CIP 180 EE Reforms - Episode 1 (Final)
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The Canadian immigration process can be complex and frustrating. With the Canadian Immigration Department making it virtually impossible to speak to an officer, there are few places to turn to for trusted information. The Canadian Immigration Podcast was created to fill this void by offering the latest on immigration law, policy, and practice.
Please welcome ex-immigration officer and Canadian immigration lawyer, Mark Holthe, as he is joined by industry leaders across Canada, sharing insight to help you along your way If you've been thinking about immigrating to Canada or if you're already here on a work permit and wondering, "Hey, what's my permanent resident [00:02:00] actually, the options actually look like?" You've found the right place. In fact, this podcast series that we're gonna be doing here is all about giving you the information that you need to understand how the Canadian immigration process actually works.
Now, the reason you need to understand this now is because there's gonna be some pretty significant changes that are coming. In fact, they're gonna be bigger than we've ever seen for express entry. So in this series, Alicia and I are going to make sure that you're ready for every single one of them Alicia, what do you figure about this crazy world that we've got coming with these express entry reforms?
Yeah. This is really something that str- my clients personally are struggling with, and it's something that many, many people are wondering about and trying to figure out right now, because what people do right now is going to impact whether their profile is one that has a chance in the future. So what we're planning on, you guys, is 15 episodes that we're going to be releasing.
We're gonna try to do it two [00:03:00] times a week, because we wanna get this information out as soon as possible. And by the time this series is done, you'll have a very clear idea of what this new world of express entry is gonna look like in Canada. Basically, how you sit into the grand scheme of things, what you need to do to maybe prepare yourself for these changes, and for those of you who are ready right now, how long you're gonna be able to benefit from the current regime as it stands.
So it's really all about you guys, and the process that we've gone through at least to create the episodes, there's a little bit of speculation, but we sure know a lot about it. And why? Well, I just got back on Friday, I guess it was the 29th of May, speaking at our national immigration conference, and I was on a panel that was express entry reform.
Jonathan Yoshi Koop was the immigration representative who oversees really a lot of the economic PR programs in the country. He was the other presenter, as well as good friend Lisa, [00:04:00] uh, Middlemiss, and Yanok Anachov. And so this is exactly what we talked about. So the very latest information, this is what we wanna share with you guys, and that is what we're hoping to accomplish today.
So we're gonna spice this up a little bit for those of you who are watching on YouTube. This is all about the express entry reforms. So they've been announced in 2026, and we thought, well, maybe there's gonna be a little bit of a delay before they fully release this information. But as I learned on last Friday, that is not the case.
Some of these are gonna be coming fast and furious. So if we're looking at this, Alicia, and we're thinking about, you know, express entry 101, there's no better place to start than how the system actually works. So this is what we're gonna be talking about. And you know, guys, it's not a program. So many people just treat it like some express entry program.
It's not. All express entry is is a system for managing Canada's existing economic programs. And as we get into more details in [00:05:00] future episodes, the reality is what they're looking at doing is just simplifying it, because it's pretty darn complicated right now All right. So what do you think, Alicia? What is express entry?
Yeah, and so this is a big part of th- the picture is understanding where we're at now, right? We, we don't know where we're gonna go or the path that's gonna get us there unless we fundamentally understand the landscape right now, what we're in. And so understanding that express entry is literally a program management system, a s- a management system over top of a program, and it's like not a job application that you're submitting.
It's not something where you know that you're going to get it. It's more of, okay, this is what I have to do to even be considered on a shortlist. So keep in mind, it is only entering a pool. It is only by invitation. And so you are doing things that show that you are there, but [00:06:00] that is kind of it. It's not actually an application.
So it's really important to understand that it's not a program itself. You have to meet minimum eligibility criteria. If you meet those minimum eligibility criteria, it will enter you into a pool and give you a CRS ranking, and then only if the government decides to happen to scoop out your kind of profile from that shortlist would you have a chance to even go forward with an application.
Yeah. And, you know, Alicia, I think about the history behind this. Why in the world would they go to this express entry system anyways? Well, the reality is in January the 1st of 2015, it was designed to replace this much slower system, which was more of a first come, first serve system. And for decades, this system really was pretty broad.
It allowed a lot of people to apply, and the volume of people in the system just increased astronomically to the point where we had, I think, over [00:07:00] 600,000 people in the backlog. Processing times were taking up to six years in some countries, and at the end of the day, Immigration said, "Well, these people who we're trying to lure to Canada, these best and brightest, are not gonna sit around and wait six years to be able to immigrate, so we need to make a change."
