CanadaVisa

08/22/2026

Your Quebec ancestor has no birth certificate. Can a baptismal record prove citizenship by descent?

Your great-grandmother was born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, in 1898. The parish priest recorded her baptism four days later, in a leather-bound register, in French. No one ever issued her a birth certificate. For most of Quebec's history, no one issued birth certificates at all. That baptismal recor...

08/21/2026

Ontario international students face 20% fee hike for compulsory health insurance

Every international student enrolled at a major Ontario university must pay at least $156 more for compulsory health insurance, effective September 1, 2026. A family of three must pay $468 more. Plan your journey to permanent residence with CanadaVisa+ For individuals, the annual cost of premiums fo...

08/21/2026

📍British Columbia has received 1,000 additional PNP nomination spaces for 2026.
 
B.C. is the latest jurisdiction to receive an allocation increase this year, bringing the BCPNP’s 2026 total to 6,254 nominations.
 
The province plans to prioritize candidates across three key areas:
 
🏥 Care: healthcare, education, childcare and veterinary care
🏗️ Build: construction trades
💼 Innovate: high-earning and/or high-scoring candidates
 
At least 35% of nominations are expected to go to candidates working outside Metro Vancouver.
 
👉 For the full list of priority occupations and eligibility details, head to the link in our story or visit cicnews.com.
 
🔖 Save this post or share it with someone exploring immigration options in B.C.
 

08/21/2026

Little Canada of Massachusetts: Lowell’s history could mean Canadian citizenship for thousands of its residents today

Between 1860 and 1900, an estimated 31,000 French Canadians moved to Lowell in Massachusetts. They moved from the Canadian province of Quebec to find work in the textile mills in New England and, by 1880, were the largest ethnic group in the city. Today, anyone who can trace a line of ancestry to th...

08/20/2026

Canada expands access to low-wage foreign workers for multi-site employers

Employers with several small work locations can now hire more temporary foreign workers, under new rules introduced by the Canadian federal government. Through an update to the government webpage on August 18, 2026, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) has allowed affected employers to em...

08/20/2026

British Columbia to nominate 1,000 additional healthcare, construction, and cream-of-the-crop provincial immigration candidates

The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) has received 1,000 additional nomination spaces for 2026, which will be used to support foreign nationals in care-related occupations, construction trades, and high-earning/scoring roles seeking Canadian permanent residence. The BCPNP’s total...

08/20/2026

IRCC groups your citizenship by descent documents into primary and secondary tiers: Here is the list

You have a document for every generation, from your Canadian ancestor down to you. What you may not know is that IRCC counts some of them for far more than others, and a single generation resting on the wrong kind can sink the whole claim. Officers at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IR...

08/20/2026

🇨🇦 Halfway through 2026, Canada is behind pace on its permanent residence target.
 
New IRCC data 📊 shows 155,800 new permanent residents were admitted from January through June — just 41% of the 380,000 annual target and 34,200 fewer than the 190,000 needed by mid-year.
 
Economic immigration (Express Entry, PNP, and other economic programs) is the biggest driver of the gap — 30,700 admissions short of the halfway mark for its own annual target.
 
👉 Full breakdown at www.cicnews.com
 

08/19/2026

IRCC finalized more than 2 million applications in the first half of 2026 — but its overall inventory still grew. 📈
 
New figures released by the department provide a snapshot of its application inventory as of June 30.
 
At that point, 1.54 million applications 🗂️ were awaiting a final decision — up 22,015 from the end of May.

The update also shows some significant shifts across categories, with citizenship grant applications declining while economic PR and proof of citizenship inventories grew.
 
👉 See the full breakdown at www.cicnews.com.
 
🔖 Save this post or share it with someone waiting on a decision from IRCC.
 

08/19/2026

Canada publishes updated processing timelines for temporary residence applicants

On August 19, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) updated its temporary residence processing estimates, with increases seen in almost every category. The standout changes were for U.S. super visa applications and visitor visa applications from Pakistan, both of which saw processing t...