New measures in Canada to address the labor shortage

Canadian business owners across the country are looking to fill hundreds of job openings due to the pandemic and its measures.

After the recovery, it has become important to fill these jobs to continue economic growth.

Migration is the most important source of recruitment of skilled workers and employees to fill the void and contribute to advancing and operating many projects.

Because Canada is the best destination for talents and skills, some facilities were necessary to speed up the process of bringing in these talents and skills.

Immigration and Refugees Minister Sean Fraser has announced that the Express Entry draw will resume soon and that calls for candidates to apply for permanent residence will begin in early July.

The main reason behind the temporary suspension of the draw was the accumulation of applications and the difficulty of processing them due to travel restrictions related to combating the epidemic for most of the periods from 2020-2021.

More invitations will be received in early July, and most of these invitations will be processed within 6 months.

During the downtime, more than half of the backlogs were processed, and more will be processed to increase this rate by July when the service will return to its previous standards that applicants expect.

Minister Sean Fraser also announced new temporary measures that will allow international graduates whose study permits have expired the opportunity to stay in Canada for an extended period.

International students will also be allowed, starting from next summer of this year, to obtain an open work permit for a period of up to 18 months, as these graduates occupy tens of thousands of jobs in the Canadian market, which contributes to cover the shortage.

They can also apply to remain in Canada for permanent residence after a Postgraduate Work Permit.

The work will also benefit these students by gaining real work experience, improving their Express Entry file capabilities, and increasing their chances of obtaining permanent residency.

Minister Sean Fraser said that his ministry doubled the number of permanent residents in Canada in the first quarter of this year from the first quarter of last year when 113,000 new permanent residents were received.

Also, more than 100,000 work permit applications were processed in the first quarter of this year, which is also considered double during the same period last year.

As of summer, 2022, the facilities will be as follows:

• Applicants will not be required to remain in Canada while their application is being processed.

• Applicants for an open work permit can obtain a valid work permit until the end of 2024.

• In terms of family reunification, immediate family members outside Canada whose names have been added to the permanent residence application will be eligible for their own open work permit.