Canada launches Recognized Employer Pilot for Employers of Temporary Foreign Workers

The Government of Canada announced the introduction of the Recognized Employer Pilot (REP) on August 8, 2023.  It was the first major policy announcement made by Edmonton Centre MP, Randy Boissonnault, in his new role as Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages. The Recognized Employer Pilot is designed to reduce the red-tape and administrative burden associated with hiring temporary foreign workers and will apply to a subset of those employers who have demonstrated a good track-record of compliance

Read More ...

Expansion of Francophone Mobility Program Announced

Today, Canada’s immigration minister announced a significant expansion of the Francophone Mobility Program which will make it easier for more French-speaking individuals to come and obtain work permits to work in Canada. The Francophone Mobility Program was originally launched in 2016 to promote Francophone immigration to Francophone minority communities outside of Quebec, it exempts Canadian employers (outside of Quebec) from having to go through the Labour Market Impact Assessment system, making it much easier for them to hire French-speaking workers

Read More ...

EXTENDED: Agri-Food Immigration Pilot Program for Permanent Residence

Since 2020, foreign workers in the Agri-Food industry were able to apply for permanent residence under a (then) new pilot program which was set to end May 2023. Today, the Government of Canada has extended this pilot program to run until May 14, 2025. The Government of Canada has also indicated that they will revise the program to: The majority of the current eligibility criteria and industries and occupations are able to benefit from this program does not appear to

Read More ...

Congratulations Nathan Po!

McCuaig Desrochers LLP is excited to announce that Nathan Po, one of our partners, has been recognized twice, in both the 2023 Lexpert Legal Directory as a leading practitioner in immigration law, and in the 2023 edition of the Best Lawyers in Canada in the field of immigration law. Best Lawyers™ compiles its lists of outstanding lawyers by conducting thousands of peer reviewed surveys. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the one of the foremost

Read More ...

Changes Ahead for Canada’s Express Entry Immigration Program

There are changes coming to Canada’s Express Entry program. Express Entry has been a mainstay of Canada’s economic immigration system since its introduction in 2015, governing the intake of permanent residence applications under several of our economic immigration programs. Under the Express Entry system, individuals interested in applying for permanent residence under the Canadian Experience Class, or the Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades programs must first create an online profile that is automatically assessed a certain number of

Read More ...

New Canadian Immigration Streams for Ukrainians

As of February 24, 2022, Russia has launched a military attack against Ukraine and its people.  The Canadian government has implemented new measures to help the people of Ukraine affected by this attack. The Canadian government has expressed a commitment to prioritizing applications from people living in Ukraine for Canadian permanent residence, proof of citizenship, temporary residence and citizenship grant for adoption. Additionally, they are attempting to urgently process passports and travel documents for Canadians living in Ukraine, to allow

Read More ...

Second Chance Comes for Would-be Sponsors of Parents & Grandparents

On September 23, 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizen Canada began the work of sending out invitations for Canadian citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their parents or grandparents for Canadian permanent resident status. By October 4, the round of invitation ended with enough invitations sent out to meet the department’s goal of receiving 30,000 additional complete parent/grandparent sponsorship applications, the highest number of applications accepted in a year since 2014 – when limits were first applied to the intake of

Read More ...

Temporary resident to permanent resident pathways: updates and new work permit availability

As we’ve previously written about, earlier this year Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Marco Mendicino, announced four new temporary public policies that provide pathways to permanent residents for four groups of temporary residents currently working in Canada.  The new pathways were introduced as a means of maintaining immigration levels in the face of COVID-19 travel restrictions, making it easier for educated and experienced workers currently inside Canada to obtain permanent resident status. These temporary pathways opened on May 6,

Read More ...

Important August 31 deadline looms for certain out-of-status foreign nationals in Canada

Certain individuals currently inside Canada with expired temporary resident status have until August 31, 2021 to apply for a restoration of their status as a worker, student, or visitor under an existing temporary policy. The policy provides a temporary exemption from the usual requirement that a worker, student, or visitor must apply for a restoration within 90 days of their loss of their temporary resident status. Introduced on July 14, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the temporary public

Read More ...

New Temporary Pathways to Apply for Permanent Residence in Canada

The Canadian government has long recognized the importance of people immigrating to Canada as a way to keep our economy working effectively. In November 2020, the government set a target to approve 401,000 people as permanent residents in 2021 as part of its Immigration Levels Plan. This plan is even more imperative, since these immigrants to Canada would help to boost and support economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, due to the continuing impact of COVID-19, including ongoing border

Read More ...