IMPACT – MEDIUM

What is the change? Citizenship and Immigration Canada has begun returning Canadian Experience Class permanent residence applications that were filed on or after Oct. 20, 2014, because a cap of 8,000 applications had already been reached on that date. Applicants were not notified that the cap was reached.

What does the change mean? Those who filed Canadian Experience Class permanent residence applications Oct. 20, 2014, or later are required to resubmit their applications using Canada’s new Express Entry system.

  • Implementation timeframe: Immediate and ongoing.
  • Visas/permits affected: Permanent residence visas/confirmation of permanent residence in the Canadian Experience Class.
  • Who is affected: Anyone who filed a Canadian Experience Class permanent residence application after Oct. 20, 2014 who is still interested in obtaining permanent residence.
  • Impact on processing times: The applications described above will not be processed. Instead, those still interested in applying for permanent residence will have to resubmit their applications through Canada’s new Express Entry system.
  • Business impact: Temporary foreign workers who filed a Canadian Experience Class permanent residence application after Oct. 20, 2014, and who were awaiting acknowledgement of receipt so that they could apply for a bridging open work permit to authorize them to continue to work in Canada while the application was being processed, will now need to find an alternate way to extend their Canadian work permit.

Background: In May 2014, Canada capped the number of Canadian Experience Class permanent residence applications before the new Express Entry system took effect. The cap was exhausted in October, but because of problems in notifying people, applicants continued to file applications. Those that were filed after Oct. 20, 2014 are now being returned.

Canadian Experience Class applicants must now use the Express Entry system when applying for permanent residence. Under a points-based system, those ranked highest will receive an invitation to apply for permanent residence. The first invitations to apply, issued Jan. 31, made it clear that applicants with job offers have a significant advantage over applicants without offers.

BAL Analysis: Employers should work with their BAL attorney to explore options for affected temporary foreign workers to retain work authorization.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group and our network provider located in Canada. For additional information, please contact your BAL attorney.

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