So that is why they launched the express entry system. It was really designed to then fast-track those who they, who Canada felt were the most likely to succeed economically in Canada. And I think y- as we've talked a lot on our YouTube channel and in our previous videos, it's a real tough decision trying to determine who are going to be the best candidates for success, and that has really been a moving target, especially over the last few years.
So when I think about, you know, who they're targeting now, who's being given the priorities, who's being pulled from the pool, well, we'll get into this a little bit later, but there's a lot of debate over whether or not they're getting it right. All right. Talk about what it is and what it isn't. [00:08:00] Mm-hmm. So this is a funny one.
It's not applying for permanent residence. Mind you, we do tell our clients if you're doing a profile and you have a profile in there before, let the government know that you've had a previous profile, 'cause theoretically it's an expression of interest for a permanent residence program. But it's not itself applying for PR.
So the fact that you've submitted a profile in the pool, that the system accepted your profile to the pool, is zero guarantee that you will get an invitation to apply. If you have a CRS of, I don't know, 200 points, and you are able to get in there, you'll be in there, but you have no realistic possibility of getting an ITA depending on what your CRS is, and maybe whether you're eligible for a category-based draw.
So just keep in mind that just because you're in there doesn't mean that you have a competitive chance. But it's really important for you to understand do you have a competitive chance based on your CRS and your category-based eligibility. And [00:09:00] I guess, Alicia, I'll jump in and offer one caveat, okay?
Sometimes the world goes crazy and crazy things happen. So for Alicia and I, we almost always tell people, look, it doesn't hurt to have a profile in even if you do have 200 points, even if it looks like you have no chance actually based on the draws of getting drawn. At this stage, there's no cost to submitting it other than getting your language tests and those things which cost money.
And the reason is because back in 2021, February the 13th, I call them the February, I call them the Feb 13ers, there were 27,332, I think, people invited all in one big draw. And basically what the government did was they invited everybody that was in the pool, and the lowest score was 75 points. Now, that was a one-time only thing, and at the time I was the national chair over the CBA's immigration section.
And when that happened, I was completely taken aback. We had told the minister when he was trying to hit their annual levels plans that it might be good to maybe lower the scores a little bit [00:10:00] if they're trying to get more people landed to meet their levels plans, which at the time were close to 400,000, kind of around where we're at right now.
But the pandemic had shut the borders down. And so in one draw that Saturday morning, there were 27,332 people with a low score of 75 under the CEC program. And so we never say never anymore within our practice, but realistically it's about managing expectations, while at the same time, eh, I'll put a, a line in the water, if you use a fishing analogy, and if something happens, great, but I'm not expecting to catch a big monster fish Exactly.
And it's, it's not a river, right? It's not where you have a processing queue and you actually get to the endpoint. So it's not first come, it's not first served, it's not first in, it's not first out. It's a points-based ranking system, so you're kind of floating along in this pool, and if you're rising to the top and if you happen to be in the right spot at the right time when the [00:11:00] government puts in their net and scoops you up, then that's great.
But you might not be, and so that's what we're trying to make sure that people understand. Absolutely. All right, well, let's talk quickly about these three programs, and we can kinda, you know, we can kinda race our way through this a little bit. But you need to be able to qualify through one of these programs in order to get into the pool.
So this is like your application for the job, and if you meet the initial criteria, like we used that analogy, you're then gonna get kind of that first interview. So that's kind of the stage we're at here And I think, Mark, one thing to jump in about here is I think we've had quite a bit of confusion in our livestreams recently for people saying, "Hey, I meet French eligibility, therefore I'm eligible for Express Entry."
And that is not true. So just because they have layered on category-based draws doesn't meet pe- mean that people are meeting those basic minimum eligibility criteria, so be careful about that. All right. [00:12:00] Do you wanna start us off with a quick little overview of this Federal Skilled Worker? And like I said, we'll, we'll kinda whip through this and give the, the viewers a chance just so that they understand.
So who's this typically used for, Alicia? At least if you were applying, who typically fits into this category? Yeah. So Federal Skilled Worker category has been around forever. Many applicants in the past were foreign workers, and so they were high skilled, they had really strong education, they had strong language points, they were young, and they had a skill set.
They had high skilled work experience. So that's usually who the FSW category is for. There is no requirement to have Canadian work experience for FSW, but you have to have one year continuous skilled work in the last 10 years in a Tier 0, 1, 2 or 3 occupation. You still have to meet those language abilities in either official language, so either in English or in French, at that CLB 7 level, and make sure that you have those education credential assessments.[00:13:00]
So making sure your education's been formally assessed. And one of the things, you know, when it comes to this whole 67 points that I wanna address is that with the reforms, they're basically talking about removing this. Why? Because it's really a duplication of what happens in the comprehensive ranking system once you're in the pool.
