Golden Start Immigration

12/28/2023

Dec 28, 2023, IRCC announcement: Temporary public policy to facilitate temporary resident visas for certain extended families affected by the crisis in Gaza.

Temporary Public Policy for extended family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are affected by the crisis in Gaza.

11/08/2023

Quebec Immigrant Investor Program (QIIP) to re-open as of January 1, 2024.

Earlier today, the Government of Quebec published the final version of its updated immigration regulations. These regulations take effect for the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program (QIIP) as of January 1, 2024.

The QIIP is the only business immigration program in Canada that does not require the applicant to establish/buy a business, employ Canadians, or invest his money at risk. It is the only passive investment business immigration program in the country.

To be eligible, the applicant must

-Have two years of management experience earned in the five years before the submission of the application,
-Have a legally accumulated net worth of CAD$2,000,000,
-have completed studies equivalent to secondary education in Quebec,
-Demonstrate that he/she can speak French at an intermediate level (B2, Level 7),
-Within 120 days of their approval, make a CAD$200,000
-contribution to the Government and a CAD$1,000,000 fully guaranteed five-year investment in a Government bond (financing available),
-Receive a three-year work permit and, within two years of the issuance of that work permit, meet the 12-month residency requirement - six months by the principal applicant and another six months by either the principal applicant or spouse.

In 2024, the Government plans to admit up to 7,900 people in the Quebec business categories. This represents an 83% increase compared to the projected number for 2023, which will help clear the backlog of QIIP applicants whose cases are currently with IRCC.

If you or your friends are interested, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

06/14/2023

Canada Opens 2 New Immigration Streams For Skilled Refugees.

On June 12, 2023 Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced 2 new Canada immigration streams for skilled refugees are now open to applications.

Federal Skills Job Offer Stream and Federal Skills Without a Job Offer Stream are the new immigration streams under the Economic Mobility Pathway Pilots (EMPP).

There are 3 sets of eligibility requirements you must meet to apply for the EMPP.

1. You must be a refugee or displaced person
To prove this, you must have one of these documents
- a positive Refugee Status Determination (RSD) from the UN Refugee Agency or a refugee-hosting state
- proof you’re registered or recorded as a person of concern by the UN Refugee Agency
- a refugee certificate from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine in the Near East (UNRWA)
- proof of being registered or recorded as a person of concern with UNRWA
- proof you have temporary protected status and an assessment by an IRCC officer that you don’t have a durable solution

If you don’t have any of the above documents, one of our trusted partners can assess your eligibility as a refugee or displaced person and issue you a referral letter, if they find you meet the criteria
You must be living outside Canada when you apply to the EMPP.

2. You must meet the criteria depending on how you’ll apply
Apply based on your work experience, education and language skills (Federal EMPP).

You’ll apply under 1 of these streams

**job offer stream
**no job offer stream (capped at 150 applications a year)

No job offer stream
There are a few things you need to qualify for the no job offer stream.

A- Work experience
- You must have work experience that equals at least 1 year of full-time, paid work experience (1,560 hours), or an equal amount in part-time work
- you gained over the last 3 years before the date we get your application is in TEER category 0, 1, 2 or 3 of the National Occupational Classification
- does not include any period where you were self-employed

B- Education
You must have either a Canadian secondary school credential, or
foreign degree, diploma or certificate with an Educational Credential Assessment issued no more than 5 years from the date we get your application.

C- Language skills
- You must prove your official language skills using an approved language test in English or French
- get a minimum score of at least CLB/NCLC 7 in each of the 4 language abilities

D- Settlement funds
You must prove you have enough money to support yourself and your family in Canada.

This amount depends on your family size. It can include

Number of family members
(including those you support who aren’t immigrating with you) Funds you need
(in Canadian dollars)
1 $13,310
2 $16,570
3 $20,371
4 $24,733
5 $28,052
6 $31,638
7 $35,224
For each additional family member, $3,586 grants, gifts and community donations are household income that you, your spouse or partner and any dependants earn.

3. Admissibility
You must be admissible to Canada.

06/08/2023

Breaking News on Quebec Investor Program:

On June 7, 2023, the Government of Quebec published draft regulations for all economic immigration programs in Quebec. This, of course, includes updated regulations for the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program (QIIP). This is set to start before the end of 2023.

The QIIP will retain some of its key features, which have made it the most popular business immigration program in Canada for the last 20 years. These include:

It will continue to be a passive investment immigration program. Applicants will not be required to establish a business in Canada and then become actively involved with the day-to-day management of it.

Some of the key changes and new requirements can be summarized as follows:

-The principal applicant will need to demonstrate the following:
they have a net worth of at least $2,000,000, which has been legally accumulated;
-they have at least 2 years of management experience in the five years prior to applying; and
-they have at least a high school (secondary) diploma.

Once approved, the applicant will need to make the following financial contribution:
* CAD $1,000,000 five-year investment through an authorized financial intermediary that is guaranteed by the Quebec Government (financing is available) OR
* CAD $200,000 non-refundable contribution to the Government of Quebec

Principal Applicants and their families will then be granted a temporary stay in Canada for three years. This status will allow the family to work and study in Quebec. Within the first two years of arriving in Quebec, the following will need to be demonstrated:
The principal applicant needs to demonstrate that he has achieved Level 7 out of 12 on the Echelle quebecoise des niveaux de competence en francais;
The principal applicant needs to demonstrate that they have spent at least six months in Quebec. In addition, the applicant or the spouse must demonstrate they have spent an additional six months in Quebec.


