Canada | Immigration | Canadian alternatives to U.S. immigration ban

Canada presents employers and employees plenty of permanent and temporary resident visa choices, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

 

After President Donald Trump signed a new Executive Order, an estimated 525,000 people will not be able to migrate to the USA as permanent or temporary residents for the remaining period  of 2020.

 

Trump's latest immigration ban is intended to be a temporary step to protect U.S. employees from the coronavirus caused recession.

 

Immigration system of Canada is also facing a period of instability in the sense that the country currently has travel restrictions and special immigration policies in place which are constantly changing as the pandemic progresses.

 

However, given Canada's uncertainty , employers and employees can be  assured that Canada will process new applications submitted during the pandemic and will encourage the admission of new permanent and temporary residents as long as eligibility requirements are met.

 

A few existing permanent residents are currently excluded from the travel restrictions in Canada. The country is also giving invitations to qualified applicants for new permanent residency.

 

Canada's immigration minister, Marco Mendicino, emphasized in a television interview that Canada expects immigration will help improve the aftermath of the pandemic.

 

The U.S. will not only issue new green cards but also suspend various employment based visas until the end of 2020. The affected visa categories are H-1B (Occupations requiring highly specialized knowledge), H-2B (Seasonal non-agricultural workers), J (Work-and-study-based exchange visitor programs) and L (Intra-company transfers)

 

Alternative Canadian Immigration

 

Both Canada and the U.S. are federal nations, Canadian provinces have more authority over immigration than U.S. states.

 

The Constitution of Canada established immigration as a matter of joint federal and provincial authority, with the ultimate say in the federal government. asThis means that both the federal government and 12 of the 13 provinces and territories throughout Canada run their own selection programs for Economic Class immigrants. 

 

Canada provides more than 80 pathways of economic-class immigration to professional workers in the United States and around the world as on today.

 

The most popular pathway is the Federal Express Entry Program. Interested candidates can submit their profile free of cost on the website of the federal government. The federal government then scores them based on their age, educational qualifications, English and/or French skills, job experience and other factors. 

 

The federal government conducts Express Entry draws every two weeks, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which it invites the top-scoring immigration applicants to apply for permanent residence. Successful candidates can expect to have their application processed within 6 months after submitting their application for permanent residency.

 

The second most influential route to permanent residence is the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). Almost every province and territory operates the PNP to host professional workers who meet the needs of their local labor market. Candidates can send applications directly to the province in which they are involved. They may also request an Express Entry Profile to give provinces the opportunity to review their credentials and to contact them directly about immigration into their jurisdiction.

 

Quebec represents the third big choice. It runs several similar services to those provided by the federal and other provinces. French speaking is crucial to successful immigration into Quebec.

 

Other alternative temporary resident options for employers and employees also available such as Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) which requires Labor Market Impact Assessment  (LMIA) approval, International Mobility Program(IMP) , Global Talent Stream which does not require LMIA. Each category has its own eligibility criteria.