ABIC Immigration

08/22/2025

IRCC 2025August19
Latest Round:
Healthcare and social services occupations (Version 2)
CRS score of lowest-ranked candidate invited: 470
Number of invitations issued: 2,500
Rank needed: 2,500 or above

03/01/2025

Canada announces 2025 Express Entry category-based draws, plans for more in-Canada draws

News release
February 27, 2025—Ottawa—Immigration is essential to supporting Canada’s economic growth. As labour requirements in key sectors continue to evolve, it’s important that Canada’s immigration system is nimble and responsive to our country’s needs.

Today, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced the 2025 Express Entry categories, which include a new education category, to align the selection of federal economic immigrants with Canada’s long-term labour shortages.

For 2025, the focus of the federal economic class draws will be to invite candidates with experience working in Canada (Canadian Experience Class) to apply for permanent residence.

Additionally, to meet Francophone immigration targets and meet the acute needs in health, trades and education, IRCC will conduct category-based invitation rounds in the following categories:

strong French language skills, or

work experience in the following fields:

health care and social services, such as family physicians, nurse practitioners, dentists, pharmacists, psychologists and chiropractors
trades, such as carpenters, plumbers and contractors
education, such as teachers, child care educators and instructors of persons with disabilities。

As Canada makes adjustments to achieve well-managed, sustainable growth and economic prosperity for the long term, IRCC continues to focus economic immigrant selection efforts on priority sectors, such as health care, construction and education. This allows us to issue invitations to apply to prospective permanent residents who have specific skills, training or language abilities in order to bring those in-demand professionals to Canada.

02/14/2025

New rules to strengthen temporary resident document cancellations, and border security and integrity

Ottawa, February 12, 2025—Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) updated Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations to strengthen authorities to cancel temporary resident documents.

These changes give immigration and border services officers explicit authority to cancel electronic travel authorizations (eTAs) and temporary resident visas (TRVs) on a case-by-case basis, including when

1) a change in a person’s status or circumstances makes them inadmissible or no longer eligible to hold the document (for example, the person provided false information, has a criminal history or is deceased)

2) an officer is not satisfied that someone will leave Canada by the end of their authorized period of stay

3) the document is lost, stolen, destroyed or abandoned
The changes also enable officers to cancel TRVs, eTAs, work permits and study permits issued to people when

they become a permanent resident
they are deceased, or
the document was issued based on an administrative error

The amended regulations came into force on January 31, 2025, and are published in the Canada Gazette II. These changes enhance the integrity of Canada’s temporary residence programs and are expected to strengthen security at the border and within Canada.

01/31/2025

January 30, 2025—Ottawa, IRCC

The Rural and Francophone Community Immigration Pilots are pathways to permanent residence for skilled workers who want to work and live in one of 18 rural and smaller communities in Canada:

Rural participating communities

Pictou County, NS
North Bay, ON
Sudbury, ON
Timmins, ON
Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Thunder Bay, ON
Steinbach, MB
Altona/Rhineland, MB
Brandon, MB
Moose Jaw, SK
Claresholm, AB
West Kootenay, BC
North Okanagan Shuswap, BC
Peace Liard, BC
Francophone participating communities

Acadian Peninsula, NB
Sudbury, ON
Timmins, ON
Superior East Region, ON
St. Pierre Jolys, MB
Kelowna, BC

09/20/2024

Strengthening temporary residence programs for sustainable volumes from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

September 18, 2024—Ottawa

IRCC:

announcing a further reduction in the intake cap on international student study permits for 2025 based on a 10% reduction from the 2024 target of 485,000 new study permits issued, and then stabilizing the intake cap for 2026 such that the number of study permits issued remains the same as 2025

For 2025, this means reducing study permits issued to 437,000

updating the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program this fall to better align with immigration goals and labour market needs

limiting work permit eligibility, later this year, to spouses of master’s degree students to only those whose program is at least 16 months in duration

limiting work permit eligibility later this year to spouses of foreign workers in management or professional occupations or in sectors with labour shortages—under Canada’s work permit programs (TFWP and IMP)

Quick facts

The proposed reduction of temporary residents from 6.5% of Canada’s total population to 5% will be reflected in the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan, which will be released by November 1, 2024.

Graduates from programs at public colleges will remain eligible for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) of up to three years if they graduate from a field of study linked to occupations in long-term shortage.

As part of changes to the PGWP Program, all applicants will be required to demonstrate a minimum language proficiency in French or English. This will increase their ability to transition to permanent residence and adapt to changing economic conditions. A Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level 7 for university graduates and CLB 5 for college graduates will be required for anyone applying for a post-graduation work permit on or after November 1, 2024.

The 2025–2026 study permit intake cap will include master’s and doctoral students who will now have to submit a provincial or territorial attestation letter. We will be reserving approximately 12% of allocation spaces for these students in recognition of the benefits they bring to the Canadian labour market.

On January 1, 2024, the cost-of-living requirement for study permit applicants was updated to better reflect the true cost of living in Canada and help prevent student vulnerability and exploitation.

