Because of things like their Canadian work and study experience, as well as their English and/or French language ability, international students who go on to obtain permanent residence tend to integrate into the Canadian labor market rapidly. This explains why Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) provides a variety of programs designed to assist foreign graduates find employment and stay in Canada.
The well-liked Post-Graduation Work Permit is provided by IRCC (PGWP). With the PGWP, qualified international students can obtain an open work permit with a validity period that matches the length of their Canadian academic program. Foreign nationals with open work permits are free to work in Canada for any employer of their choosing. Three years is the maximum PGWP validity duration. Holders of PGWPs can afterwards acquire the professional Canadian work experience they sometimes require to qualify for an economic class immigration program. The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program is one of the most popular immigration routes that IRCC offers, with PGWP holders frequently obtaining permanent residence through it.
Canada’s provinces and territories also recognise foreign graduates who have domestic employment experience. International graduates have access to pathways to permanent residence through the Quebec and Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) streams across the nation as a method to entice them to stay in the province or territory and continue to make a contribution to the labor market as immigrants.
In recent years, particularly during the epidemic, Canada has looked more and more to international students as a significant source of permanent immigrants. To meet its goal of settling over 405,000 new immigrants in 2021, for instance, and surpass Canada’s record for newly landed immigrants in a year, IRCC heavily relied on graduates from abroad. In order to accomplish this, IRCC invited and accepted a sizeable number of Canadian Experience Class applicants. Additionally, it launched the Temporary Residence to Permanent Residence (TR2PR) program in 2021, allowing about 90,000 temporary residents to submit an immigration application.
Minister Fraser is also required by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to come up with new strategies for temporary foreign workers and international students to use Express Entry to obtain permanent residency. Fraser also presented a plan in September outlining the government’s efforts to assist more temporary residents in obtaining permanent status. Five pillars make up the approach, one of which is modernising the immigration system to speed up application processing. When the Canadian government presents its new Immigration Levels Plan 2023–2025 by November 1st, we will learn more about its newcomer strategy.
