Viaus Immigration Consulting Services

08/14/2024

Today, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Marc Miller announced a new immigration pilot to welcome more international students into Francophone communities across Canada.

According to a release by IRCC, the Francophone Minority Communities Pilot Program (FMCSP) will improve admission rates and make the current program fair for students from Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas.

To do this, IRCC says “students and their families will be exempted from having to demonstrate that they will leave Canada at the end of their temporary stay. In addition, the required financial threshold will be adjusted to reflect 75% of the low-income cut-off associated with the municipality where the institution's main campus is located.”

These students will also have a direct pathway to permanent resident status after they complete their programs and access to settlement services.

The pilot will open on August 26, 2024, and will accept 2,300 students in the first year. This cap will be reassessed in August 2025.

Who can apply?
To be eligible, students must have a letter of acceptance from a participating Designated Learning Institution (DLI) that says they are applying under the FMCSP. The study program must meet the following criteria:

- be at the post-secondary level;
- be full-time;
- be 2 years or more of study;
- lead to a degree or diploma; and
- have French as the primary language of instruction (over 50% of the classes are taught in French).
- Students must also be citizens of these eligible countries:
Benin Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Comoros
, Côte d’Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo Dominica Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Gabon Guinea Guinea-Bissau Haiti Lebanon Madagascar Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Niger Rwanda Saint Lucia São Tomé and Principe Senegal Seychelles
, Togo Tunisia

Students in the FMCSP are permitted to bring their spouses, common-law partners, or dependent children with them. Spouses and common-law partners of participants may be eligible for a visitor visa, open work permit or study permit.

Of note, students in the Pilot are exempt from many of the recent changes to Canada’s international student program. For example, they are not required to obtain a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) from their DLI, and participants are not included in IRCC’s processing cap for international student applications.

08/01/2024

On July 22 NWT announced that it had reached and exceeded its cap of the 300 nominations for the Northwest Territory Nominee Program (NTNP) it was allocated by Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in 2024.

This means the program will not accept new applications for the remainder of the year. However, according to a release from the territory’s government, there are exceptions for foreign nationals with work permits that expire in 2024 and those who meet all eligibility criteria and have already been working in the NWT in 2024.

Also, the cap of 300 nominations was specifically for the Employer-Driven Stream and Francophone Stream. The NWT will continue to accept applications for the Business Stream.

The NWT government says applications currently being processed will receive a decision in the fall.

06/25/2024

In January 2025, the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) is set to introduce the following three new Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) streams for international graduates.

- Bachelor’s stream
- Master’s stream
- Doctorate stream

Although each of the new streams will also have unique eligibility criteria, the following will outline general eligibility criteria for all BCPNP International Graduate streams.

To qualify through B.C.’s International Graduate stream, candidates must:

1. Have obtained a degree, diploma or certificate from an eligible Canadian post-secondary institution within the last three years
Have accepted a qualifying full-time job offer from an employer* in B.C.

2. The job offer must have no defined end date (indeterminate)

- A job offer does not need to be indeterminate if it is in a priority technology occupation

- The job offer must be in one of the following National Occupation Classification (NOC) Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) categories: 1, 2, or 3

* NOC TEER 0 occupations are not eligible for the International Graduate stream

3. Be qualified to work in their chosen occupation in B.C.

4. Have a wage offer “in line with B.C. wage rates for the job they will be working

5. Prove the ability to support themselves and any eligible dependents

6. Meet minimum language requirements

* B.C. recently raised the minimum language requirement for all BCPNP streams except its Health Authority stream (which was already previously adjusted)

*The employer must “agree to support [the candidate’s] application while themselves meeting certain Employer-focused requirements.

More details will be available in late 2024.

06/21/2024

British Columbia makes Entrepreneur Regional Pilot Program permanent. The program is now called the Entrepreneur Immigration (EI) Regional Stream.

Entrepreneur class immigration (which includes the EI Regional Stream) is a temporary to permanent residence (PR) pathway. This means that applicants who are accepted under the program are first given temporary status to live and work in Canada, before ultimately transitioning to PR status once they have successfully started their business.

For more details, please contact us through email at [email protected].

04/29/2024

Important changes to the Federal Business Category: Start-Up Visa and Self-Employed Persons programs were announced today by IRCC Minister Marc Miller.

Start-up Visa changes

Starting April 30th, IRCC will alter application processing under the Start-up Visa by focusing on:

- Capping the number of permanent residents accepted under this program by excluding applicants associated with no more than 10 start-ups per designated organization*; and

- Providing priority processing to entrepreneurs whose start-up is supported by a Canadian capital or business incubator that is a member of Canada’s Tech Network (including applications already submitted under the program).

*Designated organizations are Canadian business groups (venture capital funds, angel investor groups, and/or business incubators) that have been approved under the program to invest in a start-up business. Applicants under the Start-up visa will need the support of a designated organization to be eligible under the program.

Self-Employed Persons program changes

IRCC has announced a full pause on application intake for the Self-Employed Persons program—which is planned to be in place until the end of 2026. As a result of a high number of applications within the program inventory, processing times have increased to longer than four years.

While the temporary pause is in place, IRCC will continue to finalize applications, simultaneously looking for opportunities to continue to reform the program, while maintaining its integrity.

03/20/2024

As of March 19, partners and spouses of international students are eligible for a SOWP only if their sponsor is enrolled in a master’s or doctoral degree program at a university or polytechnic institution in Canada.

