74,000 new immigrants moved to Canada between January and April 2020. Before the Coronavirus pandemic forced lockdowns around the world, Canada was welcoming a high number of immigrants to its shores.
Just a few days before the lockdowns happened, Canada’s Immigration Minister announced that Canada plans to bring in 1 million Permanent Residents between 2020 and 2022. The lockdowns did create a few interruptions in the immigration system of Canada, but the country continued to process visa applications to the best of its ability.
Even in 2020, India continues its run as the top source country for skilled immigrants in Canada. In the first four months of 2020, 24% of all immigrants who came to Canada were Indians.
India continues to be the leading country for skilled immigrants in Canada as a major chunk of the Indian population speaks good English. Also, Indian applicants tend to have university degrees and good work experience which makes them eligible for many of Canada’s immigration programs.
There are a large number of Indians in the US as well on H1B Visas. Ever since the Trump-led Govt. has imposed restrictions on the H1B Visa, many Indians have started migrating from the US to Canada.
Top 10 source countries for immigrants in Canada
Here are the top 10 countries for immigrants in Canada:
- India
- China
- Philippines
- USA
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Syria
- France
- Iran
- Brazil
Immigration from China has increased from 9% in 2019 to 10% in 2020. The immigration numbers from the Philippines has also increased from 7% in 2019 to 8% in 2020.
How can you immigrate to Canada from India?
If you are a skilled worker and would like to work and settle in Canada, then the Express Entry Program is the most popular program for immigrating to Canada.
Implemented in January 2015, the Express Entry program is Canada’s system of managing applications for immigration for several of the country’s economic immigration programs like:
- Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP)
- Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP)
- Canadian Experienced Class (CEC).
The Express Entry Program is a points-based process that awards you points based on various factors like age, education, work experience, language proficiency, etc. To apply under any one of the programs, one has to fill in an online Expression of Interest (EOI). The prerequisites to filing an EOI is to get your educational credentials assessed by anyone of the assessing bodies like WES and take a language proficiency test like IELTS or TEF to prove your linguistic skills in either English or French.
Once the EOI has been submitted it is accepted into a pool. The profiles in the pool are gauged by the CRS or Comprehensive Ranking System. The Comprehensive Ranking System is a points-based system used to assess and score your profile and rank it in the Express Entry pool. The higher your CRS score, the faster you receive an invitation to apply for the Canada PR Visa.
Not aware of your CRS score? Use the CRS calculator to calculate your CRS score.
The IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) conducts draws at regular intervals and shortlisted candidate receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA).
From the day of receipt of the ITA, one gets 60 days to submit an application for the Canada PR Visa process. IRCC processes the most completed applications that have all the supporting documents in 6 months or less.
Express Entry applicants may remain in the pool for up to 12 months. If during this time, they do not receive an ITA, they may submit a new profile.
Apart from the Express Entry Program, the Provincial Nominee Program is also a very popular route for immigrants to move to Canada. PNPs have unique eligibility requirements. Some use the CRS score to shortlist candidates while others don’t. So, if you do not have a very high CRS Score, you must consider applying through a PNP.
Obtaining a provincial nomination increases your CRS score by 600 points. That is half the points that you can earn on the Comprehensive Ranking System. Getting these additional points guarantees that you will be picked for an invitation in the next invitation round.
The whole Canada PR Visa process, from start to finish, may take anywhere between 6 to 12 months.
