The preceding year 2020 was the year of the coronavirus pandemic, which has badly affected Canada’s immigration system.
After Canada invited 3,41,000 new immigrants in the year 2019, Canada was still welcoming a large number of new immigration at the beginning of 2020. Even from March, when the Coronavirus pandemic started spreading, Canada’s immigration system got upended completely.
COVID-19 travel restriction on Canada was imposed on 18th March to restrict foreign nationals’ entry to make their way into the country. Moreover, the Express Entry system, Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP), and many other immigration forms still continue to function.
The coronavirus pandemic’s spreading nature makes many things uncertain as to what we were expecting from Canada’s immigration system in 2021. But, still, there are some of the certainties that are going to benefit Canada and their forthcoming newcomers not only in 2021 but also in many upcoming years.
Canada’s immigration system will not return to its normal state until the effect of the coronavirus pandemic is over. The critical effect of the pandemic is here because of the approval of several vaccines. Canada established one of the most excellent vaccination campaigns in its history in the month of December. Their main motive is to vaccinate all those who require COVID-19 injection by September 2021. The main objective of the vaccination of Canadian residents is to return to the country and bring its immigration level to its normal state. The other thing is to ensure that the overall population and foreign nationals traveling is prevented from the virus.
Travel restriction was imposed by Canada all over 2020 requiring some sense of what COVID-19 policies as it continues to process even due to the spread of coronavirus has now started to diminish. For example, Canada will continue with its 14-day quarantine law and require them to acquire a negative COVID-19 test before they begin to travel for Canada to stop the spread of coronavirus within the boundary.
It is essential to stress that the pandemic has not affected Canada’s emphatic commitment to admit immigrants, temporary foreign workers, and international students. Even Canada has now just doubled its duty due to the impact of a pandemic. Under its recent 2021-2023 Immigration Levels Plan, Canada intends to admit more than 400,000 new immigrants every year, which you can say is one of the largest in its history.
Though it is quite challenging to believe that Canada will achieve the target in 2021 as the effect of a pandemic is still on, the larger targets allow Canada’s federal and provincial governments to sustain to manage the draws and process applications. The reason behind this is that if Canada fails in admitting the new immigrants as it wants in 2021, then they can provide them with the required approvals so that they reach Canada later.
The vaccines’ evolution yet allows the Canadian government to analyze the possible changes in its travel restrictions. For example, Canada can explore to lift travel restrictions, especially for newcomers who have obtained a COVID-19 vaccine and those who provided the negative COVID-19 test before entering the country. If such conditions are lifted, it will help the new immigrants recover flows that would help in boosting the country’s economy. The reason behind the 2021-2023 Immigration level plan is that a compelling increase in Canada’s newcomer intake is required to support Canada’s post-COVID economic recovery.
We can already see a clear picture of the Canadian Immigration system’s direction during the month of January. Even the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, is going to provide new mandate letters. These letters got delayed during the pandemic time, but this month, all these letters will finally be unveiled. Assuming this is the case that a new mandate letter to Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino will plot what priorities the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will pursue over the years to come.
The other uncertain thing is that IRCC also confirmed the PGP, i.e., Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) lottery for the 2020 intake would most likely occur in the year 2021 and within this month. In this, across, 10,000 applicants got invited to submit sponsorship applications in which you can bring your parents and grandparents to Canada. Even later on, this year, IRCC will also open the PGP intake window in 2021, and along with it, hold another lottery that will invite up to 30,000 applicants to get sponsorship from their parents and grandparents.
It is good to hope that IRCC and Canada’s provinces and territories will pursue the immigration system to its normal state with the help of their best abilities in 2021. At last, we can expect that 2021 will not be as troubling a year as 2020.