IRCC Minister Transition Binder 2021: Economic Immigration

Context

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) manages a number of economic immigration programs that support the development of a strong Canadian economy and ensure that the benefits of immigration are shared across all regions.
  • Economic immigrants are selected^Footnote1 for their ability to become economically established and contribute to Canada’s economy.
• Economic immigration represents the largest share (almost 60%) of annual permanent residence admissions and the volume is growing, as the overall admission levels grow.
• IRCC works closely with provinces and territories to manage the Provincial Nominee Program.
• Quebec has the exclusive authority over the selection of economic immigrants destined to the province.

Economic Immigration Class: Projected Admissions

• 2021 – 232,500
• 2022 – 241,500
• 2023 – 249,500

Scope of Impact

• Principal applicants in the economic category have the best performance outcomes among immigrants in Canada:
  • In high-skilled programs, average annual earnings of principal applicants surpass the Canadian average soon after becoming permanent residents.
• As the largest portion of the annual immigration levels plan, economic immigration programs are often used to meet short and long-term labour market needs.
  • As an important lever of managed migration, the Minister has the ability to calibrate the impact of economic immigration programs through levels setting, and adjusting the mix of programs and criteria.
  • The Department collaborates with provinces/territories and other stakeholders so that their needs and interests are reflected in economic immigration programming.

Current Programs

Core Programs

• The vast majority of economic immigrants are selected through a set of longstanding core programs which focus on:

  • Human capital factors (e.g. level of education, language proficiency, Canadian work experience)
  • Labour market needs (e.g. job offers, provincial nominations)

  Resulting in the strongest economic outcomes

• Each program has distinct objectives aimed at selecting immigrants across a range of skill levels (i.e. from entry level to management).

Pilot Programs and Targeted Measures

• A smaller share of economic immigrants are selected via pilot programs geared to specific regions, occupations or sectors or targeted measures introduced in response to unique circumstances.

Core Programs at a Glance

Federal Programs

Objective:

• Select and retain skilled workers and business people who can succeed over the long term in the Canadian economy and labour market.
• 2021 target: 109,500

Federal Skilled Worker Program:

• Selects workers on the basis of skilled work experience and high human capital.

Federal Skilled Trades programs:

• Facilitates the immigration of skilled tradespersons in certain industries and sectors.

Canadian Experience Class:

• Targets applicants who have already gained skilled work experience in Canada.

Start-Up Visa Program:

• Attracts innovative foreign entrepreneurs who can create businesses in Canada that can compete on a global scale.

Self-Employed Program:

• Attracts individuals with experience in the arts or athletics.

Regional Programs

Objective:

• Distribute the benefits of immigration across Canada by selecting skilled workers and entrepreneurs best suited to meet regional economic development and labour market needs.
• 2021 target: 80,800

Provincial Nominee Programs (comprised of 80+ streams):

• Provincial and territorial governments nominate immigrants who can meet regional labour market needs and intend to settle in their jurisdiction.
• Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec selects the economic immigrants destined to the province.
• The 2021 target is 32,100.

Pilot Programs and Targeted Measures at a Glance

Regional

Atlantic Immigration Pilot (2017-2021):

• Aims to support economic growth and retention of newcomers in the Atlantic region by testing an employer-driven model. It will transition to a permanent program in 2022.
• 2021 target applications: 6,000

Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (2019-2024):

• A community-driven model, forging innovative partnerships with rural and northern communities, providing them with tools to attract and retain workers in support of regional economic development.
• Annual applications: up to 2,750

Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (2021-2023):

• Supports Canadian employers in finding skilled refugees to meet their labour needs by facilitating access to Canada’s existing economic pathways for qualified refugees abroad in need of protection.
• 2021-2022 target applications: 150

Sectoral, Occupational

Caregivers (2019-2024):

• Aims to address labour market needs in caregiving occupations by providing pathways to permanent residence to caregivers from abroad and their families.
• Annual applications: up to 5,500

Agri-Food Immigration Pilot (2020-2023):

• Provides a new pathway to permanent residence for experienced non-seasonal workers in specific agri-food industries and occupations.
• Annual applications: up to 2,750

Targeted

Temporary Pathway to Permanent Residence (May to November 2021):

• A temporary program created to enable people already in Canada to become permanent residents. Those eligible include international graduates, health care workers, and other essential workers.

