Blue Bird Blog

Canada welcomes millions of tourists, visitors, immigrants, foreign workers, and students each year. However, before coming to Canada, whatever the reason, it’s important to know that a past criminal record can make you inadmissible.
If you have been convicted of a crime in the past, your admissibility to Canada is calculated based on the equivalency of the foreign criminal offence into Canadian law.

Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) now has a processing time of 30 days for Temporary Resident Visas (TRVs) for spousal applicants.
The measure applies to spousal applicants who have already applied for permanent residency in Canada. Rather than require applicants to remain in their home countries while awaiting IRCC’s decision, they can now come to Canada while they wait for their application to be processed.

In 2023, Canada aims to welcome 465,000 new permanent residents. By 2025, this target is increased to 500,000. Pakistan is one of the top source countries of new immigrants to Canada, which is currently home to over 300,000 Pakistani people. The largest share of Pakistani people live in Ontario, especially in Toronto, Mississauga and Milton.

On July 16, Canada introduced a new Open Work Permit (OWP) for H-1B visa holders as part of Canada’s new tech talent strategy.
The OWP gives candidates in specialized occupations the ability to work for almost any employer in Canada, is valid for up to three years and holders are allowed to bring their immediate families to Canada with them.
It proved to be an extremely popular option and the cap of 10,000 applications was reached within two days, leaving some wondering what other options are available for H-1B holders to immigrate to Canada.

On June 29, the Government of Ontario announced it would cap rent increases for 2023 at 2.5%.
Each year, Ontario releases a rent increase guideline that landlords can then use to raise the cost of tenants’ rent by a specific percentage to align with the cost of living. The province typically uses Ontario’s Consumer Price Index as a baseline for inflation. However, the recent high rate means that by this standard, landlords would have been able to raise rents by 5.3% for the year, which is not sustainable for most tenants.