So it's important if you're wondering, if you're overseas and you're trying to apply and it keeps telling you that you're ineligible, largely the, the reason you'd be in- ineligible is because you're not meeting the threshold for the 67 points. Maybe you're a little bit older. Maybe your education isn't quite as high.
Maybe your language isn't good enough. And often what trips people up is settlement funds. You haven't demonstrated that you have sufficient settlement funds or listed that you have enough settlement funds. So those are some of the common places that people get tripped up. But when we talk about in Canada, the other program is the Canadian Experience Class, and essentially what they're looking for is people that have experience, at least 12 months of Canadian skilled work experience in one of the tier zero to three NOC [00:14:00] codes, and that experience has to have been accumulated in the last three years with valid work authorization.
So you can't work, not have a work permit, and then try to claim it. And when it comes to the language, the threshold is actually pretty low if you're a tier two or three. It's only a CLB five. But if you're a tier zero or one, then it's a little bit higher, so it raises a little bit for, for more skilled occupations.
And the interesting thing is that there's no grid like there is for the FSW. Essentially, if you hit the language and the work experience requirements, then you, then you're basically in. Now, another key difference between the two is that for outside of Canada, your work has to be continuous in the same NOC for at least 12 months.
But for the CEC, that's not the case. You can have three months for one company, four months for another, and then another, another five months for something else to, to hit the 12 month. You can count your work cumulatively, and it doesn't even have to be in the same NOC as long as it's all skilled, but it all has to be in the first, you know, in that three-year period, that three-year window.[00:15:00]
So, and the other thing, at least for the current world we're in, Alicia, is that for 2026 IRCC is prioritizing the CEC draws. So they're really looking to try to transition the TR to PR folks, the temporary residents to permanent residents that fit within their, their scheme. And so if you have Canadian work experience, obviously this is the strongest pathway for you right now.
And people outside, if we just flip back to our federal skilled worker, if you're outside the country, there is no specific FSW draws that are happening right now. It's all CECs or category-based. So if you're FSW, pretty much the world we're in right now, you need to be drawn under one of the French language draws, and that's how you'll get pulled into the mix.
Now, there is possible to have a provincial nomination potentially from, from outside, being outside Canada, but even those are few and far between because there are just so many people in Canada right now looking to take some of these spots. And then the last program is, is FST, Federal Skilled, Skilled Trades program.
And [00:16:00] Alicia, maybe you can talk about how this is interesting to know but really doesn't play h- too much of a role in, in anything that we're doing these days. Yeah. There just have not been FST draws, right? So it's unless people happen to meet minimum eligibility for FST and they're doing a category-based, because they have done some category-based draws in trades, that's really where it comes in.
But you could meet category-based trade eligibility if you're under CEC. So FST, it still exists. Yes, it is a little bit more complex because of the specificity, and so it really has to be only specific TEERs. It has to be the trades TEERs. You have to have a CLB 5, so there's a lower bar, or a CLB 4, but you do have to have a valid job offer or you've got to have a certificate of qualification of trade from a province.
And this whole certificate of qualification is a little bit of a can of worms. People get really [00:17:00] confused on certificate of qualification points and what could qualify. We are not talking about professional points. We're not talking about any sort of profession. These are all trade occupations, and take a look carefully at what qualifies as a certificate of qualification.
That's minimum eligibility for FST, and you've got to have two years full-time trades experience within the last five years within those very specific eligible trades. Yeah. And if you look at the proposed changes, which we will cover in episode 11, there is a light, somewhat of a light at the end of the tunnel for trades individuals, because sometimes trades, they make a lot of money, and one of the factors that they're proposing is within the comprehensive ranking system is wage.
And so we'll release more information on that as we get to it, but I just want to highlight that for trades right now, times might be a little tough for you, and they haven't been doing a lot of trades-only draws. But in the future, yeah, they're looking to prioritize that. Okay. How [00:18:00] the pool works. So from pro- profile submission to getting your lovely invitation to apply, there's essentially five steps.
Could you break those down, Lisha? And so this is where the first stage really matters. When you create your profile, the day you create your profile, how you create your profile, what you say when you do that questionnaire, that really matters. And that is because IRCC is cracking down on fraud and misrepresentation.
