On May 19, 2020, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday that by mutual agreement with President Trump, the USA/Canada land border closure has been extended until June 22 to curb COVID-19 infections and nonessential travel will continue to be restricted. President Trump has acknowledged that the U.S. must continue to keep legitimate, commercial trade [...]

On May 14, 2020, Immigration, Refugees, Citizenship Canada (IRCC), announced a special program to assist international students studying in Canada are affected by the impact of COVID-19. Under normal circumstances, international students participating in post-graduate programs at a designated learning institution (DLI) from within Canada are eligible for a Post Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) after [...]

Alberta held a draw on April 29th under the Express Entry (EE) program, where a total of 200 candidates received Notifications of Interest (NOI). The minimum Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS) was 322, which 30 points lower than the last draw on April 14th. Unfortunately, not all candidates in the Express Entry pool with scores above [...]

On May 15, 2020, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC), announced that it will begin accepting a total of 2,750 applications annually, to the Agri-Food Pilot. This is a two-month delay from the original March application date. The 3-year pilot will run from May 15, 2020 until May 15, 2023 and will test an industry-specific approach [...]

On May 12, 2020 Immigration Refugees Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issued a new temporary public policy to reduce processing times and enable temporary foreign workers (TFW) with authorization to work in Canada (through a valid work permit or authorization to work without a permit) and are required to obtain a new employer-specific work permit before commencing [...]

On May 15, 2020, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), conducted draw #148 another targeted Express Entry (EE) draw, issuing 3371 Invitations to Apply (ITA) to candidates with Canadian Experience Class (CEC) with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS) score of 447. This is another push from IRCC to target CEC candidates as most of [...]

On May 13, 2020, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), conducted another targeted Express Entry (EE) draw, issuing that 529 Invitations to Apply (ITA) to candidates holding Provincial Nominations (PNP) with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS) score for this draw was 718. This is another push from IRCC to target PNP candidates and remain [...]

On May 8, 2020, Immigration Refugees Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced a temporary measure that applicants in the Working Holiday, Young Professional or International Co-op categories will only be eligible to travel to Canada if they possess the following: Valid Job Offer; and, Port of Entry Letter of Introduction (POE Letter) The IEC program is classified [...]

On April 28, 2020, the provincial government of New Brunswick (NB) updated its mandatory order under the state of emergency to restrict temporary foreign workers from entering the province in order to protect the health and safety of those living, working and studying in NB as there is a serious, imminent risk to everyone, due [...]

On April 27, 2020—Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) Client Support Centre has reopened its Call Centre which responds to any questions regarding applications and their status. During the global pandemic, the Call Centre went to email only operations. IRCC warns however; there are still ongoing impacts of COVID-19; therefore, call operations are at reduced [...]