Total applications:

• up to 90,000 applications for general streams; no caps for Francophone streams

Express Entry

• Since 2015, applications for most of the core programs have been managed by Express Entry, an electronic application management system that has introduced competition in the selection of economic immigrants.
• Express Entry has improved our ability to select high-skilled immigrants with the best overall chance to succeed, respond to labour market and regional needs, manage application volumes and reduce processing times.
• Despite pandemic-related travel restrictions and closures, more invitations to apply for permanent residence were issued via Express Entry in 2020 (mostly to applicants in Canada) than in any previous year, to help meet 2020 and 2021 admissions targets.

Express Entry Pool

• Expression of interest
• Minimum entry criteria
• Comprehensive ranking system
• Invitation to apply
• Application processing

Candidates who meet the minimum entry criteria of a core program are entered into the Express Entry pool (current pool size is close to 170,000 candidates).

Candidates are awarded points based on their profile and ranked by the Comprehensive Ranking System^Footnote2 which awards points, including for human capital factors.

Candidates with the highest rankings – those best positioned for economic success – are invited to apply during rounds of invitations (generally every two weeks).

Recent Developments

Higher Economic Immigration

• Economic immigration levels have increased, primarily in federal high-skilled and provincial nominee categories.
  • In recent years, the target for economic immigrants has increased with the current 2021 target set at 232,500.
  • The majority of economic immigration comes from federal high-skilled programs and the Provincial Nominee Program.

Higher Transitions to Permanent Residence

• Students and workers are increasingly viewed as a promising source of talent that can transition to permanent residence through economic programs.
  • In 2020, close to 70% of principal applicants outside Quebec admitted in permanent residence economic immigration programs previously held temporary work permits; 45% had a study permit at some point.

Pandemic-Related Challenges

• To compensate for challenges resulting from COVID-19, various measures were put in place to support 2021 economic admission levels. However, prolonged effects on travelling behaviour and significant application backlogs due to COVID-19 work disruptions are expected to continue to affect departmental business in 2022.

New Pilot Programs and Targeted Measures

• New pilot programs have been created to help respond to policy priorities or labour market needs: Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot and Agri-Food Immigration Pilot. The Atlantic Immigration Pilot will transition into a permanent program in 2022. Application intake for Phase 2 of the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot will launch in late fall 2021.
• Longstanding caregiver programming was reconfigured on a pilot basis (2014 and 2019), while the small Start-Up Visa Pilot was made permanent in 2018.
• The Temporary Pathway to Permanent Residence was a time-limited measure launched in 2021 to help address challenges in meeting immigration targets due COVID-19-related border closures.

Key Takeaways

• Economic immigration represents the largest share of the immigration levels plan and is seen by the public and stakeholders as most connected to responding to Canada’s short- and long-term economic needs.
• Core programs for skilled workers are well-established and generate consistently positive outcomes for immigrants and the Canadian labour market.
• New pilot programs and targeted measures across skill levels have been introduced to meet specific regional or sectoral needs or national objectives (e.g. meeting immigration targets or increasing Francophone immigration).
• Upcoming decisions: Setting the immigration levels including those for the economic immigration programs, and considering the mix of existing and potential new tools (e.g., programs and pilots, Express Entry adjustments) for fine-tuning the system.

“Canada has not only the largest in terms of numbers, but also the most elaborate and longest-standing skilled labour migration system in the OECD.” - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, July 2019.

Annex – Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS)

• Developed to reflect factors that are empirically shown to contribute to better wage outcomes for immigrants.
• A more sophisticated points system which allows for a more nuanced weighting of factors than the Federal Skilled Worker points grid.
• Provides up to 600 points for factors most closely linked to economic outcomes (immigrant employment earnings) e.g. education, language, work experience.
• Provides a maximum of 600 points for additional policy considerations, including a provincial nomination, job offer, and other factors.
• Takes into account the interaction effects of certain factors (e.g. strong language skills and a post-secondary degree).

The total number of points available within the Comprehensive Ranking System is 1200.

Human Capital: A maximum of up to 600 points assigned based on the following human capital characteristics.

• Age (max of 110 points)
• Education (max of 150 points)
• First official language (max of 136 points)
• Second official language (max of 24 points)
• Canadian Work Experience (max of 80 points)
• Skills transferability (max of 100 points)

Additional points: A maximum of 600 points assigned based on ability to contribute to defined policy priorities.

• Provincial/Territorial Nomination (600 points)
• Valid job offer (200 points for senior management, 50 for all other positions)
• French language proficiency (25 or 50 points)
• Canadians Study (15 or 30 points)
• Sibling in Canada (15 points)