So when you go to create your profile, make sure that you're doing it properly. Make sure that you understand you're the applicant, you're authorizing yourself, you have your own email address that's associated with your account and your GCKey. And if you are using a representative, make sure that that person is authorized to provide immigration legal advice, so they're a lawyer or they're a regulated immigration consultant.
Nobody else should be charging you money or ghosting or creating profiles for you and accessing your account. So first step on your journey is really making sure that you've created your [00:19:00] Express Entry online account and gone through that questionnaire and submitting a profile online. Like Alicia said, it is so important to get it right.
And so many times we've seen people who receive an ITA, they come to us and then we have to tell them, "Hey, you may have to decline this ITA because there's just how you've entered your information. You've maybe gotten your wrong- your NOC code wrong." Sometimes we can save it, sometimes we can't, and we have to go back into the pool, and there's nothing more heartbreaking than to see the scores, you know, that you thought were good enough to get an ITA actually be lower, and then you miss out on that opportunity.
Another interesting fact too, Alicia, is that like for this year, the invitations that have been issued I think about 52%, I think was the last figure that I saw, of those invitations that have been issued, or I should say the, the people that are going through permanent residence, are actually from ITAs that were issued last year.
So they're always about six to seven months behind, six to seven months behind when it comes to the issuance of ITAs [00:20:00] because it just takes time for people to put their applications together, to submit them, and then to land. So if you're trying to figure out, okay, there's 380,000 total spots for permanent residents, there's, you know, 200 and change thousand for express entry, they've extended this many ITAs, so there's probably not gonna be any more draws.
Well, don't get caught up in that because for one, people, there's, I think the last figure I saw was almost, almost 18 to 20%, I think, of all I- ITAs are declined and people go back into the pool. And then you have individuals who get their applica- you know, they may submit their application, but it, it takes for them to actually get landed, like I said, almost six to seven months is the current processing.
So we don't usually get too caught up in that. It's just as the rounds come, we just let them come, and then we deal with the world that, that we're presented. I think it's important too, Mark, to note that once you create your profile, step two and three happen pretty much instantaneously. If you're meeting minimum eligibility, that's great.
You've met minimum eligibility. [00:21:00] It'll tell you did you meet minimum eligibility for FSW, FST, or CEC. Sometimes you meet more than one. You'll get your CRS score right away. It'll give you a profile summary, and then you're there. You're waiting for a draw. And you do have an obligation to make sure that that information is correct.
So you can modify your express entry profile. Go in and make sure that if you've ended a job, end the job, because it's been heartbreaking, Mark, where I had a client who got a new job, didn't have time to update the fact that they ended that job. The system counted that as work experience. They got an ITA the next month, and they had to decline it because otherwise it would've been misrepresentation.
So make sure that if you're waiting for that draw, you go in and you actively update changes to your profile and re-transmit, resubmit them. Yeah. Okay, just a few things like we talked about as far as the, you know, the pool, the data that we have for 2026, some of the key numbers. Right now, you know, there's about two week kind of gap between rounds of [00:22:00] invitations, and the range for CEC draws, which a lot of people are really paying attention to c- are, are quite broad.
So 507 I think is the most recent low-end draw. Now, as far as 637, I think on the upper end, it's kinda hard to, to, to really quantify how big of an impact French and those other things is having on here. One of the proposed changes is to strip those things away, which we'll cover in future episodes. And but right now, 507 on the CEC front is kind of how low it's gone in the recent times, so you can see how competitive it is.
Now, with French, it's a whole different thing. Our low score's 393, I think, was the lowest score that, that we've had for, for French. And yeah, the... And it's not going away. It's not going away, French. The world will be changing, but not fully. And as always, remember, like what we talked about right at the beginning, just because you're in the pool, it does not guarantee that you're gonna get an ITA, so you have to be prepared.
You know, it's not a first in, first out. You submit your profile, you cross your fingers and hope [00:23:00] the draws and you're g- you know, hope that you're gonna win that lottery. Okay, let's talk about how this CRS score is actually built. This is one of the most important parts of the, of the whole Express Entry process.
Now, they talk about it being a maximum of 1,200 points. You know, I think there's, with the bonus points and things, there's a lot of variation, but here's what actually moves the needle. So The comprehensive ranking system, as you guys can see right here, it's broken down into core human capital. There's points for spouses and partners, which I'll just highlight right here.
This really punishes couples because often one applicant will be stronger than the other. And so if you're applying as an individual, there's 40 points that are all included within your core human capital. But if you have a spouse, those 40 points are actually stripped away, and then they're assessed against your spouse.
