3 March 2022
Canada is known for its world-class and simple immigration system in the world, especially for skilled workers. It continues to introduce new streams and programs to help professionals across the world immigrate to Canada.
While provinces are updating their in-demand occupations, immigrations draws are held timely. Moreover, there are new rules and regulations to simplify the process. One of such immigration programs is Immigration Pilots.
These pilot programs intend to bring unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled foreigners in to meet the shortages by creating a path to permanent residence for those who want to live and work in Canada. The key immigration pilot programs in Canada are Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, Atlantic Immigration Pilot, Agri-food Immigration Pilot, and Care Provider Pilots.
- The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot is designed to meet shortages in smaller cities and towns. It is identical to PNP in that if you can get a job offer from an employer within the community, you can get an invitation from the local government for PR.
- The Atlantic Immigration Pilot makes you eligible for PR if you get a job offer from an employer in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, or Newfoundland and Labrador. It was replaced by a new program called the Atlantic Immigration Program.
- The Agri-Food Immigration Pilot is designed for unskilled and semi-skilled workers looking to work in the food industry of Canada.
- The Care Provider Pilots program supports the immigration of workers looking to work in elderly care.
Here we will find out how these pilot programs contribute to making Canada’s immigration system more efficient, sound, and easy.
Bringing Stability and Predictability:
The pilot programs are successful due to their stability. A pilot program also helps the country determine if the immigration experiment works. With pilot programs in place, Canada has found that their immigration program has worked for their four provinces.
Or that a program for IT pros will be very popular. Or that some community-specific programs meant for rural areas too will be useful.
This way, pilot programs help Canadian immigration authorities try different strategies without risking the stability of the entire system. They can easily call off the program if it doesn’t work.
Assessing the Impact:
Whether a certain experiment in an immigration program will work or not is not easy to tell. Pilot programs let Canada simply deploy the changes and examine their outcomes through practical deployment.
Does lower language proficiency meet the labor shortage? Can adding new guidelines work? With the help of different immigration pilots, Canada can determine the pros and cons of different strategies with valuable data supporting decision-making.
Coming with an Expiry Date:
A pilot immigration program can be extended or shut down based on its performance. If the program proved successful, it can be rolled again and again unless it is made permanent. Some eminent examples include the Atlantic Immigration program as well as the BC Tech program.
Allowing for Changes:
Unlike permanent programs, pilots can be modified and changed without any concern. After all, they are rolled out as an experiment, meaning that they can be changed or modified any time as the program is launched.
For instance, Atlantic Immigration has received many chances to help the provinces find the right targets to meet their requirements. The occupations falling under the BC PNP Tech pilot were updated many times so that the province could focus on tech professionals with certain in-demand skills that were in shortage.
Being Federal and Provincial as Well:
Canada’s federal as well as provincial governments have used pilots to experiment and to focus on certain industries.
In March 2021, Quebec rolled out three pilots for orderlies, food processing workers, and AI, IT, and visual effects professionals.
The Startup Visa was launched as a pilot and it is still a federal program. The Municipal Immigration program comes with a pilot status, although it is more likely that this program is run under the Provincial Nomination Program.
Maybe the biggest benefit that these pilot programs ensure is that every program acts as a platform for better pilots. Also, the successful track record of pilot programs leads to their extension and even their permanent status.
As a skilled worker, student, or business person in Canada, you should consider the various pilot programs while looking for your immigration options. The right strategy would be to work with an experienced professional. What do you think? Let us know by commenting below!
