and portrait photos of prospective Ukrainian refugees in a bid to ensure proper security precautions were taken with the surge in applications.
The government then increased its federal settlement programs to include language training, orientation, employment assistance and other supports for Ukrainians as they settled into their new communities.
In addition to settlement services, Ukrainians fleeing to Canada were also offered transitional financial assistance of $3,000 per adult and $1,500 per child.
“These funds will help Ukrainian nationals and their family members meet their basic needs, such as transportation and longer-term housing, as they arrive in communities across Canada and find a job,” noted IRCC on its website.
“Settlement services will remain available to Ukrainians and their family members after they arrive so that they can fully participate in Canadian communities while they are here. Ukrainians and their family members will also continue to benefit from the one-time transitional financial support, as well as from access to emergency accommodations for up to two weeks, if needed, after they arrive in Canada.”
Hotline To Help Ukrainians With Legal Services
This year, Ottawa upped its offering of help to Ukrainians by pumping $475,788 into a trilingual hotline to help them access the legal services they need for the coming three years.
The money was for Pro Bono Ontario’s Ukrainian Refugee Legal Relief Initiative to allow displaced Ukrainians access legal information and advice, including the toll-free hotline that are accessible nationally and abroad.
The hotline provides Ukrainians in Canada with access to Canadian lawyers so they can ask immigration-related questions on such things as sponsorship, refugee claims and work permits or be referred to provincial pro bono organizations or community groups across Canada.
“Our government is grateful to be able to count on organizations, such as Pro Bono Ontario, that improve access to justice, a fundamental Canadian value and an integral part of a fair and effective justice system,” said Justice Minister Arif Virani.
“This investment shows how our government continues to stand with Ukraine, and that we will continue to support Ukrainians forced to flee their homes because of Russia’s illegal invasion.”
With CUAET no longer taking applications from overseas, Ukrainians wishing to come to Canada from abroad can apply for a visa or a work or study permit through the IRCC’s existing temporary resident programs but are now subject to fees and standard requirements.
A Statistics Canada study shows immigrants in Canada are increasingly taking a bigger share of both lower-level and professional jobs than ever before.
In Immigration and the shifting occupational distribution in Canada, 2001 to 2021, the statistical and demographic services agency’s Garnett Picot and Feng Hou revealed that immigrants increasingly filled lower-level positions throughout the country during that 20-year period.
“The results of this study indicate that the role of immigrant workers in low-skilled occupations has increased,” the researchers report.
“Together with temporary foreign workers, they filled some of the low-skilled jobs that previously would have been occupied by Canadian-born workers.”
Canadian workers moved away from lower-skilled jobs during those two decades, leaving them ripe for immigrants seeking jobs and hoping to gain their permanent residency through economic immigration programs.
“From 2001 to 2021, employment in lower-skilled occupations contracted by 500,000. As Canadian-born workers moved out of this skill level in a substantial way, reducing their employment by 860,000, together, immigrant workers and temporary foreign workers increased their employment in these lower-skilled jobs by 360,000,” report Picot and Hou.
“Hence, to some extent, immigrant workers and temporary foreign workers backfilled Canadian-born workers as they moved away from lower-skilled jobs. This pattern was similar for labourers, the lowest skill-level group. The number of Canadian-born labourers declined, while the employment contribution by immigrant labourers and temporary foreign workers increased.”
While that trend might suggest employers are primarily using immigrants as a source of cheap labour, that’s not the whole picture. Immigrants to Canada are also increasingly taking up high-paying, professional positions.
“Occupations at the professional skill level showed the fastest employment growth in Canada, with occupations at the managerial and technical skill levels close behind (during those 20 years),” report the researchers.
“Immigrant workers were more likely than Canadian-born workers to move into professional jobs. However, their tendency to be in managerial or technical jobs was little changed, unlike the tendency for workers born in Canada.”
From 2001 through to 2021, the number of immigrant workers in professional occupations rose by almost 92.4 per cent, from 543,800 to 1,046,200, while the number of Canadian workers in those types of occupations grew by a more modest 30.3 per cent, from 1,885,000 to 2,456,500.
“Over the 20-year period, total employment increased by 18 per cent,” noted the researchers.
Canada Saw More Growth In Professional Occupations Than Any Other Type
“Professional occupations expanded the fastest, with a 48 per cent surge. Managerial jobs saw the second-highest growth rate at 36 per cent, followed by employment in technical occupations, up 31 per cent. In contrast, employment in lower-skilled jobs fell by 11 per cent.”
A little more than a third of all immigrants who gained their permanent residency in Canada in 2022, came to the country through the provincial programs, reports Statistics Canada in its The Provincial Nominee Program: Provincial Differences report.
