To: The Honourable Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Dear Minister,

Congratulations on your appointment as Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. We were encouraged by your Canada Day statement highlighting how, as the daughter of immigrants, you understand the courage it takes to build a new life in a new home.

Since 2021, the Hong Kong Pathway has provided support and new opportunities for Hongkongers, in response to the situation described by the Canadian government as changes to Hong Kong’s social and civic environment. What was originally intended by the Canadian government as an assistance initiative has, through prolonged processing delays, unfortunately evolved into a humanitarian burden. Processing times that once took months now extend well beyond a year, leaving families without certainty and children without stable schooling.

According to the Canadian government, the Hong Kong Pathway was introduced in response to what it regarded as significant social and institutional developments in Hong Kong. Launched in 2021, the Hong Kong Pathway has allowed over 30,000 Hongkongers to apply for permanent residence after studying or working in Canada. Yet four years later, that hope is fading. Processing times have stretched from months to over two years, leaving more than 20,000 of them stuck in limbo. What was meant to be a lifeline has become a struggle for survival.

One real case shows the human cost. After submitting her permanent residence application, the mother has waited more than six months for her work permit to be processed. Without permanent status or a valid permit, her son is unable to attend school, spending his days at home or wandering a nearby mall, confused and heartbroken. His mother, unable to work while caring for him, faces mounting financial stress and deep guilt over circumstances beyond her control.

What We Ask
To address these challenges, we propose the following measures:

1.     Prioritize the Hong Kong Pathway — use remaining admission targets and refugee quotas, allocate additional economic-category quotas to clear the backlog. We also urge IRCC to raise the annual Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) admission target to 20,000 to expedite processing. 

2.    Maintain Permanent Resident admission at 2025 levels — with population growth at 0% in Q1 2025, sustaining current levels is vital to uphold population stability and Canada’s economic and social strength.

3.    Clarify and uniformly recognize “maintained status” across jurisdictions — issue a standard federal attestation of legal status and work/study/coverage entitlements, require acceptance by Service Canada (SIN), CBSA, and federal programs, and coordinate with provinces and territories so health plans, schools, regulators, and licensing authorities treat it as valid for enrollment, coverage, licensing, and employment verification.

4.    Automatic renewal of open work permits — treat the PR application (with AOR) as sufficient authorization to auto-issue/extend Optional: Open Work Permits (OOWP) for principal applicants and eligible dependants. Eliminate periods of precarious maintained status and provide greater security while waiting for permanent residence.

5.    Faster Approval in Principle (AIP) — ensure/unlock access to employment, provincial healthcare, and domestic tuition eligibility.

6.    Exempt the CNCC requirement — as the Canadian government has itself acknowledged concerns regarding the situation in Hong Kong, requiring a CNCC may create unnecessary barriers for applicants who have already been recognized as facing potential risks.

Economic dividends from doing the right thing

We respectfully urge the government to expedite the processing of the Hong Kong Pathway. Doing so is a win-win: it provides certainty and stability for the Hong Kong community while enabling Canadians to benefit from newcomers’ skills and contributions. Many applicants have substantial savings locked in Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), a compulsory retirement scheme blocked until permanent residence is granted. According to a recent survey conducted by the Hong Kong Pathway Alliance (HKPA), Hongkongers in Canada hold an average of approximately CAD 50,000 each in their MPF accounts. In total, these frozen funds could amount to over CAD 1 billion — a substantial economic resource that could otherwise support entrepreneurship, community initiatives, and broader contributions to Canadian society.

We hope you will continue to support the Hong Kong Pathway, so that families who trusted Canada’s promise can proudly call it home and contribute to building a stronger, more vibrant, and prosperous nation together.

Respectfully,

Hong Kong Pathway Alliance (HKPA)
Hong Kong Pathway Applicants

• MPF Data Source (HKPA’s national survey factsheet; Sept 26, 2025):
  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iT524WGdcuILnb21yqBc-aUzlshoeZq-/view?usp=sharing