There’s good news and bad news. First the bad news: Canada is set to invite 170,000 fewer immigrants this year. The good news: Canada is going to invite 170,000 fewer immigrants this year. Confused? It is good news for those immigrants already in Canada and bad news for those trying to come to Canada.

Since Canada has temporarily shut its door to foreign nationals for a while now, and to keep up its immigration targets for 2020, its only viable choice at the moment is to issue more ITAs to aspiring candidates who are already within its borders. This has been made evident through the latest string of Express Entry draws with scores plummeting down all the way to 440 CRS points recently. Not only that, but it also seems very likely that the CIC is going to continue posting up to 4 draws a month for the Canadian Experience Class stream.

What this means is that now is the most opportune moment to tally up your points and get into the Express Entry pool by boosting your existing scores, either through IELTS/CELPIP or updating your profile to see if it is within reach.

From the way things have been shaping up, the IELTS organization has made plans to reopen its many testing centers across the globe to ensure that candidates can take a dig at clearing it. If one were to check the exam dates now, the earliest one could book an exam date will be somewhere in July. So, hurry up as seats are being filled as you read this!

Coming to the PNPs, they have become unpredictable as of late. However, BC is one province that keeps holding the BC Tech Pilot ( BC PNP) practically every week. More details would be released this month regarding its future. It has already held two draws on June 2^nd. The provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario are slated to resume their respective nomination programs later this month. Quebec is in talks to introduce two new pilot programs for nurses aides and tech workers, the details of which would be released “ within a few weeks”.

Last, but not least, Canada is about to decide whether or not to renew its Open Work Permit Pilot for spouses and Common-law partners for the fifth time. The deadline for the renewal is estimated to be June 31^st. Speaking of spouses and common-law partners, it is highly likely that if the current trend of curve-flattening (coronavirus pandemic) continues, family members who are stuck overseas with the COPR (Confirmation of PR) could enter Canada post-July 1^st.