Canadian Bar Association (CBA) passes three resolutions targeting immigration

On February 8, there were three immigration-related resolutions passed at the annual general meeting of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA). One of these resolutions calls for the CBA to urge the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to review the pathways from temporary residence to permanent residence. It is great to see the CBA take action on this issue, as many people are running out of options to remain in Canada as permanent residents after spending years in the country as workers.

Most people coming to Canada as workers consider a plan to remain here as permanent residents at some point. Over the years, this has been more or less difficult, depending on the pathways available at any given time. In 2015, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) introduced Express Entry, a points-based system which manages applications submitted through Canada’s main economic permanent residence programs.

Issues with the Express Entry Program

Before Express Entry, applicants simply needed to meet the eligibility requirements of the program through which they intended to apply. Express Entry changed this by requiring applicants to be competitive vis-à-vis other applicants based on factors like age, education, language ability and Canadian work experience (to name a few), in addition to meeting the eligibility requirements of the program. Applicants are assigned a number of points through this ranking system upon registration. If their points are high enough, they will receive an invitation to apply for permanent residence, and only then can they submit an application.

There are a few head scratchers within the Express Entry ranking system. IRCC sees applicants becoming less valuable to Canada due to their advancing years at the ripe old age of 30. Applicants start losing points in the age category immediately after leaving their 20s, and by age 44, they will not be awarded any point for age. Another interesting category is relatives: Applicants will receive 15 points for having a relative living in Canada who is a citizen or a permanent resident, but only if that relative is a sibling. An applicant could have parents, a spouse, and children in Canada, but if there is no sibling, there are no points for having relatives in Canada.

These examples aside, the ranking system makes sense on the whole and rewarding factors that may make someone more economically valuable to Canada seems like good policy. And while Express Entry made the transition from temporary residence to permanent residence more difficult for some, I have found, in my experience, that there has been some pathway to permanent residence for most of my clients. Sometimes it takes a lot of planning and adjusting, but we most often get there.

Express Entry Points and Scoring

Express Entry was conceptualized with a mechanism for transitioning workers to permanent resident status with greater ease: An offer of employment backed by a labour market impact assessment initially gave an applicant 600 points, which ensured that they would receive an invitation to apply for permanent residence very quickly. The points for a job offer were later reduced to 50 for most positions, which are not enough to facilitate an easy transition to permanent residence for many workers. And in 2023, IRCC started to target specific occupations and French speakers in specialized rounds of invitations, which caused the required number of points to drop somewhat for people who qualify for these specialized rounds, but which caused the required points in the general pool to settle in the 540s. This is much higher than the numbers have ever remained before (I remember hearing complaints years ago about the scores being in the 440s for too long).

As the points have risen, applicants have looked to the provincial nominee programs (which award an application with 600 Express Entry points upon receipt of a nomination), but these programs have their own ranking systems and targeted occupations. At least here in BC, it is becoming extremely difficult to receive an invitation to apply for a nomination unless you are working within a selected occupation, or earning $125,000 a year and living outside of Metro Vancouver.

Addressing Labour Shortages

While there may be sound reasoning behind occupation-specific invitations, IRCC is creating a vacuum whereby many people in the general pool have no realistic pathway to permanent residence. These people are filling essential roles, and in many cases, their employers would not be able to replace them with Canadian workers if they were to leave. This is understandably frustrating for people who have moved their lives to Canada and are contributing here. And the frustration is compounded by the secrecy under which IRCC operates. Rounds of invitations are paused, and then resumed weeks or months later without notice or explanation.

On September 14, 2021, IRCC issued 2,000 invitations to Canadian Experience Class applicants, and the minimum score required was 462. The next round of invitations was not issued until almost 10 months later on July 6, 2022, and the minimum required score was 557. There was no warning of a pause, no explanation, and no indication of when invitations may resume. People watching the invitation numbers in 2021 may have known that some pause may be coming, as on February 13 of that year, IRCC issued an incredible 27,332 invitations to Canadian Experience Class applicants, bringing the required score down to 75.

Outside of Express Entry, IRCC suddenly and unexpectedly introduced the temporary resident to permanent resident pathway (TR to PR Pathway) in 2021, which moved a lot of people from temporary residence to permanent residence, who were otherwise in danger of being left behind. One significant issue with the program involved the language test: The program required that a language test (less than two years old) be included at the time of application submission. The program capped the number of people who could apply, and it filled within days. Those who did not happen to have a valid language test or did not have the computer skills required to quickly put together an application, were out of luck.

Uncertain Future

IRCC may be planning some new pathway for people with who are working in Canada now, but who have no hope of scoring 540 points in Express Entry. Maybe they will issue another massive round of invitations as they did on February 13, 2021, or maybe they will introduce a new TR to PR Pathway. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing, and for now, they seem content to let potential applicants sweat it out.

What people need to do in the meantime is review their immigration plan:

• Review the targeted occupations to see if there is a fit, either through Express Entry or a provincial nominee program
• Track the rounds of invitations and watch the points
• Have a plan to remain in Canada as a temporary resident until a pathway to permanent residence becomes available
• Hope that IRCC is transparent in their plans to address this issue
• And have a valid language test handy, just in case.

Thank you to the CBA, and particularly to those who donate their time to draft these resolutions and speak to them. We are all the beneficiaries of their hard work.

 For more information on potential paths to permanent residency, or questions about existing immigration programs and immigration trends, please contact Boughton’s Darren Penner.