The applicant and dependents will then receive Selection Certificates (CSQ) and apply for permanent residence from within Canada.

05/31/2023

IMPORTANT RELEASE:

On May 26th, 2023, Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, made an announcement about improvements to strengthen family class immigration in Canada.

The new measures include:

Faster temporary resident visa (TRV) processing times for spousal applicants.
-New and dedicated processing tools for spousal TRV for those applicants who have submitted family class permanent residency (PR) applications can apply for Temporary Resident Visas (TRV) to join their sponsor in Canada. The processing for new TRV applications will be within 30 days.

-Upon their arrival to Canada on TRV, an application for an open work permit for spousal and family class applicants will be submitted.

-Finally, beginning June 7th, open work permit holders whose current permit expires between August 1st and the end of 2023 can extend their permit for up to 18 months using a free facilitated process, which will impact about 25,000 people currently in Canada and are able to work. This will include spouses and dependents of most temporary workers, spouses of international students and permanent resident applicants and their spouses/dependents waiting for permanent residency to be finalized.

04/11/2023

𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥: 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 4, 2023

The online registration for the General Public program, which took place from March 17, 2023 to March 23, 2023, is now closed. A total of 940 applications were received, representing 2,992 refugees. The table below provides the registration statistics based on the refugee’s Country of Origin/Citizenship.

Given the high demand for this program, and the limited allocation provided to us by Immigration Canada, we will conduct a random draw of registrants. This draw will take place in the coming weeks. All cosponsors will have an equal chance of being selected to move on with their application with ORAT. Those selected will be invited by ORAT to attend the virtual Introduction to Resettlement information session. For those not contacted by ORAT, we encourage you to contact other Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAH) within your area to determine if you are able to sponsor through their organization.

Click the following link for the list of SAHs: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/help-outside-canada/private-sponsorship-program/agreement-holders/holders-list.html

02/01/2023

IRCC approves Pearson Test of English for Canadian immigration applications.

Beginning in “late 2023”, the Pearson Test of English (PTE) will join CELPIP and IELTS General Training as one of three designated language tests that skilled workers will be able to complete to demonstrate their English language proficiency to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

The approval of PTE means there are now five total language tests available to skilled worker candidates—in addition to the three aforementioned English language tests, the TEF Canada and TCF Canada are the two French language tests designated by IRCC.

Please check the availability of taking the PTE test in your country to immigrate to Canada.

The fastest way to prove your English language skills. Book quickly. Prepare for success. Then get your results in 48 hours. Accepted around the world.

01/13/2023

INTERESTED IN IMMIGRATING TO CANADA????????

Please check the New List of the most in-demand occupations in Canada, effective as on November 16, 2022.

1- Finance Manager
2- HR Manager
3-Engineering Manager
4-Computer and Information Systems Manager
5-Constructions Managers
6-Financial Auditors and Accountants
7-Financial and Investment Analyst
8-Other Financial Officers
9-Supervisor, General Officer, and Administrative Support Workers
10-Receptionists
11-Electrical and Electronics Engineer
12-Web Designers and Developers
13-Web Designers
14-Web developers and programmers
15-Registered Nurse and Registered Psychiatric Nurse
16-Business Development Officers
17-Retail and wholesale buyers
18-Sales and Account Representatives
19-Heavy-duty Equipment Mechanics
20-Welders and related machine operators
21-Air pilots, flight engineers and flying instructors
22-Transport Truck Drivers
23-Heavy Equipment Operators
24-Construction Trade Helpers and Labourers

01/11/2023

Ministerial Instructions respecting invitations to apply for permanent residence under the Express Entry system #237– January 11, 2023

See full text of Ministerial Instruction

No Program Specified

Number of invitations issued: 5,500Footnote*

Rank required to be invited to apply: 5,500 or above

Date and time of round: January 11, 2023 16:14:19 UTC

CRS score of lowest-ranked candidate invited: 507

Tie-breaking rule: December 06, 2022 11:00:07 UTC

If more than one candidate has the lowest score, the cut-off is based on the date and time they submitted their Express Entry profiles.

12/31/2022

IRCC announced Processing times as of Dec 29,2022.

- IRCC Processing Times for Citizenship & PR cards
* Citizenship grant 24 months
* Citizenship certificate (proof of citizenship) 16 months
* Resumption of citizenship 34 months
* Renunciation of Citizenship 16 months
* A search of citizenship records 16 months
* New PR card 89 days
* PR card renewals 81 days

- IRCC Processing Time for Family Sponsorship
* Spouse or common-law partner living outside Canada18 months
* Spouse or common-law partner living inside Canada 14 months
* Parents or Grandparents PR 38 months

- Processing time for Canadian Passport
* In-Canada New Passport (Regular application submitted in person at Passport services) 10 business days
* In-Canada New Passport (Regular application submitted by mail to Service Canada Centre) 20 business days
* In-Canda Urgent pick-up By the end of next business day
* In-Canada Express pick-up 2-9 business days
* Regular passport application mailed from outside Canada 20 business days

- Processing time for Economic Class
* Canadian Experience Class (CEC) 20 months
* Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) 29 months
* Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) 62 months
* Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) via Express Entry 13 months * Non-Express Entry PNP 22 months
* Quebec Skilled Workers 20 months
* Quebec Business Class 65 months
* Federal Self-Employed 42 months
* Atlantic Immigration Pilot (AIP) 12 months
* Start-Up Visa 32 months