So if your spouse's language or education is a little bit lower, it can really hurt. But in episode nine, we're gonna talk a little about some of those proposed changes to remove it under these 2026 reforms. So pay [00:24:00] close attention to the upcoming episodes. We'll dive deep into that. But essentially, the core human capital factors are based on, as we can see here in the slide, they're based on age, where you can get up to 110 points.
But once you hit 45, you're not getting any points, so it does not reward older applicants. Alicia, you know, her being 29 years old, she probably still has lots of points. But me being 53, I've been at zero for quite a while. In addition to age, they look at your education. Those with a PhD are gonna get a lot more points than those that just have high school.
But there's also Canadian work experience. Well, I should say education, first language. So there's a lot of points that are available when an individual has a really, really high language scores, and that can be French or English. And then ultimately, if your French is your first and English is your second, then there's additional points for both of those.
So and then the Canadian work experience, 80 points are up for grabs over a five-year period And the big, big bonus point comes when you hit one year, [00:25:00] because after one year, and we're gonna talk a little bit, a lot about, more about the, the core factors a little bit later. This is just kind of a high level.
But for one year of Canadian work experience as a, as a single individual, that's, that's, n- yeah, basically single, it's 40 points for your first year. And if you're, if you're married or you're common law, you have a spouse, then you've got 35 points for that first year. So it's a big boost. And then the wild card factors are the skill transferability, and they're built off of a combination of factors, education combined with good language, or foreign work experience combined with language.
And so there's a maximum of 100 points that you can get, and many people who've never worked outside of Canada before they came, just studied, went to school, they're not gonna... They're gonna have a hard time hitting that full 100 points. People that do have foreign work experience, often that helps them to push over the top to get the full 100.
And then finally, the points that are really, really quite contentious are the ones that are the additional points. So there's 600 points if you got a PNP nomination. French gives you a [00:26:00] bonus 50, siblings in Canada 50, and Canadian study 15 to 30 points. And those points right there are what are on the table for scrapping.
So IRCC is looking at, i- and, and we'll talk more about this in episodes nine and 10, but they're looking at removing some of these bonus points, and we'll talk about this in detail, so it's just kind of a little bit of a teaser, and we will try to break that down, what that means for everyone, both now and in the future.
And we kind of know that these, some of these changes may very well happen right away, and that's why we're trying to get these episodes out to you as quickly as possible. Okay. Like we said, 50, 15, 50 to 15 to 30, and 40 points total. Now, I added the spousal CRS grid on here. We'll have a deep dive in episode nine on this, but this is one that I'm so grateful they're getting rid of.
So like I talked about, those, those 40 bonus, those 40 points that are attributed to a spouse, which often punish couples, force so many people to just decide, [00:27:00] "Oh, maybe I should leave my spouse behind so that they're not accompanying," 'cause if they're not accompanying, then I can go through as a single applicant and my CRS score will be higher.
Some couples chose to have a spouse return back to their home country so that they can make it fit. We won't get into a lot of details on that, but understand in episodes nine and 10 we'll go over this in a lot more deep dive, but we think these things are gonna be happening. Well, at least I know they're gonna be happening, so a lot of these changes.
Any- literally any day now they could make a change. Especially for French, Mark, especially for people who are like, "Oh my goodness, I've just spent a year learning French. It- do I give up on that now because they're taking away the 50 bonus points?" We will talk about this, but, you know, make sure that you don't panic.
Keep in mind that if they are taking away 50 points for French, you know, y- there's hopefully still gonna be category-based draws, and if that whole pool level then has a CRS that sinks, then you might still be competitive. So stay tuned. We will go through this with you every step of the way. And two additional things, [00:28:00] too, Alicia, that we haven't captured here on our slide are the job offers and the PNP.
So we know as well that the PNP is also, they're proposing to remove those 600 points, which would make sense ultimately if they're gonna do that because if they're having PNP-only draws, well- The PNP folks are the only ones that are gonna get the 600 points. So whether they're getting drawn with 720 points or 120 points in the, in the PNP-only draw, it really doesn't make a difference.
It's not impacting. And I think as each of these strip away, like we've talked about, it's gonna make things a little bit easier for people who are CEC-only draws, at least in the current world, okay? And so until the regulatory changes come in the future, at least if these points are stripped away, it's gonna level the playing field a little bit more and, and lean towards the human capital.
And another thing that we haven't discussed yet is the job offers. So back in March of 2025, those were stripped away because of fraud, and ugh, it just, it's [00:29:00] so frustrating. But they have proposed that those be reintroduced, and obviously when it comes to the job offers, how they structure it and how they try to protect against the fraud, it's always gonna be there, something they're gonna have to tackle.
