Enhancements to Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program

The government of Alberta has announced a number of enhancements to the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP), a collaboration with the federal government that permits the province a method to select its own candidates for permanent resident status. Alberta is one of numerous provinces that offer such programs at this time, which are intended to […]

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Changes to Express Entry Program

Canada’s Express Entry program is a point-based mechanism for the issuance of invitations to apply for permanent resident status under a number of eligibility programs. With the exception of some Provincial Nominees (including Quebec), foreign nationals in Canada holding temporary work permits would generally be subject to the requirements of Express Entry in order to […]

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Four Year Rule for Temporary Work Permits in Canada

Roughly four years ago, Citizenship and Immigration Canada implemented rules restricting the issuance of many classes of work permits to a total duration of four years. For the most part, all major classes of permits (e.g., LMIA-based, LMIA exempt, and work permit exempt) are covered by this rule, with some exceptions (see below). These rules […]

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First Express Entry Invitations Sent

This week, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, delivered invitations to apply for permanent resident status to 779 candidates with Express Entry profiles. Candidates had to meet or exceed a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 886 or higher in order to be eligible for an invitation. According to the Ministerial Instructions that announced the scoring requirement, […]

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A comparison of Express Entry and Canadian Work Permits

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has this month launched the Express Entry program (formerly referred to as Expression of Interest). It is an ambitious effort to rid itself of the multi-year application processing backlogs that once plagued visa offices and to also improve responsiveness of permanent resident programs to local labour market requirements. The goal […]

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Labour Market Impact Assessments

Following a tremendous amount of turmoil in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, the Labour Market Opinion process has been replaced with the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). While the fundamental process – the determination of the impact of a foreign worker’s admission to Canada on the labour market – remains the same, the change of […]

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Permanent Labour Market Opinions

Arranged Employment Opinions (AEO) were originally developed as a method of validating offers of employment to foreign nationals seeking permanent resident status. These applications were processed by Service Canada in a process that was similar to Labour Market Opinions (LMO). However, AEO processing did not consider the impact on the Canadian labour market, failing to […]

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Canadian Interests Work Permits for Entrepreneurs

Section 205 of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations contains provisions for the issuance of temporary work permits on the basis of Canadian Interests. Interpretation of these Regulations in the instructions to immigration officials has included provisions for the issuance of work permits to candidates for permanent resident status who are applying in the Self Employed […]

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Revision to the Canadian Experience Class

Foreign workers (i.e., holding a valid work permit) with one year of experience in a high skill occupation in Canada can seek Canadian permanent resident status in the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). Citizenship and Immigration Canada has announced a number of changes to this program that are summarized as follows: 1. Caps: A maximum of […]

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