Faster TR to PR pathway on cards- Minister Fraser

Edmonton(ATB): Canada Immigration Minister Sean Fraser is reportedly hoping to
unveil a new program to allow temporary residents to more quickly get their
permanent residence.
“We are looking right now at the best path forward to create a permanent
pathway for temporary residents,” Fraser reportedly told media.
Last year, Canada announced it would accept 90,000 applications from temporary
residents under a one-time, temporary-to-permanent resident (TR-to-PR)
program which took applications until November. 
That pathway targeted healthcare and other workers in Canada and recent
international graduates from Canadian colleges and universities. It applied across
the country with the exception of the francophone province of Quebec which
operates its own immigration system.
By the close of the year, the pathway had accepted 84,177 applications and
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) figures show Canada had
welcomed 23,885 new permanent residents under this TR-to-PR pathway. 
Another 22,190 have already received their permanent residency under this
pathway in the first four months of this year. 
In its Immigration Levels Plan for 2022 to 2024, Canada has targeted 40,000 new
permanent residents under federal economic public policies for this year, which
includes the TR-to-PR pathway, with a range of 30,000 to 48,000 new permanent
residents.
At the current rate of admission of new permanent residents to the country,
Canada could welcome 66,570 new permanent residents under the TR-to-PR
pathway this year, indicating Ottawa is well on track to hitting that goal. 
The Immigration Levels Plan also targets an additional 32,000 new permanent
residents under that pathway for 2023. 
Now, the immigration minister is eyeing an entirely new pathway for temporary
residents to get their permanent residency and has reportedly told media he
expects to have something to present within 120 days following a motion in the
House of Commons last month.
“That actually puts me on a clock to come up with a framework to establish this
new permanent residency pathway, not just for international students, but also
for temporary foreign workers,” Fraser reportedly told media.

“We’re in the depths of planning the policy so we can have a policy that’s not
driven by a need to respond urgently in the face of an emergency, but actually to
have a permanent pathway that provides a clear path for those seeking
permanent residency who can enter Canada.”
In his interview with Canada’s national broadcaster, the immigration minister did
not divulge any details of this new pathway. 
But Canada is known to be currently facing a massive labour shortage. 
Statistics Canada reports the country’s unemployment rate is at a record low of
5.1 per cent and the ratio of unemployed people to job vacancies at an all-time
low of 1.2 in March.
In March, Canadian employers were struggling to fill a record high of more than a
million jobs, exactly 1,012,900.
With that labour shortage, retaining international students and temporary foreign
workers could help ease the strain on employers.