But they're looking at re- returning that for especially the high-wage folks, and we don't know exactly what it's gonna look like. So are they gonna return to the LMIA, the per- the one LMIA to support permanent residents only? And then they also talk about people with high-wage and Canadian work experience.
So both of those pieces were in existence before when it came to permanent residents, but it's gonna be really interesting how they try to navigate through those very, very murky waters when you've got all of those, those fraudulent sharks swimming around looking for opportunities to sell job offers because they're so important within the context of these, these, this permanent resident journey for people.
Okay. Let's shift now to a little talk about the discussion about [00:30:00] these draws and how these invitations are actually issued. So I'll turn this over to you. So this is one of the things that I often get consultations from people who are outside of Canada, often American clients who say, "Oh, I should be eligible," right?
"I, I kind of go through all the boxes. I check all the boxes for eligibility for federal skilled worker. I've done my selection pass mark of 67. Great. I'm gonna come to Canada." And unfortunately, we need to take a look at what's been happening with the draws. So on a high level- IRCC is doing draws according to their requirements, which are top secret, right?
They've not publicly released the frequency of draws, the category of draws or the type of draws, and the number of invitations that they're going to issue at any time, because it really, really makes a difference in terms of who gets an ITA and who doesn't. So what's been happening is that every few weeks [00:31:00] IRCC normally does a draw, and we've seen blips in this.
Sometimes they go a month and there's no CEC draw, or they go a month and only there's a PNP draw. But once they've set a round of invitations, those invitations usually go out. Sometimes there's issues with that, and there's l- delays in people getting those invitations, so they've got to fix some technical glitches.
But it's pretty, it's pretty steady by and large. So here's what's happening. There are three kind of categories or big buckets of types of draws that they are doing. One is the general draw, and it used to be that we saw general draws all the time. When you look at previous rounds of invitations on the IRCC express entry page, it used to say general draw all the time.
I looked back, Mark, and there has not been a general draw since April 23rd, 2024. That was the last general draw. So no general draws. What has happened instead is that IRCC has been doing program draws, so they've really focused on CEC only or PNP. [00:32:00] There have been no FSW draws. There have been no FST draws.
So literally only CEC, people with Canadian high-skilled work experience one year within the last three, or people who have a PNP nomination have been getting a program draw. What has really shifted the landscape significantly are the category-based draws, and so- I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to understand what your basic eligibility is, so minimum eligibility criteria, what they call the MEC, and your CRS score.
And then only once you have those two things could you be eligible for a category-based draw. And so that's what's happening now is that IRCC has really pivoted to focusing on category-based draws. So we know there's 10 active categories. We've got that French language proficiency, so if you've got your NCLC level seven in all four capabilities or higher than NCLC level seven, you could be eligible for a category-based [00:33:00] draw.
Healthcare, social services occupations. We've got STEM, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Trade occupations, transport occupations, education occupations, physicians with Canadian experience, which is relatively new. Senior managers, also quite new. Researchers, also quite new, and skilled military recruits, which requires a job offer from the Canadian Armed Forces.
So those are our categories right now. And it's interesting, Alicia, when we're going through this, every time we do a live Q&A, inevitably someone asks us, "When do you think the next draw is going to be for, say, a category-based draw?" Like, I think one of the more recent ones is healthcare people asking a lot, "When is the next healthcare draw gonna be?"
One thing that we know for certain, and we will dive into this in much more detail in future episodes, this is still kind of a high-level intro, is that French will continue to happen on a frequent basis. And of all of the category-based draws, by far French has dominated those categories. So once again, if you're wondering, [00:34:00] what should I do with my French?
Is French still worth it? Yes, everyone, French is absolutely 100% still worth it. Okay, so when we- when someone is fortunate and they, they... Well, right now it feels like you win the lottery and you get an invitation to apply, then the next step is you have to actually submit your permanent resident application, and there is a whopping 60 days to get her done.
Now, within our process that we do within the firm, we have the vast majority of these things all queued up and lined up just waiting to go, waiting to, to submit. So the last thing in the world you wanna do is wait until the last, you know, moment once you get your ITA to then start looking for these things.
Now, obviously, some of them you need to get into the pool right off the bat, like your language and educational credential assessments, but Alicia, maybe you can just address this a little bit. Yeah. So this is all family members that are part of the application, and sometimes it's even documents for unaccompanied family members w- when we're talking about police [00:35:00] certificates and things.
So it is really important that everybody understand who's part of the application and what are the documents that tend to take the longest time to gather. And the interesting thing is, and I'm sure, Mark, you get this question all the time as well, when people start working through their EAPR fields, so that express entry application for permanent residence, and they are trying to get all green check marks, right?
