Blue Bird Blog

Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller will announce plans to improve Canada’s immigration system today.
Note: This is a developing story. CIC News will update it following Minister Miller’s announcement at 1:15 PM Eastern Time.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has released a media advisory stating the minister will “unveil the Strategic Immigration Review report and the plan to improve Canada’s immigration system” beginning at 1:15 PM Eastern Time today.

Today the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, Randy Boissonnault announced changes to the Temporary Foreign Workforce Solutions Road Map, to help employers address key labour shortages through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).
The Temporary Foreign Workforce Solutions Road Map is a continued measure to better enable employers to respond to labour and economic conditions in Canada as they occur, by adjusting the TFWP accordingly.

In June, Canada announced the launch of the Tech Talent Strategy. Part of the strategy was to promote Canada as a destination for digital nomads. A digital nomad is a person who can perform their job remotely from anywhere in the world.
Under current Canadian immigration rules, a digital nomad only needs visitor status to relocate to Canada for up to six months at a time while they perform their job remotely for a foreign employer.

As they pick their Canadian educational institution, it is common for international students to consult trusted rankings and evaluators to help choose the best school for their needs.
One of those trusted evaluators is Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), viewed globally as a leader in analyzing higher education institutions around the world.
In fact, back in 2013, QS was the first “global and regional university rankings” organization to be “International Ranking Expert Group (IREG)-approved for three of its research outputs". The IREG is “an international institutional non-profit association of ranking organizations, universities and other bodies interested in university rankings and academic excellence.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) officials must consider the possible impacts on Canadian workers before granting foreign workers a permit. Therefore, a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is often mandatory.
However, if a 'significant benefit' exemption is recognised, the need for an LMIA can be bypassed—specifically if the advantages gained from granting a work permit greatly surpass the possible negative effects of not admitting the foreign worker or delaying their entry to Canada. In such scenarios, even in the absence of an LMIA, other factors can allow a foreign worker to obtain a Significant Benefit Work Permit (SBWP)—an LMIA-exempt work permit that aims to have a much faster processing time.