Budget 2024 proposes $743.5 million over 5 years, starting in 2024–2025, and $159.5 million ongoing to support the stability and integrity of Canada’s asylum system.

Further information on the measures announced today will be available on our website in the near future.

08/27/2024

On August 26, 2024, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) announced the following changes regarding the hiring of temporary foreign workers with a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA):

New tightening measures for the low-wage stream
Starting September 26, 2024, certain LMIA applications submitted for the low-wage stream will be affected by the following tightening measures:
 certain LMIA applications for low-wage positions in census metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher won't be processed
 the current 20% cap on the proportion of low-wage positions is being reduced to 10%
 the maximum employment duration for low-wage positions is being reduced from 2 years to 1 year
Further updates related to these measures will be made to our pages in the coming weeks.
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2024/08/minister-boissonnault-reducing-the-number-of-temporary-foreign-workers-in-canada.html

05/17/2024

01/24/2024

On January 22, 2024, the Canadian government introduced a temporary two-year cap on Canadian study permits. This cap implies that the total number of approved study permits (also known as Canada student visas) for the year 2024 will be limited to approximately 360,000, with allocation based on provinces.

Summary
1) 2) This temporary two-year cap will reduce accepted study permits by 35% in 2024.
Master’s, PhD, K-12 students, and current study permit holders will not be affected.
3) Study permits will be allocated based on each province’s population.
4) As of September 1, 2024, students who enroll at public-private partnership institutions will no longer be able to access post-graduation work permits after graduating.

As of January 22, 2024, most students must include an attestation letter from the province or territory where they plan to study with their study permit application.

If you apply without an attestation letter your application will be returned unless you’re either

#1 a minor child in a primary or secondary school (kindergarten to grade 12)
#2 a student in a masters, PhD or other post-graduate program
#3 a student applying to extend your study permit

Each province or territory is developing a process to get an attestation letter. These processes are expected to be in place by March 31, 2024.

09/11/2023

Ottawa, September 8, 2023
Parents and Grandparents Program re-opens this fall

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will continue to reunite families by accepting up to 15,000 complete applications for sponsorship under the Parents and Grandparents Program this year. On October 10, 2023, IRCC will begin sending invitations to apply to 24,200 interested potential sponsors, aiming to receive up to 15,000 complete applications. Invitations will be sent over the course of 2 weeks.

Due to the number of forms remaining in the pool of submissions from 2020, IRCC will send invitations to apply to randomly selected potential sponsors from that pool instead of opening a new interest to sponsor form. This is the same approach taken for the 2021 and 2022 intakes. Anyone who submitted an interest to sponsor form in 2020, but did not receive an invitation to apply in 2021 or 2022, is encouraged to check the email account they provided in 2020 when they submitted their interest to sponsor form.

07/01/2023

Temporary public policy to allow foreign nationals with valid work permits to study without a study permit

Eligibility
You may be eligible to study without a study permit while you work. To be eligible, you must be authorized to work in Canada with either of the following:

a valid work permit that was issued on or before June 7, 2023, or
a letter authorizing you to work while we process your work permit extension application
The letter must have been issued on or before June 7, 2023.
If you applied for a work permit after June 7, 2023, you’re not eligible for these measures.

Eligibility for permanent residence programs
If you’re a worker who is studying full time, there are some things to know:

Your work experience won’t count toward
eligibility for the Canada experience class
Canadian work experience points under Express Entry’s Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS).

Your full-time studies will count toward
the Federal Skilled Worker Program adaptability points
You must study at a designated learning institution (DLI).
Express Entry CRS points
The DLI must offer programs that allow you to be eligible for a post-graduation work permit.

06/03/2023

Canada Express Entry Draws To Target 82 Occupations In 5 Fields Starting In Summer 2023

Canada is to start new occupation-based draws this summer targeting 82 occupations in five fields through its flagship Express Entry immigration selection system.

New draws will also target candidates with strong French language ability, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced on May 31.

Occupations in the following fields will be targeted:

healthcare
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions
trades, such as carpenters, plumbers and contractors
transport
agriculture and agri-food

To be eligible, candidates must have accumulated, within the past three years, at least six months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in one of the individual occupations.

The occupations listed below are for 2023 only. The list could change next year.

A full list of eligible occupations under the new categories is available here. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/submit-profile/rounds-invitations/category-based-selection.html

03/25/2023

March 17, 2023 Canada announces extension of post-graduation work permits for up to 18 months to retain high-skilled talent

Foreign nationals with expired or expiring post-graduation work permits will qualify to work in Canada longer.

Starting April 6, 2023, these measures will allow PGWP holders who wish to stay longer to opt in to a facilitative process to extend their work permit and will allow Canada to retain high-skilled talent.

Foreign nationals whose PGWP has already expired in 2023 and those who were eligible for the 2022 PGWP facilitative measure will also have the opportunity to apply for an additional 18-month work permit. Those with expired work permits will be able to restore their status, even if they are beyond the 90-day restoration period, and will receive an interim work authorization while awaiting processing of their new work permit application.