Canada hoping to unveil a new program to Faster TR to PR Pathway

Los Angeles, June 13, 2022
NRIpress.club/Ramesh/ A.Gary Singh

Canada Immigration Minister Sean Fraser is reportedly hoping to unveil a new program to allow temporary residents to more quickly get their permanent residence. In an interview that aired last weekend, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Sean Fraser announced that his department is on the verge of establishing a programme to fast-track PR approvals for those who hold temporary resident permits.

“We are looking right now at the best path forward to create a permanent pathway for temporary residents,” Fraser was quoted saying to CBC News.

“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.”

The minister hinted at an imminent 120-day deadline set by the House of Commons last month. Although the proposed new pathway shares similarities with the Temporary Residence to Permanent Residence Pathway (TR2PR) scheme introduced briefly in 2021, Fraser elaborated that the route will be different than the old one.

He said that the government is drafting a sustainable policy that is not spurred by an emergency, so that the new route can become a “clear path” for those looking to permanently settle in Canada.

The TR2PR scheme is a one-time PR pathway created in response to the coronavirus pandemic that enabled temporary workers and foreign graduates to become Canadian permanent residents more quickly. It is closed as of November 2021, and accepted 90,000 applications over six months to meet Canada’s annual immigration targets.

Earlier in February, the government unveiled the Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024, an ambitious immigration strategy that hopes to welcome 447,055 and 451,100 newcomers in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Fraser said the country is currently ahead of its timeline in settling 432,000 Canadian permanent residents this year, adding that the government had approved its 200,000th PR this past week, CBC News reports.