stressed woman

IRCC opens May 6 with a rough start as servers get overloaded with applicants

On your marks, get set, go! Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada opened the gates for the new six limited-time-only immigration programs aimed to grant temporary residents the coveted permanent resident status.

However, only an hour into opening day, IRCC announced on their Twitter that their online payment systems were experiencing technical issues. A second tweet followed three hours later confirming everyone’s suspicions: high traffic has overloaded the servers. Everyone is cramming to get in but the gate is only so big!

At the time of this writing, the live numbers are as follows:

389 applications have been submitted for health care workers with a 20,000 CAP
3218 applications have been submitted for essential non-health workers with a 30,000 CAP
26,746 applications have been submitted for recent international graduates from a Canadian institution with a 40,000 CAP

There’s still hope a lot of room for health care workers and non-health workers but the student cap is filling up fast. Once the smoke clears and the server issues are resolved, we should expect to see the other numbers rise really quickly.

Need help with your application? Contact us and we’ll be glad to help you!

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IRCC plans to open the new immigration streams on Thursday, May 6 @ 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)

IRCC has announced that they will open the gates for the six new limited-time-only immigration pathways on Thursday, May 6 at 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST).

However, IRCC has not released the application guide after saying they would do so on May 5, 12 p.m. (EST).

According to sources, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) revealed this information in a May 4 meeting with the Canadian Bar Association’s Immigration Law Section and other associations representing immigration lawyers and consultants.

Here’s what applicants should expect:

– The application portal will assess their eligibility for six pathways.

  • Candidates will need to complete multiple forms including Generic form
  • E-Signatures are permitted
  • Each stream will require different documents
  • Some documents are mandatory for submission
  • If applicants do not have certain documents that is required, applicants should at least be able to provide proof that they are in the processes of acquiring their documents such as medical exams and police clearance certificates.
  • IRCC suggests submitting your old medical exam if you have it so that later IRCC can provide the applicant advice later on whether or not they must submit a new one.
  • IRCC estimates that they will complete processing at least 40,000 permanent residence applications in 2021, meaning to say that a big portion of applicants can expect to obtain their P.R. status in 2022.

    Stay tuned for more updates.

    Contact us for more counsel and help in submitting an application.

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Find out if you are eligible for the May 6 pathway programs through our assessment form

Canadian immigration is opening six new pathway programs on May 6 that will grant permanent resident status to 90,000 eligible temporary resident visa holders.

In preparation for that day, we created an assessment form to determine eligibility.

Why are these programs such a big deal?

1. The low eligibility requirements
2. You can include your family in the application
3. Essential occupations across all National Occupational Classification (NOC) skill levels are eligible.
4. Canada needs to fill a shortage in the workforce that the pandemic has created.
5. You may already be qualified and you don’t know it.