“In recent years, more economic immigrants entered Canada via the PNP than through any other program; 35 per cent did so in 2019 and 2022,” report Statistics Canada’s Picot, Hou and Eden Crossman.
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“Across all provinces, there are currently over 60 individual PNP streams through which immigrants can enter Canada.”
Since its inception, the PNP’s importance has grown considerably but at a different rate as each province managed its own immigration programs.
“Manitoba had the largest and fastest-growing program during the first decade after the PNP was put in place,” note the researchers.
“Ontario had a small program until around 2016, after which it grew rapidly. By 2019, the five provinces from Ontario westward to British Columbia had roughly an equal number of nominees each (around 12,000 immigrants). Nova Scotia had the largest program in the Atlantic provinces; Newfoundland and Labrador had a very small program over the past two decades.”
PNPs Seeing More Immigrants With Canadian Work Experience
By 2019, 90 per cent of new economic immigrants were provincial nominees in Manitoba and Saskatchewan but only 15 per cent of them were provincially-nominated economic immigrants in Ontario.
In the decade that ended in 2019, the share of new provincial nominees with Canadian work experience has grown significantly in almost all provinces.
“This trend tended to improve the economic outcomes of new provincial nominees. However, by 2019, there was large variation among provinces in the tendency to select provincial nominees from the temporary foreign worker pool,” reports Statistics Canada.
“This tendency was high in Alberta, British Columbia, and Newfoundland and Labrador, while it was much lower in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. The latter three provinces selected more provincial nominees from the candidate pool outside Canada than from among temporary foreign workers.”
A growing number of provincial nominees have been former international students who tend to do better when it comes to finding good jobs.
“This share increased considerably in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, and much less so in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick,” notes Statistics Canada.
“In general, the PNP selected more skilled and technical economic immigrants (NOC skill level B) and fewer professionals (NOC skill level 0 or A) than the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP),” note researchers.
“Skilled and technical provincial nominees dominated in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Alberta (in 2019), while British Columbia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island had higher shares of professional and managerial provincial nominees, though still well below a majority. Manitoba was the one province where lower-skilled provincial nominees (NOC skill level C or D) outnumbered either professionals or skilled and technical nominees.”
The Alberta Advantage Immigration Program’s Tourism and Hospitality Stream is geared towards temporary foreign hospitality workers who want to permanently stay in Canada.
However, while the stream has seen high demand since its launch on March 1, the President and CEO of the Alberta Hospitality and Lodging Association, Tracy Douglas-Blowers, says that job vacancies in the sector are not as pronounced anymore.
TFWs are eligible for this stream if they have worked full-time in tourism and hospitality for at least 6 months, and have a permanent job offer.
“I know that the intake was overwhelmed with applications in its first day, which suggests that there is a lot of demand,” says Douglas-Blowers.
“We also know there are a number of workers who came to Alberta either through the temporary foreign worker program or as Ukrainian evacuees who want to stay and continue to contribute to the hospitality industry, and employers who very much want to keep those people who have built up their skills and committed themselves to the industry.”
Jason Foster, who is an associate professor of human resources and labour relations at Athabasca University and director of Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta, raised his concerns with the program, advocating for more avenues for temporary foreign workers to find PR, but is worried that the program increases workers’ dependency on their employers.
“Now, not only is their temporary residency dependent upon keeping their employer happy, now their hopes of being able to stay here permanently depend upon keeping their employer happy, and that is a situation that can make workers very vulnerable to mistreatment and exploitation,” he said.
He also added that some employers take advantage of workers’ lack of knowledge of the system, and that governments need to create criteria that workers can achieve without their employers’ input. This would reduce their reliance on an employer.
“The program is committed to safeguarding against abuse and misuse, actively collaborating with federal and provincial/territorial counterparts. With overwhelming interest in the new stream, a staged intake process has been adopted to manage applications effectively, with subsequent stages to be announced soon,” said Muhammad Yaseen, minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism, to Global News.
The employment requirements for the stream are as follows:
Current Employment
At the time that an application is submitted and at the time the AAIP assesses their application, the applicant must:
be living and working in Alberta in an eligible occupation for an approved Tourism and Hospitality employer; and
have a valid work permit based on a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) for an eligible occupation. Please note that maintained status is not considered a substitute for a valid work permit.
Work Experience
At the time the application is submitted and at the time the AAIP assesses the application, the applicant must have been working full-time (30 hours per week minimum) with an approved Tourism and Hospitality employer, in one of the eligible occupations, for a minimum of six consecutive months (or minimum of 780 hours) the time they apply.
