The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced sweeping changes to the eligibility criteria for Open Work Permits (OWPs) for family members of international students and foreign workers effective January 21. These changes, set to begin effecting January 21, 2025, aim to streamline the temporary resident programs, aligning them more closely with the Canadian economic objectives and current labour market demands. New Criteria for Canada Spousal Open Work Permits For Spouses of International Students: Master’s Programs: Spouses can apply for an OWP only if their partner is enrolled in a master’s program with a minimum duration of 16 months. Doctoral Programs: Eligibility extends to spouses of students pursuing doctoral degrees. Professional Programs: A select group of professional programs will also qualify, but specifics on these programs are yet to be detailed, with full disclos...

Ontario launches a new permanent residency pathway aimed at addressing regional labour shortages and boosting local economies.  The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) has unveiled its latest pilot program, the Regional Economic Development through Immigration (REDI) pilot. This pathway will run from January 2, 2025, to December 31, 2025, and is designed to attract highly skilled immigrants to rural and northern communities in Ontario, enhancing the province’s capacity to welcome new residents. The REDI pilot will prioritize the economic development of four specific regions in the province by allocating up to 800 nominations for skilled newcomers. The participating regions are: Lanark County (geographic boundaries) Leeds and Grenville (United Counties) (geographic boundaries) Sarnia-Lambton (geographic boundaries) City of Thunder Bay (geographic boundaries) Successful applicants will receive a provincial no...

    University of Windsor 401 Sunset Avenue Windsor Ontario Canada N9B 3P4  www.uwindsor.ca   Two teams, 15 minutes to prepare, three supporting arguments, and seven minutes to speak. "It's nerve-wracking and a bit intimidating, but also very empowering because you're always advocating for some type of change," says Natalie George, president of the Odette Debate Club. The 2025 North American Debating Championships (NorthAms), hosted by the University of Windsor's Odette School of Business and SEED Debate Academy on Jan. 18 and 19, will spotlight this art of fast-paced debate. The event will bring together 75 elite teams representing leading institutions across Canada and the United States as they vie for the championship title. Teams will debate a range of topics in the realms of economics, politics, current affairs or social issues. Each assigned an opposing side, teams will have 15 minutes after learning the motio...

In a shocking revelation, close to 50,000 international students who were issued study permits to pursue higher education in Canada were reported as “no-shows” by the colleges and universities where they were supposed to be enrolled, according to government data from spring 2024. This figure, representing 6.9% of all international students tracked by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), highlights an alarming trend that has sparked nationwide discussions about the effectiveness of Canada’s international student compliance system. The Scope of the Problem In March and April 2024, Canadian universities and colleges submitted compliance reports to IRCC, revealing that tens of thousands of international students failed to adhere to the terms of their study permits. Additionally, the status of 23,514 students—3.3% of the total—remains unreported, raising concerns about accountability within the syst...

    Dalhousie University 1459 Oxford Street Halifax Nova Scotia Canada B3H 4R2  www.dal.ca/   Dalhousie University's national leadership in creating programs that empower students and researchers to turn ideas into enterprises has been rewarded with a $32 million grant from the Government of Canada through the Lab to Market grants program. The funding was announced Wendnesday (Jan.15) by the Honourable Terry Duguid, minister of sport in an event at Red River College Polytechnic in Winnipeg. The investment will be administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. This new funding establishes Dalhousie as the national headquarters of Lab2Market, an innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship skills training program founded by Dalhousie and Toron...

The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced sweeping changes to the eligibility criteria for Open Work Permits (OWPs) for family members of international students and foreign workers. These changes, set to begin effecting January 21, 2025, aim to streamline the temporary resident programs, aligning them more closely with the Canadian economic objectives and current labour market demands. New Criteria for Canada Spousal Open Work Permits For Spouses of International Students: 🍁 Master’s Programs: Spouses can apply for an OWP only if their partner is enrolled in a master’s program with a minimum duration of 16 months. 🍁 Doctoral Programs: Eligibility extends to spouses of students pursuing doctoral degrees. 🍁 Professional Programs: A select group of professional programs will also qualify, but specifics on these programs are yet to be detailed, with full disclosure scheduled for January 21, 2025. For Spouses of Foreign Workers:...

Centennial College P.O. Box 631, Station A Toronto Ontario Canada M1K 5E9  www.centennialcollege.ca/ Centennial named one of Canada's Top Research Colleges, #1 in paid student research Centennial College has consistently been ranked as one of the top 50 research colleges in Canada, and this year we were recognized again by Research Infosource. Notably, Centennial ranked first for paid internships in applied research and 20th for research revenue. When it comes to paid internships in applied research, we have 599 student researchers through our faculty of Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Centennial Innovates. This group leads all of the College’s applied research and is responsible for our ranking as number one for four consecutive years. “These results are the result of an outstanding performance by a very capable team,” said Jonathan Hack, Dean of Centennial Innovates. “I couldn’t be more proud of all of our inn...

First CEC Express Entry Draw Of 2025 Sent 1,350 PR Invitations First CEC Express Entry Draw of 2025 Issues 1,350 Invitations for Permanent Residence On January 8, 2025, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) conducted its first draw under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) Express Entry program, inviting 1,350 candidates to apply for permanent residence (PR). This marks the beginning of another promising year for skilled immigrants in Canada. This draw set a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) cut-off score of 542, an increase of 3 points over the last CEC-specific draw held on November 19, 2024, which had a cut-off score of 539. Below, we dive into the details of this draw and what it means for Express Entry candidates. Details of the first CEC Express Entry draw in 2025 Program: Canadian Experience Class (CEC) Number of invitations issued: 1,350 Rank required to be invited to apply: 1,350 or higher Date and time of draw: J...

Canada has conducted its first Express Entry draw of 2025 exclusively for provincial nominees. The draw issued 471 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for permanent residence (PR), marking the first invitation round of the new year. The latest draw had a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) cut-off score of 793, an increase of 66 points over the previous PNP-only draw. Full Details of the Express Entry Draw Today Specifics December 3 Category Provincial Nominee Program Invitations 471 CRS Cutoff 793 Tie-breaking rule November 25, 2024 at 16:57:27 UTC Distribution of CRS Points in the Pool as of January 7, 2025 The following table shows the distribution of candidates in the Express Entry pool, broken down by CRS score range: CRS score range Number of candidates 601-1200 633 501-600 23,021 451-500 65,492...

 Highlights from IRCC Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has recently announced a series of changes to the criteria for applying for a Post-Graduation Work Permit, as well as an updated list of eligible occupations. Accordingly, international students need to be aware of the new requirements to be able to transition from studying to working in Canada.  Eligibility criteria remain unchanged To be eligible for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP), international students must continue to meet the general eligibility and geographic location requirements (even after November 1, 2024) and complete their studies at a designated PGWP-eligible educational institution. If an international student applies for a PGWP before November 1, 2024 => Only need to meet the current eligibility criteria. If international students apply for a PGWP as flight school graduates eligible for a PGWP => Only need to meet current eligibility criteria (ev...