IRCC Announcements: How do they affect me?

The IRCC and the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada, the Honourable Marc Miller, have announced a series of changes to the immigration system to better address what they refer to as: “Strengthening temporary residence programs for sustainable volumes.”1 Their goal with this new direction is to decrease the number of temporary residents from 6.5% of Canada’s total population down to 5% by 2026. In an effort to achieve this goal, the IRCC intends to reform the International Student Program, tighten eligibility requirements for temporary foreign workers, enforce employer compliance, and make labour market impact assessments more rigorous. All that sounds intense, but what does it really mean? And how could it impact your path to immigration? 

This post is the first in a series of posts intended to help explain these announcements and these changes, and how they can affect you moving forward. 

General Changes 

The most recent data from Statistics Canada indicates that there were 2,793,594 temporary residents living in Canada as of Q2 2024.2 Generally speaking, a decrease from 6.5% to 5% would mean shifting from 2,793,594 temporary residents down to 2,148,918 temporary residents, a drop of some 644,676. While this may sound like a huge drop off, the changes largely affect future temporary residents, making their path to residency more complex. 

Permanent Residents 

Details for future paths to Permanent Resident remain murky. Until recently, the government was committed to the 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan, which was tabled in Parliament on November 1st, 2023. This plan projected more stable levels in permanent resident admissions with targets of 485,000 for 2024, 500,000 for 2025; and another 500,000 for 2026. However, as recently as August 2024 the Honourable Marc Miller is quoted as saying that his department is "looking at a number of options" to re-evaluate permanent resident levels in Canada and says any upcoming changes will not be "cosmetic" but "significant." However, he is light on the details and specifics, merely stating that “all options are on the table”. It is possible, perhaps likely, that we see these targets decreased moving forward. 

Students 

The biggest impact to future students will be under the International Student Program. The total number of student permits for 2025 and 2026 have been reduced by 10% from 485,000 new study permits issued down to 437,000 new study permits issued. This means that over the next two years, there will be 96,000 fewer spaces for international students. 

This lowered cap on student visas is directly linked to the next category, changes for spouses, as many changes are targeted at the spouses of students. 

Spouses 

If you are here with your spouse who is completing a master’s degree, your eligibility to obtain a work permit will be tied to the length of your spouse’s program. Only those programs at least 16 months in duration will make their spouses eligible for a work permit. More details on this change are likely to emerge in the coming weeks and months. 

Spouses of workers who are in Canada in management or professional occupations like engineers, scientists, lawyers, professors, or technicians; or are working in sectors with labour shortages, may see limits placed on, or a cessation of their work permit eligibility. Again, more details on this change are likely to emerge in the coming weeks and months. 

PGWP Workers 

Those workers with a Post Graduate Work Permit should expect to see more changes later this fall on how that program moves forward. Only a few specific changes have been announced at the time of writing, and we expect more to come.  

For now, what we know is that as of November 1st, 2024, all Post Graduate Work Permit Applicants must submit proof of language proficiency. University graduates must score at least a Canadian Language Benchmark of 7, while college graduates must score at least a Canadian Language Benchmark of 5 to qualify for a work permit.  

Furthermore, graduates of public colleges will only be eligible for a post graduate work permit if their studies related to an occupation with a labour market shortage. These vary from year to year, but often include healthcare, senior care, construction, and food processing.  

Temporary Foreign Workers 

The employers cap on temporary foreign workers under the low-wage stream has been reduced from 20% down to 10%. There are exceptions for workers in high demand occupations like healthcare, construction, and food processing sectors. Approved low-wage Labour Market Impact Assessments will now be limited to a duration of 1 year, down from 2 years, regardless of sector.  

However, in metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher, the Government of Canada will now refuse to process Labour Market Impact Assessments, or issue permits. Important to note that according to Statistics Canada, this currently includes (as of September 6th, 2024) places like Toronto, Ottawa, Windsor, Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, St. John’s, Charlottetown, and many others.3 

Provincial Nominee Programs 

One priority of the federal government during this time of transition is to continue to support provinces and territories in transitioning eligible temporary residents to permanent residency via their Provincial Nominee Programs. One method of support is a temporary public policy, “Temporary public policy to facilitate work permits for prospective Provincial Nominee Program candidates” which opened August 11th, 2024, and will expire no later than December 31st, 2024.4  

This policy allows for eligible foreign nationals who hold an employment offer, valid work permit, or previously held a valid work permit which expired as of May 7th, 2024, and a support letter from the province or territory in which they reside to be issued an open work permit. The support letter from the province or territory must outline the applicant’s placement in an “Expression of Interest” pool or other application inventory process following an initial assessment of the candidate by the province or territory. 

Changes for Asylum Seekers 

Several changes pertaining to asylum seekers were announced, and they primarily affect Canadian border services personnel and processing. These announcements included things like implementing a partial Visa on Mexican nationals, reviewing decision making processes, strengthening Canadian Visa integrity, etc. However, many of these changes are intended to speed up the claims processing infrastructure, which could mean fewer delays, shorter timeframes for preparing to speak to the Immigration Refugee Board, and faster approvals or denials of claims. 

However, if you are paying attention at all to Canadian politics, you know that we are nearing a federal election. At any point between now and October 20th, 2025, Canadians will return to the polls to decide who will lead the next federal government. It is likely that whoever wins, current proposed changes could be modified or cancelled, and that more and different changes would likely be announced and implemented.  

If you need more clarification or explanation on your current immigration status, or need representation to help navigate the changing system, reach out to the team at Grace Allen Immigration Law for a consultation.