June 2021 comes out a phenomenal month for new Canada PR visa issuance

June 2021 has been the strongest month for new Canada PR visa holders. This was observed and stated by Marcos Mendicino, Canada’s Immigration Minister recently.

Mendicino has been quite upbeat about Canada achieving the target of 401,000 new Canada PR visa holders in 2021. The ambitious target has been just 341,000 new permanent residents in 2021 before the pandemic.

As per the estimates of the minister’s office, in June 2021 itself, Canada welcomed over 35,000 new Canada PR visa holders. This number is significantly higher than the total new arrivals in recent months in Canada.

Canada immigration started off strongly in 2021. The country welcomed 24,680 new Canada PR visa holders in January. However, there was a slowdown in Canada immigration in the months that followed. In February 2021, Canada welcomed 23,395 newcomers. In March it was 22,425, and in April it was 21,155. In May 2021 the number of newcomers was 17,100.

In the first 6 months of 2021, Canada welcomed around 143,000 new PRs. This was not very indicative of a good pace at which the country could manage to welcome 401,000 new PRs by the end of 2021.

If Canada wants to achieve its target for newcomers, it must bring in another 258,000 immigrants. This means, on average, Canada has to bring in 43,000 new immigrants per month for the rest of the year.

This may be a difficult target but isn’t unlikely to be achieved.

Why is the target still achievable?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada welcomed 25,000 to 35,000 newcomers per month on average. The warmer months tend to attract more immigrants as they find the weather favorable. Also, that’s the season that leads to the start of the academic and business calendar in September.

As was seen in 2019, immigration levels were better in the second half of the year in comparison with the first half. If we assume that Canada will bring in the same level of immigrants in 2021, the achievable target will still be just over 320,000 newcomers, which stands short of its actual target.

But there’s hope yet that things could get much better. That’s because of a few observable factors.

• One of those is that some 23,000 additional COPR holders now have the eligibility to move to Canada, now that the restrictions imposed on them have been relaxed on June 21, 2021.
• Also, any other newly approved candidate for Canada PR can also immediately move to Canada now. This is also because of the relaxation from restrictions given by Canada.
• Moreover, IRCC also introduced 6 new Canada PR streams that will enable around 90,000 essential workers and international graduates to stay back in Canada. The immigration department’s goal is to process some 40,000 of these applications before 2021 ends.
• Another tailwind factor is the domestic pool of Canada PR candidates. Throughout 2021, it was seen that IRCC was setting new Express Entry records. Canada has been giving priority to CEC candidates, 90% of whom are already living in Canada, who could be easily transitioned to PR.
• Canada is conducting bigger draws and setting cut-off scores at record low levels.

The amazing June 2021

Canada’s immigration minister’s office has stated that the 45,100 Canada PR applications processed by the IRCC in June were the highest number ever. This points out the capacity of the IRCC to process and finalize the required number of applications to reach its immigration target.

Challenges

• The volatile situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and the possibility of a resurgence of infections is a major challenge.
• Prolonging of travel restrictions by Canada to ensure safety from the pandemic could lead to the immigration goals failing to meet as intended.
• Delays to the arrival of COPR holders are yet another risk that Canada could incur. Canada is trying hard to avoid this by getting in touch with COPR holders at an individual level.

A positive future

Through all the challenges, Canada expects and is working to see higher numbers of immigrants in the coming months. Chances are also strong that total monthly immigration will reach a record high before 2021 ends. This will be owing to the combination of increased arrivals from overseas and the landing of in-Canada applicants.

If you are looking to Study, Work, Visit, Invest, or Migrate to Canada, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Company.

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Note:

PR – Permanent Residence/Permanent Resident

IRCC – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

CEC – Canadian Experience Class

COPR - Confirmation of Permanent Residence