SOCI – Temporary Residence to Permanent Residence Transitions – September 28, 2023

Date: 18 Sep 2023

Classification:

Department: IRCC

Issue:

Pathways to permanent residence for certain temporary residents in Canada.

Proposed Response:

• Immigration is crucial to Canada’s prosperity and long-term growth.
• Through our immigration pathways, Canada attracts newcomers with the skills our economy needs.
• Some of these pathways allow temporary residents to transition to permanent residence in recognition of the contribution they are already making to Canada’s economy.
• Many temporary residents already in Canada make up the newcomers who become permanent residents each year. For example, last year, over 177,000 former temporary residents became permanent residents, including close to 95,000 former international students. Former temporary residents represented about 40% of all admissions.
• Last fall, the Strategy to Expand Transitions to Permanent Residency was tabled outlining measures focused on increasing transition opportunities to permanent residence and to strengthen Canada’s ability to meet a range of labour needs.

If pressed:

• We also continue to welcome new permanent residents through the time-limited Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway, with roughly 93,000 temporary residents and their families being welcomed through this pathway as of August 31, 2023. It is anticipated that the remaining applications will be finalized by the end of 2023.
• We look forward to building on this work to help speed up the process of turning newcomers to permanent residents, to meet Canada’s economic needs and fuel our growth.

Contact:
Philip Somogyvari
Director General, Permanent Economic Immigration
Tel. No: 613-437-7454

Approved by:
Louise Baird
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, SPP
Tel. No:

Background:

Between January and August 2023, roughly 162,700 former temporary residents became permanent residents, including close to 93,200 former international students (had study permit holder status at any point before becoming permanent residents).^{Footnote 1}

Strategy to Expand Transitions to Permanent Residency

On September 20, 2022, the Strategy to Expand Transitions to Permanent Residency in response to Private Member’s Motion 44 was tabled. The Strategy outlined a range of existing pathways to be expanded or adjusted to strengthen Canada’s ability to meet a range of labour needs, including regional needs, and address long-term labour shortages. A five-pillar approach is used to fulfill this Strategy.

Pillar 1 uses the increased immigration levels to provide Canada with a larger, permanent labour supply. This plan increases the opportunities for more temporary workers to transition to permanent residence to help address labour market shortages and fuel our post-pandemic economic growth.

• In the 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan, Canada aims to admit 465,000 permanent residents overall in 2023 with about 57% of admissions to come from the economic class.

Pillar 2 involves legislative amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that increase flexibility to better address labour market needs through Express Entry.

• In June 2023, category-based selection launched in Express Entry, allowing better targeting of invitations to candidates who meet specified economic goals. Informed by labour market information and input from consultations with partners and stakeholders, categories for 2023 were established for French-language proficiency, and work experience in healthcare, STEM, trades, transport, and agriculture and agri-food occupations.

Pillar 3 improves permanent economic immigration programs to help the transition, from temporary to permanent residence, of essential workers in high-demand occupations. This included:

• adopting the latest version of the National Occupational Classification 2021 which expanded eligibility to certain in-demand occupations, including truck driving, within a number of permanent economic immigration pathways;
  • This was completed in November 2022.
• improving newcomers’ access to information on the foreign credential recognition processes they may need to undertake for regulated occupations and connecting them to federal and provincial or territorial resources and supports;
  • Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is working closely with Employment and Social Development Canada as the federal lead on the foreign credential recognition program, as well as with provinces and territories, to make collective advancements on foreign credential recognition in Canada.
• exploring better ways to transition essential workers who are in high demand, such as removing barriers for physicians; and,
  • In April 2023, IRCC implemented measures to facilitate permanent residence for foreign national physicians providing publicly-funded medical services in Canada.
• introducing improvements to pilot programs to support transitions to permanent residence for those working in in-home caregiving occupations as well as in the agri-food sector.
  • The Agri-Food Pilot is extended to May 2025 to support the sector’s labour market needs and strengthen Canada’s food supply system.
  • As of April 30, 2023, the amount of in-Canada work experience required for the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots was reduced from 24 months to 12 months. Caregivers and their families will now benefit from a faster path to permanent residence and successful settlement in Canada.

Pillar 4 aims to further ensure the benefits of immigration are spread to regions and communities across Canada, to support their local labour market and economic development needs through the attraction and retention of newcomers. The government also continues to work with provinces and territories, and employers on innovative pathways to permanent residence, including through the Provincial Nominee Program.

• Launched in 2019, the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) aims to increase immigration to participating communities who have been underserved by immigration. This pilot has provided participating communities with the ability to offer a pathway to permanent residency for temporary workers filling key labour market needs in their local economy. In August 2022, community participation under RNIP was extended until 2024 and the boundaries of some participating communities were expanded, increasing the number of employers who can use the pilot to fill their labour market needs.

Through Pillar 5, the government is increasing processing capacity, improving client experience and modernizing the immigration system through technological improvements.

Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway

In 2021, due to border closures and to mitigate the challenges in admitting new permanent residents from overseas, a time-limited Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway was developed to help retain the talent of those already living and working in Canada in support of the economic recovery. The pathway targeted recent international graduates and workers in over 130 essential occupations, including in areas such as healthcare, caregiving, agriculture, manufacturing, service industry, trades and transportation. Dedicated streams for French-speaking and bilingual temporary residents were also included, whereby an unlimited number of applications were accepted.

As of the end of August 2023, roughly 93,000 new permanent residents have been welcomed to Canada through this pathway. The remaining applications are expected to be processed by the end of 2023.

In June 2022, new measures came into effect for those who applied for permanent residence through the Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway as the processing of applications continues into 2023. These changes include:

• Applicants no longer being required to remain in Canada while their application is being processed.
• Applicants who apply for a work permit while waiting for their permanent residence application to be finalized will be able to get open work permits issued to them under a temporary public policy valid until the end of 2024. This will ensure that all permanent residence applications will be finalized before applicants will need to apply to extend their temporary status again.
• To support family reunification, family members who are outside Canada and who were included in a principal applicant’s permanent residence application will be eligible for their own open work permit.

All values between 0 and 5 are shown as “--”. This is done to prevent individuals from being identified when IRCC data is compiled and compared to other publicly available statistics. All other values are rounded to the closest multiple of 5 for the same reason; as a result of rounding, data may not sum to the totals indicated.