New Policy Starts May 2021 for Temporary Workers in Essential Occupations
Due to COVID-19 creating new challenges for new permanent residency from overseas, IRCC, announced on April 14, 2021, a time-limited policy to assist the granting of permanent residence for essential workers in Canada. This blog posts, provides a quick snapshot of the new policy for temporary workers in essential occupations.
A foreign worker must have at least one year of full-time work experience or, the equivalent in part-time experience in Canada, in an eligible occupation listed in either Annex A (health care) or Annex B (other eligible occupations). Annex A and Annex B occupations are defined by the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system, please reference for a complete listing. Additionally, work experience must have been obtained in the three years preceding the date when the application for permanent residence is received.
There are two streams under this policy:
Stream A: the required work experience must have been acquired in one or more occupations listed in Annex A. There is an intake cap of 20,000 applications for Stream A.
Stream B: the required work experience must have been acquired in one or more occupations listed in Annex B, or a combination of experience from occupations in Annex A and Annex B. There is an intake cap of 30,000 applications for Stream B.
Work experience should have been obtained with valid authorization. Applicants must reside in Canada with a valid temporary resident status and be physically present in Canada at the time the application is received and when the application is approved. The applicant must also intend to reside outside of Quebec.
This new policy is currently in effect from May 6, 2021 to November 5, 2021, or once the intake cap has been reached (whichever occurs first and any applications in excess will not be processed).
At the time that IRCC receives the application, the applicant must be employed in Canada in any occupation, not limited to those listed occupations. The applicant must have obtained at least CLB 4 in either English or French language, and the language evaluation should be less than two years old.
Due to the limited time of this policy, it is recommended temporary workers who qualify for this program start preparing now, including language tests, so applications can be submitted when the program opens in May 2021.
This article was prepared as general information only, to understand how this policy affects your immigration journey and how to navigate it, book a one-on-one appointment with us.