There are some exceptions for the spouses or partners of undergraduate students. Spouses of undergraduate students in one of the following professional degree programs at a university are also eligible to apply for a SOWP:

- Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS, DMD)
- Bachelor of Law or Juris Doctor (LLB, JD, BCL)
- Doctor of Medicine (MD)
- Doctor of Optometry (OD)
- Pharmacy (PharmD, BS, BSc, BPharm)
- Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM)
- - Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN, BSN, BNSc)
- Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.)
- Bachelor of Engineering (B. Eng., BE, BASc)

Spouses and partners applying for an SOWP must provide documents that prove a relationship to the student and one document showing proof of their partner’s enrolment in a degree-granting program of study. IRCC accepts:

- a valid Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from a Designated Learning Institution (DLI)
- a proof of enrolment letter from their spouse or partner’s DLI
- transcripts from their spouse or partner’s current program

01/23/2024

On January 22nd, IRCC announces new eligibility criteria for Post-Graduation Work Permits.

Starting in September 2024, international students who begin a study program that is part of a curriculum licensing agreement will no longer be eligible for a PGWP after graduating.

Under curriculum licensing agreements, students attend a private college that has been licensed to deliver the curriculum associated with a public college.

Put differently, if a public college has established licensing agreements with a private college, and a student is enrolled in the private college, they will not be eligible for a PGWP.

IRCC has explained that these programs have less oversight than public colleges and this can act as a loophole with regards to PGWP eligibility.

IRCC also announced that graduates of master’s and other short graduate-level programs will soon be eligible to apply for a 3-year work permit.

This change will allow masters students to be eligible for a longer work permit, which will provide them with an extended opportunity to gain valuable Canadian work experience. This often makes it easier for them to become permanent residents.

09/08/2023

IRCC has just announced an update to the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP). IRCC will accept up to 15,000 complete applications for sponsorship under the PGP this year.

On October 10, IRCC will begin sending invitations to apply to 24,200 interested potential sponsors, aiming to receive up to the 15,000 complete applications.

For more details, please refer to

Learn about the process to sponsor your parents and grandparents.

06/28/2023

Today Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced that IRCC was inviting 500 healthcare workers under the new Express Entry category-based selection draws. He said 1,500 more would be invited in the next week.

This is the very first category-based selection draw since the six new categories were announced on May 31.

Healthcare occupations and category-based selection
On May 31, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that it had finalized new category-based selection for Express Entry.

Among the six new categories, healthcare occupations make up the largest number of eligible occupations, 35 in total:

Audiologists and speech language pathologists
Chiropractors
Dentists
Dieticians and nutritionists
Education counsellors
General practitioners and family physicians
Instructors of persons with disabilities
Kinesiologists and other professional occupation in therapy and assessment
Licensed practical nurses
Massage therapists
Medical laboratory assistants and related technical occupations
Medical laboratory technologists
Medical radiation technologists
Medical sonographers
Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
Nurse practitioners
Nursing coordinators and supervisors
Occupational therapists
Optometrists
Other assisting occupations in support of health services
Other practitioners of natural healing
Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating
Other technical occupations in therapy and assessment
Paramedical occupations
Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants
Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals
Physiotherapists
Psychologists
Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine
Specialists in surgery
Therapists in counselling and related specialized therapies
Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and acupuncturists
Veterinarians

06/23/2023

IRCC announced at the end of May a temporary public policy allowing these individuals to work in Canada while their application is being processed.

This public policy facilitates the issuance of an open work permit to foreign nationals applying to live and work in Canada under family class sponsorship including dependent children over 18 years old.

These open work permits were previously only allowed for the inland spousal sponsorship program and is now being extended to those who are applying from outside Canada.

Who are eligible?

IRCC officers may grant an open work permit to foreign nationals who meet either one of the following conditions.

The foreign national is

- A principal applicant who has a submitted a permanent residence application under the spouse or common law partner in Canada or as a spouse, common law or conjugal partner under the family class that has been accepted for processing by IRCC
- Has submitted a work permit application, where the duration of the work permit requested is a maximum of two years
- Is the subject of a sponsorship application submitted by their Canadian citizen or permanent resident spouse, common law or conjugal partner
- Has the same residential address as their sponsor in Canada at the time of the application, and
- Has valid temporary resident status in Canada or is eligible for and has applied for restoration of status
OR

The foreign national is

- A dependent child that has been included as an accompanying family member in the application for permanent residence
- Has submitted a work permit application where the duration of the work permit requested is for a maximum of two years
- Has the same residential address as the principal applicant and their sponsor in Canada at the time of the application, and
- Has valid temporary resident status in Canada or is eligible for and has applied for restoration of status

06/13/2023

Canada opens new economic immigration streams for skilled refugees and other displaced people

For details, please refer to

Refugees and other displaced individuals are forced to restart their lives when they flee their home country, but they should not have to start from scratch, particularly when it comes to acquiring skills, training, experience and education. Through the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP), Canad...

03/03/2023

lululemon’s growth in British Columbia recognized as significant investment project

Ottawa, February 28, 2023 --- Through the collaboration of the federal and provincial governments, lululemon’s growing workforce and global headquarters will benefit from a facilitative immigration measure that recognizes it as a significant investment project under the Canada-British Columbia Immigration Agreement (the Agreement).

This means that, for a variety of high-skilled occupations, lululemon can hire foreign workers without needing to apply for a labour market impact assessment (LMIA). Through the Temporary Workers Annex of the Agreement, British Columbia can identify significant investment projects for consideration for a special exemption from the LMIA process. Employment and Social Development Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada then assess the project to determine if it meets the criteria.

Bringing global talent to lululemon’s hometown of Vancouver will enhance British Columbia’s workforce through knowledge sharing, leveraging the company’s international footprint and resulting in significant employment growth over the next several years.

More details of their plans are expected to be communicated later this spring.