Canadian Immigration News

The Liberal government of Canada is edging closer to reversing controversial changes to the way Canada grants citizenship that were brought in under the previous government, which was led by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Following the devastating forest fire in Northern Alberta around the city of Fort McMurray, the government of Alberta has created a dedicated toll-free phone line for new immigrants, foreign workers, and applicants under the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) who have been displaced over recent days.

The Canadian province of Ontario has announced that it is temporarily pausing the intake of applications for select streams through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), while other OINP streams remain open.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama have announced a new pilot project that will change the way people cross the border from Canada into the United States. This project will extend the preclearance system already used in many airports to travel between the two countries by land.

The Quebec Entrepreneur program, one of Quebec's three business immigration programs, has reached the maximum number of applications that may be accepted for the most recent application cycle. The program has reopened for new applications on April 1, 2016, with a limit of 50 applications that were to be accepted.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, formerly CIC) has issued 799 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) in the latest Express Entry draw for immigration to Canada. The number of Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points required in order for candidates to be invited to apply was 534, representing a significant increase compared with other draws that have taken place so far this year.

The number of ITAs issued (799) is by far the fewest in that have been issued in a single draw for over a year. This factor is likely to have had some bearing on the increase in the CRS point requirement for this draw, which represents something of an anomaly. More than 1,000 ITAs are issued in a typical Express Entry draw.

Canada's Start-Up Visa Program continues to grow, with 51 entrepreneurs having now become permanent residents of Canada through the program as of May 2, 2016.

A 29-year-old man from South Sudan, Jonathan Elia Nicola, has been detained by Canadian authorities after it was found that he had included false information about his age on his application for a Canadian study permit.

Mark your calendars — the date for the full implementation of Canada's new pre-screening system for visa-exempt visitors has been announced. As of September 29, 2016, travellers to Canada from certain countries must have an electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) to fly to or transit through Canada. Exceptions include U.S. citizens and persons with a valid Canadian visa.

Technical issues that had put a halt to the application process under the International Experience Canada (IEC) program 'have been fixed,' according to a notice that appeared today on the government of Canada's website.