Canada’s new International Graduate stream

Canada’s new International Graduate stream for English-speakers has reached its limit only one day after it opened!

The quota of 40,000 was reached on May 7 at 1:01 PM Eastern Standard Time. This and five other new streams for essential workers and French-speaking international graduates launched yesterday at around 12:00 PM EST.

There are different quotas for each of them:

• 20,000 spots for temporary workers in healthcare.

• 30,000 spots for temporary workers in other essential occupations.

• 40,000 spots for international students who graduated from a Canadian institution. (International Graduate Stream).

+ 3 identical streams for French-speaking candidates. However, there is an unlimited number of spots available for for them! 

These streams will only be open for a limited amount of time until November 5, 2021, or until the maximum number of applications have been submitted, whichever comes first. And it is exactly what happened today! In just one day, the program with the most spots was completely filled!

But programs for temporary workers in Canada are still open.
 Over 5,000 applications have been submitted under the English-speaking Workers in Canada streams (out of a total cap of 50,000 applications). Uptake for the French-speaking streams has been low so far, but this is partly a function of the streams not having caps and a generous deadline of November 5, 2021.

Therefore, if you know French, or meet the requirements for English-speaking Workers in Canada streams, you can still get permanent residency in Canada!

If you need professional help, send us an email to [email protected]. Registered Canadian Immigration Consultant Galina Vladimirova will review your case and assist you at all stages of the process.

 

Which workers can immigrate under this program?

Healthcare workers

There are 40 eligible occupations for this program, which include nurses, physicians, and pharmacists. There are also some social work-related occupations. Veterinarians are not eligible for this pathway.

Essential workers in other occupations

There are 95 eligible occupations, which include retail salespersons, general farmworkers, and construction trades workers, among others.

Find the complete list of the eligible occupations here

Requirements for workers:

  • At least 1 year of full-time employment eligible full-time work experience within the three years leading up to your application.
  • You have to be employed in any occupation at the time of your application (you cannot be self-employed unless you are a medical doctor in a fee-for-service with a health authority).
  • The minimum language requirement is a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 4 in English or French in all proficiencies.
  • You have to be living in Canada on valid temporary status, or be eligible for restoration of status.
  • You have to be destined for any Canadian province or territory other than Quebec.

 

Why such high demand for English-speaking International Graduate stream?

There was a large demand for the graduate stream due to a high number of temporary residents in Canada, and lower selection criteria.

There could be up to 1.5 million work and study permit holders currently in Canada. 

The eligibility criteria allowed for candidates to have a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of 5. To compare, most candidates under the popular Canadian Experience Class (CEC) need a CLB 7. In addition, graduates did not need one year of work experience to be eligible under the stream that hit its cap today. Generally speaking, at least one year of Canadian work experience is needed for such graduates to be eligible for other immigration programs, such as the CEC.