Minister Sean Fraser announced several measures to be taken to address Canada’s labour shortage on April 22, 2022.

Express Entry draws in the federal high-skilled streams, including the Canadian experience class, federal skilled worker class, and federal skilled trades class will resume in early July, with most new applications to be processed within the standard 6-month period.

There will be a new temporary policy to extend the stay of international students with expiring post-graduation work permits between January and December 2022 to up to 18 months. This will help them gain work experience and better their chances of receiving permanent residency. 157,000 former students became permanent residents in 2021, with 88,000 of them transitioning directly from a post-graduation work permit to permanent residency.

 The IRCC has accepted113,000 new permanent residents and processed 100,000 work permit applications in the first quarter of 2022.

Additionally, policy changes to the temporary resident to permanent resident pathway that is now closed have been made, including the following:

• Applicants are no longer required to stay in Canada while their application is being processed.
• Those who applied for an open work permit in the interim can receive one valid up until the end of 2024.
• Immediate family members outside of Canada who were included in a principal applicant’s application can apply for an open work permit

Source: Canada.ca