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“As of June 21, 2021, you’re exempt from travel restrictions, no matter what date we issued your COPR, if you’re, travelling to Canada with a valid COPR and coming to live and settle permanently”, reads the official instructions from the Government of Canada. Canada is also in the process of allowing fully-vaccinated tourists on discretionary travel to the country from September 7, 2021. 

The travel relaxations introduced by the government in view of the decline in COVID-19 cases will help Canada fulfil its immigration levels plan of welcoming over 401,000 new immigrants annually till 2023. 

In fact, Canada recorded its strongest month for new Permanent Resident (PR) arrivals, as per the data entries by the immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Canada has admitted some 184,000 newcomers so far in 2021 and the regular conduct of nomination draws is helping significantly towards the cause. 

“We’re ahead of where we expected to be at this point in the year, and we are going to continue to accelerate the pace of landing new permanent residents,” Immigration Minister Mendicino said. 

The concern about expired COPR-holders still remains as several Permanent residency applicants, who were approved on or after March 18, 2020, are still waiting to hear from IRCC for answers as to when they will be re-issued travel documents and be able to start their new lives in Canada.

Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) is Different from Approved Permanent Residents

Approved permanent residents hold a Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR), which means they passed the “entire permanent residency process” including medical exams, federal government security, safety checks and were approved by IRCC. All they have to do is physically enter Canada and officially become permanent residents.

Due to public health concerns, Canada imposed travel restrictions on March 18, 2020, with certain exemptions. However, between March 18, 2020, and June 21, 2021, approved permanent residents were not allowed to come to Canada. 

Foreigners holding a COPR are not allowed into the country if their documents were issued after Canada closed its border. They must be exempt under some other condition, like coming to reunite with family, or they must be residents of the U.S.

“Each client’s situation is unique and needs to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to ensure that they have valid visas for travel. In order to minimize the chance that they will encounter issues when they seek admission as permanent residents at the border, a broad extension for expired COPRs is not feasible,” IRCC media relations said.

IRCC has asked the expired COPR-holders to not contact them and wait for IRCC to send an email asking expired COPR holders if they still want to travel. IRCC will give them 10 days to respond. Eventually, IRCC will ask them for medicals and passports, if required. IRCC will issue their renewed documents only upon a positive response from the applicants. 

Family Class Applicants Will Be Prioritized 

In a media release, IRCC asserted that Family class applicants will be prioritized. Only then individual clients will be contacted based on the date they applied for permanent residence.

According to an IRCC spokesperson, as of July 11, 2021, all pre-March-18 COPR holders who were eligible for an extension have been contacted. 

In a time when many expired COPR holders are left to their faith as they cannot make concrete plans for their future in their home country, nor in Canada, even after getting approval for permanent residency, CanApprove sees a bright future for you in Canada. 

The public health crisis of this magnitude is a first-off experience and Canada has just found its way out of it. The labour market levels are approaching pre-pandemic levels and the country is committed to welcome foreign immigration to sustain its economy as well as ageing demography.

Take this free assessment online to determine your eligibility for permanent residency.

Book your free appointment with us to explore your chances of immigration to Canada.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) continue to hold back-to-back program-specific Express Entry nomination draw on August 19, even as Canada enters its next phase of border relaxations.

The practice of holding alternate CEC-only & PNP-only nomination draws has yielded better results for Canada as it recorded over 100,000 invitations to apply for a permanent residency last year, despite the pandemic. It is even more interesting to note that IRCC is already close to achieving its annual target of 108,000 Canada PR invitations through Express Entry in 2021 only by holding alternate draws. 

While the last time, IRCC managed to invite 463 PNP-only candidates, the August 19 draw invited a new batch of candidates from the federal pool with prior work experience inside Canada to apply for permanent residency (PR).      

August 19 Express Entry is historic for the fact that this is the 202nd draw since the Express Entry system was launched in 2015 to manage three federal immigration programs for Canada PR: the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), and the Federal Skills Trades Program (FSTP). 

Overview of latest CEC-only Express Entry Draws

1. Draw Size Shrinks: Canada maintained a lower draw size of 3,000 candidates, unlike the previous CEC-only draw. However, earlier CEC-only Express Entry draws in 2021 have invited up to 6,000 candidates to apply for permanent residency in a single draw. 

All the invited candidates have already demonstrated their work experience of at least one year inside Canada. International students, temporary skilled workers are known to be the largest beneficiary under the CEC program.

2. Decreased Qualifying Score: Any prospective candidates that seek to register their profile for consideration under the Express Entry system shall be assessed and ranked based on a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). 

Such profiles are evaluated on a total of 1200 points and considers human capital factors like age, education, work experience outside Canada, language proficiency in English/French, spouse adaptability, Canadian study experience, etc. Those who receive provincial nominations through ‘enhanced’ PNP streams will get an additional 600 points towards their CRS score. 

August 19 draw selected candidates having a minimum CRS score of 403 which is known to be the second-lowest qualifying score in the history of Express Entry draws since 2015. 

Previously, Express Entry qualifying CRS fell down to mere 75 points and opened up invitations for nearly 27332 CEC-only candidates to apply for Canada PR. 

3. Tie-Break Rule: IRCC applies a tie-break rule to avoid disputes in the rankings in the case where two or more candidates are awarded the same CRS score. This draw invited candidates who had a minimum score of 357 and only if they submitted their Express Entry profile before August 01, 2021, at 10:13:57 UTC.  

Why Program-specific Express Entry Draws? 

IRCC has regularly held Express Entry draws in 2021. Only program-specific draws linked to either Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) or Canada Experience Class (CEC) have been held so far, thereby ignoring the candidates who qualified under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP). This may be largely due to the COVID-related travel restrictions internationally. 

FSWP candidates are mostly foreign skilled workers who do not have work experience inside Canada and do not hold a job offer in Canada. However, they may qualify for permanent residency based on their age, language proficiency, education, and relevant work experience abroad. 

Canada is set to welcome 108,500 new immigrants through Express Entry-managed programs in 2021 alone. So far, IRCC has already issued over 105,779 ITAs for Canada PR. 

Take this free assessment online to determine your eligibility for permanent residency.



To improve your chances of qualifying for Canada PR through Express Entry, contact CanApprove today!