Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s finance minister, disclosed Canada’s 2022 budget following the election in September 2021.
Budgets reveal how and where the Canadian government plans to spend and how it will earn revenue.
The budget announced by the federal government each year is a noteworthy report because it shows the economic and fiscal health condition of Canada. In addition to this, it suggests the government is going to focus on which policy priority.
This Year’s New Immigration Proposals
The government of Canada plans to follow several Immigration preferences, which are summarised in the 2022 budget.
The changes in the Express Entry program:
In the 2022 budget, the government suggests revising the IRPA. This amendment is to provide the authority to the immigration minister to utilize Ministerial Instructions to help in selecting individuals who can satisfy the labor market needs of Canada.
Although the government did not provide further details on the changes, it is willing to make them.
Funds For Immigration Levels Plan:
The government has planned to spend $2.1 billion over five years to support its efforts to process and welcome more than 4 lakh new PRs every year. And $317.6 million for new funding of ongoing processes.
The TFW Program:
The government has made a commitment to invest $29.3 million within the duration of the next 36 months to create a Trusted Employer Model in the new budget to reduce red tape for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
Employers to repeat in the high-demand fields who satisfy the most standards for working, living, protection, and pay will be eligible for the new model.
More information about the new model will be revealed in the future.
In addition to this, the government is willing to create a new streamlined Temporary Foreign Worker Program for farming and fish processing employers with an investment of $48.2 million.
Further, the government is committed to spending $64.6 million over three years to boost the ability to process employer applications within specified service standards.
To improvise the immigration services:
To invest in the technology and devices required to assist the customers better and improve IRCC’s ability to react to its increasing inquiries, the government proposed spending $187.3 million over five years. And $37.2 million on ongoing processes for IRCC.
The Citizenship Act:
The government plans to revise the Canadian citizenship act to accommodate the increased citizenship applications and enable automatic processing, secure collection, and use of biometrics.
Previous Budgets And Immigration
Immigration has been a matter of discussion in each year’s budget.
It contains important notices regarding Immigration.
In the 2014 budget, Canada proposed to invest millions to make sure to launch the express entry in January 2015.
In the 2021 budget, Canada proposed a budget of $485 million to update Canada’s immigration system.
For Immigration, the 2021 budget has five important commitments, some of which are effective now, like the Temporary Residence to Permanent Residence pathway grant. This was the substitute for the GCMS, the immigration applications processing system.
Further, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program also got more funding in the 2021 budget.
The extra funds were to raise the employer compliance checks to prevent the mistreatment of the employees and to support weak overseas employees by permitting them to apply for an open work permit if they were abused by their Canadian employers.
Lastly, the government proposed additional grants for initiatives aimed at improving employment outcomes for racialized new women immigrants in the country in Budget 2021.
Latest Important Immigration Notifications
The government revealed five new modifications for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program on the 4th of April.
- The validity of Labour Market Impact Assessments is increased for 9-18 months.
- The engagement period for Global Talent Stream and High-Wage workers is raised to 36 months from 24 months.
- Employers in seasonal industries will not have a limitation on how many low-wage positions they can fill with TFWP.
- Employers can have a group of 20 % to 30 % overseas staff members depending on the industry.
- The government will do no more automatic rejection of LMIA applications for low-wage jobs in housing, food, and retail businesses with a 6% or more unemployment rate.
In March, several measures were taken by the Canadian government to support the Ukraine people escaping the war. Ukrainians can visit the country on a temporary visa called the CUAET initiated by the Canadian government. This visa will be valid for 36 months.
To keep up the country’s economic recovery behind the covid, Canada declared to boost its immigration levels in February.
Canada is expecting to host more and more PR over the next three years, according to the Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024, and is willing to welcome 431,645 new PR only in 2022.
Before covid, it had a goal of welcoming some 340,000 immigrants per year. However, by 2024, that number is expected to rise to 451,000.
In January, Sean Fraser, Canada’s Immigration Minister, disclosed how IRCC is trying to enhance its processing standards and lower its backlogs.
The following action after the budget proposal?
After proposing the budget, the following step is to vote on it in the parliament. The elected members will vote on the proposed budget in the Canadian parliament. If most members disagree with the budget, it will initiate an election. Although, this is unlikely to occur.
This is because the New representative Party has so far shown support for the budget after signing a pact with PM Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party.
