Parents and Grandparents Program remains postponed

Parents and Grandparents Program remains postponed

Parents and Grandparents Program remains postponed
On March 27, 2020, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) finally shed some light on the Parents and Grandparents Sponsorship Program. Due to the spread of the Covid-19, the program will not reopen in April as was announced earlier. IRCC notified that the call for expressions of interest to sponsor parents was supposed to be announced in the coming weeks. The government also planned to develop a new intake process, however, no new details available at the moment as IRCC will concentrate efforts to contribute to the whole-of-government response to the pandemic. In the meantime, IRCC continues the processing of the 2019 PGP applications.

#PGP, #parents_sponsorship, #family_sponsorship, #IRCC, #Covid_19

British Columbia created a separate page about Covid-19 news
On March 27, 2020, the website of the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) announced about creation of the Covid-19 Updates page. The provincial authorities are closely monitoring the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak on the applicants, staff and operations. The Vancouver office of BC PNP is temporarily closed to in-person inquiries and most inquiries are responded online or via the phone. I addition, despite the previous promise to continue the issuance of Invitations to Apply on a weekly basis, last week there was no new draws.

#BCPNP, #British_Columbia, #PNP, #Covid_19

Did IRCC postpone the ITAs in the International Experience Canada?
For the second week in a row, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) do not conduct new invitation rounds in the International Experience Canada (IEC). So far, the immigration officials did not release any confirmation about the delay of IEC due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier, the government announced that we should expect fewer invitations due to the high volume of applications received. Nevertheless, this was before the travel restrictions have been imposed. As of March 27, there are 60,138 candidates registered in the pools. 40241 candidates across all pools have been invited.

#IRCC, #IEC, #work_permits, #Working_Holiday, #ITA, #Covid_19

Despite the pandemic, it is good to remind about the PGWP
International students can apply for post-graduation work permits (PGWP) after studying in Canada for 1-3 years. This is an open work permit and international students can work for any employer. The IRCC has requirements for school and study time. First, international students must graduate from a Canadian Designated Learning Institution (DLI) and have studied in Canada for at least 8 months. After graduating from a major of 2 years or more, they can get a 3-year work permit. The PGWP is a vital part of student immigration to Canada. Some provinces have specific provincial streams aimed at international graduates who studied in those provinces or international graduates who started a business in the province. Education is often considered the safest pathway to permanent residence in Canada.

#PGWP, #International students, #work_permit, #PR, #work_in_Canada, #student_immigration