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Work Experience
must have been for the same employer as your current Alberta job offer
must have been paid
must have been authorized by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and with valid temporary resident status if completed in Alberta or Canada
Job Offer Or Employment Contract
At the time an application is submitted and at the time the AAIP assesses the application, the applicant must have a bona fide full-time job offer or employment contract:
for work in an eligible occupation and
for the same Alberta employer as the required 6 consecutive months (780 hours) of work experience and their current employment
Ineligible Applicants Based On Job Offer
The following individuals are not eligible to apply for or be nominated, even if they have a job offer to work 30 hours a week or more in a 12-month period:
part-time, casual or seasonal employees
independent contractors, business owners or temporary agency workers, including individuals listed as directors, shareholders or agents of the Alberta employer on the Corporate Registry System (CORES)
employees who work in Alberta in a place of employment that is not zoned for commercial or industrial operations
There will be more Express Entry draws in the coming year for foreign nationals already in Canada as temporary residents, Immigration Minister Marc Miller says.
Both federal and provincial draws will be focused on candidate already here, Miller said.
“As part of our efforts for temporary residents to transition to permanent residency, we will have more domestic draws for us and ask provinces and territories taking part in the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) to do the same with their allocations,” said Miller.
“This will realign our efforts and provide a pathway for those who are in the country, who wish to stay and contribute to the country and to the economy.”
The move to conduct draws to help temporary residents gain their permanent residency comes as Ottawa is also planning to set temporary immigration targets starting in September and take further steps to limit temporary immigration.
Miller has said he wants to reduce the number of temporary residents by five per cent over the coming three years and will be meeting with provincial and territorial immigration ministers in May to determine the specifics of these temporary immigration levels.
“Provinces and territories know their unique labour needs and capacity and need to assume responsibility for the people that they bring in as well,” said Miller.
When travel and public health restrictions imposed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic prevented many foreign nationals from immigrating to Canada from foreign countries, Ottawa turned to immigration program draws targeting foreign nationals already in Canada.
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“In 2021, IRCC continued to target Invitations to Apply (ITA) at CEC and PNP-eligible candidates, who are more likely to be physically located in Canada and therefore less impacted by pandemic-related border restrictions,” noted the immigration department in its year-end report.
“This included one invitation round on Feb. 13, 2021, through which more than 27,000 ITAs were issued to all CEC-eligible candidates in the pool at that time, over 90 per cent of whom were already in Canada and employed.
Under the CEC immigration program, eligibility is assessed on a pass-fail basis where the primary criteria are the following:
the candidate has acquired 12 months of full-time work experience in an occupation categorized as TEER categories 0, 1, 2 or 3 of the National Occupation Classification (NOC). Qualifying occupations are those of a managerial, professional, technical or skilled trade nature.
the qualifying Canadian work experience was acquired within the 36 months immediately preceding the date of application;
the candidate demonstrates sufficient proficiency in one of Canada’s official languages. The level of proficiency required is determined by the occupation in which the candidate gained qualifying Canadian work experience;
the candidate is not inadmissible to Canada on medical, criminal or security grounds.
Qualifying work experience must be full time and skilled.
CEC Immigration Applicants Must Demonstrate Language Skills
Full-time refers to 30 hours per week. Part-time work will be considered, but only on a pro-rata basis so that six months in a part-time skilled position at 15 hours per week would count as three months towards the required 12.
Multiple concurrent part-time jobs can also be used to meet the experience requirement.
Any work experience acquired in Canada without valid work authorization will not be considered. Nor will periods of self-employment or work experience gained while the candidate was enrolled in a program of full-time study.
Applicants must demonstrate a minimum proficiency in all four language abilities, reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
Applicants whose qualifying work experience is in an occupation categorized as NOC TEER 0 and 1 must meet Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level 7. Applicants whose qualifying work experience is in an occupation categorized as NOC TEER 2 and 3 must meet CLB level 5.
Equivalencies between the required level of proficiency in French or English and test results under the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and the Test d’évaluation de français (TEF) are:
CLB Level
IELTS General Training Test Results
Speaking
Listening
Reading
Writing
7
6.0
6.0
6.0
6.0
5
5.0
5.0
4.0
5.0
CLB Level
CELPIP General Test Results
Speaking
Listening
Reading
Writing
7
7
7
7
7
5
5
5
5
5
CLB Level
Test d’évaluation de français (TEF Canada) Test Results
Speaking
Listening
Reading
Writing
7
310-348
249-279
207-232
310-348
5
226-270
181-216
151-180
226-270
CLB Level
Test des connaissances de français (TCF Canada) Test Results
