How can I immigrate to Canada in 2021?

Canada is among the most popular destinations for those thinking of settling down overseas. Many people that approach visa consultants in India go with the popular query of How can I immigrate to Canada in 2020?

Interestingly, Indians were the largest group to receive PR visas in the first half of 2020. With welcoming immigration policies and an admissions target of more than 1.2 million between 2021 to 2023, Canada does hold a lot of charm for migrants belonging to different parts of the world.

While there are many ways in which you can migrate to Canada, the most popular pathways to Canada permanent residency are Express Entry and Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).

What is the Express Entry?

The Government of Canada’s Express Entry is an online portal used for the management of permanent residence applications from skilled foreign workers.

Express Entry manages Canada PR applications for 3 programs:

1. Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP)
2. Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP)
3. Canadian Experience Class (CEC)

Basic comparison between FSWP – FSTP – CEC

	Education	Work Experience	Job Offer
Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP)	Secondary education required. Note. Post-secondary education gets more points in the eligibility criteria.	1-year of continuous work experience within the last 10 years. This should be in the primary occupation of the applicant. Can be a combination of part-time, full-time or more than 1 jobs.	Not required. Note. A valid job offer gets points on the eligibility criteria.
Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP)	Not required.	2 years within the last 5 years. Either combination of part-time or full-time.	Valid job offer needed. Full-time. For a total period of at least 1 year. OR A certificate of qualification in that particular skilled trade. To be issued by a Canadian provincial/federal/territorial authority.
Canadian Experience Class (CEC)	Not required.	1-year Canadian experience in last 3 years. This can be either a combination of part-time or full-time work.	Not required.

To be eligible for Express Entry, you must score 67 out of 100 points.

You can check your eligibility online through the Canada Skilled Immigration Points Calculator.

Once a candidate’s profile is in the Express Entry Pool, it is ranked against the other profiles on the basis of the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS).

Do keep in mind that the eligibility calculation and CRS are entirely different.

If you have the required points for eligibility which is 67 points at present, you can make your application through the Express Entry system.

The next step is to score the required points in the Comprehensive Ranking system to get an invitation to apply or ITA for Canada PR visa under the Express Entry immigration program. The CRS is a merit-based points system where points are given to candidates based on certain factors. Every applicant in the scores Express Entry system is assigned a CRS score out of 1200 points and if he highest points under the CRS, he will get an ITA for the PR visa. The CRS score keeps changing with every Express Entry draw.

What is the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)?

Another popular way of gaining Canadian permanent residency is through the Provincial Nominee Program.

The Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) was started by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to help the different provinces and territories in Canada to select immigration candidates who are willing to settle down in a particular province or territory in the country and have the skills and expertise to contribute to the economic development of the province or territory. But not all of Canada’s provinces and territories participate in the PNP.

Nunavut and Quebec are not part of the PNP. While Nunavut does not have any program for the induction of immigrants, Quebec has its own separate program – Quebec Skilled Worker Program (QSWP) – for inducting immigrants to the province.

Most provinces are looking for individuals who will contribute to the province's economic growth and are willing to settle in that province. Criteria that provinces take into consideration may include the following:

• A job offer in the province
• Work experience in important industries
• English or French language skills
• Presence of close relations in the province
• Ability to adapt to lifestyle in the province

For being nominated by any of the provinces or territories taking part in the PNP, the first step is to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) directly with the province concerned.

Adding 600 additional points to the CRS score of a candidate, a provincial nomination can give a big boost to the profile of any candidate.

A provincial nomination is a guarantee that the candidate’s profile will be chosen in the next draw to be held from the EE Pool and consequently get an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for applying for Canadian PR.

Canada immigration has bright prospects with admissions target set as below for 2021-23:

Year	Immigration target
2021	401,000
2022	411,000
2023	421,000

The admission target for the next three years under the PNP are:

Year	Target	Low range	High range
2021	80,800	64,000	81,500
2022	81,500	63,600	82,500
2023	83,000	65,000	84,000

Do keep in mind that Canada immigration is by no means limited to these two above-mentioned pathways alone.

There are certain Pilot programs that can also get you Canadian PR – the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, the Agri-Food Immigration Pilot, and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP). The RNIP was launched by the Government of Canada in keeping with the success of the Atlantic Immigration Pilot.

Recently, some of the 11 communities participating in RNIP have started accepting applications.

Over the years, while an increasing number of immigrants have made Canada their home, a significant number of them have centered around the prominent Canadian cities of Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. As a result, though Canada has succeeded in stepping up the migrant flow, there is still an acute labor crisis in the regional areas of Canada.

It is for the specific aim of encouraging more migrants to settle down in the regional areas of Canada that Pilot programs like the Atlantic Immigration Pilot and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot have been launched.

Taking everything into consideration, probably the best way for anyone to immigrate to Canada in 2021 would be by creating an Express Entry profile and lodging an Expression of Interest (EOI) with all the provinces taking part in the PNP, as well as with Quebec separately.

If you are a skilled foreign worker, you can soon move to Canada with your family. All that you have to do is to enter the EE Pool and hope for a provincial nomination.

Each of the provinces and territories taking part in the PNP has their own streams that are specifically targeted at a particular group of migrants. There are 80 streams under PNP.

As specific intervals, the provinces and territories under PNP send Invitations to Apply (ITAs) to candidates that possess the skills in demand in the province/territory. Generally, the minimum CRS cut-off in the PNP draws is much lower as compared to the federal EE draw in the period.

Canada’s stance on immigration is expected to remain unchanged in spite of the Coronavirus pandemic. Announcing the immigration targets from 2021-23 recently, the Canadian immigration minister Marco Mendicino reiterated how immigrants are important for Canada’s economic recovery. This is your best chance to migrate to Canada.

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