Canada’s unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, according to the latest federal government figures released Friday. The Statistics Canada Labour Market Survey recorded unemployment of 7.5 percent, as Canada jobs increased by 303,100 during the month, moving employment within 1.5 percent of pre-COVID levels. The
China is the second-most important source of new Canadian permanent residents who come through family sponsorship programs, reveals data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. In 2019, China provided Canada with 10,555 new permanent residents through these programs. Border restrictions and bans on all but essential international travel hampered the arrival of immigrants to Canada
British Columbia immigration has conducted two new draws, issuing invitations to a total of 374 candidates through the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program. The March 30 draws again saw B.C. take the step of conducting a general draw, and a second draw targeting two NOC codes: 0621 for Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers and 0631
Canada has extended a COVID-19-related policy that allows visitors to get work permits without having to leave the country. An announcement from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on Tuesday said the temporary public policy would be extended until August 31, 2021. At the same time, IRCC also tweaked the criteria of the policy to
Ottawa is temporarily tweaking its Post-Graduation Work Permit Program to make things easier during the pandemic for international students who are either already in eligible programs or will begin them by this autumn. Usually, the time these students spend on distance learning courses is excluded from consideration for the length of their PGWP – and
Canada has confirmed a new month-long extension of the closure of the Canada-U.S. border to all but essential travel to stop the spread of COVID-19. “Non-essential travel restrictions between Canada and the U.S. have been extended by another 30 days – until Apr. 21.,” tweeted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 18. “We’ll continue to
British Columbia immigration has conducted two new draws, issuing invitations to a total of 506 candidates through the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program. The March 16 draws again included the 31 occupations previously excluded due to the coronavirus crisis. B.C. also again took the step of conducting a general draw, and a second draw targeting
Canada saw an employment rebound in February, adding 259,000 jobs and seeing the lowest unemployment since March 2020, when COVID-19 restrictions were first imposed. The Canada jobs Labour Market Survey saw an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent, as the major provinces of Quebec and Ontario spearheaded the recovery. Stakeholders will be hoping the figures are
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has nixed the idea of vaccine passports for Canadians – but there are already companies and other governments around the world hard at work to put them in place. In an interview with Reuters about a month ago, the Canadian prime minister noted many people will likely choose to not get
Canada has confirmed January was a record month for immigration since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, with 24,665 new permanent resident admissions. The figure is 2,000 short of the one given by Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino in a February Bloomberg interview, but is still the newest immigrants welcomed since February 2020. Canada first imposed