Canada Announces 6 Immigration Pathways for Essential Workers & Graduates

Key Highlights:

The Canadian Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marco Mendicino, on Wednesday, announced six new pathways for essential workers and graduates to live in the country permanently.

New Immigration Pathways

The new program under the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will be for foreign professions employed in hospitals and those on the frontlines of other essential services.

It will also be for international graduates from Canadian educational institutions.

From 6th May this year, the IRCC will start accepting immigration applications for the following three pathways:

-         20,000 applications for temporary workers in essential health care,
-         30,000 applications for temporary workers in other essential sectors and
-         40,000 applications from graduates from Canadian institutions

The three other streams will be for French speakers and bilinguals, which will not limit the application intake.

Speaking on this in a press release, the minister said that “The pandemic has shone a bright light on the incredible contributions of newcomers. These new policies will help those with a temporary status to plan their future in Canada, play a key role in our economic recovery and help us build back better. Our message to them is simple: your status may be temporary, but your contributions are lasting—and we want you to stay.”

Eligibility Criteria

The immigration streams will be open until 5th November 2021 or till the limit is reached. The new policies apply to healthcare workers in 40 occupations and workers in 95 other occupations.

To be eligible for these programs, the applicants must have a minimum of one year of work experience in Canada in healthcare or other essential occupation.

Graduates must have completed at least a post-secondary program in Canada in the last four years.