Canada is to resume Express Entry draws for Canadian Experience Class, Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades candidates in early July as it ramps up efforts to combat a chronic labour shortage.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced on Friday that the federal high-skilled backlog had been cut by more than half, from nearly 112,000 in September 2021 to 48,000 in March 2022. The backlog is expected to drop further by July.

It means that Canada can once again start issuing Invitations to Apply to skilled worker candidates both already in the country and from overseas. Since fall 2021, ITAs have only been issued to Provincial Nominee Program candidates.

New applications received from July will be processed within six months in the vast majority of cases, Fraser said.

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“With the economy growing faster than employers can hire new workers, Canada needs to look at every option so that we have the skills and labour needed to fuel our growth,” Fraser said.

“Immigration will be crucial to easing our labour shortage, and these measures aim to address pressing needs in all sectors across the country while providing more opportunities for recent graduates and other applicants to build their lives in Canada and continue contributing to our short-term recovery and long-term prosperity.”

As well as the resumption of Express Entry draws, Fraser also announced other measures to combat Canada’s labour shortage.

A new temporary policy will allow international graduates to stay longer in Canada, to give them a better chance to qualify for permanent residency.

From this summer, candidates with a Post-Graduation Work Permit expiring between January and December 2022 qualify for a new open work permit of up to 18 months.

An Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada statement said: “We are exploring a simplified, expeditious process for this, and details will be made available in the weeks ahead.”

Canada doubled the number of decisions made on permanent residence applications in the first quarter of 2022, to more than 156,000. It also welcomed 113,000 new permanent residents during that period.

More than 100,000 work permit applications were also processed in the first three months of the year.

Meanwhile, a temporary public policy first introduced in August 2022 allowing foreign nationals in Canada as visitors to apply for employer-specific work permits has been extended until the end of February 2023.

Furthermore, Fraser also announced new measures for candidates who applied for Canada’s one-off Temporary to Permanent Residence Pathway in 2021. While applications closed in November 2021, processing will continue for some time.

New TR to PR Pathway measures:

• Applicants will no longer be required to remain in Canada while their application is being processed.
• Applicants who apply for an open work permit while waiting for their permanent residence application to be finalized will be able to get work permits valid until the end of 2024.
• To support family reunification, immediate family members who are outside Canada and who were included in a principal applicant’s permanent residence application will be eligible for their own open work permit.