Dear Hon. Sean Fraser & Immigration Refugees, and Citizenship Canada,

Description of Issue

We would like to bring your attention to the current situation of thousands of highly skilled temporary foreign workers in Canada in the light of a pause on Express Entry draws currently:

1. Highly skilled temporary foreign workers inside Canada (most of who are international students on Post Graduate Work Permits) are currently in dire need of your attention. 
2. TFWs have been working highly skilled jobs in all different sectors of the Canadian economy. However, they are currently in limbo since IRCC has paused Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draws since Sept 2021.
3. It appears as though, there might not be CEC draws anytime soon. This is due to high intake of applications by IRCC in 2021. The two major factors contributing to that are:
   1. The CEC draw on Feb 13, 2021 with a CRS cut off of 75
   2. The TR to PR public policy introduced on May 6, 2021
4. Although temporary programs introduced in 2021 were great to reward front line workers and essential workers, this is happening at the expense of highly skilled foreign workers who are equally important for the Canadian economy.
5. TFWs who qualify for Canadian Experience Class have been waiting for Express Entry draws (which used to happen regularly and reliably). For a lot of them, their work permits are coming to an end soon, without any option to extend or renew.
6. This not only hurts TFWs who have invested so much of their life and energy to study and work in Canada, it hurts Canadian businesses who will lose necessary workers on whom they have invested their time and money.
7. Canada is a country known for its stability. People around the world choose Canada due to its reliable governance. This abrupt discontinuation of regular economic immigration programs and lack of transparency in terms of immigration plans does not reflect well.
8. Immigration is a long journey and immigrants plan in advance. With such uncertainty and abrupt disruptions, they are left in limbo. Lots find themselves in a desperate condition mentally and financially.

Request

We request you the following given the current situation:

1. Kindly launch a temporary program to issue work permits to Temporary Foreign Workers in High Skilled occupations until IRCC decides to resume the Canadian Experience Class - Express Entry draws.
2. This will not only benefit temporary foreign workers as they can continue their life and work in Canada until CEC draws resume, but also Canadian employers who rely heavily on TFWs, and Canadian economy as a whole.
3. Resume the regular CEC draws such that TFWs can continue their transition from temporary residence to permanent residence.

This issue is time sensitive given hundreds of TFWs are losing their work permits as we speak. We thank you for your time and consideration and hope to hear a solution for the problem presented.

Sincerely,

Dhruv Sharma (on behalf of TFWs)

www.effizient.ca