Canadian Immigration News

The Canadian province of British Columbia (B.C.) has seen a slight increase in the overall annual nomination allocation for its British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP), with the figure rising from 5,800 from an initial allocation of 5,500 for 2016.

The Canadian province of British Columbia (B.C.) has seen a slight increase in the overall annual nomination allocation for its British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP), with the figure rising from 5,800 from an initial allocation of 5,500 for 2016.

The government of Alberta has announced that applicants to the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) who have been affected by the recent wildfires in the Fort McMurray area will be given an additional year to maintain eligibility while their application is in the queue awaiting processing.

The Liberal government of Canada is edging closer to reversing controversial changes to the way Canada grants citizenship that were brought in under the previous government, which was led by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Following the devastating forest fire in Northern Alberta around the city of Fort McMurray, the government of Alberta has created a dedicated toll-free phone line for new immigrants, foreign workers, and applicants under the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) who have been displaced over recent days.

The Canadian province of Ontario has announced that it is temporarily pausing the intake of applications for select streams through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), while other OINP streams remain open.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama have announced a new pilot project that will change the way people cross the border from Canada into the United States. This project will extend the preclearance system already used in many airports to travel between the two countries by land.

The Quebec Entrepreneur program, one of Quebec's three business immigration programs, has reached the maximum number of applications that may be accepted for the most recent application cycle. The program has reopened for new applications on April 1, 2016, with a limit of 50 applications that were to be accepted.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, formerly CIC) has issued 799 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) in the latest Express Entry draw for immigration to Canada. The number of Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points required in order for candidates to be invited to apply was 534, representing a significant increase compared with other draws that have taken place so far this year.

The number of ITAs issued (799) is by far the fewest in that have been issued in a single draw for over a year. This factor is likely to have had some bearing on the increase in the CRS point requirement for this draw, which represents something of an anomaly. More than 1,000 ITAs are issued in a typical Express Entry draw.

Canada's Start-Up Visa Program continues to grow, with 51 entrepreneurs having now become permanent residents of Canada through the program as of May 2, 2016.