So you've got the principal applicant, you've got the spouse, then you've got each of the kids, and if you can't fill out all those forms, you won't get all the green check marks to continue. And people are always worried about, "Oh my goodness, if I continue, can I go back?" You can go back. At least under the current system, definitely you can go back.
Yes. So you wanna complete all those EAPR forms, every section, every family member as soon as possible so that you understand your document checklist. And you don't get your document checklist until you get all green check marks on your application sections themselves. Then when you go there, you will see, okay, [00:36:00] every person needs police certificates for every country they've lived in continuously for six or more months since age 18.
And sometimes if you've not inputted your personal history or your address history or your travel history correctly, it won't ask you for the correct police certificates. So if you know you've been in a country, make sure that you go back and cross-reference all of your fields so that you are seeing the proper police certificates appearing in your document checklist.
Sometimes some countries take a very long time to get those police certificates, and if you cannot get them, then they can just immediately say that your application is incomplete. So police certificates are a big one that you'll wanna pay attention to and apply for right away. Medical exams, we've had all sorts of temporary public policies with medical exams, but the rule now is that you must have upfront medical exams for every person.
In some countries it, it's harder to find a panel physician to do this immigration medical, so make [00:37:00] sure to book those exams early for everybody in your family. Again, even for kids because the principal applicant can be medically inadmissible based on a medically inadmissible family member. Most people will have those valid language test results because they needed it to create their profile in the first place.
However, those language test results are only valid for two years, and so I get a lot of questions about what's gonna happen to my profile, to my EAPR if my language tests expire. And the answer is you've got to make sure that you've submitted your EAPR before those language tests expire. And so if you've got a deadline on language tests, make sure that the applicants are retaking those language tests if they won't be able to actually submit the EAPR before the language test expire.
Education credential assessments, five years, usually those are not expiring, but same principle that they must be valid at the time of submission. And proof of funds, and this is a big one, especially because we've had so many Francophone draws. [00:38:00] Many people are struggling to prove the proof of funds, and I think that's where we're getting a lot of refusals or d- d- declined ITAs where people realize, oh, I can't actually prove that I have the settlement funds required- Mm-hmm
for my family. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it's interesting when you think about this, Alicia, there's minefields all over. One of them is just recognizing that the 60-day time period, it's not kind of a rough estimate, you know, around 60 days. Like the clock ticks. When you hit 61, your invitation to apply will disappear and, and you will, you will lose out on your opportunity.
You'll actually have to go in and recreate your entire profile. So for individuals that decline the ITA, then their profile goes back into the pool so they don't have to recreate it, and then they can wait for the next draw. If whatever reason you miss that time or you figure, oh, well, I'm just not gonna apply, it's not a big deal.
I'm- I don't have what I need, so I'll just let it lapse, and then I'll just continue in the [00:39:00] pool again. It doesn't work that way, so you actually have to formally decline the ITA and go back into the pool. Another thing to understand is that Canada operates under universal time. So UTC, this, this time, time code essentially can trip people up, especially if you are in Eastern Canada or the Maritimes or anywhere.
If you think you have the full day wherever you're at, you may not, so you need to pay close attention to when those times are occurring, and don't leave the submission of your application to the last day, just full stop. All right, well, this kind of comes to the end of this episode, but we wanna talk just briefly about some of the most important things that you need to know.
And the reality is, like we talked about, there's two main streams of things that are happening here. One is that the government is gonna use their ministerial instructions to strip away a lot of those extra bonus points, the bonus points for French, siblings, Canadian study. You know, they're gonna alter the spousal CRS grid, which personally is [00:40:00] really good as far as I'm concerned, because no longer will married or common-law couples be punished if one of the spouses has less human capital, like language scores that are not as good, education that's not as high, or even Canadian work experience.
So those 40 points, they're gonna do something with those. We're still waiting to see how it all plays out. They've also talked about re- re-upping the job offer points that they stripped away, and the PNP, the 600 points. So we'll talk about a lot of those in future episodes, and then those things can happen anytime.
Literally, they could be dropping, and that's why we're re- we're releasing these episodes so quickly on Monday and Thursday of every week so that we can get this information out as quickly as possible before they start to make changes to the CRS criteria. The other pillar, or the other change, there's two of them like we talked about, is that the regulatory changes need to happen to basically consolidate how complex this whole world of CEC, FST, you know, [00:41:00] Federal Skilled, the Federal Skilled program itself, Federal Skilled Worker program.
So those three programs are all gonna be consolidated into one, and it just takes time and to, to make those changes. But I'll be honest, you guys, substantively, those changes aren't gonna really affect a lot of people as it comes to getting into the pool. What's gonna happen is so much of your opportunities to apply for permanent residence are gonna ride on the CRS criteria, the category-based draws, and that's really what's gonna draw, you know, that's what's gonna drive this, this, this ship here going forward.
Yeah, so if you're looking at the scores right now, you feel like you're competitive, you're uncertain how things like even the high wage like we talked about, if it, if it comes in soon, how it's gonna impact you, now is the time to act. And this window right now before these changes occur is right away, so if you feel like you've got a shot at it, reach out to us.
We can help you book a consult. We can go through and determine, you know, the likelihood of, of success, and even talk [00:42:00] about, because we now have a very clear idea of what's gonna happen, we can talk about the future. And you may not be eligible right now, but maybe with the changes coming up it might have a, an opportunity to make, you know, make a, a dream of yours that you're hoping actually come to life.
So- Mm-hmm We expect that the changes to the regulatory programs are probably going to, gonna happen not until late 2027 or early 2028. They have to still do a whole bunch of different steps to make that happen. But for the CRS changes, they've got these lovely ministerial instructions, so any day now we could see the imposition of the high-wage occupations or any of these.
So just things to keep in mind as we wrap up this episode. Coming up, we've got a number of... Like I said, there's 15 episodes. Some of the ones that you wanna watch out for, you know, episode two, the very next one, we're gonna talk about the data behind express entry. How do we- how do they actually make their decisions?
You know, what are they changing? [00:43:00] Why do they feel like they need to make modifications when the system is working kind of right now? You know, and then episode three, we're gonna talk about more specifically what's changing and what isn't, talking about early game planning, and basically develop kind of a strategy map so that you can understand the full reform landscape Episode four, it's kind of the big shakeup.
You know, since 2015, we're gonna talk about the policy context, the targets, what basically why IRCC is doing this right now. Like, what's the, what's the issue? Why are they pushing this? And there's some interesting discussion points on that, Alicia, because obviously, you know, when you look from outside, you're not inside in the- in the rooms when they're making these decisions, but on the outside we can sure see that there's some pretty clear indicators of what's driving them, you know, this motivation to make change right now.
Episode five, you will not wanna miss that one. I attended just recently my Canadian Bar [00:44:00] Association National Conference in Ottawa on May the 29th, and this is where we kind of learned a little bit more about the two-track timeline. At first, I wasn't sure how quickly they were going to be making the changes to the CRS criteria.
I- originally, when I went into that conference, and understand I was actually speaking on the panel with Jonathan Josipov, who is- who oversees the- the PR economic programs within Canada, and I was under the apprehension that this was- these changes likely wouldn't happen till next year. So I thought, "No big deal.
We don't have to rush this podcast series. We can slowly roll it out." And then once I got a- a close look at what was happening, I realized that, oh no, they have the authority to do anything they want right now with respect to the criteria, so literally any day this will drop. And then the following episodes, six to 11, we're gonna dive deep, you guys.
We're gonna take one episode per change, what it means, who it's gonna affect, and what to do about it. So stay tuned. This is going to be a fun little series for [00:45:00] Alicia and I. It's gonna create a little bit of a load for us because it's not like we don't have a- a very busy practice right now. But this series is so important, we wanted to make sure that we got it out to you as quickly as possible so that you could prepare now.
And there's nothing more important than knowing what's coming and then doing what you can to increase your chances of success in a very, a very, very tight permanent resident market. Mm-hmm. Any last comments, Alicia, before we wrap it up? Yeah. I mean, we're- we're not here to be fear-mongering. We're not here to scare people.
We are literally here to try to help understand what is happening, what that means for you, what are the steps that you can take, how are you gonna prepare yourself so that you can make the best decisions possible for you and your family. Indeed. All right, so we will see you guys again in episode two, where we talk about the state of economic PR in Canada.
If you need any assistance, don't hesitate to reach out. You can go to our website, [00:46:00] holthelaw.com/consultation, and we'd be happy to connect with you and talk about all of these changes in detail. All right, everyone, take care. We'll see you in the next episode.
Thank you for listening to the Canadian Immigration Podcast, your trusted source for information on Canadian immigration law, policy, and practice. If you would like to book a legal consultation, please visit www.holthelaw.com. You can also find lots more helpful information on our Canadian Immigration Institute YouTube channel, where you can join Mark on one of his many Canadian Immigration live Q&As.
See you soon, and all the best as you navigate this crazy world we call Canadian immigration.
